Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2)
Rate it:
Open Preview
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between October 13 - October 14, 2025
74%
Flag icon
The kiss felt weird, and Shane realized it was because neither of them could stop smiling. “You’re here,” he murmured.
74%
Flag icon
“Don’t tease me,” Ilya said. “I have waited too long for this.” “Mm.” Shane opened the front of Ilya’s shorts and playfully nipped at his chest. “Months.” “Years,” Ilya sighed. “Years I have wanted to have you in your real bed.” Shane froze. “Years?” Ilya wrapped long fingers around Shane’s jaw, and tilted his head up to meet his gaze. “Yes.”
74%
Flag icon
“Mine.” Ilya’s breath tickled Shane’s skin when he spoke the single word. “Yours,” Shane said dreamily. “All of this. For two weeks. Is mine.” Forever, Shane wanted to say. Forever if you ask.
75%
Flag icon
“No,” Ilya said. “I like you, Hollander.” It wasn’t an earth-shattering confession, but the words still moved Shane enormously. “I like you too, Rozanov.”
76%
Flag icon
“What? I want to know about your family! All I know is your mother is Japanese or something. Probably where you get your looks.” “Half of them, yes.” “And your dad is...boring? Is that where you get your boring from?”
77%
Flag icon
he wanted Ilya to meet his parents for the same reason anyone wanted their boyfriend to meet their parents: he loved him, and he wanted them to love him too.
77%
Flag icon
The morning light was making everything beautiful, and Shane was in love, so he had leaned in and lightly kissed Ilya’s wrist.
80%
Flag icon
“That’s not why I do this. With you. Maybe it was when we started, I don’t know, but it isn’t now and it hasn’t been for a long time.” Ilya moved the hand Shane was holding to brush the hair out of Shane’s eyes. “Okay.” Why do you do it now? He wanted to ask, but he was scared of the answer. So instead he pulled Shane down for a kiss.
80%
Flag icon
He wasn’t even sure what he wanted them to be. When his imagination was reckless enough to conjure images of the two of them together, as a couple—living together? Married?—fuck, it was ridiculous.
81%
Flag icon
Ilya shrugged, and he looked like he was possibly blushing. “I have this problem,” he mumbled. Shane waited. “I like women. I always was thinking that to get married would be nice. Kids. All of that. Someday. But...this problem will not go away.” Shane bit his lip. “Tell me about this problem.” “Is so annoying.” Ilya sighed, and Shane could see him fighting a grin. “Always I am with beautiful women. Wonderful women. Everywhere.” “Sounds rough.” “Yes. Listen. These women, they are so sexy and fun, but is no matter. I cannot stop thinking about this short fucking hockey player with these stupid ...more
81%
Flag icon
“Don’t marry Svetlana,” Shane blurted out. Ilya raised an eyebrow. “Just...don’t. I know it wouldn’t be...for love or whatever. But don’t. I couldn’t—we can figure something else out, okay?” Ilya looked surprised, but he nodded. “Okay.”
82%
Flag icon
“And maybe...someday. When we both retire. We can...be together. For real.” Ilya looked stunned by that part. “You really think that far ahead, Hollander?” “I do about this.” “You want that? To be together?” “I do. So much it terrifies me.”
82%
Flag icon
But Ilya turned back and quickly rolled on top of Shane and was kissing him and kissing him and kept murmuring the same thing in Russian over and over again until he pulled back and translated: “I love you.” Shane froze. And then Ilya froze. “Holy shit,” Shane whispered. It wasn’t how he had meant to respond. “I...” Ilya’s eyes were so wide and so scared. “I love you too,” Shane said. Ilya gave a shaky smile and exhaled. “Thank Christ.” “Does it...does it feel like agony for you too?” Ilya started to nod, then stopped. He shook his head slowly instead. “Not anymore.”
82%
Flag icon
Ilya felt like his smile was going to split his face. He was overwhelmingly happy. Shane was beaming up at him, eyes bright and freckles crinkled, and Ilya loved him. And Shane loved him. Holy fucking shit. Shane Hollander is in love with me. He wanted to kiss him, but he couldn’t stop looking at him.
