Page 44 of Risky Play

“Right,” he said, but in the dark of my bedroom, I saw the way his jaw ticked.

“It doesn’t have to be weird,” I tried to convince myself more than him.

I couldn’t make it weird with him. We were just becoming friends, and I didn’t want to ruin it because we had sex. But my heart was already whispering feelings at me.

“Right. Yeah,” he muttered.

I eyed him. “It doesn’t.”

“Okay, sweet pea. It was good for you, right?”

“Definitely. I’m glad it was you.”

Instead of answering, he kissed me again, cradling my face in his hands like I was something to be treasured. This was all we could have, so I savored the feeling of his lips on mine. When he pulled away, he wrapped his big arms around me, and we fell asleep in my cramped twin bed together, pretending we could have more than this one night together.

Chapter Twelve

MATT

I stared up at the ceiling in Maddie’s dorm room and tried to think of my next move. My neck had a crick in it from sleeping on her tiny twin bed, but as uncomfortable as it was, I didn’t want to leave. Not with how she curled around my neck like that spot was where she belonged.

But I had to go, and I was about to leave without saying goodbye. Because I wasn’t supposed to sleep with her, and now I had to pretend like this didn’t change anything.

I carefully untangled her from around my chest and slid her head back onto her pillow. I crawled out of bed as quietly as I could.

I had zero regrets about our night together, but taking her virginity made me feel like it shouldn’t have been me. She was my teammate’s baby sister. Not just any teammate but my mentor’s sister. The guy who invited me into his home and gave me pointers on my game. The one guy on the team that I trusted with anything. And what did I do to repay him? Snuck out and slept with his sister. If Noah found out, my body would be at the bottom of the Schuylkill River.

I found my phone, changed back into my clothes from last night, and walked out of her suite. I pulled out my phone and brought up a rideshare app. I had to be at morning skate, and I was on the opposite side of the city, so SEPTA was not a choice.

I ordered a car and groaned at the rate. Panic coursed through me when I saw a text from Noah.

NOAH: Yo dude. You riding with me?

NOAH: ??

NOAH: Did you come home last night?

Fuck me.

ME: Sorry. Crashed at a friend’s last night. See you at morning skate.

I waited for the car to arrive, and once inside, I let my thoughts marinate inside my brain. I shouldn’t have left without saying anything, but I couldn’t be late for morning skate. I didn’t want to get benched again. It was still a dick move, though, and she didn’t deserve that.

I liked Maddie. I really did. I liked how she helped me do that ad, even though she had still been pissed at me for what happened at the wedding. She was honest about her joys and passionate about her work with Dinah. It was refreshing when she pushed back at me when she thought I’d shame her for her reading choices. I especially loved that she knew more about hockey than those douchey pylons she wanted to hook up with.

But as much as I liked all those things about her, or loved her pretty smile and how it lit up the room, she was still my teammate’s sister. And we could never ever have a repeat of last night, no matter how much we both wanted it.

When I got to the arena, I rushed into the locker room and shed my clothes for my equipment. There were only a couple of guys still milling around the locker room. Some teams got rid of morning skate, but LaVoie kept it, making it optional. If you were a rookie like me who wanted to make sure you stayed on the team, you knew that meant it was mandatory.

Benny was lacing up his skates when I pulled on my jersey.

“You okay, Cally?” he asked, a dark eyebrow raised at me.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

Huge lie.

“You sure? Because you look like you got a lot on your mind.”