Page 29 of Play Your Part

“Your adoring female fans?” Kennedy rolled her eyes as she settled onto one of the benches. “I’m sure you can guess.”

I could’ve told her it didn’t mean anything—if I didn’t play professional hockey or make millions of dollars, most of them would give me an appraising look and move on. Their interest had nothing to do withmeas a person, only with my occupation. But I didn’t clarify this with her; I wanted her to be reminded that peoplewantedto date me.

“We’re being watched.” Kennedy peered at me from where she sat lacing up her skates.

I turned away quickly, after catching an eyeful of her chest. Maybe she wore that shirt to throw me off my game. Thanks to her antics the other night, she knew exactly how my body could react to her.

“Ignore them,” I said, reaching for her hand.

Kennedy looked around for anything else to support her getting to her feet. Finding nothing, she took my hand. Her eyes remained on our joined hands when she said, “Some of us aren’t used to this kind of attention.”

“You not getting attention is hard to believe,” I said, sporting my most obnoxious smirk. “This isn’t a real first date. You don’t have to pretend with me.”

She pulled her hand out of mine. “I hate being the center of attention.”

“Right.” Every woman I ever dated liked the attention dating me brought her. Most of them drew eyes all on their own—sometimes because of their career, but other times because they put in the kind of effort that made people look. Kennedy didn’t fit into either of those buckets. Especially not now that she had thrown her hair in a messy bun. She tucked loose, shorter strands of hair behind her right ear.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I cleared my throat. “You know how to skate?”

She glared at me. “As you like to remind me, my father owns a professional hockey team. Yes, I know how to skate, Alexei.”

I held out my arms toward the ice,Have at it.

Kennedy stared out onto the ice before she took a step forward. She skated better than I expected for someone who didn’t like hockey. There were other ice sports though. Maybe one of those was her thing. I followed her out, allowing the rush of skating to drown out my thoughts.

Like always, it did the trick.

13

ALEXEI

KennedyandIskatedsilently for a long while, and as predicted, we had an audience. Behind the glass, several kids and their parents watched us, and at least two phones followed us.

I moved closer to Kennedy until I could hook my arm in hers. Close like this, I could smell vanilla and orange, the same scent that had filled my car. She looked up at me in confusion, but I didn’t say anything, only waved to our audience. Kennedy didn’t miss a beat, following my lead and flashing a big smile at them. For someone who hated attention, she handled it well.

“I imagine you’re usually a big hero, teaching your dates to skate.”

She sounded pleased with herself, as if she had ruined a move of mine. I hadn’t ever taken a date ice-skating, but I wasn’t about to share that with her in case she read into it. Not that I should worry she would. Kennedy’s body language almost always shouted to leave her alone. Even arm-in-arm with me, she felt stiff.

“You seem awfully interested in my dating life.”

She scowled, bringing me the satisfaction of knowing I ruined her plan to throw me off-kilter. “I want to know what else I’m in for during these few months.”

“Oh, Kennedy, you know I wouldn’t treat you like anyone else. I’d have to be trying to impress you to do that.”

“You won’t be getting the usual Kennedy Cole dating experience either.”

Despite myself, I wondered what she meant. How would she behave differently if she wanted to impress me? Did she have this degree of sassiness with everyone? Or did her dislike of me bring it out of her? Part of me hoped it was the latter, that I got to see a side of her other people didn’t.

“So you don’t usually insult your dates?”

Kennedy ignored me and continued her needling. “I know all about your reputation.”

“My reputation?”

She’d raised this before, and her comments hadn’t been too far off… if she believed rumors. Several years ago, a video of me leaving a club with women who weren’t my girlfriend got posted online. Many people took it as ironclad proof I wasn’t a dick only on the ice. Never mind that the Uber dropped me at home before the party train rolled on to my teammate’s place.

For the most part, I kept my life private, not posting photos with women on my social media accounts or answering questions about my love life. People taking pictures was out of my control, but I never commented on it. That’s why no one knew I had been engaged, ready to commit myself to one woman for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t even share that information to knock the judgmental look off Kennedy’s face. My business was my own.

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