Page 137 of Power Play

I covered my face, but he pulled my hand away.

“Don’t hide.”

The words came softly, and his amusement faded until only the warmth remained. Beneath it sat the first trace of something more vulnerable.

“Not from me.”

The gondola reached the top and slowed. For a few seconds, we hung above the fair while the wind lifted strands of hair across my face. Ryan caught them before they could stick to my lip gloss, and his fingers lingered against my cheek.

“You’re leaving tomorrow,” I said.

His expression softened. “Yeah.”

“I know you told me nothing changes.”

“I told you distance doesn’t change what I’m doing.”

“That’s different.”

“It is.”

I looked down toward the lights. “What if you get there and realize this only felt intense because you were here every day? What if it’s easy to want me when I’m sitting beside you and harder when I’m not?”

Ryan was quiet for a second before he turned toward me fully.

“Charm.”

I kept looking down until his hand came beneath my chin.

“Look at me.”

I did.

“I’m not afraid of another woman in Flint.”

“That’s easy to say before you’re there.”

“I’ve been there.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.” He rested his forearm against the safety bar. “There have been women available to me since I was sixteen. More once hockey got serious. That isn’t new.”

Heat rose into my face. “I know.”

“I’m not telling you that to be an asshole.”

“You’re doing a convincing impression.”

His dimple flickered. “I’m telling you because opportunity isn’t what decides whether I want somebody.”

My chest tightened.

“You think I haven’t noticed women since I started wanting you?”

“That is a terrible question to ask someone with my anxiety.”

Ryan laughed softly. “Fine. Women exist, and I have functioning eyes. None of that has anything to do with what I’m choosing.”