Page 51 of False Play
Her shrug was nonchalant. “Who doesn’t?”
“Oh?” That piqued my interest. “Kennedy Jones, are you freaky in bed?”
She straightened her shoulders, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she looked flustered. “Let’s add not talking about our sex lives to our rules.”
“All these rules.” I sighed. “You sure know how to have fun.” I grabbed a few wings and placed them on her plate then grabbed a few for myself.
She gave me a dry look but didn’t say anything.
We ate in silence for a few minutes, then she broke the silence by stating, “We need to come up with a break-up date.”
Before I could reply, she stood from her chair and went to her room. A few minutes later, she appeared in my line of vision, wiggling a piece of paper and a pen in the air. “For our trusty contract.”
I laughed.Goddamn. I should have known she was talking about a literal contract. She was ridiculously endearing. My heart fluttered at the thought. Everything she made me feel was,oh so dangerous, but I never wanted it to go away.
“Does this mean you agree to my stipulation?” I asked.
She nodded.
The nod alone made my heart skip a beat with excitement.Fuck, yeah. Going out with her—even if it was fake—was exciting. And I was at a point where I would take whatever she was willing to give me.
“Okay, then,” I pondered. “We could date until the end of the season?”
Her eyes met mine in surprise. “I was thinking more like until the New Year, but okay. Why until then?”
Because fake dating you sounds fun as hell.
Because I like spending time with you.
“I don’t want it to seem suspicious. And I need Coach totake me off the bench eventually. I’m hoping this will work,” I replied, opting for half honesty.
While I threw this crazy plan together to save Kennedy’s career, I did hope Coach saw the change in me and allowed me to get back on the ice before it was too late.
Playing for me was like breathing, and I was missing my source of airbadly. I missed it all. The adrenaline when I stepped on the ice. The fans and their undying support. The feel of the blade gliding through ice at an unstoppable speed. How every anxious thought didn’t exist when I put the uniform on and gave it my all.
She nodded in understanding as she started to write the rules down. She looked at me through her long, brown eyelashes. “I have one last stipulation.” She cringed. “I have a party to attend in the spring. Can you be my date?”
I shrugged. “As long as I don’t have an away game, I’m in. Is this the party Ken Doll was talking about the other day?”
Her brows knitted together. “Who’s Ken Doll?”
“That’s what I call your shitty ex.”
She tilted her head back with a laugh. The sound sent a flutter to my chest and expanded with a million tiny butterflies throughout the rest of my body. I had to fight the shiver that wanted to break through. “Oh my God, you’re right.”
“I try to be a pretty open-minded guy, Jonesy, but I honestly don’t understand what you ever saw in him.”
The mood in the room suddenly dampened. Her shoulders deflated slightly.
I internally kicked myself for onceagainputting my foot in my mouth.
Before I could apologize, Kennedy straightened her back and gave me a forced laugh. The shift was so quick, it gave me whiplash. There was no mistaking the way her stunning brown irises were missing the usual spark I liked so much.
How did she manage to mask her feelings so well?
I had no right to wonder such a thing. After all, I did the same thing. But when it came to Kennedy, it was painful to know she forced herself to live in a world where she had to act to protect herself. I understood it well, and I wanted to tell her as such. But being the coward that I was, I didn’t.
“Do you have any other rules or stipulations you want to add?” she asked. If this was the way she wanted to deter the conversation, I was going to let her.
