Page 37 of The Publicity Stunt

Swallowing, she looks at the ground, and a slight flush creeps up onto her face. "Maybe."

"I knew the last time we saw each other, but it didn't feel like the right moment."

"What are you talking about?"

Walking around the counter into the kitchen, he pulls her into his arms. "I'm not in love with Sasha. I'm still angry and hurt because she cheated with someone I thought was a friend, but I don't want her back. Her and I were just something I tried to force into what I really wanted, and she wasn't the one. I've never just wanted to sit and be with her. Doing nothing and everything at the same time. I never felt with her the way I feel when I'm with you."

Her chest heaves. "Really?"

"I think about you all the time. And something about knowing you watch me on the ice makes me want to play the best I've ever played. I've even started thinking about things in terms of how you might want them. What would you say? What would you do? How can I be a kinder person? And that's just not who I typically am. But you make me want to be better."

Bri stares at him in silence, and he feels the nerves kick in. Maybe he completely overstepped and scared her. Should he offer to stay in a hotel room he didn't book because he planned to stay with her? Maybe he was too presumptuous to think she'd be okay with just sleeping next to him like before if she wasn't ready to have sex with him like he thought. Like he wants but can live without.

"Do you want me, Kace?"

"Yes, I do. Whenever you're ready, I'm ready, but-"

Her lips crash onto his as she flies into his arms, and he wraps his arms around her immediately, holding her in the air. Her head nods to the left. "Bed's in that room," she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her heart beats fast against his chest, and he brings her into the room. Setting her on the bed, he pulls his shirt off and smiles when stares with wide, blue eyes. "Like what you see?"

"Can I touch you?"

"You can touch all of me," he says, his voice low and husky.

Sitting up, Bri reaches out and touches his abs, her fingers running over his six-pack. "I've never seen a man with real abs before. Defined, I mean. Everyone has abs under various layers of padding."

"Your dancers have abs," he jokes.

"And they eat four almonds a day unless I force them otherwise. You eat the meals of three people at any given time."

Her amazement at his body turns him on, and he needs to relieve himself of his jeans. Slipping them off, he climbs onto the bed and kisses her, his hands running along her body before hesitating for any sign of protest.

"Kace," she says as he moves to kiss her neck.

"Yeah?"

"For the record, you can touch all of me, too."

Groaning, he slips his hand under her shirt and cups her breast, squeezing and toying. "I need to see you, Bri."

She reaches between their bodies and pulls her shirt off, and even though he knew from touching her bare skin she wasn't wearing a bra, he still stares in amazement. His lips find her right nipple, sucking the pert pink bud while he toys with the other between his fingers.

"Oh," she gasps and squirms beneath him. "That feels good."

"You've never completely lost yourself in bed before, have you?"

The flush he's learning as her tell creeps up her body, and she shakes her head. Damn that Easton Duffy.

"When I'm done, you're going to feel like jelly in the best possible way."

"And what will you feel like?"

He smirks and licks around her nipple while staring into her amazed eyes. "The luckiest man in the world."

Her hands reach down to slip into his boxers and take his cock into her small hands. Her hips rock against his leg slightly as she strokes him, and he can smell her need.

"I want to taste you," Bri says, catching him off-guard.

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