Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

Multi

Fandoms:

Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Rose Landry, shane hollander/ilya rozanov/rose landry, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Rose Landry, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Miles (Game Changers)

Additional Tags:

be warned from the beginning, this is MMF, author saw that club scene and how beautiful sophie nelisse is, and decided why not have both??, shane is bisexual, ilya is bisexual, just go with it guys I promise you'll have fun, there will be explicit sex scenes with all three of them, Rose pov

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2025-12-18 Completed: 2025-12-29 Words: 35,075 Chapters: 10/10

have your cake (and eat it too)

Summary

Rose Landry is a bit more perceptive than Shane had probably been hoping for. She happens to be looking up at his face when he spots Ilya Rozanov at the club.

She sees the heartbreak. She sees the yearning.

And she makes a decision that changes everything.

Notes

Yes, I am aware that this will not be to everyone's tastes and that people might mald that I have made Shane bisexual instead of gay. Sometimes trying something new can be fun, though, so I hope you'll give it a chance!

If you also think Rose Landry deserved better than that head pat, well, you're welcome ;)

Chapter 1

Rose smiled up at Shane, sliding her hands under his shirt, enjoying the warmth of his hands on her hips, not guiding or moving her, just holding her close. He seemed a little tense, kind of looking around. It was cute, how nervous he was.

It was only because she was watching him so closely that she noticed it. His face froze and then, his eyes widened.

She continued dancing, but turned her back so that she was dancing against him, following his gaze.

And that, over there, was Ilya Rozanov. Shane’s rival. Dancing with a very attractive blonde woman, his eyes intense as he stared back at them.

Well, that was interesting. 

Behind her, Shane was stiff, his movements stilted now that they had an audience. When she glanced back up at him, offering him a smile, his expression was pained.

He wasn’t looking at her, though. He was looking at Rozanov. He couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

And well, Rose might have been picking up a vibe. Shane’s eyes had drifted to Miles a lot, tonight. And while he was fun and sexy and super attentive, he wasn’t running his hands over her body the way Rozanov was doing to his dance partner.

He certainly hadn’t watched her dancing with the same intensity he was watching Rozanov.

That wasn’t how you looked at your enemy. Your rival.

Shane almost looked… heartbroken. Rozanov, for all that he was showing off, didn’t look much better.

Yes, very interesting indeed.

Rose took Shane’s hand. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

She twirled again, still dancing, guiding them a bit closer. Bodies moved around them. She glanced back at Rozanov over her shoulder. He was looking at her now, and his eyes swept up and down her body, lingering.

This time, when she turned, Shane’s hands were shaking slightly as they settled back on her hips. 

Rose leaned back against his chest, rolling her hips, looking down at where Rozanov’s hands were doing the same to this other woman. He slid his hands higher, and Rose put her hands on Shane’s, making them follow the same route.

She flicked her gaze up to Rozanov’s, and his gaze was heated, hungry.

She was so fucking wet. Somehow, she knew he could tell.

“What are you doing?” Shane murmured in her ear. His hands were resting just under her breasts now.

“Dancing,” she said, lolling her head back to look up at him. “It’s fun, right?”

Shane looked at her, and his expression was uncertain. She could tell he was turned on, though. She could feel how hard he was.

“Let it happen,” she told him. The club lights were dark, people everywhere. It was anonymous enough, the club exclusive enough that there would be no pictures. That was why Rose loved coming here so much. “It’s just us.”

He shot her a look. “Just us?” 

“Well.” She smiled. They both looked back at Rozanov, who seemed to be staring at Shane again. Sheesh, they were just as intense as each other.

If Shane was cute and sweet, though, Rozanov just oozed sex. It was kind of electric.

She wanted him closer.

Time to get rid of the girl.

She waited for Rozanov’s eyes to meet hers. She crooked a finger.

He raised an eyebrow at her. 

But he did relinquish his dance partner, slipping away from her, and then he was slinking closer, pausing in front of them.

She looked up at him. “Ilya Rozanov,” she purred.

“Rose Landry,” was his response. The deeply accented English made her smile. He glanced up. “Hollander.”

“Rozanov.”

Rose laughed. “Well, everyone knows everyone,” she said. “Dance with us?”

She held out a hand, and Rozanov’s dwarfed it as he took it, though he didn’t come any closer. He was looking at Shane again.

Yeah, okay, there was something here. History. Beyond just hating each other on the ice.

She was perceptive. 

She gave Rozanov’s hand a squeeze. Silent permission to come closer, to touch. To just… be there, with them.

With a reluctance that Rose didn’t take personally, he closed the gap, resting his left hand on her hip, tangling the fingers of his other hand with hers. Behind her, Shane gasped.

And then the three of them were moving. 

Rose watched them, eyes flicking between their faces. Shane’s hands were still pressed just under her breasts, and they trembled there. His face looked pained, but he wasn’t looking away, he wasn’t leaving. That was something.

Rozanov just looked conflicted, though his expression softened as he glanced down at her.

“I like your dress,” he told her.

She smiled at him again.

“I like your shirt,” she said. “Jean Paul Gautier, right?”

He nodded, winking at her. 

It made sense. Gautier’s clothing line was fucking sexy. It suited him to a T.

She reached for him, running her free hand up his chest. It was open a few buttons and she took full advantage, tickling her fingers through the slightly damp hair between his pecs.

He was so fucking hot.

At her waist, Rozanov’s thumb was drawing distracting circles on her bare skin. His eyes were heated as they looked down at her, at her breasts, held up by Shane like an offering. He looked very much like he wanted nothing more than to partake.

It was still nothing compared to the way he looked at Shane, though. Like he was a starving man. 

“Come here,” Rozanov murmured to her, tugging their interlocked hands.

And Rose turned to dance against his chest, and they both looked at Shane, both reached for him, pulling him in closer so that Rose was wedged between them.

Rozanov held her with one hand wrapped around her waist. The other, he brought up to Shane’s face, caressing his cheek. It was like Shane came alive, under his touch. His dark gaze heated, and God, the yearning in his expression. It told a whole story, a novel. He loved Rozanov. 

“So pretty,” Rozanov cooed at him. And Shane scowled.

“Fuck off,” he grumbled. 

But again, he didn’t leave. Again, he stayed, and he danced with them, and this time, his hands were moving, touching Rose, touching Rozanov, and Ilya was just as hard behind her as Shane was in front of her, and Rose was going to die.

Before the touches could get too heated, Rose grabbed a wrist of each of them and then dragged them both out to the foyer.

It was quieter there, but still private enough that they couldn’t be seen by whichever paparazzi were hovering outside.

Ilya leaned against the wall, his expression carefully blank as he looked back at her. Shane had his hands shoved in his pockets, staring at the floor.

“This,” she said, deciding to be the mature one and speak up first, “is what is going to happen.”

Neither of them said a word.

“Shane and I are going to get in a cab, and we are going to go to his place. And you, Ilya, are going to meet us there.”

Ilya blinked.

“Unless you want to come with us. It’ll cause a stir, but personally I don’t care,” she said. She put emphasis on the ‘I’. She’d never heard so much of a whisper of the two of them interacting outside a game, so whatever was going on between them, it was clearly private.

“I will follow,” Ilya conceded. “If this is what Shane wants.”

She turned to regard her sort-of boyfriend. Nothing was official. They’d just been hanging out a lot, dancing, sharing a kiss here and there. She’d gone along to one of his games, wearing his jersey. It had been fun.

But this, though, this was fucking setting her on fire. The two of them, their chemistry was off the charts. She wanted a chance to be burned, even if it was only once. She’d let Shane go after that, if that was what he wanted. She didn’t want to get between them.

It seemed like he needed this push, though. Why else would he have been dating her when this total fucking smoke show was completely gone on him?

“Shane?” she said. “Do you want Ilya to come home with us?”

God, he looked like she was torturing him. But he nodded, whispering a “yes.”

“Send the address,” Ilya said, pulling out his phone. “Real address.”

He gave Shane a pointed look, and again Shane nodded.

Rose felt her eyebrows raise. Okay, they were going to unpack that at some point, because what the fuck did that mean?

***

Shane was tense beside her the whole way back to his place. He’d cooked dinner for her there the week before, and it had been silly and fun. Now, though, it was like he was being sent to his own public execution.

She wanted to reassure him, but cab drivers were notorious gossips, and Rose had a feeling that this was something she needed to protect. Shane was trusting her a lot right now.

Instead, she just slid her hand into his and squeezed, offering him a smile when he glanced at her. His returned smile was pained.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t… I’m kind of freaking out right now.”

The cab driver’s eyes flicked up to the mirror. Nosy prick.

She patted his hand. “Later,” she said with a reassuring smile. “It’s fine.”

They didn’t even have to do anything, if Shane was actually as uncomfortable as he looked just then. She’d be fine with just… chatting. Figuring out what the hell was going on between these two.

Though she was definitely hoping for more.

It didn’t take long to arrive, and Rose tipped heavily, giving the driver a pointed look. He pocketed the hundred dollar bill she slipped him with a solemn nod.

He drove away, leaving them out the front of a large building. It was chilly, even with her large coat, and Shane wrapped an arm around her, leading her inside.

Shane let them into the penthouse and then took her coat like a proper gentleman, hanging it in the closet by the door. Rose toed off her heels with a happy sigh, and then padded into the loungeroom.

While she made herself comfortable, Shane paced in the kitchen, checking his phone every few seconds.

She observed him, hiding a smile behind her hand. It was kind of endearing; how nervous he was.

It was only a few minutes later that the buzzer was sounding, and Ilya Rozanov was walking through the door. Rose watched the way he looked around, eyes sweeping the house, a little frown on his face.

He hadn’t been here before, she realized. 

Shane followed on Ilya’s heels, and he was practically buzzing out of his skin, that tortured expression back on his face as he stared hopelessly at him.

How did anyone see them together and not know what they were to each other? She wondered. It was written all over their faces.

Ilya glanced at her, and then turned, taking Shane in.

“You are having a panic attack, aren’t you?” he observed.

“Maybe,” Shane muttered. He hid his face behind his hands, and Rose felt her chest ache a little, watching him.

Rose kind of expected Ilya to tease him, poke him out of it maybe, but instead he tugged Shane into his arms, wrapping around him. He whispered something softly in his ear, hands stroking down Shane’s spine.

And Shane folded into him. His hands were clinging at Ilya’s very pretty shirt, his shoulders shaking as he buried his face in Ilya’s neck.

Over his shoulder, Ilya looked at Rose, and she offered him a tentative smile. He smiled back.

“You are being very rude to your girlfriend, right now,” Ilya murmured, loud enough for her to hear. “Go give her a kiss, Shane Hollander.”

And well. She could definitely understand his appeal. Her pussy throbbed at his words, at the low, sexy tenor of his voice. Something about that accent was definitely doing it for her.

Shane walked towards her, dropping to kneel before her. His gaze was hot as he reached for her, gathering her in his arms and kissing her.

Fuck. Shane hadn’t kissed her like that before. It had only been sweet, teasing pecks. This was like… a possession. His tongue licked into her mouth and she moaned, clinging to his shoulders.

“Good,” Ilya said. He’d come closer, and was dropping down onto the couch beside her. Shane started kissing down her neck and she turned to look at Ilya. He smirked. It was very attractive.

She released Shane’s shoulder to reach for him, and his face cleared as he considered her hand. 

Rose knew he wasn’t here for her, but she offered it anyway. Offered herself.

Gently, he took her hand, pressing a soft kiss to the inside of her wrist. He held her gaze as he licked over her racing pulse, just a flick of his tongue.

“You’re beautiful,” she told him earnestly.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. He was sweeter than she expected, and she watched him as he started to kiss his way up her arm, until he was hovering just out of her reach, his breath fanning her lips.

He held her hand against his chest, and she could feel how fast his heart was beating. He was nervous, too, she realized. He was just better at hiding it than Shane was.

These two sweet boys.

“Come here,” she whispered, tapping his chest.

Ilya ducked down, and his lips were gentle as they swept over hers. His tongue teased her lower lip and she met it with a happy sigh, letting him kiss her.

Shane had stilled and was leaning back now, watching them. When Ilya pulled away, it was to look at him as well.

Rose held her breath.

They leaned in.

Ilya cupped Shane’s cheeks in his hands, tilting his chin up. And Shane went to him, almost climbing over her lap in his eagerness. Their kiss was… reverent. There was no other word for it. It was gentle and loving and made her feel like a voyeur. She could get off, just sitting here, fingers in her panties while they kissed like that.

“Wow,” she breathed.

It broke the spell, and they both turned to look at her. Ilya looked amused, Shane flushed. 

“You two are so beautiful together,” she said. “I kind of feel like I’m intruding.”

“You’re not,” Shane assured her. His hand was on her bare thigh, and he tapped it, though he shot Ilya a questioning look. Ilya inclined his head slightly. 

“Will be fun,” Ilya assured her. “Hot.”

Well, there was no question of that. She felt like she was on fire.

She blushed as Ilya’s eyes drifted down her body. She knew how slutty she looked right now, sprawled on Shane’s couch, her dress hiked up her thighs to make room for him, the front of her dress clinging to her breasts. 

“Stunning,” Ilya told her. Then, “come here.”

His hands were gentle as he turned, pulling her to rest back against him, so that she was sprawled between his powerful legs.

Shane followed, hovering over them. He kissed her at Ilya’s silent urging, those long fingers tucking under Rose's chin and tilting it up in offering. His other hand settled on her waist, circling again at where the cut-out revealed her skin.

She moaned into Shane’s mouth.

“Can I touch you?” Ilya asked her, nipping at her ear with his teeth.

Rose pulled away from Shane and nodded, looking back at him. Shane’s lips drifted down her neck, licking at her collarbone, before biting at the swell of one of her breasts. She whimpered. Ilya smirked.

His hands went to the back of her neck, and he deftly slid it down her shoulders, letting it fall and exposing her. She gasped as Shane wrapped his lips around one of her nipples, and Ilya captured the other between his fingers, tugging at it, palming her breast.

Ilya leaned down to kiss her hungrily, and she matched him, sucking on his tongue, biting at his lower lip. He murmured something in Russian, an expletive, she was pretty sure. His grip tightened.

She moaned again and Ilya swallowed the noise with an approving hum. He pulled away, his eyes lidded as he looked from her to Shane who was now kissing down her stomach, peeling her dress down as he went.

Shane glanced up at her. “Alright?” he asked her. His voice was husky, his expression hungry now, all of the uncertainty long gone.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Such a good boy,” Ilya said in a teasing tone of voice. Shane shot Ilya a heated look, holding his gaze as he leaned back, easing her dress off and hanging it over the back of his couch. When she glanced back at Ilya, his expression was fond, amused.

Yeah, this was definitely a thing. 

Shane wriggled back, perching between her legs. He held her gaze as his head lowered.

Rose bit at her lower lip, holding back a needy whine as he nosed at her panties.

Behind her, Ilya was also still. He held her tits in his hands but was otherwise frozen, watching Shane with heated, hungry eyes.

“Good,” Ilya said again. His voice was gravel now, rough with need. “Taste her.”

Shane’s tongue darted out, his eyes hazy with desire as he licked over the damp spot at the front of her panties, parting her folds easily with his tongue, even through the fabric.

Rose jolted, gasping and trying to hold still, letting this fucking miracle happen.

He stroked her with his tongue, eyes closed as he got into it. Ilya squeezed her breasts, his breathing hot and heavy, his cock hard as a rock where it pressed up against her ass. He started to grind against her, massaging her tits with his big, beautiful hands, and the combination of Ilya touching her and Shane’s long, teasing licks was making her melt.

She was going to come so fucking hard. Just from this. Just from them.

