Page 156 of Save Your Breath

“What exactly are you proposing?”

I sat up straighter, hope ballooning in my chest. “Simple — I want you teach me how to break a woman’s back in bed.”

“There are magazines for this, you know,” she shot back. “And YouTube.”

“You think I haven’t tried that?” I grabbed the back of my neck. “You think I’m not embarrassed as fuck to admit to anyone, least of allyou, that I’m still a virgin?”

Something sparkled in her eyes at that.

“I mean, unless you count the one time a puck bunny let me stick it in her butt, which I don’t, because it was in a room with three other guys getting to do the same thing.”

Livia barked out a laugh. “Okay, I want that story someday, but while we’re on limited time… why do you want this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I shrugged. “I’m a professional athlete. I go out at least twice a week and have girls hanging all over me, but I can never land the deal. Either I run them off with my pathetic attempt at flirting or I get them home and fucking choke.” I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head as I looked at the ground. My jaw was really numb now, and I knew she needed to do her work before it wore off. “I’m hopeless, alright? Somehow, I figured my shit out on the ice. I’m in the NHL now, no longer being sent down to the AHL, and I’ve got a lot to offer someone. I just… I can’t prove that if I can’t get past first base.”

Livia’s gaze softened.

“Plus, I’m horny.”

She scoffed at that.

I beamed with my broken-tooth grin, swallowing down the fact that the woman I’dmostlike to prove myself to was her. But I couldn’t admit that — at least, not yet. Maybe one day she’dsee me as more than an annoying fly buzzing around her, but for now, I just needed her to see enough to give me this.

Livia tongued her cheek. “What’s in it for me?”

“What do you want?”

“A million dollars.”

I laughed heartily, but then coughed and choked a little when I realized she was serious.

“You’re kidding,” I tried.

“Not even a little bit.”

I blinked at her.

“Listen, I make good money. I’m a dentist. But at this point, all my best friends are married to, or seriously dating, a millionaire. And then there’s Mia, who will probably hit a billion soon. And judge me if you want to, but I’m a bad bitch just like the rest of them. I deserve to jet set around the world, dress myself in diamonds, and buy myself a bougie ass car on a man’s dime just because.”

“Done.”

The word was out of me even before her little speech finished. The truth was she didn’t need to convince me, but I did agree with her. She deserved to be spoiled. If she let me, I’d happily give her the passwords to all my accounts and watch her drain every single one. Besides, I’d just signed a new contract with the team, one that guaranteed me more money in the coming seasons and came with a fat signing bonus, too.

What the hell was I going to spend that money on that would be better than bedroom lessons from Livia fucking Young?

Liv tilted her head like she didn’t believe me, or like she didn’t think I realized she was dead serious.

“You’ll give me a million dollars,” she said, deadpan.

“I’ll give you two.”

Her eyes shot wide at that. “Two-million dollars, and all I have to do is help you unleash your freak?”

“See?” I waved my hand toward the space between us. “Tell me this isn’t a deal you can’t refuse.”

She tapped her chin with one long, dark red nail, and I wondered what it would feel like to have those nails digging into the flesh on my back.

“No one else knows,” she said.