“What are you doing?”
“I’m giving you what you want. Why are you acting all noble now?”
His hands go into his hair. “What the hell is happening right now?”
“That’s my question. Shouldn’t I be on my third orgasm by now?”
His eyes narrow. “What the hell happened to you?”
I’m growing irritated that he’s not kissing me yet. He’s the one who’s been pursuing me. Why is he being difficult now?
“Put your shirt back on.”
“Why?” I stretch out on the bed. “I’m making this easier on you.”
He comes over to the bed and his finger winds around one of my curls. “I don’t want you like this. I want to date you. Like I said—”
“And you also want to sleep with me, correct?” All that other stuff he said was bullshit, so why won’t he just get down with what I’m offering?
“Yes. More than anything. Except for showing you I’m not the guy you think I am.” He picks up my shirt and shoves the opening over my head.
I huff and my mouth drops open. “You’re denying me?”
“Yes.”
“Way to make a girl feel wanted.”
He takes my hand and places it between his legs. “This should tell you everything you need to know, but I’m walking away anyway. I’m going back to my room and I’m going to bed. You’ll figure it out soon enough that I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass, kotik.”
His dick is half hard and big. Like really big. Damn, maybe I shouldn’t have called him out on his bullshit. Maybe if I hadn’t, he’d already be rocking inside me, filling me. I suck in a breath, thinking about that. My hand drops to my lap as he walks toward the door.
“You’ve got great tits, by the way. I would’ve devoured them.” He opens the door and leaves.
I fall down to the mattress. What the hell just happened?
After I’ve sulked for a while, I grab my phone and dial up Jana, tearing the lid off the chocolate cake from room service.
“What’s up?” she answers.
“You’re never going to believe what just happened.” I go through everything from how flirtatious Maksim was being to what just happened when he left my room. Then I shove a forkful of cake in my mouth.
“Why were you going to just do it?” she asks.
“Because he’s hot, and I was finally rewarding myself with a one night with a hockey god.”
“Like a birthday gift?” She laughs.
“Exactly.”
“Nothing wrong with that except he flipped the script on you.” She sounds amused.
“Yes! I was going to be a willing participant,” I mumble around another mouthful.
A very willing participant.
“Maybe he’s one of those guys who just like the chase, you know? Then when you finally said yes, he bailed. Although I will say that from what I know of Maksim, that doesn’t sound like him.”
I sulk down in bed. Jana’s right. Most of the time when Maksim is mentioned in the press, it’s because he’s removing Ford from a bad situation.
“Now I have to get on a plane with him tomorrow.”
“Just ignore him. I’m kind of pissed he’s playing you like this. I mean, going after you full force and then acting like he has no interest.” She’s quiet for a minute. “Hey, Paise?”
“What?”
“Do you like Maksim Petrov?”
I love Jana, but if I answer honestly, she’s going to insert herself in the situation. Either by cornering Maksim and playing the juvenile game of “do you like my friend,” or worse, she’ll scold him for leaving me high and wet—definitely not dry.
So rather than admitting I can’t stop thinking about him, I say, “I don’t know. He’s attractive and seems almost sweet sometimes.”
“I’m not sure anyone has referred to Maksim as sweet,” she says.
“Attentive maybe. But… errgghhh!” I just don’t know what to think after tonight.
“Well, if he’s going to act so hot and cold, just ignore him, Paise. Move on. Do the rest of the therapy sessions and forget him after that. You know, my dad mentioned at dinner tonight about fixing you up with someone.”
My eyes widen. “What? I don’t want to be fixed up.”
This isn’t the first time Mr. Gerhardt has tried to fix me up. For some reason, he always picks accountants or men with equally boring jobs. Men who have played it safe all their lives and wear three-piece suits to work. And there’s nothing wrong with those guys. They’re the ones you marry for stability, but I’m too young to marry anyone, and for some dumb reason, I have this stupid idea that I want to be with a more rough-and-tumble guy. Someone who knows his way around a woman. And because I know that kind of guy isn’t what’s good for me, my sex life is left in a stalemate.
Jana interrupts my thoughts. “Just be on the lookout and dodge Dad if you see him.”
“I will.”
I hang up with Jana a few minutes later. All I can think about is how Maksim is the kind of guy I’m attracted to and how that long, hard dick I felt might be exactly what I need to get me out of my rut. I try to ease the ache between my thighs, but alas, I think there’s only one person who can.
Later that week, after practice, there’s a note in my locker.
See Mr. Gerhardt ASAP
Blyat. I tear it off the wall, crumple it, and toss it in the trash.
“Two points.” Ford raises two fingers and heads into the shower with a bunch of my other teammates.
I sit on the bench and unlace my skates.
“What’s that about?” Aiden asks.
“Gerhardt wants to see me.” I groan and take off my skates and socks. “Probably because of the game.”
Last night we had a home game, and I might’ve crossed the line when a guy on the other team tripped Ford and he almost went crashing headfirst into the boards. You can paralyze a player doing shit like that, and of course, the refs didn’t see it. So I went after Klein from behind to return the favor and was suspended for the rest of the game.
“I’m not sure why he’s so up your ass lately,” Aiden says, taking off his pads.
“Me either. I’m not doing anything different than before.”
Aiden cocks an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe I’m a little more aggressive out there,” I say.
“Does it have anything to do with a certain brunette?”
I remove my own pads. “No. I mean, I might be sexually frustrated because I do want her, but my job is to protect my guys, and what Klein did to Ford was bullshit. Right? I’m not seeing things.”
Aiden hems and haws. “It was bullshit, and yeah, you’ve always had our backs. Kept me from being double-teamed ever since we both started playing for the Fury, but…”
“What?”
He sits on the bench and rests his forearms on his thighs. “You know even the Florida Fury fans are making up nicknames for you?”
My eyes narrow. “Like?”
“I mean, I think they want them to be endearing. They still love you, of course. But do you want to be known as Mad Reaper or Psycho Cobra?”