Shane pushed her panties to the side and began to lick her in earnest, pushing up one of her thighs, hooking it over Ilya’s to give himself some space. Ilya grasped it, holding her open for him, kissing her neck, her shoulder, licking and nipping at her ear.

Rose moaned, burying her hands in Shane’s hair, writhing between them.

Ilay was murmuring instructions to Shane, telling him what to do. “Yes, softer, like that. Mmm she liked that, did you feel the way she jolted when you sucked her clit?” And she was fucking dying, it was so fucking hot.

“Gorgeous,” Ilya whispered in her ear. “You look so beautiful like this, coming apart with Shane licking you. You like his tongue in your pussy, sweetheart?”

Fucking hell. The mouth on this man. 

“Yes,” she cried. Fuck, she was so close. One more suck on her clit and she was spiraling over the edge, moaning as she gushed over Shane’s tongue, her whole body straining and thighs shaking against the firm hold Ilya had her in, crushed against his hot body.

She trembled through the aftershocks, whimpering as Shane kept up his gentle licks, his eyes dark as they watched her face.

Eventually, she gently pushed him away and he smirked at her, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked kind of pleased with himself, and she let out a quiet huff of laughter at him.

“Was that the first time you ever made a woman come in bed?” Ilya asked him. He sounded amused.

Shane rolled his eyes. “Fuck off,” he said. There was no bite to it, however. He just looked fond, if anything.

Pleasantly tired from her amazing orgasm, she slumped back against Ilya, lounging in his strong arms. He kissed the side of her head, snuggling his face into her neck. She didn’t feel the slightest bit self-conscious, even as both of these beautiful men were fully clothed.

She held her arms open for Shane, and he immediately covered her with his body, resting his head on her stomach. She carded her fingers through his hair as she caught her breath, enjoying having them both close like this.

It was sweet.

Shane looked up at them, and the tension in his body was gone. He looked happier than she’d ever seen him, relaxed in a way that made her heart ache, a little. She liked him, more than she’d expected to.

Walking away from this was going to hurt like a bitch.

Chapter 2

Rose left them to it shortly after. She sensed they needed some time, and she told Shane to call her in the morning, kissing his cheek. He blushed and patted her on the head, and Rose laughed at him. She kissed Ilya as well, a soft peck on the cheek, and his eyes sparkled as he returned it.

“Don’t be a stranger, Rose Landry,” he murmured.

“I’d like not to be,” she admitted.

He nodded at her, and Shane walked her to the cab waiting for her out the front. He’d given her some warmer clothes to wear. Sweatpants and a hoodie. They swam on her, but it felt nice to be surrounded by his scent.

“I’ll call you,” Shane said, kissing her softly on the mouth. Then he’d closed the cab door behind her, watching her until the cab turned at the end of the street.

Leaning back against the seat, Rose sighed.

Jesus Christ. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. 

The men that they were.

As soon as she got back to her hotel, she put her phone on the charger and then snuggled into the bed, wrapping her arms around herself, her nose buried in Shane’s hoodie. Her alarm would be going off early tomorrow. Another long day on set.

As soon as she closed her eyes, they were open again, her alarm blaring.

Rose moved on auto-pilot, showering and dressing, folding Shane’s clothes and tucking them into her suitcase. She was already sipping a smoothie, in the cab on the way to set when her phone buzzed with a text message.

Shane: Hi.

The smile on her face was automatic. 

Rose: Good morning, handsome.

Rose: Sleep well? ;)

Shane: Yeah. I did actually.

She beamed at that. She wanted to giggle like a little schoolgirl.

Rose: I need details.

Shane: I don’t kiss and tell, Rose Landry.

Flirting with Shane was so much fun.

Rose: I hope he treated you like a princess.

Shane: He always does. What time will you be finished today?

Rose chewed on her lip, checking her schedule. 

Rose: I think I should be done more or less by seven. I’m only in a few scenes today.

Shane: Perfect. I’ll pick you up?

Rose: It’s a date.

She sent a string of heart eye and love heart emojis, and he responded with a blue heart and a flower. She melted. Fuck, but he was adorable.

God, she really hoped this thing with Ilya wasn’t exclusive. She had loved her time with Shane, loved the way he made her feel. And she could tell it would be similar with Ilya. He was so sweet, so lovely.

Speaking of.

She searched for his Instagram, sliding into his DM's.

Rose.landryy: Hey sexy. Did you have a good time last night?

81.rozanov is now accepting your messages.

81.rozanov: Hello Rose Landry. Very good time. You are a gorgeous woman.

Rose blushed, biting at her lip. 

Rose.landryy: Where are you right now?

The response was instantaneous. 

81.rozanov: Airport. 

He sent several crying emojis, then: Had to leave arms of beautiful man to fly to stupid Colorado.

Rose giggled at that. 

Rose.landryy: Sounds tough. I’ll give him a kiss for you later ;)

81.rozanov: Good girl.

Her phone buzzed and she closed out of Instagram to check her text messages, holding her smoothie to her burning cheek.

Shane: Wait, are you texting Ilya right now?

Rose: Maybe. Is that okay?

Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared.

Shane: Yeah.

Shane: My life is so weird.

She laughed at that and sent him a heart.

Rose: See you later, babe. I’m at set now so I have to go.

Shane: Have a good day x

She locked her phone and tucked it in her bag, thanking the cab driver. 

Time to focus on work.

***

It became a thing. She spent time with Shane when they could steal a few moments. It was sweet and he was so charming and lovely. He wasn’t super into having sex, but he liked kissing, and they spent their private time mostly just hanging out, maybe going shopping, eating out at restaurants, holding hands as they walked through town.

They were dating, but there was nothing particularly sexual about it. Rose didn’t mind it. A late-night conversation with more than a few drinks in both of them had been very revealing, with Shane admitting he kind of preferred being the peg than the hole.

Yeah, she definitely understood the Ilya thing a lot more now.

He liked her, though, liked what they were building together, and so it continued. The companionship was really nice.

The texting with Ilya was fun in a different way. Thrilling. She’d taken to sending him photos, and Ilya often reciprocated, sometimes by sending her a voice message detailing all the filthy things he wanted to do to her the next time he saw her. His voice was sinful, and she definitely had them saved on her phone for when she was alone and horny, fingering herself alone in her hotel room.

She knew he and Shane texted every day as well, though Shane was still a little shy about sharing any of the details of it with her.

They also had a group chat, now.

And well. Let’s just say she would rather die than let anyone catch so much of a glimpse of it. 

Mostly, it was innocent. She’d be out with Shane, and she’d snap a picture of him smiling and send it through. Ilya would send heart eyes and compliments until Shane would be a stammering, blushing mess, telling both of them to fuck off in that way that definitely meant something else, something much softer and sweeter.

Ilya would send them thirst traps. Working out. Running. A very memorable photo had been a mirror selfie of a towel slung low around his hips, his whole body on show, water still running in rivulets down his chest. There had been a smirk dancing on his lips.

Shane had choked on his smoothie. Rose had blushed scarlet.

They’d both left the cafe they’d been sitting in to race back to Shane’s house, and Shane had shoved Rose up against the wall, his tongue practically down her throat as he’d writhed against her, his clothed cock bringing her to the edge and over it, with him following not long after.

He’d apologized bashfully after letting her back down on the ground, and she’d just shaken her head, a little dazed.

“Never apologize,” she told him.

Shane had snapped a photo of her then, sending it to Ilya. The filthy words that had dripped from the voice message he’d sent them in response had been… well. Explicit. Direct. Descriptive. She had a much better idea of Shane’s preferences now.

So yes, she was protective of this. Of them. 

And she was conscious of how little time there was, for all three of them. Her movie was close to wrapping up, she’d be going back to her penthouse apartment in LA soon.

She didn’t want to leave Shane. And she was missing Ilya like a limb, despite only having met him in person that one time. She wanted to know him the way Shane did. Wanted to slot herself into his life the way she had with Shane.

They were going to have to talk about it. And soon.

Shane was away in New York the next time Ilya was anywhere near her. He was playing in Ottawa, and Rose impulsively decided to hire a car, booking in at a hotel near the stadium, one she heard the Boston team would be staying in.

She texted Ilya after she’d arrived and settled in.

Rose: Looking forward to watching you play tonight.

She sent him a picture of her game ticket.

Ilya: You drove to Ottawa for me, sweetheart?

Rose smiled. 

Rose: Of course. I’m not needed back on set until Monday. Decided to take a vacation.

Ilya: To Ottawa of all places?

She rolled her eyes. Men.

Rose: To you, silly. Let’s get dinner after your game. We can go out if you want. Or we can order in? Up to you.

Ilya: Either way.

Rose: Score a goal for me, tonight x

Ilya: I’ll score three. Hat trick for my favorite girl ;)

She sent him a heart emoji and held her phone to her chest, swooning. What a fucking sweetheart.

Her appearance at the game caused even more of a ruckus than going to see Shane. She saw multiple players glancing up at her, though she had eyes only for one. During warm-ups, she stood near the glass and beamed at Ilya as he skated in circles near her. He shot her a salacious wink as he tossed a puck over to her, and she caught it with a giggle.

Murmurs rose around her, but she ignored them.

“Isn’t she dating Hollander?” she heard one player say to another.

She waved at Ilya and then returned to her seat, pulling out her phone. Snapping a selfie of her in front of the rink, she texted it to Shane.

Rose: Cheering on our boy!

Shane: Hell yeah. Cheer super loud for me?

Rose: Of course x

She put her phone away, watching Ilya skate, admiring his form. He looked so fucking hot out there, even with that stupid helmet obscuring most of his gorgeous curls and pretty eyes.

He played like a demon possessed. Shane was all smooth lines and dizzying speed. Ilya was a force of nature, a hurricane barreling through players like they weren’t even there. She was spellbound, her eyes clinging to him through every shift.

And sure enough, he scored his three goals, one in each period. He didn’t look up at her, probably not wanting to fan the flames of the rumor mill any further than her presence already had, but she knew it was for her.

It was fucking hot. She maybe had a bit of a competence kink.

Boston destroyed Ottawa 5 to 1, and Ilya was grinning at his team as he stood at the exit of the rink, high fiving them all as they trudged off towards the locker room. Only once the last one had walked past did he look up at Rose, seeking out her gaze. His smile was sweet, happy, and she smiled back.

There were probably cameras pointed at them, so she didn’t blow him a kiss like she wanted to.

Instead, she just watched him as he left, pressing her legs together, the puck he’d given her clutched tightly in her hands.

Rose left, making her way back to her hotel room. She showered, bringing herself off with a hand over her mouth, pressing the heated skin of her cheek to the cool tiles as she smothered her own whimpers, her legs shaking at how powerfully and quickly she’d come.

She’d needed to take the edge off. Otherwise, she was going to jump Ilya the second she saw him, and she really, really wanted to spend some actual time with him.

After her knees had finally recovered from their jello state, she straightened and finished her shower, getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a low, sexy top. 

Her phone already had a text from Ilya on it.

Ilya: I made us a reservation. Text me your room number.

Rose: 1804.

Ilya: Be right there.

A few minutes later, she heard a knock at her door. Perfect timing.

She opened the door, letting him in.

“Rose,” Ilya murmured, leaning down to kiss her cheek. She clutched his shoulders, feeling her stomach swoop.

He smiled against her skin.

“You played well,” she whispered.

He hummed his agreement. “I had a very beautiful woman watching me,” he said, pulling back slightly. “Had to show off a bit.”

She rested her chin on his chest, smiling at him, charmed.

“Let’s go to dinner,” Ilya said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “I want to hear about how filming is going.”

Dinner was sweet. Ilya had booked a private table for them, and the staff was attentive but remained out of ear shot. Ilya was quick to smile, and he listened to her stories, asking questions and asking her to slow down when she spoke a little too quickly, so that he didn’t miss anything.

It was really sweet. Rose had a lot of fun.

She rested her chin on her hand as he described some of the chirps he’d directed at the Ottawa team tonight, just drinking him in.

It was gratifying, having such a beautiful, sensual man sitting across the table from her. 

She missed Shane, though. When would she be able to get them all back in the same room together?

Ilya was also perceptive, he trailed off on his story, reaching over the table to take her hand, rubbing his thumb over her pulse.

“I miss him, too,” he murmured.

After dinner, she took him back to her hotel room. They didn’t have sex. She sensed that Ilya wasn’t there yet, and she just wanted to spend time with him. They cuddled on the couch, his hand trailing up and down her arm, watching whatever late-night film was on TV.

It was adorable. 

“Do you want to stay?” she asked when the movie was over. They were both drooping, exhausted.

“Do you want me to stay?” he countered.

“I’d love you to,” she said honestly.

He gave her this crooked smile that made her heart skip a beat.

“Then I will stay.”

They got ready for bed, he in just a tight pair of briefs, her in panties and her Shane shirt. He clearly recognized it, his smile softening as he pulled her into his arms, resting his lips on her shoulder as he folded around her.

Rose smiled as well, snuggling back against him.

It didn’t take long to fall asleep.

When she woke up early the next morning, Ilya was pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Early flight,” he whispered. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

“Fly safe,” she murmured.

He kissed the top of her head and slipped away.

“Sleep,” he told her, brushing a hand down her arm, before tucking the blanket back under her chin. She snuggled into the bed and closed her eyes.

The door clicked quietly as he left.

Later, when she woke again, she found a new picture in their group chat, of her snuggled into her pillow, a soft smile on her lips. Shane had posted a love heart underneath it.

***

It didn’t take the press long to cotton on. She was good at avoiding paparazzi when necessary and ignoring the awful things they said about her. Suddenly, though, she was glad that the wrap party had happened, and that the premiere was that night. She was ready to go home, ready to hide away in her own house for a while until it all died down a bit.

Currently, she was hiding out at Shane’s place, a make-up artist doing the final touches on her look. She was in a long, slinky dress that left little to the imagination, and heels tall enough that even she felt a little unstable in them.

She wanted to be a little closer in height to her date, though.

At that moment, Shane walked out of his room. His suit was gorgeous, perfectly tailored to his broad shoulders and slim waist.

“Hey handsome,” she said with an appreciative whistle.

He ducked his head and blushed, though he looked pleased.

She got the make-up artist to take a photo of them together, her head resting on his shoulder, a hand gently resting on the center of his chest, his arm wrapped around her. Secretly, she took a second one when Rose turned her face up for a kiss, although Rose didn’t find it until after the premiere was already over.

She sent both to Ilya. 

That had led to a very sexy phone call, with him back in his enormous bed in Boston, directing Shane’s hands as he took her apart, while his own hand moved below the screen.

It was a very satisfying orgasm. 

It was even hotter afterwards, watching the two of them jack off in tandem, in some fucked up kind of competition about not coming first. She watched them, thoroughly enamored and turned on.

Surprisingly, Ilya lost.

Shane didn’t have much time to gloat, coming only a few moments later.

Rose threw her head back and laughed.

She slid out of bed to go and clean herself up, returning to bed in her panties and Shane’s shirt. She passed him a cloth, and he kissed her as thanks, passing her the phone.

“You looked stunning in your dress,” Ilya said.

She smiled at the compliment, quietly thanking him. “I wish you’d been here,” was her quiet response.

He nodded his agreement, his face carefully controlled. She could see the longing in his eyes, though, especially when Shane slipped back into the bed behind her, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

She leaned back against him. Shane pressed his fingers to his lips, tapping them on the phone screen.

Ilya’s lower lip trembled.

“We’ll see you soon,” Rose promised fiercely. “All three of us together again.”

“I can’t wait,” Ilya admitted.

They said goodnight, and Rose buried her face in Shane’s chest, her eyes wet.

Whatever they had, the three of them, was no one’s business. But God, she hated this distance between them. She just wanted them. 

It was as simple as that.

