Page 171 of Power Play

“Charm?”

Hearing my name in his voice after three days of keeping him at a distance broke whatever control I had left.

I crossed the lobby before I could think about how many people were watching and went straight into him.

Ryan dropped the duffel fast enough to catch me when I threw my arms around his neck. His hands closed around my waist and pulled me against him with enough force that my feet almost left the floor. I buried my face against the side of his neck while the first complete breath I had managed since my mother appeared at my apartment finally filled my lungs.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his mouth near my hair.

“I’m sorry.”

His arms tightened before he leaned back enough to try to see my face. I held on harder because I had spent the entire drive preparing to speak and hadn’t prepared for how it would feel when he touched me.

“Mi hada, mírame.”

“I was wrong.”

“Charm, look at me.”

“I was such an asshole.”

“Okay.” His hands remained firm at my waist even as he tried to create enough distance to see me. “Slow down and breathe.”

I finally lifted my head.

“I should have called you. I should have answered you. I shouldn’t have said any of that shit about other women because I don’t think that about you, and I knew I didn’t think it while I was saying it. I was angry because you kept stopping, and it hurt. I wanted you to hurt enough to understand how it felt.”

The softness in Ryan’s face changed into something more complicated. His thumbs moved once against my sides while he studied me, and I saw the fight from three nights ago return through his expression.

“I knew that part hurt you,” he said.

“I know you did.”

“No, I don’t think you understood.”

Shame rushed back hard enough that I looked down. “I understand now.”

Ryan’s fingers tightened slightly against my waist, but before either of us could say more, I became aware of how quiet the lobby had become around us.

Cade cleared his throat somewhere behind me.

I turned my head and discovered the four KFU guys standing exactly where I had left them, along with enough Frost players to make me want the floor to open beneath my feet.

Briggs rubbed one hand over the back of his neck. “Maybe you two should take this upstairs.”

Ryan looked over my shoulder at them and then back at me. “Yeah, we should.”

One of the Frost players nearby checked his phone before calling toward Ryan. “Bus is still midnight.”

I looked at him and then at Ryan. “What bus?”

His mouth tightened. “We’re heading to Milwaukee.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, tonight.”

The entire drive rearranged itself inside my head. I had imagined getting here, finding him after the game, and finally having enough time to say everything I should have said three days ago. Instead, I looked toward the clock above the lobby desk and saw it was already a little after eleven.