Page 389 of The Morally Grey Billionaires Boxset

Rick

She stumbles into me. Her sweet honeysuckle scent teases my senses and goes straight to my head. Her gaze widens; she looks up at me and her pupils dilate. "Wh-what are you doing?" she whispers.

"The ring means something to you, hmm?"

She swallows, then holds up her hand and looks at the circle of diamonds. "I don’t want it to. It’s an empty gesture, so the rest of the world can believe our farce, but from the moment you slipped it on my finger"—she laughs, a low confused sound—"it felt like we were connected."

"I felt it, too."

She jerks up her chin. "You did?" She swallows.

"Do you still have feelings for that douchebag, Dennis?"

She hesitates. And it’s as if she’s plunged a sword into my chest. Anger sparks at my nerve-endings; my chest tightens.

She must see something on my face for she shakes her head.

"You’re misunderstanding. I told you I was in love with him when we were in a relationship.

And at least according to how I felt then, I thought I was in love.

I know now it probably wasn’t. But I’m still upset from walking in on him with another woman, someone who was my friend, no less. "

"She was your friend?" I frown. Why the hell didn’t I know about this?

"Was. She worked at the same agency as me. She worked on different accounts, and we competed to get promoted in the company…for awards…to win the biggest accounts. I thought we were friends, but I guess she didn’t.

Which became painfully clear when she decided my personal life wasn’t off limits, ya know?

" Hurt clings to her expression. The sides of her lips draw down.

"When I think about it now, I realize it wasn't so much that I was sad to lose Dennis.

It was the betrayal that hurt—the idea that two people I trusted, two people I considered allies, would do something behind my back that they knew would hurt me…

She was a colleague. I thought of her as a friend, but she viewed me as an adversary.

" She sighs. "I don't know, I suppose it was my fault. I was so focused on building my career, I didn’t have enough time for Dennis and—"

"Stop. Don’t blame yourself for what happened.

No matter what went down, I know you gave it your best shot.

She's a bitch and never deserved to have a friend like you. And it’s Dennis's fault that he didn’t understand you and support you.

If you’d been mine, I’d have never allowed you to get hurt.

I’d have done everything in my power to make you happy.

I’d have supported your career, and been there for you emotionally, mentally"—I bend my knees and peer into her eyes—"physically. "

She swallows. "When you say these words with such conviction, I’m almost sure you mean it."

"I never say anything I don’t mean."

"And the way you always know what to say to calm me down, it’s just…" She shakes her head. "It’s so right."

I massage the muscles at the base of her neck which have wound up as we've been talking. I dig my fingers into the tendons and work out the knots.

She sighs and melts into me. "Thanks." She pushes her forehead into my chest, then wraps her arms about my waist. "That feels so good."

I bring up my other hand and continue to knead her back, her shoulders, then the dip at the base of her neck. "Oh my god," she groans, and the blood drains to my groin.

She makes a humming sound at the back of her throat, and my cock instantly lengthens. My balls tense, and my pulse rate speeds up. She moves in closer, and when her pelvis cradles the tent at my crotch, she freezes. "Umm… You’re."

"Ignore it," I say through gritted teeth.

She looks up at me, and her eyes are languorous. Her features are flushed. "I want to help, but I have my period."

"So?"

She blinks. "There’s… a lot of blood down there."

"I’m not one to shy away from a rainbow kiss, baby."

Her features turn as red as the blood she referred to. "You mean you’d—"

"Kiss your pussy while you’re on your period? Absolutely—"

"—not." She begins to back away, but I tighten my hold on her. "Where do you think you’re going?"

"Oh, um, I don’t think it’s sanitary, you putting your mouth down there when I’m…you know—" She winces a little.

I frown. "What’s wrong?"

"Cramps, that’s all. I get them when I have my period. Also, my breasts get tender.” I glance down at the jut of her chest. “And my legs hurt sometimes, and I feel all bloated and yucky, so—"

"So you’re not in the mood to fuck."

She winces again.

"It is fucking, isn’t it?" I watch her reaction closely.

"Only fucking," she says in a remote voice, and it pisses me off. And I don’t know why. It is fucking. That’s all there can be between us.

So, why do I want to kiss that sad look off her face, and smooth out the furrows in her forehead, and hold her close and soothe and tell her…

what exactly? That we're no longer playing make-believe? That I'm developing feelings for her?

Which is why I told her I was setting boundaries, in the first place. I'm running scared. I can face down a puck traveling at 170 miles per hour, but at the first sign she's getting to me, I'm ready to run?

No, I'm not a coward. I have other things I need to focus on. I can’t let this go any further, but I also can’t turn my back on her. Not when we convinced Grams to go in for her surgery. Once she’s completed it, then perhaps, I can break off this engagement and focus on proving myself in hockey.

Hockey is the one thing I’ve always wanted in life, the one thing I haven’t been able to have.

I had to settle for an alternate career, and it always rankled me that I couldn’t pursue my dream of leading my team into the finals of the Cup.

And while the League isn’t the Cup, it's as important in this part of the world.

It'll give me a chance to redeem myself in my own eyes. Give me a chance to be noticed among my peers around the world. This is the chance I’ve been waiting for.

The only chance I'll get. I only have a few more years left of playing professionally on the ice.

I cannot afford the distraction that comes with getting involved with a woman. I almost fucked her… but it cannot go further than that. I release her, then step back. "Lay down."