And that’s what made her whole body clench. She’d fallen for the guy who thought of her as a fuck buddy. Sure, they got along and had fun hanging out, but they weren’t dating—they hadn’t even gone out on a date! This should just be pheromones in action, sexual attraction getting the best of them, having a good time. Instead, her heart had gotten involved—but not his.

How in the hell had she let this happen?

She got up and started gathering her clothes, the realization making her hands shaky and her breath quick. “I can’t do this, Ian.”

She thought she could. She had before. But with him, it was different. It mattered more—she should have realized it that night in the cabin in front of the fire. Whatever was between them, it wasn’t one-night-stand material—at least not for her.

“Can’t do what?” he asked as he dropped the condom in her trash and pulled up his pants.

She waved her hand between them. “This.”

He stopped cold in the middle of her kitchen, and she watched as he transformed right before her eyes from the Ian she knew to the one who had faced off against the reporters. “I thought you were having fun.”

Fun. That’s all it was for him, and she knew this. They’d been up front from the beginning.

“It was amazing. You’re amazing.” But there was no way she could guard her heart against him. Really, it was too late for that. “I just can’t.”

He looked down at the tile floor and rubbed the back of his neck, the muscles in his jaw flexing. Tension flowed off him as he took a long, slow breath but when he lifted his head, there wasn’t a single solitary expression on his totally neutral face.

Finally, he spoke, his voice low and gravelly. “I guess I’ll go, then.”

Her whole body ached as she stood there naked in her kitchen, her clothes pressed to her middle like a shield, as he put on his shirt and started toward the door. Biting the inside of her cheek to stop from crying, she inhaled a deep breath.

It had to be done. It would be worse the longer she let this go on. She knew all of that. It still hurt like she’d been dropped from the top of the Ice Knights arena.

He was halfway out the door before she got herself under control enough to talk. “I’m sorry.”

He looked back at her, his jaw squared, his eyes focused on a spot over her left shoulder—but there was something in his eyes, a flash fight that gave her hope. She was walking toward him before she even realized it. Then it was gone and so was he, out the door, shutting it softly behind him.

And that’s when the tears finally started to fall.