Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2)

by Rachel Reid

But he didn’t want to stop, or even slow down, until Rozanov did. Rozanov smoked, for fuck’s sake. Shane could beat him.

Ilya: You are very bad at sexting. Jane: Who taught you that word? Ilya: Your mom.

“Do you like them?” Rozanov asked after a minute of silent eating. “What? The tuna melts?” “No. Girls.” Shane was caught off guard. “Oh. Sure. Yeah. I like them. Of course.” This bit of stammering did not match the answer that first popped into Shane’s head, which was: not really.

“I like girls.” “Yeah, no shit.” “But I also like you.” “Well, lucky me,” Shane grumbled. “Not as a person, of course,” Rozanov teased. “But you have a good mouth.”

Ilya had also slipped in an “and on top of everything, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you and I don’t know what to do about it.”

He would take the short phone call they had just shared over any of their sexual encounters. Well, almost any of their sexual encounters. Shane groaned and fell back on his bed, covering his face with his hands. He was super fucked.

“Was he? What you needed?” “No. I mean, sort of. But...” “Did he hurt you?” “No. He just wasn’t...” Ilya needed to hear it. “Wasn’t what?” Shane clenched his eyes shut and said, “You. He wasn’t you.”

“I’m fucked,” he murmured in Russian. “I am so fucking in love and it’s horrible.”

“Fuck you and your loon!” Ilya said. “Stupid Canadian wolf bird.”

But what if you played there and we...changed the narrative a bit?” “The what? What the fuck with these words, Hollander? I’m tired.”

“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 was wearing a Boston Bears T-shirt. Shane made a face. “That’s not going to help.” “Oh, do they not know I play for Boston?” Shane rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

“You didn’t ever let him win, did you, Shane?” “God, Mom! No!” Ilya laughed. “He does not need to let me win.” “I would never,” Shane said quickly. “The team comes first. Always. And besides, I like beating him.” Mom was frowning at him, not quite believing his words. “When you and Dad play Yahtzee, do you let him win?” Shane asked desperately. “Never,” Mom smiled, maybe understanding. She seemed to relax.

“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.”

what Scott did, when he, um, kissed his boyfriend?” Shane couldn’t believe he was saying this. He hadn’t even told Ilya this. “That changed something inside me. It was...huge. It made me...want to try. Made me want to be braver, and to let myself try to be happy.”

Ilya felt that, if he hadn’t quite been already, he would be welcomed into Shane’s family, and that was no small thing. In fact, to Ilya, who had barely been welcome in his own family, it was huge.

He wanted to tell Shane that the closest he felt to home was when he was with him.

Jesus. Ilya needed to buy a thank-you gift for Shane’s yoga instructor.