Page 63 of Play Your Part

“Okay.”

My hand rested on the doorknob behind me, but I couldn’t get myself to leave.Okay?That was his response to an offer of future sex. That was the response you give someone when they invited you to an early morning run. “Is something wrong?”

Alexei placed his hands behind his head, the picture of self-satisfaction if there ever was one. “Oh, I’m great.” The mask of bravado returned, but two could play that game.

“Great!” I answered with false cheer as I finally pulled the door open. “See you later, then.”

The insistent pounding between my legs outlasted my walk home, through my nighttime routine, until I was tucked into my bed. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Alexei’s expression of bliss as I closed my mouth over him. The mind-blowing orgasm from earlier tonight did nothing to ebb the desire coursing through me.

I had to take matters into my own hands—twice—to relax enough to fall asleep. It was his fingers working me over, his name repeating in my mind each time I fell apart.

I had never been more screwed.

26

ALEXEI

IleftBriggsyandMatt in the hot tub during our postgame recovery pizza party and headed over to see Kennedy.

Days had passed since Kennedy surprised me after my road trip, since the night we hooked up and complicated our relationship. I couldn’t have cared less at the time, not after I tasted her full lips, so intoxicating I forgot every reason to stop before we started.

And then she wrapped her legs around my waist, trapping me against her in a vice I didn’t want to leave. And Christ, when she followed me upstairs and got on her knees… the details of that replayed every time I got into bed.

Falling asleep took longer than usual these last few days.

Gemma opened the door after I rang the doorbell. “Hey stranger,” she greeted, dropping a kiss onto my cheek. “Surprised to see you remembered where we live.”

“Don’t tell me you’re hurt I missed dinner.”

She looked at me pointedly. “Twodinners, Volk.”

“I’ve been busy.”

Gemma made a sound that told me she didn’t buy the bullshit I was selling. But I did make other plans because I was too chickenshit to see Kennedy, not wanting her to confirm what I feared to be true. Her parting words—This was fun. We should do it again sometime. If you want.—made it clear that night meant something very different to her than it had to me.

Gemma smiled knowingly. “Oh, I’ve noticed. You’ve done more in the last few days than I’ve seen you do since you got here. Couldn’t help that none of your plans involved my girl tho—”

“Gemma,” Kennedy interrupted. She stood halfway down the stairs, dressed for work in her standard outfit of leggings and a T-shirt. She wore her hair pulled back in a messy bun. “Hey, Alexei.”

“Kennedy,” I said, giving her a quick nod, forcing my eyes not to linger too long on her.

Gemma blew out a breath. “How the two of you convince anyone you’re dating is beyond me.”

“They haven’t been convincing anyone of anything lately,” Deandra called from the other room.

I hadn’t expected her to be here, but maybe Kennedy had rekindled their friendship.

“And before you ask, yes, the internet has noticed you haven’t been spotted together in weeks.”

Kennedy’s eyes found mine for only a blink before she headed toward Deandra.

Don’t watch her walk away. Don’t watch her walk away.She almost made it completely into the other room before I lost my willpower. Those leggings left nothing to the imagination, sealing themselves around the ass I had an overwhelming desire to palm… again.

Gemma’s knowing smirk told me she saw the entire thing.

“Don’t say a word,” I muttered.

Kennedy always commanded my attention, all the way back to the first night we met, but my awareness of her was painfully amplified. That night, she was an outline in the dark, someone I didn’t know but wanted to come closer to see. But now I knew how it felt to have her body pressed against mine, the way she tasted, the sound of her moan. I struggled to shake the jolt of adrenaline when her name showed up on my phone during my road trip, and when I found her standing in my house after I got back. It was the moment of anticipation before the puck hit the ice.

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