“You know,” I said, my voice soft, quiet, “there are some people who believe an athlete should abstain from sex. That the frustration boosts aggression and energy for a game or a fight.”

Rhys lifted his head, his expression relaxed except for his eyes. “Where you going with this, Tink?”

“I just wanted to confirm that I’m not interfering with your training.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You know what my answer to that is?”

I shook my head.

Rhys gripped my waist and pulled out of me. I immediately wanted him back. “We’re going to clean up. You first, then me. By the time I get out of the bathroom, you’re going to be naked on my bed waiting for my mouth. Then you’re going to give me your mouth because I’ve been dreaming about it wrapped around my cock since we first met. And you’re not leaving my bed until both of us are fucking exhausted from coming our brains out.”

Renewed heat shot straight to my core. “That is a very, very good answer.”

He grinned, and then I squealed in delight as he hauled me off the table and carried me to his bathroom.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon coming our brains out.

And it was spectacular.

Until afterward, as I lay sated and sweaty in his bed, my legs tangled with his. I reached for him, caressing the backs of my fingers down his chest that was now damp with perspiration. “We need to come up with a game plan for Fairchild.”

Rhys’s sigh was one of pure exasperation. “I don’t want to talk about him when we’re in bed. It’s almost enough to turn me off for the rest of the day.”

I sighed with my own frustration. “He’s a problem that’s not going away anytime soon.”

“Yeah, and I’m making him my problem. No way is he going to fuck with you, and that means I don’t want you worrying about this shit.” Rhys sat up, swinging his legs off the bed.

“He’s our problem and where are you going?”

He stood but then put a knee on the bed to bend over and press a quick kiss to my lips. “Gotta train, Tinker Bell. Up to you if want to hang around. Would shower with you but we both know where that’ll lead so better I don’t.”

A flutter of nerves flickered to life in my belly as he strode into his bathroom and shut the door. It bothered me he didn’t want to talk about Fairchild when we talked about other stuff that was just as important and personal.

And suddenly, it bothered me that instead of talking about Fairchild and the fight, he’d used sex to release his frustration. Okay, the sex obviously didn’t bother me, but … well, now I felt like I’d just been dismissed.