Page 68 of Meet Your Match
He wasn’t wearing headphones, and the gym was completely quiet, save for the sound of his labored breaths and the whir of the bike.
“I didn’t know the team gym was open twenty-four seven,” I said in way of greeting, folding my arms and looking around at all the equipment. I remembered spending his first day off here, watching him go through his routine with the rest of the guys before working on recovery.
Vince ignored me.
“I’m surprised to find you here, especially the night before a game,” I continued. “Figured you’d be resting.”
His watch made a buzzing noise, and he slowed his pace, sitting upright and hitting a button on the side of it. Then, he grabbed the white towel hanging over the bars and mopped the sweat off his face.
He still didn’t say a word.
I moved closer. “Look, about earlier…” I paused, because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say. “I… I’m sorry, okay? If I…” I laughed a little before finishing that sentence withhurt your feelings, because I was certain Vince Tanev didn’t have the capability of having his feelings hurt.
He slowed all the way to a stop, hopping off the bike and draping the white towel around his neck. He grabbed a wipe next, cleaning the bike seat.
Then, he strode right past me on the way toward the exit.
A voice in the back of my mind told me I should apologize. No, it urged me togrovel, to admit I was wrong and immature for playing whatever stupid game I had been playing at the restaurant. I shouldn’t have said what I’d said.
But I did, because I had to. Ineededto. It was the only way to protect myself.
Everything was such a mess inside me, two opposing forces battling for dominance. On the one hand, I wanted to give in, to throw myself at this man’s feet. On the other, I wanted to fight.
It was that urge that won out.
“Wow,” I said, turning to face him and watch him go. “Cool. So this is how it’s going to be now? I turn you down, so you give me the silent treatment?”
He paused then, and I noted how his fingers rolled into fists at his sides, those back muscles still rippling in the low light of the gym. Only one light was on overhead, and it bathed him in menacing shadows, highlighting the cuts in his body even more.
It was psychotic, how much I loved that I’d made him stop with those words, how much I got off on knowing I had the power to make his fists clench.
“I said I’m sorry,” I repeated.
He cracked his neck.
“Well, that’srealmature, Vince,” I said, tonguing my cheek on a laugh when he didn’t respond. “I’m so glad we’re both adults. I’m so glad—”
My next words were sucked out of the room, along with all the oxygen in it, because Vince spun on his heel and charged toward me. My heart lodged in my throat, eyes wide as I took in the snarl on his lips, the furrow of his brows.
He was a man on the edge, and I’d just shoved him over.
But I wasn’t scared.
I stood there, not moving, waiting for him to wash over me like a barrel wave that would take me down to a world I’d never known. My chest heaved with my next breath, and in four long strides, he invaded every inch of my space.
Every inch ofme.
He sucked in a harsh breath through his nose as his hand reached out for me, snatching my chin just like he had that day in Boston. His eyes flared when I didn’t pull away, when I leaned into the touch, pushing until I was sure his fingers would bruise me.
I held his stare, both of us breathing hard and shallow as he squeezed my jaw and tilted my head even higher.
It was just the permission he was looking for.
“I’ve had enough of that fucking mouth of yours,” he husked.
And then he kissed me.
We both inhaled a fiery breath the moment his lips crashed down onto mine, and he held me there like he was afraid I’d pull away. But I didn’t. Icouldn’t.
