But as loud as that feeling is in my brain, and as much as he makes me feel like my body’s catching fire from the inside, neither sensation is loud enough to drown out the voice that’s shrieking at me to keep my distance.

I did everything I could to keep these worlds separate for a good reason. But now that they’ve collided, it’s like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Because honestly? If it weren’t for the fact my dad is his coach, I wouldn’t have a problem with any of this. And I probably would’ve let Declan repeat all the things he’s done to me already and more by now.

But my dad is his coach, and he’s made it abundantly clear that all hockey players—but especially ones on his team—are off limits.

It’s an impossible situation. Declan’s doing too well on the team to get traded, and my father isn’t anywhere near retirement age. So where the hell do Declan and I go from here?

Even if I wanted to give him a chance—and god help me, I do, as much as I’m trying not to let it show—I can’t.

We can keep doing this sexy, fun, back-and-forth dance on the edge of a knife all we want, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re going to keep coming back to square one.

“Aaron’s not right for you,” Declan says, shaking his head softly. My heart pounds even harder as if fighting to break free of my chest.

“Why not?” I ask, even though I’m not sure I should. But I need to hear his answer. I need to hear him say what I already know.

My breath comes in ragged fits through my nose while I wait, and he smirks as he rests his hand on my collarbone. His thumb traces the outline of it, making me shiver. My skin burns from his touch like it’s red-hot, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it’s searing me. But Declan finally breaks the silence.

“Because no one is right for you but me,” he says, his voice low and full of the same heat that’s been radiating off him since I stopped him. “And I think you know it as much as I do, you just can’t admit it—yet.”

Every inch of my body is alive with awareness, from the places where his skin touches mine to the spaces between us that ache to be closed. And my heart is hammering in time to the word that’s on repeat in my mind.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.