Chapter 3

Rose sat on Shane’s couch, looking at her phone, worried.

They still hadn’t heard from Ilya. The last Shane had heard, he hadn’t travelled back to Boston with the rest of his team. 

He hadn’t responded to either of their messages, yet. Shane was sick with worry as well.

Before the game, Shane had gone briefly to Ilya’s home in Boston. Rose hadn’t gotten off her flight in time to see him, and had been looking forward to having him back in her arms after his exciting match against Shane. She’d flown to Boston as well to join them, her last trip before heading back home to LA.

The two of them on the ice together had been… God, so fucking hot. The way they circled each other like sharks, the hits against the boards, the way that only they could match each other… 

It was like there was no one else out there on the ice but them.

Ilya’s team had narrowly won. He’d scored two goals to Shane’s one. He’d been about to leave the rink to meet them back at his penthouse when something had happened. Something that had prevented their reunion.

Rose chewed on her nail, a nervous habit she thought she’d gotten rid of years ago.

With a sigh, she threw her phone onto the couch beside her. She’d flown with Shane to Detroit when it was clear that they wouldn’t be hearing from Ilya that night. She’d slept in the same bed as him in the hotel, sick with worry. Neither of them had slept well.

Shane wasn’t playing well at his next game, either, too distracted. Rose couldn’t blame him. She hadn’t gone to the rink, not wanting to distract him further. Instead, she was watching the game from his hotel room.

It was difficult, seeing his face so closed off, seeing the commentators joke about ‘trouble in paradise’ like they had any fucking idea what they were talking about.

During a break in the game, they also started to talk about Ilya.

Apparently, he also would not be joining his team in Tampa, absent for undisclosed reasons. Which meant that there was a reason, an important one.

Rose frowned. The lack of a media circus around it was also telling. It meant the media knew and were respecting the team’s wishes to keep it quiet.

Rose: Talk to me, love. What is going on?

To her surprise, she saw three dots appearing only moments later.

Ilya: I had to fly to Russia.

Rose: Are you okay?

Ilya: I am fine. It is my father. He passed away.

She covered her mouth with her hand, feeling tears spring up. She knew already that his mother had passed away when he was a child, he’d disclosed that much to her already, though he’d barely mentioned his father. She’d gotten the impression that it was a sore subject and left it alone.

Rose: Sweetheart. I’m sorry.

Ilya: Thank you. I will be okay.

Rose: Shane will probably call you after the game. Do you want him to?

There was a long pause, and then.

Ilya: Yes.

Rose: Okay, I will tell him. Be well, my love. I will talk to you soon x

He responded with a kiss emoji and she held her phone to her chest, taking a shaky breath. An orphan. Her Ilya was all alone in Russia, sad and lonely with no one there for him.

She sent a text off to Shane and then pulled a cushion to her chest, cuddling it, feeling sad and sorry for herself.

She hated this.

***

Her home felt so empty.

Rose sighed, wheeling her suitcase into her closet for her to deal with later, maybe never. She dropped her keys on the counter top and then flopped down onto her couch, rubbing her hands over her face.

She was exhausted. The flight from Detroit to LA had been unbearably long, even in first class, the cab from the airport moving through the LA traffic at a snail’s pace.

Her skin felt grimy, too.

After five minutes of wallowing, she made her way into her bathroom, running a bath and climbing in, sinking into the enormous tub with a sigh.

She checked her messages on her phone idly, responding to a few of her friends, asking her when she was getting back into town.

Some of them wanted to hang out, giving her addresses to different parties. 

It was the last thing she felt like doing.

Instead, she soaked in the bath and scrolled through her group chat with Shane and Ilya, smiling sadly at the photos they’d shared there. Always one or two of them together, never all three.

There was a gorgeous one from a few weeks ago that she saved, making it her screensaver. She wasn’t usually so reckless, but she wanted to gaze at Ilya’s face, and wanted to run a finger over the dimple in his cheek as he smiled at the camera.

She’d rather do it in person, but this was fine for now.

Shane had spoken to Ilya on the phone a few times now, so she knew he was doing as well as he could, all things considered. They’d texted a few times, but he’d been busy organizing the funeral and dealing with his apartment.

Rose hadn’t wanted to bother him. He had Shane. That was enough.

So, she was surprised when her phone started to ring. She almost dropped it into the water and cursed as she caught it, immediately answering the phone.

“Such a naughty word, Rose Landry,” Ilya said warmly.

“Ilya,” she said, pressing her phone into the side of her head, closing her eyes against the tears that immediately threatened to fall.

“Hello sweetheart,” he said. “I have missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” she whispered.

Ilya hummed. 

“How are you?” she asked him. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s all done, now. I am on the way to the airport.”

She sighed, resting back against the tub. “That’s good,” she responded.

“Very,” he said. “I have missed my home. And it is too fucking cold here.”

“You’ve gotten soft,” she teased.

Ilya made an amused noise. “Not that soft.”

“Ah,” Rose said. “Is that why Shane blushed when he said you two had a video call last night?”

She heard Ilya laugh. “He told you about that?”

“No, not exactly, but I think you just did,” she said, fighting a grin.

“Jealous?” he purred.

“Immensely,” she said with a giggle, to show she didn’t mean it. “No, not really. I’m glad you have him.”

“Me too,” Ilya agreed. “But, I am glad I have you as well. You are good for me, Rose Landry.”

She was touched that he thought so. “I’m glad,” she whispered.

There was a long, pregnant pause.

Fuck it.

“I love you, Ilya Rozanov.”

There was a stunned silence, then, “Rose.”

“You don’t have to say it back,” she said simply. “I just wanted you to know.”

“Thank you,” Ilya said. He sounded choked up, and she smiled, making a kissy noise down the phone at him.

“Have a safe flight,” she told him. “And don’t be a stranger, Ilya Rozanov.”

“I’d like not to be,” he agreed.

She smiled, hanging up the phone.

Maybe she would go to one of those parties, after all.

***

Rose was busy for the next few months. Lots of auditions and advertisements and parties, lots of rubbing shoulders with other celebrities at fancy events. It was lonely, but at least she was too busy to miss her boys too much.

She still texted them both frequently.

The press had backed off a lot since she was no longer seen out and about with either of them, but she still fielded the occasional revolting question insinuating she was some kind of slut.

She was, but that wasn’t anyone’s business but her own.

Rose hadn’t even had actual sex with either of them. Although, fuck, she wanted to, so badly. 

It didn't feel right, with one of them or the other. Even the times she and Shane had gotten off together, it had been with Ilya on the phone with them.

And the two of them, well, they already had their own thing, so it felt disrespectful. Maybe that was a silly hang up, she wasn’t sure.

The distance didn’t help her in that regard, either. She was worried that she was intruding on whatever relationship they had. She didn’t really know. They’d never really sat down and had an open and honest conversation about it.

They had their hang-ups, both of them. Ilya was more open with his affection, but he was quick to deflect anything that really resembled an honest, deep conversation. Shane, on the other hand, was an open book about most things except his feelings.

It was an infuriating juxtaposition that made her wonder how they’d even managed to get together in the first place.

But seeing them together, there was no denying the way they both felt about the other. She’d spotted it instantly in the club.

Another thing she’d never really understood.

On her wall, she’d hung their team calendars side by side. She wasn’t always able to catch their games, but she would at least try and catch their highlights, messaging them excitedly about their good plays.

Ilya was cocky about it. Shane was shy. 

They were so fucking sweet. She was utterly gone on both of them.

There was a heart around a date the next week. Montreal versus Boston. A home game for Shane. She knew it would be the first time they would have seen each other since they’d last played in February.

Ilya had called and asked her if she planned on flying in for the game, and she’d certainly wanted to.

He’d been quiet when she said she wanted to give them their time together.

“Rose,” he said. “You know we want you with us, right? Shane does, I know this.”

“It’s okay,” she replied. “You two have fun without me.”

Ilya had sounded sad when he hung up.

But he’d only temporarily given up. It was Shane who was calling her twenty minutes later.

“I bought your ticket already,” Shane said, steam-rolling over her arguments. “I emailed you the details. See you next week.”

“Shane Hollander,” she scolded him, even as her heart had warmed, touched by the gesture.

“Say you’ll come,” Shane said, his voice softening. “Please, Rose?”

“Ugh,” she’d grumbled. “Fine, you win.”

She was packing for the flight, now. She would have a day with Shane, who would pick her up from the airport and bring her to his house and then they would go to the game.

Afterwards, God willing, hopefully, finally, the three of them would actually be able to spend some time together before Ilya had to jump straight onto another plane.

***

“Hey,” Shane said, picking her up and twirling her around. She laughed and kissed him, dizzyingly happy to see him.

“I missed you, Shane,” she said, her voice smothered in his hoodie.

“I missed you, too,” Shane said, kissing the top of her head. “Here, let me carry your bag for you.”

She handed it to him gratefully, holding his hand as he led the way out of the airport to where his Jeep Cherokee was parked.

They’d definitely been photographed, but she didn’t really pay attention. She was way beyond caring. She just wanted to spend time with her boys.

Well, only one of them, for now.

She’d see Ilya later, at the rink. For now, though, she was spending time with Shane, and she chatted happily with him in the car, basking in his shy smiles and gentle teasing. 

They dropped off her suitcase at his house before heading out to have lunch. Shane ate something that looked nutrient dense and revoltingly healthy, while she ate grilled chicken with fries and a side salad.

She took a photo of Shane’s bird food, sending it to Ilya.

Ilya: Tell Hollander it wouldn’t kill him to eat a burger every now and again.

Rose laughed, conveying the message, and Shane rolled his eyes.

“Tell Rozanov that I’ll beat him on the ice tonight. Especially because all he eats is McDonalds,” was his sassy reply.

She did so, giggling as Ilya responded, telling her that Shane was very funny.

“You two are so cute,” she told Shane. “Imagine the fan’s reactions to seeing your actual rivalry.”

Shane smiled, but it was kind of sad, and he looked down at his lunch, his shoulders going tense. Rose reached for his hand, squeezing it.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know,” was his quiet response. “I just wish things were different. That we didn’t need to hide it.”

Sympathy choked her. She squeezed again.

Shane offered her another smile and changed the subject. Rose let him. This was clearly a sore point for him. She’d save it for when they were in private.

The rest of their afternoon was lovely. They’d walked through town, casually browsing but not really going in any stores, paparazzi following them from place to place. They ignored them, refusing to rise to their baiting questions. 

Rose just drank in Shane’s presence, enjoying being close to him, spending time with him.

She paused at a jewelry store, sweeping her eyes over a really cute set of earrings when the paparazzi all suddenly lunged forward.

“Are you shopping for an engagement ring?” one of them shouted.

The cameras flashed, and Shane gathered her in his arms, turning her away from them.

“Hey, back off,” he snapped.

He led her away from the store, bristling with indignance.

“Sorry,” she murmured once they were further down the street. Her heart was racing in her chest, her stomach churning. “I should have known better.”

“Don’t be silly,” Shane reassured her, taking her hand again. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Still, it took a while for her pulse to calm, and there was a strange feeling churning in her chest as he drove her back home.

By the time he needed to leave for the game, she felt better, and she kissed him on the cheek before he had to go, wishing him luck. She would arrive closer to the game time, to avoid a ridiculous crowd forming around her.

She had a feeling that if she checked her social media, all of her numbers would be up after that shit-show earlier, and she wanted to lay low for a bit.

Instead, she sat on Shane’s couch, her feet tucked underneath her as she texted with Ilya, who was on the team bus on the way to the game.

Ilya: Everything okay? I saw the circus.

Rose: I’m fine. It was awful, but Shane got me out of there pretty quickly.

Ilya: What were you actually looking at?

Rose: There were some nice earrings on display. I shouldn’t have stopped.

She sighed, leaning back against the couch.

Ilya: You deserve to have nice things. Don’t let those assholes ruin your day.

Ilya: Shane said he had a great afternoon with you.

That brought a smile to her face, and she hugged a pillow to her chest.

Rose: I did, too. I can’t wait to see you, though!

Ilya: I’ll be the sexy one scoring all the goals ;)

Rose grinned.

Rose: I’ll be the one cheering the loudest x

He added a heart under her message, and she sighed dreamily. What a stud.

***

For this game, Shane had given her a ticket to the family section. She was, embarrassingly, sitting right next to his parents. Shane was skating nearby, clearly freaking out a little bit over this, but Yuna and David were lovely, and Rose enjoyed chatting with them as the warm-ups started.

She waved to Shane, who gave her a shy little smile before skating over to where Ilya was standing at the red line in the middle of the ice.

Yuna noticed it as well. “Huh, I didn’t realize they were on friendly terms now.”

She’d murmured this to her husband, David, but it was just loud enough that Rose heard it as well. Rose smiled.

They were much more than friends. But if they didn’t already know, Rose wasn’t going to be the one to spill Shane’s secret. Especially not when she’d introduced herself as Shane’s girlfriend.

She hoped they hadn’t seen the posts online about her going out with Ilya as well.

Her two boys spoke for a minute, and then Ilya was skating away. Hayden Pike approached Shane next, drawing him back into the actual warm-ups.

She alternated between watching both of them, wishing fervently that she could walk around to the Boston side of the ice and say hello to Ilya properly.

Well, as properly as she could with thousands of people witnessing it, anyway.

“So,” Yuna said conversationally, turning to look at her. “You and Shane have been dating for a while now.”

Rose smiled. “Yes, he’s very sweet to me.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Yuna said. Beside her, David smiled as well.

“He’s a sensitive soul,” Rose said. “But very diligent and protective. You’ve raised a lovely young man.”

“Thank you,” David said. He looked over at Shane, pride shining in his eyes, and Rose smiled.

Shane’s parents were so nice.

“I’ve seen online that you're friends with Ilya Rozanov as well,” Yuna said, still in that careful, conversational tone. It was friendly, but hid a thin layer of steel beneath it.

“I am,” Rose agreed. “I met Ilya at a club a few months ago. We became fast friends.”

Yuna’s eyebrows rose at that. “Friends?”

Well, Rose deserved that slightly patronising look, but not for the reasons Yuna probably thought she did.

“I’m not cheating on Shane, if that’s your implication,” she said, her own tone firm, brooking no argument. “Shane is aware that Ilya and I talk often.”

This just seemed to confuse Yuna more. “He knows?”

Rose nodded. “Of course, I wouldn’t hide it from him. But I am allowed to have friends who are men, just as he is allowed to have friends who are women. We trust each other implicitly.”

Yuna nodded slowly. “I see. Thank you for telling me.”

“He’s actually a total softy,” Rose said with a fond smile, looking over at where Ilya was slowly skating between his team-mates.

“Now, that I find hard to believe,” Yuna murmured. 

Rose glanced at her. Her heart sank. Shane would want them to love him, the way he did. He wouldn’t want his parents hating Ilya Rozanov.

She would try to… sow the seeds.

“Really,” she insisted. “I think he would surprise you. He’s very loyal, and he has a very strong moral compass.”

Yuna looked at her. “He has always been very rude to my son,” she pointed out.”I think the first time Shane met him, he told me about what a dick he was.”

Rose laughed at that, she couldn’t help it.

“Yes, he is a bit of a dick,” she said, unable to hide her amusement. “And he and Shane are very competitive, it’s true. But I know he respects Shane a lot. He only has nice things to say about him.”

Yuna and David exchanged a disbelieving look. “Really?” Yuna asked.

Rose remembered Shane’s last game, she’d sat on a call with Ilya, only half paying attention as he commentated the game to her. It had been cute, listening to him rib on Shane and praise him, sometimes in the same breath. He mostly railed at Shane’s teammates for being unable to keep up with him.

