Page 97 of Heated Rivalry 1
“You should,” Shane said. “Have you looked into—?”
“We should get married,” Ilya said.
“What?”Shane flushed right down to his toes.
“Not to each other,” Ilya said. Then he started laughing and couldn’t stop.
“Iknewyou didn’t mean to each other,” Shane lied.
When Ilya finally stopped laughing, he said, “I can marry an American girl. You should get married, Hollander. You want children, yes?”
“I’ve already told you... I don’t want to marry...anyone.”
“There is a nice Russian girl in Boston. American, I mean. But from Russia. Svetlana. I like her. I could marry her, I think.”
“Oh.”
“She is...what is word?...sensible. Marriage would be like business deal, yes? Just until I am citizen.”
“You don’t love her, then?”
“No,” Ilya said quietly. He sounded like he was falling asleep. “Not her. No.”
Shane knew he should end the call, let Ilya get some sleep. But instead he blurted out, “You should come to the cottage this summer.”
“Cottage? What are you talking about, Hollander?”
“My cottage. In Ontario. You’re not going back to Russia, so...come to my cottage with me. It’s quiet, and beautiful and...private.”
For a moment, Ilya didn’t say anything, and Shane thought he really had fallen asleep.
“I will think about it,” Ilya said finally.
“Okay.”
“I am tired.”
“Yeah, I can tell. Get some sleep, all right?”
“Yes. Good night, Hollander.”
They ended the call and Shane sat on his bed for a while after, not moving. It occurred to him that they’d just had an entire conversation that hadn’t been about sex at all, and was barely about hockey.
It also occurred to him that his heart was beating like he was in the middle of a run, and his mouth was dry. He hadactuallyjust invited Ilya to his cottage! The fact that he had even done that was absurd, but what if Ilya actually accepted?
What if he had Ilya all to himself at Shane’s favorite place in the world? If there was no one to interrupt them, no one to hide from, no one to remind them of all the reasons they shouldn’t want each other...
It would be too much. Shane would never be able to hold back everything he had been trying to pretend he didn’t feel. He would blurt something out that he would never, ever be able to take back.
He’s never going to be your boyfriend, Shane.
Oh god. Thatwaswhat Shane wanted, wasn’t it? He didn’t just want to be Ilya’s dirty secret. He didn’t want their relationship to be nothing but sex. He wanted to comfort Ilya when he was sad, and talk to him on the phone, and snuggle together on the couch and watch movies. He would take the short phone call they had just shared over any of their sexual encounters.
Well,almostany of their sexual encounters.
Shane groaned and fell back on his bed, covering his face with his hands. He wassuperfucked.
Chapter Twenty