82%
Flag icon
Ilya got the urge to pin him down, as if he would disappear if Ilya didn’t keep a tight grip on him.
82%
Flag icon
“This is real, yes?” Ilya asked. He just had to make sure. “It’s real,” Shane said. His voice was low and adorably scratchy. “I feel like... I am dreaming?” “You’re not. I love you.”
83%
Flag icon
“Good night, Hollander.” “I love you.” “I love you too.” “Mm. Can you say it in Russian again?” Ilya pulled Shane’s hand to his lips and kissed his fingers. “Ya lyublyu tebya.” “Ya-loo-blue-tee-baa,” Shane murmured back. Ilya laughed, and turned off the lamp.
83%
Flag icon
The sun shone on every inch of Shane: his skin, his hair, his freckles. He looked so achingly beautiful and happy.
84%
Flag icon
Ilya loved these rare moments that Shane was able to get out of his head and just let go. He loved that he could make Shane do that. He loved Shane. God, he loved Shane.
84%
Flag icon
“Is it okay if I tell you I love you again?” Ilya asked. His crooked smile was adorably shy. Shane smiled back. Hell, he probably beamed back. “It’s okay.”
86%
Flag icon
“I have been with lots of women. That was not...fake. But...” He looked at Shane, and Shane held his breath. “I have only been in love with one person.”
87%
Flag icon
Ilya took his hands and rubbed his thumbs soothingly over the backs of them. “We are good here, yes?” he said. “Your family is here. And your boyfriend. And we are okay here.” Shane raised his head slightly. “Boyfriend?” Such a ridiculous word. Such a ridiculous, wonderful word. Ilya shrugged and grinned. “I think, yes?” “Yes.”
87%
Flag icon
“Since their rookie season,” Shane heard his mother say. “I can’t believe it.” “Looking at them now, I kind of can,” his father said.
87%
Flag icon
“Oh, wow,” Shane said. “That is strong. I might need some cranberry juice or something.” “If you mix that with cranberry juice I will drown you in the lake.”
87%
Flag icon
“This has been the weirdest day of my life.” Ilya wanted to tell Shane that it had been one of the best days of his life.
87%
Flag icon
He wanted to tell Shane that the closest he felt to home was when he was with him. It didn’t matter if it was in a hotel room, or Ilya’s apartment, or at that weird hideout building Shane bought in Montreal, or here at Shane’s cottage; he was himself when he was with Shane. He’d left Russia, he was uneasy in America, and he’d spent his entire adult life drifting between continents and between lovers. But now he had been reeled in by this annoying Canadian, and all that he knew was that he wanted to stay. He wanted to anchor himself to Shane and just...stay.
88%
Flag icon
No more booty calls while he was on the road. He was going to give it all up for this chance at something lasting. For the chance to hold the heart of the beautiful man who was exhaling Ilya’s name like it was the most important word in the world.
88%
Flag icon
“And when I retire,” Ilya said, “after I have won twelve Stanley Cups and thirteen MVP awards—” “The hell you will.” “And you have been retired for, like, eight years already because you got very bad at hockey...” Shane laughed. “Okay.” “Then I will bring you to that dock out there. I will have hundreds of candles all over it...” “That sounds like a fire hazard.” “Is on the water, Hollander. Fucking relax. Will be beautiful, you will love it. The candles. The lake. The full moon.” “Oh, is it a clear night?” “Yes. Of course. And I will get on one knee—” “Ilya—” “And I will say, ‘Shane ...more
89%
Flag icon
“And you will say yes, because you are a nice, helpful guy.” “No,” Shane said, taking his hands. “I will say yes because I will still be madly in love with you. And I’ll want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
89%
Flag icon
“Does this mean I get to see your apartment in Montreal? Your real one?” “You can even keep a toothbrush there. I’m going to sell that other place. I was being paranoid when I bought it. I’m sorry.” Ilya grinned. “Buying an entire building because you are nervous is very you.”