“He thinks Shane is very fast,” she listed. “He says his backhand still needs some work, but he is a good passer.” She leaned closer to Yuna, murmuring the last bit conscious of who she was surrounded by. “Especially considering how slow his teammates are.”

Yuna laughed at that, throwing her head back.

“He is one of the few skaters who can keep up with him,” Yuna conceded with a wry grin.

Rose rolled her eyes. “He only goes on about that speed skating competition every other day.” She put on a fake Russian accent. “It vas only half a second, Rose. Zat doesn’t even count!”

“You seem to know him well,” Yuna said, smiling at her. “He must be alright, if someone as smart and funny as you gives him the time of day.”

Rose blushed at that. “He’s the best,” she agreed.

All of the skaters were leaving the ice to go to their locker rooms, and Rose looked up in time to notice Ilya looking over at her with a wistful expression on his face. She chanced a small wave, and he nodded, smiling at her before stepping off the ice.

It was something. He knew she was here. He knew she would be watching and cheering him on.

Chapter 4

The first period passed without incident. The two of them were almost gleeful as they battled around the rink, stealing the puck off of each other constantly, slamming each other into the boards, chirping non-stop. The refs had given up on telling them to shut the fuck up, just shaking their heads now, and Rose watched them with amusement.

She knew Yuna had her lips pursed with disapproval, but couldn’t she see the way they were both grinning as they wrestled for the puck?

It was part of the way through the second period when disaster struck. Her boys were facing off over the puck. Shane won, skating off with it, but Ilya was on him seconds later, stealing it back. Shane turned on the tightest edge she’d ever seen and built up a quick burst of speed, slamming into Ilya’s side and taking off with it.

He glanced back at Ilya, which is why he didn’t see the defenseman bearing down on him until it was too late. He bounced off of him, hitting the boards near them with a painful, echoing thud.

Rose gasped, jumping to her feet and pressing against the glass, looking down at him. 

“He’s not moving,” she said, hysteria rising. “Shane!”

Moments later, medics had him surrounded, and Yuna had her arm around Rose, the two of them steadying each other as they watched. Rose’s eyes were on Shane’s chest, desperately trying to determine if he was breathing or not.

“Hollander?” she heard Ilya say. She looked up at him, devastated by the fear on his face. He looked gutted. 

Shane stirred at his voice, head lolling towards it.

“Oh, thank God,” Yuna whispered. She turned to David. “We have to go, we’ll meet them at the hospital.”

Rose nodded as they left. She wasn’t going anywhere. Not yet. Not without Ilya.

She had a feeling he needed her more right now.

Ilya hovered nearby as the medics transferred Shane onto a spinal board. He was trying to talk to Shane, though his voice was too low to make out through the thick glass. That was probably a good thing. People were holding up their cameras. She didn’t want them outed, not like this. 

Both teams returned to their benches as Shane was carried out.

Ilya’s shoulders were hunched in.

The rest of the game was a blur. Neither team’s hearts were really in it, and Ilya skated on auto-pilot, oddly silent, his face a smooth mask.

Rose’s heart was breaking for him. He looked like he was on the verge of a meltdown.

As the final buzzer sounded, Rose stood, making her way down to the glass. Ilya skated past, glancing at her. She gave him a grim smile, which he didn’t return. 

He skated off the ice, disappearing into the locker room.

Rose waited for him in the hotel lobby. She’d already texted him where she was, a toque hiding her distinctive red hair, one of Shane’s hoodies enveloping her body in a warm hug she desperately needed.

She held her phone to her chest. She wasn’t sure if Shane had his on him, but she’d texted him just in case, letting her know that she was there for him, that she’d visit him as soon as she could.

***

“You haven’t heard anything?” was the first thing Ilya said to her as he walked up to her.

She got to her feet immediately. “Nothing yet,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if he had his phone or not. If I don’t hear anything soon, I’ll call the hospital. See what I can charm out of a nurse.”

Ilya nodded. 

Behind them, his teammates looked at her curiously, making their way slowly over towards the lifts.

“Is that his Jane?” she heard one of them ask.

“No you fucking moron, that’s Rose Landry,” was the response.

Ilya looked back over his shoulder at them, shooting them a nasty glare. Suddenly, they all seemed to be in much more of a hurry.

Rose bit back a smile. 

“Jane?” she asked him.

Ilya gave her a dry look. “I couldn’t exactly save Shane Hollander’s number in my phone, could I?”

She laughed at that. “I guess not. And what are you called in his?”

Ilya blushed. “Lily.”

“Cute,” she said.

He shook his head. “I am worried about him,” he admitted. “That was ugly hit. He was so out of it, slurring his words.”

“He’s probably concussed,” she pointed out. “He hit his head pretty hard on the boards.”

Ilya nodded. “I’d say that’s probably a given. Hopefully, that’s all it is. A week or two off and back on the ice.”

He didn’t look like he believed it, though, and Rose took his hand. 

“Do you want to come and stay at Shane’s place with me tonight?” she asked him.

“I don’t know if I should,” he admitted. “Feels wrong. And my team…”

Rose waved that off. “Will assume you’re with me anyway. Might as well take advantage of the rumor mill. You know you’ll sleep better in his bed anyway.”

Ilya conceded this with a tight nod. “Let me grab my suitcase.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “I’ll order us a cab.”

She let him go, watching the tension in his shoulders as he stalked over to the lift.

While she waited for him to come down, she ordered the cab and then called the hospital.

After a frustrating few minutes being shuttled from person to person, she finally managed to get a nurse. One who was in charge of the rooms where Shane had been placed.

“Hello? This is Nurse Dana,”

“Hello Nurse Dana,” she said. “I know you cannot tell me much, but my boyfriend, Shane Hollander, was just admitted to the hospital. Are you able to let me know how serious his injuries are?”

There was a suspicious silence. “Shane Hollander’s girlfriend is-”

“Rose Landry,” she interrupted. “Yes, that’s me.”

“I cannot share personal information over the phone,” the nurse said stiffly. “No matter how good an actress you are, Miss Landry.”

“I understand,” Rose said, thinking quickly. “Shane’s parents would be there by now, Yuna and David?”

The nurse gave a non-committal hum. 

“If I give you my phone number, could you please pass it and my name onto Yuna?”

The nurse gave a sigh, but agreed to her request. Rose shared her information and then the nurse hung up.

Well, it was something, at least. Hopefully, Yuna would text or call her soon.

Ilya arrived then, his suitcase in tow, and she walked with him out to the cab, which was idling on the curb waiting for them. She watched as he put his suitcase in the back, before opening the back door for her, climbing in after.

They rode in silence. Rose clutched her phone in one hand, resting her other on Ilya’s knee, stroking a little circle there, while he stared blankly out the window.

***

Yuna called an hour later, letting her know that Shane was stable, and that she would be able to visit in the morning.

That had offered them some relief, at least, and some of the tension had eased from Ilya’s body.

Neither of them got much sleep. It was nice, though, to hold Ilya against her chest, her fingers carding through his curls. She hadn’t seen him properly for months, not since before he’d flown to Russia after the death of his father.

She was happy to offer him some company, even if it wasn’t really her he wanted just then.

“Talk to me,” she whispered. It was pitch black in the room, and the darkness was like a safety blanket, surrounding them in its embrace.

Rose traced a finger over his brow, his ear, tucking a rogue curl behind it.

Ilya sniffled. “I can’t lose him, Rose,” he whispered. “But how can I be with him? How can I ruin him?”

“Ruin him?” she asked. “You don’t ruin him, Ilya. You make him light up.”

Ilya shook his head, burying it in her neck. “No,” he murmured. “He is fine without me, he has you. I should have let him be, should have let you take him from me.”

She frowned. “No one is taking anyone,” Rose said firmly. “Ilya, be reasonable.”

“I have never once in my life been jealous,” Ilya said after a few long, strained moments. “Not until I saw him dancing with you. Kissing you. So open, where anyone could see.”

Ilya sighed. His fingers were clutched around the blanket at her waist. She could feel the tension in them, the way he trembled.

“He cannot do that with me,” he whispered.

She felt the wet glide of his tears on her neck.

Rose turned, wrapping her arms around him. “He cannot live without you,” she whispered back. “No matter how hard it is, no matter how he can’t love you openly the way you both wish.” 

She soothed her hands down his back, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “And yet, he cannot help but love you anyway. It would destroy you both, trying to leave each other now.”

Ilya nodded at that.

“I am too selfish to leave him,” he agreed. His voice was dull. “He is my whole world.”

“Oh, Ilya, sweetheart,” she sighed, squeezing him just a little tighter. “My love, everything will work out, you’ll see.”

Ilya was silent, though his arms were also around her, cradling her against his chest. He pressed his lips to her collarbone.

“I never told you that I love you as well,” he said quietly.

She smiled, kissing the top of his head. “You didn’t have to,” she murmured. “I knew anyway.”

She felt his lips curl up in a small smile.

“Thank you,” he said eventually. “For being here with me.”

Rose pulled away slightly, tracing the fingers of her free hand over his cheek. “Any time.”

She tilted his chin up, seeking out his lips in the darkness, placing a soft kiss on them. 

“Sleep,” she whispered. “We’ll go see our boy in the morning.”

He nodded, and they snuggled further under the covers, wrapped around one another.

Rose closed her eyes and breathed him in, letting sleep claim her a short while later.

***

Ilya hung back as Rose got Shane’s room number from the desk. The nurse seemed very interested, but Rose ignored it. Her and Ilya anywhere were a news story. Here? In the hospital of Shane Hollander? It was probably going to break the internet.

She had to hope that the nurse would take pity on them and keep it to herself. She knew she looked awful. Ilya did too. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his curls were in complete disarray. 

They’d barely even stopped long enough to pick up coffee on the way here. Ilya had to be on a plane with his team in only a few short hours.

Rose led Ilya to Shane’s room. The door was slightly ajar, but no one was inside. David and Yuna must have left to go and seek out some breakfast.

Shane spotted them hovering at the door immediately, and his whole face brightened. “Ilya! Rose!”

He looked small in the bed, and his left arm was in a sling. Rose frowned. Not just a concussion then… Shit.

“Hi,” Ilya whispered, approaching the bed. “I just needed - are you?”

Rose closed the door and perched herself next to Shane on the other side of the bed, watching them with a sad smile.

Shane smiled at Ilya. “I’m okay,” he said. “I mean, I have a concussion, and a fractured collarbone. I’m out for the playoffs. But…”

“Could have been worse,” Ilya nodded. He still looked a bit gutted, like he’d been haunted all night by what the ‘worse’ could have been. Rose, who had witnessed that breakdown, reached over to take Shane’s right hand and squeeze it.

Shane smiled at her, squeezing back.

Ilya shot her a grateful look.

They talked quietly about the player who’d hit Shane, Marlow or something, but Rose could tell that Shane didn’t really care. He only had eyes for Ilya, and he was grinning up at him with this dopey expression on his face.

Eventually, Ilya couldn’t keep his hands to himself any longer. He took Shane’s face in his hands, brushing his cheeks with his thumbs. It was so tender that it made tears spring up to Rose’s eyes.

“You scared me,” Ilya admitted, voice barely above a whisper.

Shane nodded. “Scared myself.”

Scared all of them, Rose added silently. She hadn’t been able to wipe the image out of her mind, of Shane lying so unnaturally still on the ice.

Shane whispered that he’d wanted to text them last night, but Ilya hushed him, resting his forehead on Shane’s and running his fingers through his hair. Shane closed his eyes, leaning into the touch.

Adorable. Rose snuck a picture while neither of them were watching. They’d want it someday.

When she put her phone down, she found Shane looking at her with an exasperated expression. She winked at him.

“I had been looking forward to last night,” he said to her.

“Me too,” Rose said. “It’s okay.”

“I’m mostly mad at Marlow for fucking that up.”

That made Ilya laugh, and his shoulders relaxed slightly as he released Shane, looking down at him fondly.

“We’ll get another chance,” he promised him. “But you must focus on your recovery. And I must go and win Stanley Cup.”

His smile was crooked, and Shane pouted at him.

Rose laughed at them both.

“I’m sorry,” Ilya said. Montreal had been in serious contention for playoffs, Rose knew. Shane had talked about it the day before. Without Shane, though, they didn’t stand a chance against anyone, but especially not Boston. She had a feeling that Ilya was about to play like a demon possessed.

“It sucks,” Shane responded. 

“Don’t worry,” Rose said. “You’ll get it next year for sure, Shane.”

Shane looked at her and smiled between them. “True,” he conceded. “No back-to-back for you, sorry Rozanov.”

Ilya barked out a laugh at that.

Rose melted. It was so nice to hear Ilya laugh.

Shane seemed to agree. He was looking up at Ilya like he hung the moon. “Ilya, come to the cottage with me. After the playoffs are done. Don’t go to Russia.”

Ilya’s face did something complicated.

“I’ll be there, too,” she told him, drawing his gaze. “Two weeks in paradise, baby. Your two favorite people.”

She waggled her eyebrows. 

“Total privacy.”

“Rose,” he sighed. She stuck her tongue out at him. He gave her an unimpressed look, before turning back to Shane.

Shane’s expression was pleading. He reached out and took Ilya’s hand, tangling their fingers together and holding tight.

“We can have a week or two, Ilya,” he said. “Haven’t you ever wanted more time?”

Rose watched a dozen micro-expressions fall over Ilya’s face. 

“Of course,” he whispered. He was rubbing his thumb over the back of Shane’s hands. It was super sweet. 

She could tell he wanted desperately to say yes, but had no idea how to. How to choose this, to take what he really wanted.

He was so alone.

Rose slid off the bed and padded around to the other side.

She ducked under his other arm, looking up at him. He looked down at her, eyes glassy.

“You can have this,” she told him fiercely. “You can let yourself have this, Ilya.”

“I don’t know,” he sighed. She could feel that tension in every line of his body. He was resisting.

She remembered his words from last night. His self-sabotage. His disgust at himself for supposedly ruining Shane.

“Well, I’m not going if you’re not going,” she said.

Shane spluttered. “Rose! Nooooooo!”

She smiled at him. “Sorry, Hollander,” she teased. “Rozanov and I are a package deal, these days. It’s both of us or nothing.”

Ilya rolled his eyes, but he looked at her fondly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

“I’ll think about it,” he conceded, with a disbelieving little shake of his head. “Maybe.”

Rose cuddled into his side and winked at Shane. 

Shane beamed at them both.

Ilya dropped Shane’s hand as they heard the handle turn behind them. Rose kept hold of him, stopping him from bolting.

“Oh, sorry,” a new nurse said, looking between the three of them with amusement. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Rose nodded, and they watched silently as the nurse checked Shane’s vitals, asking how he was feeling, fluffing his pillows and refilling his water. She left them with a cheery smile only a few moments later.

She snickered.

“That was embarrassing,” Shane muttered, sinking back against his pillows and pouting over at them.

“Maybe for you,” Rose said with a wicked grin. “I thought it was adorable. Here, Mr Hollander, let me fluff your pillows for you. Are you warm enough, oh King of Montreal? Can I refill your water for you, my liege?”

“Shut up,” Shane said with a strangled voice, hiding his face in his good hand. Next to her, she felt Ilya shaking with laughter.

Rose grinned.

Yeah, they were gonna be okay.

***

Ilya had to leave shortly after to catch his flight in time, but Rose was still sitting at Shane’s bedside when his parents returned.

“Oh, hello again, Rose,” Yuna said with a pleased smile as her and David walked in.

Rose got to her feet, going to give Shane’s mother a hug.

“Thank you for calling last night,” she whispered as Yuna returned her hug. “I was so worried.”

“Of course,” Yuna said.

Rose moved to sit on the side of Shane’s bed so that his parents could take the chairs. 

