Page 8 of Power Play

I want to ask her what she does, but she walks past me toward the door. Before she can get to it, I take hold of her hand, and she looks up at me.

“I’m really,reallyfucking happy to see you, Lo,” I whisper. The smile leaves her face, her eyes big and wide as she stares up at me. I reach for her other hand, pulling her into me. “The last time I saw—” I start to say it, but to my surprise, she pushes up on her tiptoes and kisses me, fast and furious.

She covers her mouth when we separate, waiting for my reaction.

And then, before I know it, my hands are in her hair, cradling her head as my lips make sweet love to hers. One of her hands cups my face while the other presses up against my chest. I lift her off the ground and spin her around so her back is against the building.

And then I’m making out with my best friend’s little sister. For the second time. And if I’m not mistaken, she’s making out with me, too.

CHAPTERFOUR

lo

Fuck.Fuck. Fuckety-fuck.Fuck.

How is this even happening?

How thefuckam I making out with Levi Buckagain?

He must feel the internal panic, because we come apart, and he lowers me back to the ground.

“Jesus, Lo,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine. “I thought that after the last time we were, uh, together…and you…”

How did I let this happen again?

Well, actually, I know exactly how. Because he was about to start talking. And if he talked, he would ask questions. Questions I don’t want to answer. Ever.

So I did what any desperate woman would do. I used myassets.

I realize now, judging by the bulge in his pants as he holds me against him, that I have a few more of those assets than I did when I was a teenager.

But still. Best friend’s little sister probably doesn’t compare much to the women he’s probably seen in the league. Models and actresses. Women who actually have their shit together. Women with good taste and careers. Women who have time to shave their legs on a regular basis. And not just to the knee. Like, all the way.

Speaking of not having my shit together, he doesn’t know just howmuchI don’t. And I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can. I know he doesn’t know about Harper yet. And the longer I can keep that up, the better. In fact, maybe I can keep it up for next few weeks until his game. Until he’s back out of our lives. Maybe Harper and I will skip out on the party tomorrow…

He’ll see pictures around the house. He’ll figure it out. But at least I wouldn’t be there to have to explain anything. My dad can tell him the story that everyone else heard. I had gone to a college party with Becky a few weeks before prom. I’d hooked up with some random guy whose name I didn’t even know. And I got pregnant.

He’ll have questions. He’ll speculate. But I won’t be there to explain anything. And then he’ll be gone, back to his magical life. And I can go back to mine.

I look up at him one last time, soaking in the last few moments of my risqué alley tryst with a professional hockey player before I snap back to reality. But God, he really is gorgeous.

“I gotta get home,” I say, taking my hands from his and heading toward the door. Before I walk through it, I turn back to him. “It was so good to see you, Levi.”

He nods, but I walk through the door before he can say anything else.

I creep through the front door as quietly as I can so that I don’t wake up my dad or Harper. I tiptoe across the foyer and up the stairs, careful to stay on the outsides of them so that they don’t creak. I pause at Harper’s door, cracking it open just a tiny bit so I can check on her. She’s sleeping with her hands under her cheek. Like a literal angel. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by how much I love her that I fight back tears.

I think about the way she came into my life, the way I grew her, and the world seems to still. Everything is drowned out except for her breathing. She saved me.

I close her door and go to my room at the end of the hall. I open the door, slip inside, and lean up against the wood. I close my eyes and picture us there in that alleyway. I feel his hands on me, in my hair, his lips on mine.

I feel that heat pool between my legs as I sink to the floor.

Ugh.Why didhehave to be the one there that night? Why did he have to be the one to see what he saw? I would havelovedto have seen where tonight could have gone. I cover my face in my hands. But just as I’m about to stand, my phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s a number I don’t have, and I panic a little, seeing as how my brother is still out somewhere.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Skipping out on me twice now, Calway?” he asks, and I freeze. It’s Levi.

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