Claire giggled. “Sure they were. I’m not stupid. They have sex and lots of it because I caught him with his hands up her shorts against a wall at a competition in Chicago.”

“Oh, for f**k’s sake,” Reese groaned.

Phillip said, “Claire Anderson!”

“What?” she asked innocently. “What happened?”

“Reese, language!” Rowan scolded as Reese continued to shake her head.

This was not happening. How in the world did she get in this situation? She should have stayed home! Damn it! Everyone was looking at her and to say she was embarrassed was an understatement. When Phillip’s hand laced with hers, she looked up at him, begging him with her eyes to take her home, but he just shrugged and, for some reason, calmness washed over her as she got lost in his sweet blue eyes. His mouth pulled up at the side before he turned to look at everyone and said, “So, we are sleeping together. Who cares? We are consenting adults.”

“True, but we will kill you if you hurt her,” Jakob said with a fork pointing at Phillip.

“Duly noted but no worries, don’t plan on it.”

“Good,” Reese’s dad, Blake, said before reaching for his beer.

“So no wedding bells?” Rowan asked.

Reese was about to scream hell no, but Phillip beat her to it. “Nope, we are having fun. We enjoy each other’s company. We are friends, and that’s it.”

“Yeah,” Reese added, “just friends that tend to get caught in compromising situations.”

“Fun situations, though,” he said, leaning into her playfully.

When her eyes met his again and the reminder of their fun situations came to mind, white heat coursed through her veins and she found herself breathless. His mouth pulled up at the side again, his eyes telling her that he wanted her and oh Jesus, she wanted him, even in this embarrassing moment. Something exploded in her chest, her heart swelled, and she couldn’t catch her breath. She had no clue what the feeling was, but it made her throat itch and her eyes well up with tears. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the feeling, she did. It just scared her, and she knew she had to look away. So she did as she nodded and said, “Very fun.”

And she had to keep it that way.

Hey, can you help me with something?

Phillip grinned as he read the message from Reese.

Sure.

Awesome, can you come over?

Yeah, Claire is at school.

Oh yeah, duh, cool, come on over and just come up to the main studio.

Okay, see you in a bit.

Tucking his phone in his pocket, he grabbed his keys and headed out the door. He had been waiting all day to hear from her. He was aware that it could be classified as pathetic, but he didn’t want to rock the boat by calling her every time he missed her. Which was almost every second that passed. She seemed a little weirded out by her family questioning them. Despite the fact that he tried to help with that, he was worried he made it worse. Saying that they were just friends was probably the dumbest thing he could do. He should have said they were hanging out, seeing where they would go, but his fear of losing her made it hard to say that. So instead, he lied to people that he hoped would be more than just a hockey family one day.

Running his hand through his hair as he drove to the studio, he expelled a breath as he tried to figure out what he was going to do about Reese. He wanted this to be easy. He wanted to look at her and she would know that he loved her, but he thought he was already doing that. He must not be though because she still thought they were only friends. He felt as if he had done everything short of screaming in her face that he loved her. Maybe that was what he needed to do, just admit his feelings, but he wasn’t sure he could.

It had been so long since he admitted love for someone other than his family. The fear of Reese’s rejection stung, and he hadn’t even been a victim of it yet. Knowing it could happen, though, kept his mouth shut tight. He had never been like this before. He didn’t care, he went with the flow, did what he wanted, loved who he wanted, and left all caution in the wind, but with Reese it was different. He couldn’t lose her.

Letting out a long, harsh breath, he pulled into his usual spot and got out the car, locking it behind him. Heading up the stairs, he opened the studio door and was greeted with…

“Phillip?”

He smiled as he headed to the back studio. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Okay, lock the door please!”

Turning, he went back to the door, locking it before heading to the studio. When he entered, he stopped short when he got a look at Reese. Standing in high, high platform black heels, she wore a black pair of lace short shorts and a studded diamond bra and that was it. Nothing else. Now he wasn’t one to complain when a gorgeous woman stood in barely anything, but it also confused him since it was in the middle of the day. Had she called him to get some?

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Okay, so I need your help.”

With what, getting off? he thought but then said, “With what? And why are you dressed like a stripper?”

She smiled as she ran her hands down her sweet body, sending his heart into overdrive. Fuck, she was sexy and he was deciding that coming over for sex was A-Okay with him. He felt his mouth slowly parting as she looked back up at him. “Remember that lady I saw in Chicago?” When he nodded, she continued, “Well, she asked me to come up with a dance and I’m not sure I still have it. I’ve been teaching G to PG-13-rated performers for the last couple of years so I’m worried I don’t have the R rating in me anymore. So I was wondering if you could watch and see if I turn you on.”