“The nurses are gossiping something awful out there,” Yuna said after a few moments. Her eyes rested on where Rose’s hand was resting on Shane’s knee over the covers. “Apparently Ilya Rozanov came to visit.”

Shane’s face went carefully blank.

“He did,” Rose confirmed.

“He wanted to check on me,” Shane said. “He felt bad about Marlow.”

Yuna’s eyes flicked between Shane and Rose, her expression inscrutable. “I see,” she said.

Maybe she did, actually. She seemed like a very perceptive woman.

“That was decent of him,” David said mildly.

“I told you he would surprise you,” Rose said, winking at Shane when he turned to look at her, startled.

“You did,” David said with a nod.

“Shane would have done the same,” Rose said, smiling at Shane. “They’re similar, in that way.”

In a lot of ways, she added silently. The same but different. Two sides of a coin.

“Yeah,” Shane agreed. “I probably would have gloated a little less about getting to the playoffs, though.”

Rose burst out laughing.

Yuna looked pained. David looked confused.

Shane just shook his head at her, a rueful smile tugging at his lips.

She patted his hand. 

“I should go,” she said. “I have to catch my flight home in a few hours.”

And she would have to pop back to Shane’s place first, to get her bag. 

Shane pouted at her. “Don’t go.”

Rose smiled, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his lips. “Be good for your parents,” she murmured. 

“I won’t,” he promised.

His eyes looked shiny as she pulled away, and she tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. 

“I’ll call you when I get home. Get some rest.”

Shane nodded, reluctantly letting her go.

Yuna and David stood, hugging her again.

“It was lovely to meet you both,” Rose said.

“Hopefully next time it will be in better circumstances,” Yuna joked.

“Seconded,” David said cheerfully.

Rose smiled as Yuna released her, giving Shane one last kiss before walking out the door. 

She paused on the other side of it, listening for a moment.

“She seems very nice, Shane.”

“She is.”

Rose grinned to herself and made her way down the hall. Yes, she’d totally nailed the first impression.

She pulled out her phone to call a cab.

Chapter 5

Rose winced as she watched Ilya skate over to the bench. He had a hand cradled to his chest, his expression pinched.

“That looked like it hurt,” Shane noted.

He was on the phone with her while they both watched. New York was currently up in the series, three games to two, and it looked like Boston was close to admitting defeat, especially with Ilya slinking out of the game early.

“He shouldn't be playing with bruised ribs,” Rose said, chewing on her lower lip.

“That's hockey,” Shane replied. “It's not playoffs if you're not carrying some kind of injury.”

“Still,” Rose grumbled.

The game was basically over now, and she slumped back against her couch, not really paying attention.

“Are your parents still driving you crazy?” she asked.

Shane sighed. “Yes,” he admitted. “They mean well, but they're just hovering. I had to come and hide at my cottage just to watch this game.”

Rose laughed at that. “Jail break,” she teased.

“Exactly.”

She smiled, burying her nose in the hoodie she’d stolen from Shane's house a few weeks ago. It barely smelt like him now, but that was okay. She would hopefully be seeing him again in a few weeks.

Maybe earlier, with Ilya knocked out of the playoffs. She knew he’d be gutted, though. It would maybe take a bit more convincing.

Rose checked her calendar, expression thoughtful. She could probably organize a trip to Boston if he decided to be stubborn.

They could fly to Ontario together.

She shelved the idea for now.

“How are you feeling, anyway? 

Shane gave a weak laugh. “Sick of being asked that question,” he said. He didn't sound annoyed though, just tired. “I’m alright. My last scan showed that my collarbone has healed up really well. And I only get headaches occasionally now. I don’t even need to wear sunglasses anymore when I watch TV.”

“That's good,” she murmured back. “You’ll be right as rain in another week or so.”

She could hear the smile in Shane's voice. “That's the dream,” he said. 

There was a long, pregnant pause.

“Do you think he’ll come?”

His voice was small, uncertain. Rose wanted to crawl through the phone and pull him into a tight hug.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “It will take a lot of bravery, for him, I think. He's very scared.”

“Yeah,” Shane sighed. “That makes two of us.”

“Three,” she said with a smile, joking but also, not really.

“Three,” Shane confirmed. “That's right. Fuck knows where either us would be without you, Rose.”

“Miserable and desolate and pining, probably,” she said affectionately. “I’m the glue.”

Shane let out a huff of laughter at that. “The glue, right. You're right. That's exactly what you are.”

She beamed, pleased by the affirmation. On the screen, the final buzzer sounded and New York celebrated, while the Boston team trudged off the ice. Ilya was already gone.

Rose turned off the screen and put Shane on speaker so that she could open up her messages to Ilya, typing into their group chat.

Rose: So proud of you, Ilya! 

Shane: Get some ice on those ribs, Rozanov.

Rose: Shane! He means we love you and hope you're okay.

She added an eye roll emoji and a love heart. Shane added a love heart as well.

Ilya didn't respond until much later, long after Rose had left Shane to rest, his head starting to hurt after so much screen time.

Ilya: Fucking Scott Hunter.

Rose chuckled.

Rose: Something you need to tell us, Ilya Rozanov?

Ilya: Well, he is pretty hot.

Rose: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shane replied with a middle finger emoji.

Ilya: Don't make me laugh right now, Hollander. My ribs hurt like a bitch.

Shane: Stop being an idiot, then.

Rose: Might as well ask him to stop breathing.

Ilya: Ha. Ha. Ha. Landry has jokes.

Rose: Many more where that came from! I’d be so good at chirping!!

Ilya: Yes, like little bird. Even worse than Hollander.

Shane: I am a magnificent, dignified creature. Like a hawk. Or a panther, maybe. Something fast and cool.

Ilya: You are hissy, spitty little kitten, Hollander.

Rose cried with laughter.

Shane: And you're an asshole.

Ilya: Only for you ;)

Rose: I can't with this flirting. You two are adorable.

Immediately they both responded, protesting this, talking about how cool and macho and mature they were.

Rose shared the photo she'd taken at the hospital a few weeks previous.

Rose: My mistake. Very macho. Very cool. 

Ilya: This is toxic. I am just in touch with my emotions, Rose Landry.

Shane: Toxic. Wow. Who taught you that word?

Ilya: Your father ;)

Rose: !!!!?!!!!??!!!!!!

Shane: What she said.

Ilya: She did not say anything??

She giggled.

Rose: I said it all. David is a lucky man.

Shane: Don't encourage him.

Ilya: Yes, encourage me, Rose Landry. I am very sad, just lost game. Ribs hurt :(

She knew a sucker when she saw one. Time for step one of her evil plan to get her boys in the same place at the same time.

Rose: I bought an itty bitty bikini for summer. I hope I have a nice vacation to go on so I can wear it…

Ilya: … 

Ilya: This is cheating, yes?

Shane: Minor penalty at least. Two minutes.

Rose waited the whole allotted two minutes and then sent a photo of said bikini, where it was currently sitting on her bedspread.

Ilya: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shane: That is…. Not very much fabric.

Rose: ;)

And then she locked her phone, tossing it aside. She’d let that marinate for a while before enacting the next stage of her plan.

***

For the past week or so, Rose had been perusing a few options that her agent had sent through. She was after something small, something that wouldn’t be too much of a time sink but would have her flying over to the East Coast as soon as possible.

And Calvin Klein had expressed interest in shooting an advert for their new perfume.

It included flights to New York, a week-long stay at a ritzy hotel, and a little creative control in terms of who else to include.

She had a feeling she knew exactly what they were fishing for, but Shane would likely not be getting on a flight anytime soon.

So, she had responded to her agent, telling them to pursue Ilya instead.

Rose already had her suitcase packed when her phone rang. The cab was on the way to pick her up and take her to the airport.

“Hey handsome,” she said, grinning as she answered the call.

“Rose Landry,” Ilya purred. “I have a very persistent man from Calvin Klein telling me to be in commercial with very sexy and famous actress. He will not take no for an answer.”

“Nor should he,” she said with a laugh. “She sounds like a total smoke show.”

“This feels like a trick,” he said. She could hear his pout.

“No trick,” she promised him. “I just wanted an excuse to visit my favorite guy. Even better if that’s on someone else’s dollar.”

He snorted at that. “Rose, you are very rich. I am very rich. If you want to visit, you should just say.”

“I want to visit,” she shot back. “But also I want to show you off a bit. Is that okay?”

“Is great burden, being this good-looking,” was Ilya’s response. “Lucky for you I am a nice guy.”

“The best,” she agreed. “I’ll call you when my flight gets in.”

“No, send me flight details. I will pick you up.”

“Of course, love you,” she cheerfully responded.

“My Rose,” he said affectionately.

She ended the call, her cheeks heating. God. She was a total goner on this guy.

The flight was long, and boring, though it was comfortable in first class, with a very attentive waitress keeping her glass of champagne topped up. She didn’t imbibe too much, but she was a little giggly by the time she was swept up into Ilya’s arms in the flight lounge.

“Put me down,” she laughed.

He kissed the top of her head with a smacking kiss and then relinquished her of her bag and suitcase.

She affectionately patted his cheek. “I see you shaved off your sexy play-off beard,” she said with a pout.

“Yeah,” he said. “Was itchy. I am glad you thought it was hot, though. Shane never tells me I am hot. Is very sad.”

“You’re so hot,” she reassured him with a saucy wink, linking her arm in his.

“Come,” he said with a grin. “Let’s go have fun.”

He was driving something very sleek and sexy and fast, and Rose’s eyes were wide as she laughed with joy.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “You’re an absolute menace. No wonder Shane refuses to get in the car with you.”

Ilya blew a raspberry at that. “I am very safe driver. Just also very fast. And Shane drives a Jeep of all things. So boring.”

“It snows more in Canada,” she pointed out sensibly. 

Ilya didn’t dignify this with a response, just looking through the windshield, an affectionate smile tugging at his lips.

“How’s the ribs?” she asked him.

“Still sore,” Ilya admitted. “Bruising is almost gone, though.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I was worried when you took that hit on them in that last game. It looked like it hurt.”

Ilya just shrugged. “Is hockey.”

She laughed. “Shane said the same thing.”

“Hollander is right sometimes. Don’t tell him, though.”

She mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key, and he glanced at her, looking amused.

He paid for a valet at the hotel, and they went upstairs to her room, immediately ordering in a bunch of food and champagne, sitting on the bed while they ate.

Rose had never laughed so hard in her life.

“No,” she said, cackling like a hyena. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” Ilya admitted. He was leaning up on one arm, cradling his head in that hand. He looked casual, comfortable, and his eyes were twinkling with amusement. “You should have seen him, all shy and pissy about it.”

“So, what? You went up to his hotel room, and then the rest is history?”

“Basically,” Ilya nodded. His smile was soft as he remembered it and Rose melted. He loved Shane so much. “It was his first time, with a man. Was very special, that he let me, you know.”

He trailed off, looking bashful.

“I can’t believe you two have been a thing since you were rookies,” Rose said, flopping back onto her pillow, carefully setting her mostly empty champagne glass aside. “That’s like…”

“Eight years,” llya confirmed. “Is a long time.”

She looked at him. “How long was it just sex, do you think? Or were you guys together for longer?”

Ilya blinked, his expression shuttered. “Shane and I, we are not in a relationship.”

Rose stared at him. “Wait, what?”

She pushed herself back up, turning to face him.

Ilya’s gaze dropped.

“Ilya,” she said. She had to be careful here. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. She reached for his hand and he let her claim it, let her bring it to her lips, pressing a kiss to the palm of it. “Ilya,” she said again. “You two love each other. That’s obvious.”

She watched as Ilya shrugged. “Maybe,” he conceded. “But, that doesn’t mean we can be together.”

“Can you tell me why?”

“We cannot be out,” Ilya said. “I told you I was jealous of you. Is not because you are a woman, or beautiful, although you are. Is because he can be with you. Because people can know, and he can still be good, perfect Shane Hollander and win cups and medals and awards.”

“He can be all that and still be in love with you,” Rose pointed out.

Ilya shook his head. “He doesn’t believe so. That is why he left, I think. And I cannot be out, either. I would never be able to go back to Russia. Is illegal. To be gay - well, bisexual.”

Rose bristled at that. “That’s stupid,” she said.

“Is Russia,” Ilya sighed. “Is hockey. Both very homophobic.”

He looked a bit miserable.

“This is why you don’t want to go to the cottage,” she said quietly. “Because you know, or think you know, that it won’t work out. So you’re giving up.”

“I guess,” Ilya responded. 

“Hypothetical,” she said.

He frowned. “I do not know this word.”

“It’s like, imagining a scenario, like a play, thinking about how it would work.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “I understand, go on.”

“Okay,” Rose said. “Hypothetical. Shane and I continue to date. Maybe we get married one day, maybe not. He stays in Montreal, winning cups and medals and awards, like you say. And everyone still loves him and he gets to be the prince of hockey.”

With each sentence, Ilya’s frown deepened.

“And then you. You don’t go to the cottage. You don’t tell Shane how desperately in love with him you are. You stay away. You go out clubbing every weekend and you sleep around with random women and you drink vodka. You play hockey. You win your cups and medals and awards and every summer you go back to Russia and you sit in some hotel somewhere because you already gave your apartment to your brother.”

Ilya couldn’t look her in the eyes.

“And you both are completely and utterly miserable,” she finished quietly. 

Rose paused for a long moment, letting her words sink in.

“I don’t believe for a second that that’s what you want, Ilya. You are not a coward. If you were going to walk away from Shane, you would have done it years ago.”

Ilya nodded at that. He swallowed thickly.

“You’re right,” he whispered. “But I am so scared.”

“You can be scared,” she said, squeezing his hand. “But isn’t being scared better than being alone?”

Ilya looked up at her then, searching her face. His eyes were red-rimmed and glassy.

“You told me he is your whole world,” she reminded him.

He let out a wet laugh at that, shaking his head. “He is like gravity,” he admitted. “He pulls me in.”

Rose nodded. “I think, maybe, you think that you love Shane more than he loves you. Like maybe he can walk away from this and be fine.”

He didn’t respond, but she felt it as he stiffened, his hand jolting slightly like he wanted to pull it back. She held on stubbornly, pressing another kiss to it.

“Shane is not fine. He wasn’t fine without you, he was sad. I could tell,” Rose said quietly. “The first time I saw him come alive, it was when he saw you on the other side of that dancefloor."

Ilya’s face fell, crumpling like a wet tissue, and then Rose was climbing across the bed to pull him into her arms, and finally, finally, Ilya let all of his hurt and sadness and confusion out, shuddering and clinging to her like he would break apart if she let go. He felt so deeply, but kept it all so locked inside, and it hurt Rose, to see him like this, to see him so lost and alone and sad.

But it was good, too, to see him let a bit of that go.

Still, it took many long minutes of her soothing him, pressing kisses into his curls and running her hands up and down his back for him to calm.

“You always make me cry, Rose Landry,” he complained, pulling away and pouting at her.

He was trying to mask his emotions again, but Rose ignored it, brushing her hands over his cheeks and wiping away the tears.

She smiled gently at him, poking his cheek. “At least you’re a pretty crier,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes, but smiled at her, turning his head to press a kiss to her palm.

“Thank you,” he said gently.

“Any time,” she promised. “I mean it.”

“Is Shane’s fault anyway,” he said with a put upon sigh. “Ridiculous, confusing man.”

“You can bitch at him all you like next week when we go to the cottage,” Rose said cheekily. 

Ilya fought a smile. “Maybe,” he said.

But ‘maybe’ was starting to sound a lot more like ‘yes.’

***

Shooting the advert with Ilya was just as sexy and fun as she’d thought it would be. He was attentive, and yes, very hot, and there was no denying their chemistry.

