Page 48 of Play Your Part

Matt knew Alexei long before he ever knew me, but I thought he would take my side if it came down to it. Because I was his fiancée’s best friend, but also because we had become friends this past year.

He folded his arms across his chest, some seriously impressive muscles bulging through the tight sleeves of his costume. “I’ve talked to him. He knows what’s at stake if he hurts you.”

“Oh,” I said, fumbling with the fabric of my skirt. “Well… thank you.”

He shrugged one shoulder as if it were nothing. “Of course I’ll have your back until the end of time.” Then he dropped his voice to a whisper. “I hope I never have to intervene. You seem good for each other.”

I smothered my scoff. What did he base that on? The night Alexei and I tortured each other in their living room as we all watched a movie? A big part of me wanted an answer, but I let the cowardly part take the reins. “He’s deadly to me,” I said, pointing to my outfit.

Matt winked. “Right.”

“Y’all ready?” Gemma called from the second floor. Matt and I turned toward the stairs to watch Gemma make her grand entrance, knowing her question was about that rather than our readiness to leave the house.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang a moment before Zach, dressed as a pirate, burst through without waiting for anyone to answer it. “Aye, mateys!” he shouted as he thrust a sword into the air. The maroon sleeve of his jacket slipped up his arm with the movement.

“Whoever gave him a sword was an idiot,” I muttered.

“Watch what you say.”

The deep, accented voice skittered down my spine. This morning, the reverberations of that voice had played against my skin before I could shove myself off his chest. The ungodly strong chest I’d slept against, warm and peaceful.

“You don’t want to anger a wolf.”

I refused to turn around. I knew I needed to, was expected to, and yet… I couldn’t force myself to face those eyes that had stared at me with such tenderness when I told him about my mom. Alexei didn’t hesitate to position himself behind me, his arms around my waist as he rested his head on top of mine.

“Everything okay?” he whispered in my ear, his scruff scratching against my skin. The warmth of his apple cinnamon scent enveloped me, bringing back every memory of yesterday that had played on repeat all day long.

I nodded vigorously, almost immediately, but… no. Those lips inches from my ear had been on mine.

Alexei Volkovkissedme.

The one kiss our agreement allowed him. A chaste kiss in front of one teammate without a camera in sight. I still had no idea what his angle was.

Waking up that morning felt good, a feeling that quickly changed to panic as my sleep-induced haze cleared, and I realized the chest I rested on belonged to Alexei. He seemed unaffected by my presence in his bed, while my internal organs were on the verge of combustion. And then in the kitchen, Alexei didn’t do anything more than press his lips softly to mine, and it set my blood on fire. He tasted like mint and something undefinably him. I would never forget it.

When he’d pulled back, my instinct had been to surge forward to continue kissing him. When his eyes opened, and he met my stunned expression with a smirk, I had never been more thankful for keeping those base instincts at bay.

“You’re breathing hard,” he said into my ear. I could hear the teasing smile in his voice. “Nervous for tonight?”

Distantly, I heard other voices in the room, but I could only focus on Alexei’s hand moving slowly against my stomach. It tightened as warmth pooled low in my gut. Not being able to step out of his encompassing embrace because of our audience meant I had to endure this agonizing torture.

Turning in his arms, I finally took in his costume. A patch of fur coated his chest in the gap left by his sleek dark suit jacket, which attached to a headpiece of fur topped by two wolf ears.

“You’re dangerous,” I said, locking eyes with him. “I’m supposed to be nervous.”

That double-dimpled grin brought back the memory of him flashing one last night before he pitched me hockey. It had made me feel as I did now, like my stomach had been put through a blender. I’d desperately wanted to distract him enough that I talked about my mother, a topic I didn’t discuss withanyone. I wondered if there was anything Alexei couldn’t convince me to do with that grin.

His hand dropped to my hip while a finger from his other hand traced a path from my cheek, to my neck, down my arm. “You do look good enough to eat.”

“You’d have to catch me first,” I said, smirking. “Not likely, hotshot.”

He laughed, picking up a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger. “Oh, Kennedy, don’t you know that’s the beauty of a trap? By the time you realize you’re in it, it’s too late.”

A joke, I knew, but something in those words made me uncomfortable. I took a step back and lifted my hood over my hair. “Oh, how cute. Someone doesn’t know how this fairy tale ends.” I cupped my hand around my mouth and pitched my voice lower. “Spoiler alert, I’d watch your back.”

He grinned without a care. A wolf with two dimples; was there anything more deadly?

21

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