Page 8 of Risky Play

“Why not?”

“You should reserve that for someone special!”

“Why should I do that?”

Why did people think virginity was this sacred thing? I wanted to get it over with, and it didn’t matter who it was with. I had no illusions that Matt and I would fall madly in love after one night; I would have been content with never seeing him again.

“If you waited this long, you should save it for someone who means something,” he explained.

I rolled my eyes. Again with the idea of virginity being something special. “My brother drives away every single guy I’m interested in. I want to get it over with.”

He frowned. “Wait, which brother? I thought you had three?”

I shook my head. “No, just the one. It’s great being constantly known as ‘Noah Kennedy’s baby sister.’ ‘Don’t go out with Maddie Kennedy. Her brother might drop the gloves on you.’ It’s been super fucking great.”

He looked green. “Your brother’s Noah Kennedy?”

“Yeah? Who did you think I was?”

“Fuck me,” he sighed and rubbed a hand across his clean-shaven jaw. “I thought you were Dinah’s little sister. No wonder Noah was staring daggers at me.”

“You thought I was Dinah’s little sister? Why? Because we both have dark hair? Are you serious?”

How could he think Dinah was my sister? Sure, we were both white girls with dark hair, but I was tan and lanky, whereas Dinah was petite and paler than a ghost. He did come off as a cocky hockey player, though, and sometimes they didn’t pay that much attention. That was mean, but I was a jock, and I recognized that some of us…fulfilled the stereotype.

He pulled his pants back on, and I wanted to cry that he was rushing out of here—not because we didn’t have a condom, but because I was his teammate’s virgin sister. Why did I let that slip?

He didn’t say goodbye. He let the door slam behind him as he literally ran away from me.

At least he made me come when he went down on me. That was better than nothing.

I lay in the bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about how my life got to this point. Would I ever get out of the shadow of my older brother? Probably not. Maybe moving to the same city as him wasn’t the best idea.

I let tears roll down my cheek. I understood why Matt freaked out about Noah being my brother. It was the same story I’d dealt with my whole life. No guy wanted to break the stupid hockey code. It didn’t mean I couldn’t be pissed about it.

I let myself wallow for a bit until I decided I wasn’t going back downstairs. I had grabbed my purse off the back of the chair before we snuck up here, so there was no need to return. I changed into my pajamas and checked my phone.

I saw a ton of social media notifications. Earlier, I forced Dinah to let me post a selfie together on her profile. I loved Dinah, and she was a talented writer, but the admin stuff, like posting on her socials, was not her forte. I, however, had amassed a big following in the book community, so I was trying to teach her my ways.

I scanned down the list of comments on her post.

Can’t wait for your next book!

OMG you look amazing!

OMG is that MaddieKReads?!?

I logged out of her account and went to my own, where I reposted the photo and wrote my own caption.

Not so secret secret for you all! You know that one of my fave authors is Dinah Lace, but she’s also my new sister-in-law. I don’t know what she sees in my brother, but I love them both so much.

Almost instantly, I saw a text come through from said writer.

DINAH: Your brother’s asking where you went, but I just saw Cally come back into the ballroom and then flee.

ME: I don’t want to talk about it. Tell Noah I wasn’t feeling well.

She didn’t answer, so I thought that meant she had dropped it until ten minutes later when there was a knock at my door. I sighed and opened it, only for it to be pushed open by a meddling bride and her two friends.