He was also a ridiculous flirt. He had the entire crew charmed, from the obviously gay director, right down to the girls doing hair and make-up, and even the shy closeted young man who was apparently in charge of spritzing water on them between takes.

It was kind of delightful.

He was also live-texting the entire experience to Shane.

Ilya: There was no mention of torture in the contract I signed for advert.

Shane: Torture? What do you mean?

Ilya: I am being waterboarded with little water bottle between every take. This is against Geneva convention, no?

Shane: Oh my God.

Rose, who had her chin tucked over Ilya’s shoulder as he typed, gave a little laugh at that.

“So cute,” Ilya sighed. “This guy.”

She made sure to supply Shane with a video of said torture, snickering to herself at the cross expression that flitted over Ilya’s face and the way the poor guy skittered away from him, looking mildly terrified.

Shane: Yeah, it looks like you’re really suffering.

Ilya: I definitely deserve reward, for putting up with all this. 

Shane: How much are they paying you again?

They shot another take, so Ilya had to wait to reply.

Ilya: Hollander, have mercy. I am under duress.

Shane: Did you just Google that word?

Ilya: Yes. I needed specific word to show my deep, intense pain.

Shane: I’ll give you deep, intense pain.

Ilya smirked at that, and Rose smothered a giggle behind one of her hands, shaking her head at him.

Ilya: Promises, promises.

Shane: You’re ridiculous.

Ilya: I am bored. Send us sexy picture. As reward.

Shane: Fuck off, no.

Rose shook her head. “It’s like he doesn’t even love us,” she said with a pout. Ilya nodded seriously.

Ilya: You are making my Rose sad, now. We will die in these trenches together.

Shane: You’re so dramatic.

Ilya: I think you mean romantic.

Shane: How is asking for a dick pic romantic again?

Ilya: I did not say anything about your dick. But if you are offering, we accept.

Shane didn’t respond and Ilya chuckled, locking his phone and setting it aside with the rest of their things.

“Do you think he’ll actually send anything?” she asked him curiously.

He shrugged. “Could go either way,” he said. “Either he is taking a million photos and trying to find perfect angle, or he is blushing like little tomato thinking about it.” 

Ilya looked her in the eyes, giving her a wink, that crooked grin making her stomach flip.

“Either way, he is thinking about my dick. So, I win.”

She couldn’t fault that logic. It was the same reason she’d sent them the photo of her tiny bikini a few weeks ago.

Chapter 6

Chapter Notes

Thank you (mostly) everyone for your very kind comments. I knew going into this that a fic like this would not be for everyone. I just kind of wish people would close the tab rather than say mean things, but it is clear that some do not know fandom etiquette.

We're getting somewhere in this one. I hope you all like. Please come and scream at me in the comments or on tumblr (same username).

Extra x

Ilya drove her back to Boston, and they lounged around in his penthouse, mooching on his ridiculous couch while the last play-off game ticked down to the final minutes. New York was about to beat Los Angeles and win the Stanley Cup.

Rose was sitting back against the couch, with Ilya’s head in her lap. He was texting Shane about the game, having long since given up on getting any sympathy from Rose.

She wasn’t checking her phone, though she could feel the buzzing of the text messages flying back and forth, and hear Ilya’s low chuckles at whatever Shane was saying.

Instead, she busied herself with braiding some of Ilya’s curls together, her attention half on the game. His hair was too soft for the braids to really hold, but it was calming to let the hair slip through her fingers.

The final siren sounded and Ilya sighed. She patted his head in sympathy, watching the players in their blue jerseys launching onto the ice, all converging on their captain, Scott Hunter.

Everyone shook hands and cheered and cried, and the opposite team trudged by to shake hands, their faces devastated.

Ten minutes later, the Stanley Cup was being handed to Scott Hunter, and he kissed it and beamed at the camera, holding it above his head. There were tears of joy streaming down his face.

Glancing down at Ilya, she saw him roll his eyes.

Rose, who remembered seeing a clip of Ilya in similar circumstances several years ago screaming as he hoisted the cup, just smiled and said nothing.

He continued to text Shane as Hunter handed off the cup to one of his teammates, who kissed it five times in a row. The camera followed Hunter as he stalked over to the crowd, and-

“Oh,” she whispered.

In her lap, she felt Ilya go very, very still. Both of their phones buzzed loudly as Shane sent multiple texts. But neither of them could tear their eyes away from the screen for long enough to check.

Scott Hunter, on national television, was very enthusiastically kissing a man. They pulled apart, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes as they exchanged a few words, and then Hunter leaned in again, licking into his mouth in a way that made Rose feel a little hot under the collar.

Jesus Christ.

The cameras finally moved away, and only then did Ilya move, looking back down at his phone.

He slowly pushed himself out of Rose’s lap, and there was a determined expression on his face as he hit the call button.

Looking directly at her, he said to Shane, “I’m coming to the cottage.”

***

Unfortunately, he did not mean right that second, although Rose would happily have packed her bag and driven straight to the nearest airport. Apparently, there was this pesky thing called the NHL awards that Ilya was expected to attend in Las Vegas.

He had invited her along, and they’d made quite a stir. Rose Landry on the arm of her boyfriend’s rival. The three of them had discussed it, and decided that none of them cared all that much what the media had to say about it, and Rose had been delighted to step out with Ilya.

Even if it was only, publicly, as a close friend. Still, Ilya looked delectable in his tuxedo, and she was wearing a very low cut, slinky dress and the highest pair of heels she owned.

They looked fucking hot, and they drew a lot of attention.

She cried during Hunter’s speech, where he affirmed that he was gay and in a loving relationship with the man he’d kissed at the play-offs. Under the table, Ilya gripped her hand tightly, his eyes glued to Hunter with a naked, almost hungry expression.

She knew that Ilya was astonished at his bravery. Grateful, too. 

Hunter finished his speech inviting the whole of the NHL to a gay bar on the Vegas strip. Rose side-eyed Ilya as he typed the address into his phone with a smirk.

They’d made plans to head to Ontario in a day or two, waiting for the media frenzy of so many NHL stars being in one place had died down a bit. Something about Hunter coming out like that had eased some of the tension in Ilya. He didn’t seem quite so worried about the future anymore.

And he was eager to get to Shane. Not that he ever wasn’t, but there was a determination to him now, a quiet resolution that gave Rose a warm feeling in her chest.

Rose was hopeful that it would be the push her boys needed to finally take that next step.

But first, apparently, they were going to go to a gay bar with Scott Hunter and his boyfriend.

“Isn’t he going to be surprised when you turn up?” she asked Ilya, giggling as he ushered her into a cab.

“Definitely,” Ilya agreed. “Which is why it will be fun!”

“True,” she conceded, grinning back at him. Ilya leaned forward, giving the driver the address, before wrapping his arm around her.

“Don’t tell Shane,” he said to her. “I want to see his expression when I tell him.”

She nodded, snuggling into his side, smiling happily.

These past two weeks with Ilya had been so nice. He was so sweet to her, and so incredibly funny. They’d gone out a few times, whether just to dance, or go and eat at a restaurant, first in Boston and then in Las Vegas. She was ignoring the confused messages from her friends about it, asking what had happened with Shane.

It wasn’t anyone’s business, what she got up to during her personal time. She was between jobs right now, and not interested in picking anything up until after the summer was over. For the moment, she was perfectly content right where she was, snuggled up with the runner-up MVP of the NHL.

The club was already packed when the bouncer let them in, and the music was loud enough that she felt it in her bones. Ilya, so much taller than her, scanned the crowd for Hunter and the others, his hand holding onto her securely as he steered through the mob of people.

He paused near the VIP area, and Rose glanced around, curious to see if she recognized anyone. Miles was definitely going to freak when she told him about this. He’d been effusive in his praise of Scott Hunter since the play-offs. If he didn’t already have a boyfriend, she was sure her friend would have been sliding into his DMs.

She wouldn’t be shocked if he had anyway.

Suddenly, Scott Hunter was there, approaching them, his eyebrows raised.

“Rozanov?” He shook his head, clearly bewildered. “What are you doing here?”

Ilya shrugged. “Wanted to see what Scott Hunter Night was. Is not as bad as it sounds.”

Rose stifled a giggle at that. Hunter looked exasperated. “Did you really come to a gay bar in Vegas just to make fun of me?”

“Be nice,” she whispered, elbowing Ilya. “Hello Scott Hunter,” she said cheerfully. “I loved your speech tonight, by the way.”

He smiled. “Thank you, sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met?”

“Rose Landry,” she said, holding her hand out and giving him a bemused smile as he shook it. 

Ilya snorted. “She is even more famous than you, Hunter. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen one of her movies?”

Scott gave her an apologetic look, but she waved it off.

“So,” Ilya said, gesturing towards the rest of the club. “This is you now?”

Rose watched Scott nod. “This is me,” he agreed. “I mean, this has always been me. But now I’m… better at being me.”

He was just as awkward and sweet as Shane was. Rose decided she liked Scott Hunter.

Ilya nodded along. “Is good. What you did. It will be good for… others.”

For him. For Shane. Rose nodded, squeezing Ilya’s hand. She looked up at Ilya, unsurprised to see the slight sheen in his eyes. He looked grateful.

“I hope so,” was Scott’s reply. She offered Scott another smile as Ilya glanced away.

He looked between them, searching Ilya’s face with dawning comprehension. He hesitated for a few seconds, before seeming to come to a decision.

“Well, I’m here with some of the guys,” Scott said. “From my team, I mean. Would you two like to join us?”

“We’d love to,” Rose beamed. “Thank you.”

They trailed after him into the VIP section, which was very slightly quieter. One of Scott’s teammates spotted them immediately.

“Hey! The star of Scott Hunter Night is back!” he cheered. “And what the fuck is that guy doing here?”

Ilya smirked at him and waved, and Rose snickered. Ilya was right. This was fun.

But Hunter vouched for them, and soon she was in the booth, tucked under Ilya’s arm as he fell into conversation with one of Scott Hunter’s teammates.

There was a lot of banter, a looooot of alcohol, and dancing. Rose danced with Ilya, with some of Scott’s teammates, with whoever was willing to twirl her around. She watched with some bemusement as Ilya danced with an array of very hot men, though she noticed his hands never strayed, and his eyes swept over to check on her often, his gaze heated and cheeky as he winked at her.

It was the most fun she’d had out dancing in a long time.

She just wished Shane could have been there to see it. To feel it. The energy. The love all of Scott Hunter’s teammates had for him. The absolutely filthy way Scott kissed his boyfriend where anyone could see them. The soft look in Ilya’s eyes whenever he looked over and saw them.

He would have loved it.

***

Finally, finally, they were on a plane to Ontario.

Rose was exhausted, still, after their big night in Las Vegas, but she was thrilled to be on her way back to Shane. She’d really fucking missed him.

But this had been important. It wouldn’t have been the same going to the cottage without Ilya, and he’d needed to get there himself. Sure, she’d poked and prodded a bit, but part of her was pretty sure he would have come to this same conclusion without her.

Currently, though, he was staring broodily out the window, fingers tapping nervously on the arm rest between them.

She caught her hand in his, interlocking their fingers.

Ilya dragged his gaze to her, offering her a small smile.

“Nervous?” she asked him.

He nodded. “Terrified, to be honest.” 

She squeezed his hand, and he brought hers up to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it.

“You are right, though,” he murmured. “Is better. To be scared with you. And with him.”

“It will be worth it,” she promised him.

After what she’d seen at the club, with Hunter and his teammates, she was only more sure of it.

“Yes,” Ilya agreed. His expression was serious as he looked down at her. “I want to thank you,” he said. “You could have gone to Shane weeks ago, but instead you were here, with me.”

She shook her head. “You needed me more than he did,” she said with a soft smile. “Shane had his parents looking after him, even if they were driving him up the wall.”

Ilya rolled his eyes. “He is a big baby.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “He’s the worst patient ever. But he didn’t really need me.” Not like you did, was the silent implication.

Ilya didn’t have anyone in his corner. Rose was more than happy to be his person, to see the soft side of him that he didn’t show to anyone else. It was a privilege that she took very seriously.

“Of course he needs you,” Ilya scolded her, pressing another kiss to her hand. “He has been seething with jealousy for weeks, that you chose Boston over his little cottage.”

Rose just shrugged her shoulders, giving him a cheeky grin. “I told him months ago that you and me are a package deal. I just had to wear you down, first.”

“You are very patient with me,” he said after a few moments. “More than I deserve.”

She reached for him with her other hand, gently caressing his cheek. He leaned into it, his pretty hazel eyes focused on her with an intensity that made her heart race. “You deserve everything, Ilya Rozanov.”

Ilya ducked down, giving her plenty of time to move away. Her eyes widened, but she let it happen, feeling a thrill go through her as he pressed a soft, searching kiss to her lips. She closed her eyes and returned it, blood rushing in her ears.

He’d kissed her, all those months ago, that night after the club when her whole life had been tilted on its axis. It had been hot and filthy and sweet, but he’d never repeated it.

Since then, he’d kissed the top of her head, her cheek, her hand, but he hadn’t kissed her again, not properly.

And she hadn’t pushed it, even as she’d often found herself watching his lips, the way they formed words, the different smiles that graced them, anywhere from that cocky, crooked grin all the way to that soft, sweet little half-smile he sometimes did. And she had yearned.

She loved kissing Shane, of course she did. He was sweet, and a very good kisser.

But there was something about the way Ilya kissed. He did it with his full body, his entire heart. And it was so special, for how rare it was.

Ilya leaned back slightly, his lips trailing to her cheek.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured. “You’re crying.”

She blinked her eyes open and gave a shocked little laugh. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m so ridiculous.”

“No,” Ilya said, and his voice was so very gentle. “You are just in love, I think.”

Rose smiled at him. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I love you so much.”

He whispered to her in Russian, and then her name, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. 

She buried her face in his neck, and he wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head.

“Make sure you tell Shane, too,” he said quietly.

She let out a quiet laugh. “I will if you will.”

“Of course.”

***

Shane picked them up from the airport in his Jeep Cherokee. Ilya gave him absolute shit for it, and Rose giggled from the front seat. Ilya, being the gentleman he was, had immediately offered it to her, before sliding into the middle of the backseat, endlessly chirping at Shane as he drove them to the cottage.

Rose was giddy, watching the way the two of them just eased into being around each other again. Shane was often feigning offence or annoyance, but he couldn’t stop the smile that kept creeping onto his face.

With every mile they left behind them, they all relaxed just that little bit more.

“So, did you tell your parents we were coming?” Rose asked after a bit of a natural lull in conversation.

She heard Ilya snort.

“No,” Shane admitted. “I made something up about needing a sabbatical with no interruptions. Like a mental training thing.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Of course you did,” she said with a shake of her head. “And Yuna bought that?”

“Probably not,” Shane admitted. “But I was being enough of a brat about her hovering over me that I think I’ll get most of the time without one of them checking on me.”

Rose turned her head, exchanging an amused look with Ilya.

“I give it, like eight days, maybe,” she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “What do you think, Ilya?”

He tilted his head side to side, pretending to think. “Don’t know. Shane is a bit of a mama's boy. Maybe four.”

“Fuck off,” Shane pouted. “I am not a mama’s boy.”

Rose burst out into laughter.

“I’m not!”

“Nothing to be ashamed of, Hollander,” Ilya said in his stereotypical condescending tone. “You are good boy, love your mama. Is normal.”

Shane let out a deep sigh, banging his head once on the steering wheel.

“I hate you guys,” he grumbled.

“No, you don’t, you loooove us,” Ilya sing-songed, squeezing Shane’s shoulder and shaking him just slightly, not enough to impede his driving. “Admit it, Hollander.”

Shane just shook his head, fighting a losing battle against that smile again.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“Did you guys have fun at the awards?”

