Page 56 of Play Dirty

This was way different. Rougher. Edgier.

Built on friction, instead of warmth and comfort.

His hand slid from my hip to my back, pulling me flush against him. His mouth devoured mine hungrily, the space between us gone completely.

For a long second, there was nothing else. No sound, no movement, no one but us. I reveled in the heat, the pressure, the unseen electricity, crackling between us. Our lips rolled slowly, as we both took exactly what we wanted… without apology.

And then it happened: I saw it with my own eyes. The control that had slipped like a mask snapped right back into place.

The shift was anything but subtle. Ares’s movements slowed, like he’d crossed over a line he hadn’t expected to get anywhere near. His hands left my body. He pulled back.

“No.”

I lowered my gaze. I’d been a split second from pulling back before he did, but I hadn’t had his level of control.

“This is a bad idea,” he grumbled.

Shit. There was a lot of that going around.

“Yeah.”

My whole body throbbed. My lips still tasted like his. Every part of me wanted nothing but more of him.

Everything except my stupid head.

“Get out.”

His words were rough and controlled. There was a hint of anger in them too, but the anger wasn’t for me.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

Ares turned away, dropped heavily back into his spot on the bench. He pulled the towel over his head again.

“Get out.”

Part of me was hurt and angry. The rest of me was relieved, because I knew he was right. I gathered my things quickly, and pulled my shirt back on. Then I pushed the door open and stepped into the night, without looking back.

The cold hit hard again, but this time I embraced it. The cold was the devil I knew. An enemy I could deal with.

But whatever just happened between Ares and I was something entirely different.

I stood there for a second, taking small breaths so my lungs could readjust. Then I retraced my steps, making my way back through the house.

Ares still hated me. That hadn’t changed. Even so, what happened between us hadn’t been nothing.

And that was the part that scared me more than anything else.

~ 20 ~

HAVEN

Three days, three hard practices. Three cold nights of sleeping alone, huddled beneath my blankets, crunching data until my fingers hurt.

And now…

“And I’m telling you, if that puck didn’t bounce? We’d be having a very different conversation right now!”