Page 61 of Play Your Part

“You don’t want me to—”

“This isn’t tit for tat, Kennedy.”

“I know, but you…” My cheeks were set ablaze as I thought about everything that had unfolded between us. For better or worse, that memory was seared into my brain.

“I’ll be fine,” he said with a haughty grin I felt in my gut. “You gave me more than enough to think about.”

I sat stunned in the wake of Alexei’s departure, overwhelmed by his arrogance about kissing me senseless, getting me off, then leaving in a cloud of self-satisfaction. He had been unaffected by what happened, perfectly content to take care of himself. I could have done the same thing, never letting us go beyond an ill-advised make-out.

But I wanted him. Lost in a haze of lust and loneliness. Based on his smug smile, Alexei might have left with a different impression, something I had to rectify immediately.

I launched out of the hot tub, my legs a little unsteady for a few steps until I hit my stride. Surprisingly, Zach wasn’t in his usual spot in the living room, which saved me the embarrassment of storming past him as I chased his roommate.

I burst into Alexei’s bedroom without a knock, wanting to put him as off-kilter as I felt.

“Jesus, Kennedy,” Alexei muttered, clutching a towel hanging from his waist.

“I need to talk to you,” I said, refusing to acknowledge that he stood in front of me, only half-clothed once again. This had been a recipe for disaster earlier, but my eyes would not stray this time.

“I was about to jump in the shower.”

“It can wait. What the hell was that?”

Alexei’s mouth quirked. “First time?”

I wanted to knock the arrogance off his face. My hand spasmed at my side. “Stop fucking with me.”

“Are you complaining?”

“No, I’m confused. What did you get out of that?”

He’d said he wasn’t using me to get back at Justin, that this relationship between us was to save his hockey career. And I believed him.

But what happened in the hot tub wasn’t for show… so wasthatsomething he did so he could later throw it in Justin’s face? I hadn’t thought he would use me like that, but…

I felt a mess of emotions about what happened between us.

“I’ve wanted to touch you like that for weeks.”

The naked honesty of his words froze my spiraling thoughts in their tracks.

But we don’t like each other, I almost said.Or at least, we didn’t.

Attraction sometimes didn’t have anything to do with a person’s likability. He didn’t have to have feelings for me to want me. And neither did I. Alexei Volkov temporarily had a role in my life, and I was allowed to have fun with him for as long as it worked for me and for him. It didn’t have to be more than that.

“I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding.”

“About?”

“About what happened,” I explained. “And how I feel.”

“Ah.” Alexei fell quiet, his face unreadable.

“I’m lonely, that’s all.”

“Right. You would have had the same reaction with any man.”

“Well, no.”

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