Rose looked at Ilya again, who raised an eyebrow at her. She once again mimed locking her lips and he grinned.

“It was alright,” Ilya said casually. “Hunter gave long, boring speech.”

“Stop it,” Rose said, smacking his arm. “It was actually really nice.”

“Was okay,” Ilya conceded, but his smile was soft as he looked at her. She wrinkled her nose up at him. “More fun when we went to a gay bar with him afterwards, though.”

Shane choked.

“What?!”

Rose couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. 

“You went to a gay bar?” Shane spluttered.

“We did,” Rose enthused. “I got soooo drunk. And we danced all night!”

“So many hot guys,” Ilya said, fighting a smile. “They couldn’t get enough of me.”

“That’s true,” she conceded. “You left a lot of broken hearts out on that dancefloor.”

“What the fuck?” Shane whispered. His hands were tight where they gripped the steering wheel.

“Oh, don’t worry, Hollander,” Ilya said, leaning forward with a cocky grin. “If you had been there, I would not have danced with anyone except you.”

“I think the look on Scott Hunter’s face when he saw us was the highlight,” Rose mused. “He was horrified, thought you were going to make fun of him.”

“I did, many times,” Ilya said with faux seriousness. “Hunter is a shit dancer. Too old, probably. I could hear his knees creaking from across the room.”

“How is this my life now?” Shane said with a put-upon sigh, turning off the main highway to a smaller road.

“You love it,” Ilya said confidently.

Shane rolled his eyes. He didn’t deny it.

Chapter 7

Chapter Summary

Thanks for all of the love and support. We're starting to get a little real and a lot steamy, so I hope you guys enjoy x

Calling this place a cottage was like calling the ocean a pond. It was huge and impressive, and Rose let out a low whistle as Shane pulled up the driveway.

“Damn, Shane,” she said, drinking it in eagerly. 

“Hollander doesn’t fuck around with his real estate,” Ilya said and Shane shot him a look as he parked the car in front of the house.

“You’re so mean to me,” he complained.

Rose climbed out of the car, ignoring their bickering. There was never any heat to it, she’d learnt that ages ago now. It was like foreplay to them.

Shane took her suitcase, leaving Ilya to bring his own, though he looked at Ilya with narrowed eyes first.

“How are your ribs?”

“My ribs are fine,” Ilya insisted. “I can carry my own bag.”

“I can’t believe you played with those bruised ribs,” Shane said with a shake of his head, turning to lead them to the house. Rose trailed after him with Ilya in tow.

Ilya raised an eyebrow at his back. “You can’t?”

Shane shot back a grin over his shoulder. “Okay, I guess I can.”

Rose let out a laugh. “Is hockey,” she mocked.

“Little bird,” Ilya teased back, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

Shane opened the front door, ushering them through. He left Rose’s suitcase by the door, and Ilya let his bag drop beside it, striding deeper into the room.

Rose felt her jaw drop. It was a stunning home. It was all open and spacious, with high ceilings and exposed beams. The far wall opened out onto a large deck with a pool and hot-tub, beyond which she could see the lake. Closer to the water, she could spy a dock and boathouse.

It was paradise.

“Make yourself at home,” he said to them, and Rose turned to look at him. He seemed kind of nervous, fiddling with his hands.

He started to ramble about what they could do, the facilities, even the tap water of all things, but Ilya put a stop to that. 

Rose watched with wide eyes as he closed the distance between him and Shane with slow, deliberate steps, like a panther stalking its prey. He paused in front of Shane, and then slowly, brought a hand up to his cheek, gently caressing it.

He ducked down and kissed Shane tenderly. Though it was only tender for a moment. Rose held her breath, not wanting to break the spell of the two literal hottest guys she’d ever met shoving each other back towards the couch, attached at the lips like they might die if their breaths weren’t co-mingled.

They’d forgotten her entirely, she realized.

She hovered, not sure whether she should give them some space, or give into her desire to walk over and watch from a much closer vantage point.

Ilya tumbled back onto the couch, with Shane perched on top of him, and yeah, okay now Shane’s shirt was coming off, and Ilya’s aviator sunglasses were thrown aside, coming to a skidding stop at her feet.

He didn’t notice, too busy wrestling with the fly of Shane’s jeans.

She picked them up, holding them to her chest, still staring at the two of them, spellbound.

“Fuck,” Shane panted. He looked wild, completely undone already. “It’s been a while, I’m not gonna last long.”

“Yes. Same,” Ilya said. “Is okay, we have a few weeks, right?”

Shane laughed. “Right.” And then it was like his brain caught up, and he paused, frowning at Ilya. “Wait, same?”

Ilya’s cheek went a bit pink. “Hm?”

“You said ‘same.’ You haven’t… been with anyone? Lately? Not even-”

And then Shane froze, head whipping over to look at her where she was still standing, just inside the door.

She held up a hand, giving an awkward wave. “Uh, hi?”

“Rose,” Shane said. He scrambled back off Ilya’s lap. “Jesus, sorry. I got a little caught up.”

“Don’t stop on my behalf,” she said with a weak laugh.

Ilya sat up on his elbows, and his expression was amused. “No, Hollander. Rose and I have not been sleeping together.”

Shane blinked. “Why not?”

“You assumed we were?” Rose asked, feeling a bit hysterical. She had no fucking idea what they were doing, the three of them. She felt like she’d just been shoved out onto a stage in Broadway, a spotlight on her in a show she’d never seen before.

She moved closer to the couch, pausing at the back of it.

“I mean, kinda, yeah,” Shane admitted.

Rose tilted her head. “And how did you feel about that?”

Shane had the grace to look embarrassed. “Wildly jealous,” he admitted.

“Which is why we did not,” Ilya said, drawing their attention back to him. He smirked at Shane. “It was difficult though. I had to fight her off every night with baseball bat. She is very persistent.”

“Wow,” Shane drawled. “Persistent, huh?”

Ilya nodded. “But I said to her, no Rose Landry, most beautiful woman in the world, I cannot sleep with you for first time without our boyfriend Shane Hollander here.”

Shane flushed. “Oh.”

He ducked his head, covering his face with his hands. Even through them, Rose could see his smile. She rolled her eyes at Ilya, who was looking back at her, obviously pleased with himself. He winked at her, and then beckoned her over.

She moved to him, bending over the back of the couch to press a kiss to his lips.

“Very funny,” she murmured.

“Was not a joke,” he said back. “Do you know how many cold showers I have taken in the past few weeks?”

She had thought that he was strangely obsessed with his hygiene, now that she thought about it.

Rose snickered, and he kissed her again to shut her up.

He pulled her down into his lap so that she was sitting sideways across him, and they both looked back at Shane, who was peeking at them through his fingers.

“So,” Rose said. “Now, that we’ve established that none of us have gotten laid in literally fucking months. Can we get onto the good part?”

Shane seemed very on board with this plan. He crawled back over to them and kissed her. She sighed happily into his mouth, immediately carding her hands into his hair and keeping him there as he licked into her mouth, deepening the kiss.

His touch ignited her, especially as Ilya’s hands started to roam over her body, sliding under her clothes.

Rose had never really thought that she was the kind of girl who would have a threesome, but she was very much understanding the appeal. Two mouths, two sets of hands, two hot bodies trapping her between them. She sighed as Ilya’s mouth attacked her neck, those clever fingers of his slipping past her already dripping panties, one sliding inside of her. Shane swallowed down all the gasping noises she was making, his own hands pulling her shirt up and away, throwing it aside.

“Wow, Hollander, not going to fold it?” Ilya teased.

Shane just rolled his eyes at him, muttering that he was an asshole. He leaned back, watching Rose squirming on Ilya’s hand as he pumped a finger inside of her.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” Shane whispered.

“Stunning,” Ilya agreed. He bit at her ear, chuckling as he swept his thumb over her clit and she jolted with a loud cry. “So responsive for me,” he purred.

“Ilya,” she whined. “Please.”

“Mmm you beg pretty too, just like Hollander,” he said with another low chuckle. “I am spoiled, yes? Two pretty little playthings desperate for my cock.”

Shane was rubbing a hand over the tent in his jeans, his eyes intense as he stared between the two of them like they were some kind of miracle.

“Watch her writhing on my finger, Shane,” Ilya said, tucking his chin over her shoulder, lips turned up in that crooked smile. “Do you think she deserves another one?”

Rose flushed. Her skirt was pushed up her stomach, giving Shane a clear view of exactly what Ilya was doing to her.

“Yes,” Shane whispered. “Do it.”

“Rose?”

“Please,” she gasped. “Give me another one, I can take it.”

Ilya hummed his approval, nipping at her cheek. “You will take a lot more than just two fingers, my Rose,” he promised. “Later, though. After we have made Shane squirm a little bit more.”

Shane glared at him, but his hand had shoved down his jeans and briefs to mid-thigh, his cock hard in his own hand, which he was using to slowly jack himself off.

From where Ilya’s lips were pressed to his cheek, she felt him smile.

“Gorgeous, isn’t he?” he murmured to Rose like he was telling her a secret. He slid the second finger into her, pumping languidly like he had all the time in the world. She whimpered, writhing, overwhelmed at how good it felt, how hot this was. She was going to combust, and quickly.

Especially with the way his thumb brushed her clit at random intervals. He was like an expert violinist, and she was his instrument. He plucked the strings and she quivered for him.

When she came, it was violent and she cried out Ilya’s name, thrashing in his powerful hold. She clenched around his fingers, feeling herself flood around them, but she was far too blissed out to care at the mess she was likely making.

He certainly didn’t seem to care, pulling his fingers out to bring them to his mouth, licking them clean with a pleased hum.

“Jesus,” she heard Shane curse.

Ilya was gentle as he picked her up, flipping them over so that he hovered over her. He kissed her, and she could taste herself on his tongue. She moaned into it and he smirked, biting at her lower lip.

“Let me go take care of our boy, now, mm? You watch,” he told her.

She nodded, tilting her chin up for one last kiss, which he happily doled out, licking into her mouth like he was possessing it.

When he pulled away, his expression was hungry. 

He turned, stalking over to Shane.

But where she expected him to pounce, he instead ran a hand over Shane’s cheek. Shane reached for him as well, brushing his curls out of his face. They met in the middle for a tender kiss, before pulling back and looking at each other.

“I have an idea,” Shane said, swallowing thickly.

“What?” Ilya asked.

Shane looked between them. “I think, for these next two weeks, we be brave. We be honest with each other. Say what we’re thinking. Maybe… how we really feel.”

Ilya was quiet for a few moments. He took a deep, shuddering breath and gave a tiny nod. “I will try,” he promised.

“Me too,” Rose agreed, though something in her chest seized at the thought.

“Will you?” Shane asked.

Ilya’s expression went pained. “Yes! I will say anything if it makes you touch my dick right now!”

Shane laughed at that, and Ilya was ripping off his own shirt while Shane worked his shorts down, and then Rose was pushing herself up on her elbows to get a better view of the blissed-out expression that crossed Shane’s face as he knelt and took Ilya’s cock into his mouth.

And wow, he was really into that. And really good at it, if the contorted pleasure on Ilya’s expression was any indication. 

“Always such a slut for it, Shane,” Ilya murmured. 

Shane looked up at him, hollowing his cheeks and Ilya cursed in Russian. He stared back down at him, and he said something else in Russian, something likely endearing and sweet from the tone of his voice. Shane melted, his eyes fluttering closed as he sighed around Ilya’s cock, his head bobbing.

Rose watched Ilya’s face, fascinated by the micro-expressions that flitted over it. Mostly, he just looked at Shane like he couldn’t believe he was there, like he was a mirage, and would disappear if he looked away. It was a desperate kind of love that they had, Rose realized. A love of secrets and longing and stolen time. 

These two weeks should be good for them. She would make sure of it. Even if-

Ilya came not long after, and then he was pushing Shane down onto the couch, taking him to the hilt with his gorgeous lips.

If Shane sucked cock like it was an Olympic sport, Ilya did it like it was an artform. He was handsy, pawing at Shane, sucking his balls into his mouth, alternating between kitten licks and swallowing him down.

Shane moaned under the assault, coming in less than a minute while Ilya swallowed it all down, popping off of his cock with a satisfied smirk.

He flopped down on the couch between Shane and Rose, giving a happy sigh.

“Feel better?” Rose asked him with a laugh, pushing her confused feelings aside to fall into her natural banter with Ilya.

“Much,” he beamed.

He shuffled around until his head was in Shane’s lap, and his legs were thrown over hers. All three of them were in various forms of undress and completely unashamed of it. Shane leaned down often to kiss Ilya but otherwise seemed content to just play with his curls, a lovesick expression on his face.

Ilya leaned into his touches like a large, content cat, practically purring.

And Rose watched them both, her heart thudding in her chest, wondering if she could actually have this.

***

Later, while Shane showed off his indoor hockey training facility to Ilya, Rose explored around the cottage. It was truly beautiful, and though she could tell that Shane had gotten a designer to create it, there were still pieces of him everywhere.

There was a photo wall in his bedroom, and she stood in front of it, smiling at all of the photos of younger Shane looking at the camera with that determined set to his jaw, like he was daring the photographer not to take him seriously. It was cute now, but on ten-year-old Shane it was adorable.

She buried her nose in the shirt she’d stolen from his closet, breathing in his scent and thinking hard.

It made her want to ask him so many questions, about growing up, about hockey. He’d shared a little bit with her already, talking about growing up as one of the only half-Japanese players in his area, but she longed to know more.

The same with Ilya. He’d opened up to her a little, the past few weeks, but he didn’t actually speak about his childhood very much.

Her own was likely boring compared to theirs. The stereotypical story of the awkward theatre kid blooming into a decent body and pretty face. It had gotten her in the door at auditions, but she liked to think it was her abilities that kept her there.

She wanted to share all of that with them.

Shane had said that he wanted to know what they were thinking. What they were feeling. And Ilya himself had also told her to tell Shane she loved him, to tell him properly, to his face. She’d been cowardly, probably, not to do it before. She just wasn’t quite sure how she fit into their existing dynamic, if she was truly welcome or if she was imposing.

She was a little insecure about it, which felt ridiculous to think. She was a very famous movie star, a millionaire in her own right, highly desired and sought after for a million projects that she was currently ignoring to pursue whatever this was here with them.

But that superstar life was lonely, and she felt like maybe Ilya and Shane were kindred spirits to her, in that regard. They, too, were clinging onto something for themselves, something that made the hard work and heartache and loneliness all worth it.

She stared at Shane’s photos for a long time, long enough that it surprised her to hear their voices return downstairs.

Shaking her head, she trailed down the stairs, finding them sweaty and disheveled, bickering in front of the fridge.

“Boys,” she said, arching an eyebrow at them. They both whirled and looked at her with big happy grins. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes,” Ilya affirmed. “But now I will faint if Shane does not make me real food that is not for birds.”

Rose bit back a smile. “Sounds very serious,” she said. “Shane?”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He elbowed Ilya away from the fridge door and pulled out a few containers, while Ilya staggered back with an exaggerated cry, draping himself over the bench top, complaining to Rose like she was the ref. Shane ignored all of this, making preparations behind him.

She was dating two absolute morons.

Rose opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of chilled water, before walking around her apparently dying boyfriend to drop into one of the stools on the opposite side of the bench, watching Shane move around the kitchen instead.

Ilya gave up on his appeal for something more fun, which appeared to be stealing food from the cutting board Shane was working at.

“You’re going to lose a finger,” Shane complained, glaring at him. 

Ilya put on his best innocent face, holding up his hands and dropping down next to Rose.

Shane turned away to grab something else and Ilya darted over the bench top, grabbing two carrot slices and a hunk of cheese, stuffing them into his mouth and sitting back by the time Shane had turned back around.

Rose hid her smile behind her hand, while Ilya tried to disguise his cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk.