89%
Flag icon
“I want to tell everyone,” Ilya said. “Right now.” Shane’s eyes went wide with panic. “No! Don’t. We have to stick to the plan.” Ilya sighed dramatically. “You and your plans. What if I just kissed you on the mouth at the next All-Star Game?” “I’ll punch you. I swear to god.” “You wouldn’t. Not if I kissed you like this.” Ilya cradled Shane’s face in one hand, his thumb brushing Shane’s cheekbone, and kissed him. He took his time, and finished with little nips to Shane’s bottom lip. Shane, already boneless from the blow job, fell heavily against Ilya’s chest.
89%
Flag icon
“Let’s go to bed.” “It’s four in the afternoon.” “Yes, but when I am done with you it will be bedtime.”
89%
Flag icon
“Come upstairs. You can kiss me and tell me about Ottawa. And maybe get me off because I am fucking dying.”
90%
Flag icon
“Oh no!” Ilya mocked him. “How can I impress Montreal’s fifteenth best player?” “Shane, I’m gonna punch him.” “Don’t.” “I’m gonna punch him.”
90%
Flag icon
“Please don’t punch him.” “I’ll make a deal: if he stops being a fucking dick, I won’t punch him.” Shane grimaced. Ilya was definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow.
92%
Flag icon
Ilya hadn’t been kidding about wanting to marry him. And not for citizenship, of course. He wanted to be Shane’s husband, and to live together, and maybe even raise children together. Not as many children as Hayden had, but, like, a reasonable number.
92%
Flag icon
Ilya was only about sixty percent sure he wouldn’t kiss Shane against the boards if he scored a goal off of a pass from him.
93%
Flag icon
“Stop doing that,” he hissed. “Doing what?” Ilya asked innocently. “You’re intentionally bothering Hayden.” “Am not. I have not even asked his wife what she sees in him! I am being very good.”
94%
Flag icon
Ilya kissed his forehead. “Always, moy lyubovnik.”
94%
Flag icon
Hayden looked pleadingly at Shane. “Seriously? This guy? I’ve got no problem with you being gay—” “What a hero,” Ilya said flatly. Hayden turned to Ilya. “Shane can date all the men he wants! But you are a relentless douchebag and I’ve never liked you.” “Jesus, Hayden,” Jackie mumbled. Ilya raised an eyebrow. “You should save some of that for our wedding.”
95%
Flag icon
“Nineteen,” Ilya said at the same time Shane said, “Eighteen.” Ilya shot him a curious look. “We were nineteen the first time we—” “Oh,” Shane said. “I thought the question was the first time we felt, um, sparks.” His ears were bright red and Ilya wanted to bite them. “Yes,” Ilya said. His voice had gone soft, but he didn’t care. “Eighteen, then. That’s right.”
95%
Flag icon
Last season had been agony. Ilya had still been playing for Boston, and knowing that Shane was in love with him had made keeping their secret so much harder.
96%
Flag icon
“Is this a joke to you? Or do you just get off on fucking with him?” “I do get off on fucking him. Yes.”
98%
Flag icon
“I can fuck you right here, moy vozlyublenniy.” “No. Fuck, maybe,” Shane panted. “What does that one mean?” “My horny animal,” Ilya lied.
98%
Flag icon
“I will tell the whole world right now, if it is what you want.” Shane’s brow pinched. “You would?” “Yes.”
98%
Flag icon
am serious. If we hide forever, or tell the world right now, I am with you. I will quit hockey, or fight to stay. Whatever you want.” “It shouldn’t be only my decision.” Ilya sighed. “I mean... I am yours, yes? To protect that, I will do anything.”
99%
Flag icon
Ilya Rozanov and his boyfriend, Shane Hollander. Ilya liked the sound of it. The idea of hockey commentators saying those words. Ilya Rozanov and his husband, Shane Hollander. Oooh. Better. Hollander passes the puck to his sexy husband, Ilya Rozanov... Okay. Maybe Ilya had gone a little heavy on the wine himself tonight.
“Fuck,” Shane said breathlessly. “We’re really good at that.” “The best,” Ilya agreed.
« Prev 1 2 Next »