“You’re right, I did go to Opal and Oak several times after our night together,” I start carefully.

Disappointment flashes on her face, but she tries to hide it by looking away. I duck my head, catching her gaze again.

“It’s not what you’re thinking, hummingbird. I did go back there, but not because I was looking for a hookup. I went because I was looking for you. Hoping to find you, to see you again.”

She stares at me wide-eyed, stunned. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” I reach for her hands and take them in mine. “I never hooked up with anyone else at that club.” I grimace, huffing a laugh. “Actually, I haven’t been with anyone at all since the night we spent together.”

A charged moment passes between us as her eyes rake up and down my face, looking for the smallest shred of evidence that I’m not telling the truth. But I already know she’s not going to find anything, so I just hold her hands and wait for her to reach the same conclusion.

“You’re serious,” she finally whispers, and I nod at her, stroking my thumbs across her knuckles.

“More serious than I’ve ever been about anything, even hockey. I haven’t had any interest in anyone else since then. I knew it that first night we spent together.”

“Knew what?”

“That you were going to ruin me for every other woman. And you did.” I don’t try to hide the rough edge in my voice.

Hannah’s eyes widen, and she inhales softly like she’s struggling to breathe. But I keep her hands in mine and move even closer to her, so close that I can almost feel her heart pounding against mine. I watch her chest rising and falling rapidly, see her pulse racing in her neck, and it takes everything I have not to kiss her there—not to put my lips all over her fucking amazing body. She’s so close now that with every breath I take, I inhale the soft, sweet scent of her freshly washed hair.

And the way she’s biting her lip like she’s trying to hold back the desire that’s burning in her eyes makes my cock twitch. She’s squeezing my hands so tightly that her knuckles are turning white, making me think of how they did the same thing when they were all twisted up in the sheets. Or when they were digging into the skin of my back while I was buried inside her for hours that night.