It took Shane all of two seconds to notice and he shot Ilya an exasperated look.

“Can you just wait?” he sighed.

Solemnly, Ilya shook his head. He chewed the food with obvious relish, his hazel eyes twinkling with amusement.

“You’re literally a child,” Shane scolded.

“No, no, am very sexy man,” Ilya assured him. “Big cock, nine inches, remember?”

Shane shook his head, fighting a smile. “Liar.”

This time, when Shane turned, it was Rose who darted over to grab a handful of food, sitting back in her chair just in time. Surreptitiously, under the bench top, she shared her haul with Ilya while Shane gave them a suspicious look.

They both smiled blandly back at him.

Rose coughed, covering her mouth with both hands, shoving the piece of cheese in. Beside her, Ilya snickered.

“Et tu?” Shane said to her, giving her a look of deep suffering. 

“This is French?” Ilya asked, looking interested.

“Yes. Well, Latin, technically,” Shane said. “It’s from Shakespeare.”

Ilya looked delighted. “Hollander, you are such a nerd!”

“That’s it!” Shane said, shooing them out. “Out of my kitchen, you gremlins. Go out to the deck and I’ll bring it out when it’s done!”

“Come, my Rose,” Ilya said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Hollander is holding knife. We should listen.”

Rose went with him, pouting back at Shane over her shoulder.

***

After they had eaten, Ilya stood from the table out on the deck, gathering up the dishes.

“Stay,” he said, when Shane started to rise to help. “You cooked, I will clean.”

Shane nodded and settled back down, and over Shane’s shoulder, Ilya made eye contact with her, giving her a pointed look. He mouthed the word ‘talk’ at her, gesturing at Shane.

She sighed.

Yeah, that was probably a good idea.

“What do you think of the cottage?” Shane asked her.

She smiled at him. “It’s incredible,” she said warmly. “I can see why you love it here so much.”

Shane looked pleased at this. “The dock is pretty, you wanna go for a walk down there and check it out?”

Surprised, Rose nodded, and she stood up. Shane took her hand and tucked it into his elbow, escorting her down the stairs towards the dock.

Silently, they walked side by side down to the end of it. Shane sat down and helped her to join him. 

“Ilya thinks we need to talk,” Rose said matter-of-factly, nudging into his side.

“Yeah,” Shane agreed with a wry laugh. “He wasn’t exactly subtle about that.”

Rose looked at Shane. He offered her a warm smile, reaching out to take her hand.

“Tell me what’s wrong?” he asked. There was an earnest look in his eyes, an intensity to the way he searched her face. It was… new.

“You know I love you,” Rose said quietly.

“Of course,” Shane said with a quick, easy smile. “I love you, too.”

She studied him. “Do you?”

He blinked, startled. “Rose?”

Suddenly, she felt her throat close over. She dropped her gaze, feeling her eyes sting with tears. 

Shane’s other hand cupped her cheek. 

“Hey,” he said gently. “Come on, Rose. Talk to me.”

She nodded, taking a shaky breath. “I just, I’m not sure how I fit in here,” she admitted. “I know that you, and Ilya, what you two have is special. It’s different.”

Shane didn’t interrupt her, for which she was grateful. He was just studying her with a serious expression on his face, letting her talk.

“I don’t want to get in between you two,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to resent me, either of you. I love you so much. And-”

She broke off, taking a few deep, shuddering breaths. Shane stroked her cheek, squeezing her other hand. Rose closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself.

“And if you don’t want me, then you know. I can go. I’ll always be your best friend, and I’ll be aunty Rose to all your hockey obsessed kids, and I’ll still call you and bother you all the time-”

“Rose,” Shane whispered.

She shook her head. “And it will break my heart,” she admitted, “to walk away from you, and from Ilya. But I don’t want to be an outsider, either. I think it would kill me, but like, slowly, you know?”

“Is this about earlier?” Shane asked. He looked devastated. “Rose, I swear I didn’t mean-”

“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, yes, but not really. It’s just this feeling I have, like I’m interrupting something. Like it’s high school and I just walked into a room where everyone there was talking about me.”

Shane let go of her hand to turn more fully, pulling her onto his lap. She folded into him, squeezing her eyes closed.

“Rose,” he said quietly, his arms tight where they held onto her. He was quiet for a few fraught, long moments. “Sorry, I’m just trying to not fuck this up. I-” He shook his head. “Ilya’s always been better at talking about this stuff than me.”

It was her turn to wait, to let him gather his words. Dread curdled in her stomach.

“Rose Landry,” he said. “Sweetheart, you are not an afterthought, or a burden, and you’re definitely not interrupting anything. You- God, you said it yourself. You’re the glue in this relationship. Ilya and I, we’re barely functional idiots, especially without you. He told me about how much you’ve helped him, since my injury, how you stayed at the rink for him, how you were there for him, keeping his spirits up, getting him to open up. He’s crazy about you.”

He let out a laugh. “And hell, when he was in Russia? You were just there for me, you dropped everything, stayed with me until we knew he was okay. I never said how much that meant to me, but I should have.”

She sniffled. “You mean it?”

“Of course I fucking mean it,” he said. One of his hands slid under her chin, lifting it up so that their gazes met. She knew she was an ugly crier, she’d told Ilya something to that effect a few weeks ago. Her face went all red and splotchy. But if Shane noticed, he didn’t seem to care. His eyes were a little glassy as well, his brow furrowed.

“You know I do,” Shane said. “I love you, Rose. You are sweet, and funny, and you call me out on my bullshit, and you mean the fucking world to me. You both do. And sure, we have stuff to figure out, and boundaries we all probably need to establish, and we need to learn how to communicate better with each other.”

He took her hand and held it to his chest.

“But this, us, this is important to me. It’s everything to me, that you’re both here. That you’re both willing to try, even if it will be hard, and we might not ever be able to share our love with the world.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I’d scream it for everyone to hear, if things were different.”

Rose’s lower lip trembled. She could feel the thud of Shane’s heart against her hand. It was beating fast. 

Footsteps approached. “This looks very serious,” Ilya noted. He dropped down to sit beside them, resting back on his hands. “Is heart-to-heart done now?”

Rose let out a watery laugh. “Yes.” 

At the same time, Shane said, “almost.”

And then he was cradling her cheek and ducking down to kiss her. It was soft, exploratory, and Rose sighed into it. He whispered her name against her lips, and it was a promise. Rose returned it, sighing his name. It was a promise to try. To not give up on this, on them.

“Okay,” Ilya said a few moments later, sounding amused. “Is my turn for kisses now, yes?”

Chapter 8

Chapter Notes

Merry Christmas!!!

Rose paused at the edge of the deck, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked out to the lake. She could hear her boys yelling and shrieking over the loud thrum of the jet skis. She was pretty sure Shane had suggested getting the canoes out, but clearly Ilya had changed his mind once he’d seen the more powerful engines.

It was cute, though, and she smiled as she slipped out the door, padding over to where the hot-tub was already bubbling away. She’d turned it on a while ago and then gone inside to change.

She slipped into the water with a sigh, sinking down to her neck. 

It was an idyllic day. The sky was a brilliant blue, with only a few puffy white clouds drifting across the sky. Rose had carefully covered her fair skin in sunscreen before coming out, and lolled in the tub for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of the jets massaging her back.

A faint ringing caught her attention, and she squinted over to the deck where Shane and Ilya had left their things.

Neither of them seemed bothered, so she elected to stay put.

It wasn’t much later that she heard the jet skis come closer and then turn off, Shane and Ilya trailing up the dock with matching grins.

Rose watched them with open admiration.

As Ilya hopped into the tub and Shane slid in next to her, Rose joined in on their bantering immediately.

It had been interesting, navigating sex with two different guys, particularly ones with different preferences in bed. Rose liked sex, she always had, but it was just so different with them.

Shane didn’t really like penetration, he’d shyly admitted a few days previously, and she’d kissed him, telling him that was fine, that was great, even. Ilya had gently teased him for it, but it was in his own endearing way, and she could tell that Shane felt better about it after they’d talked.

Now, a few days on after exploring each other's bodies and navigating this new dynamic, it led to a longer chat between them about what they liked. 

Shane liked it when Ilya told him what to do sometimes. 

Ilya liked pinning his partners down, making them take his cock. 

Rose liked being touched softly, at least at first. 

Shane liked it when it hurt a bit more. 

Ilya was crazy for Shane wearing his glasses, and his freckles, and his pecs. 

Rose liked to pull the boys hair when they went down on her. 

Shane got loud, liked it when he could let go properly.

Ilya liked to talk dirty, to tell them what he wanted to do to them and how good they felt.

Rose liked it than Shane got off on watching them sometimes.

Ilya rewarded each of their admissions with a kiss. Crossing from one to the other in the steaming, bubbling hot-tub, as both Shane and Rose tried to think of more elaborate and ridiculous preferences to get Ilya’s mouth on them a bit longer.

And Ilya was grinning, his eyes crinkled and cheeks flushed with almost delirious happiness.

Eventually, he settled back on the opposite side of the hot-tub, laughing at their mirror pouts.

“So cute,” he cooed at them, waggling his eyebrows.

“Asshole,” Shane grumbled. Rose said nothing, just watching Ilya, basking in his light, happy smile, the golden glow of the sun kissing his skin and making him shine even brighter.

Ilya hummed, winking at Shane before leaning his head back against the hot-tub, his body sinking into the water with a content sigh.

Rose glanced sideways at Shane. He also looked a little lovestruck as he looked at Ilya, and he blushed a little when he caught her looking.

And then, he turned properly, really looking at her, doing a double take. 

Rose bit back a smile. She was wearing that teeny tiny bikini she’d shown off to them all those weeks ago. She knew how she looked in it.

They hadn’t seen her get into the hot-tub and she’d sunk low when they first joined her, hiding the surprise under the bubbling water.

“Is that…” Shane trailed off.

Rose winked at him. “It might be.”

“Hollander,” Ilya said, and he was beckoning to him, and Shane went, giving Rose a lovely view of his smooth skin and broad shoulders as he stood and moved to fall down beside Ilya.

They both looked at her, waited.

“Show off for us, sweetheart,” Ilya purred. “Come on, I want to see this bikini that has been haunting my dreams for months now.”

“Okay,” Rose giggled, heat rising to her cheeks.

Slowly, she stood up. She didn’t look at them as she did an awkward little twirl, letting them see it from every angle.

“Christ,” she heard Shane whisper. When she chanced a look up, he looked dazed. Ilya wasn’t much better. His eyes were sweeping her up and down slowly, his teeth biting at his lower lip.

It was kind of gratifying, having two sexy, desirable men looking at her like that.

“Fuck, Rose,” Ilya said. “If hot-tub was not terrible place to have sex, I would be begging to fuck you right now.”

“How terrible is it, exactly?” Shane asked. He was staring at her, still, licking his lips nervously.

Ilya let out a low chuckle at that.

Rose flushed and sat back down, hiding her face behind her hands. Immediately they both protested, and then suddenly there were two sets of hands reaching for her, hauling her over until she was perched over both of them, one of her legs trapped between each of their powerful thighs.

“Mmm, much better,” Ilya said with a grin. 

Rose sat back, looking for a moment at Ilya, at his sweet, cocky smile, before turning to Shane. Under the water, she trailed a hand up his thigh, before pressing her hand to the muscles of his abdomen.

Shane took a shuddering breath, flexing under her fingers.

Slowly, she brought her hand up, over his pec, flicking idly at one of his brown nipples. She smiled as he cursed under his breath, squirming a little.

Ilya was watching his face, smirking.

She felt powerful, like this. It made her feel bold. Usually, Ilya was the one calling the shots in the bedroom, and it had led to many very satisfying orgasms, but this was enjoyable in a different way.

“Kiss him,” she told Ilya.

He didn’t hesitate, turning Shane’s head towards him and claiming his lips in a hungry kiss. Rose watched for a moment and then bent her head, nipping at the place where Shane’s neck met his shoulder, sucking a mark into his skin.

Ilya swallowed Shane’s groan. Jesus Christ. Both of them were so hot that just looking at them felt like a sin. Shane especially. The way he responded to her, to Ilya, it was heady.

Rose smiled against the hickey, kissing it once and then trailing her lips to his jaw, the light stubble scratchy against her lips.

“You look so hot like this,” she murmured, nipping at his jaw. 

Ilya wrenched his mouth away and looked at her with approval shining in his hazel eyes. “He does, doesn’t he?” he agreed. “Our pretty little slut.”

Rose hummed, turning Shane’s head back to her to steal a kiss, gripping the back of his head with her hands so that she could kiss him properly, swiping a possessive tongue inside. From where her knee was pressed up against Shane, she could feel his cock swelling to life.

It made her mouth water.

“Gorgeous,” she praised against his lips, before kissing him again. “So sweet for us, aren’t you, Shane?”

He nodded, and his expression was dazed as she sat back on her heels, looking down at him. 

Ilya was reclined back against the hot-tub, and he licked her lips as she turned to him.

They met half-way, their lips clashing together in a kiss that was domineering and filthy. He let Rose lead it for a few beats before hauling her against his chest, his tongue silky as it glided into her mouth, flicking in a way that was obscene.

She whimpered into it. God, she was so fucking wet.

“We are not,” Ilya murmured between kisses, “fucking in this hot-tub.”

“What do you have against hot-tubs?” Shane asked, sounding grumpy.

Ilya pulled away from her with one last peck on her lips and then looked at Shane, holding up a hand as he counted off. “Is bad, uncomfortable, washes away lube, water everywhere, and-” He put down his last finger. “-lots of nasty bacteria. So gross.”

Rose wrinkled up her nose. Well, when he put it like that…

“Easy fix,” Ilya said with a roll of his eyes. “We get out of the hot-tub. Then you can both stop looking like scowly kittens.”

She pinched his side under the water and he jolted, giving her a wounded look.

“What?” she asked, pretending innocence.

“Just for that,” he said, a faux serious expression on his face, “I will suck Hollander off first.”

“Wait-”

Ilya smirked at her. She pouted. Shane snickered.

Well, it wasn’t like watching them together would be a hardship.

“Fine,” she sighed, and she slid off their laps and stood. She turned, bending over slightly as she stepped up onto the side of the tub.

Ilya swore filthily in Russian. Rose giggled, and hopped down, striding over towards the reclining deck chairs where she’d left her towel.

She barely made it three steps before she was being swept up into Ilya’s arms. Rose shrieked with laughter, hitting his arm and squirming in his hold. He peppered her face with kisses, carrying her over to the nearby chair, leaning down to carefully deposit her on top of it.

Linking her arms around his neck, she kept him there for a moment, holding his gaze.

“Love you,” she murmured.

His smile was automatic, and he ducked down to kiss her, a proper kiss that had her toes curling.

“I love you too,” he said, eyes twinkling. “Be a good girl and watch me make Shane come, and if you are good and keep your hands to yourself, I will eat you out until you cry for me. Yes?”

Heat suffused her cheeks. “Yes,” she whispered.

He kissed her again. “My Rose,” he said with a beaming smile.

She let him go, and he turned to Shane, who had trailed after them. He looked a bit wrecked already, his shorts tented from the attention they’d given him. Rose leaned back against the deck chair, admiring his beautiful body, aroused by how needy he looked as Ilya pushed him down on the deck chair beside her.

Rose rolled onto her side, pushing up onto one elbow. Ilya was easing Shane’s board shorts down his legs, though not all the way off, restricting his movement as he pinned him down. He looked up at Shane, his eyes slowly travelling the landscape of his body while Shane squirmed.

“Ilya,” he whispered, his expression pained. “Touch me already.”

“So impatient,” Ilya said with an easy smile. “Maybe I just want to look at you for a bit.”

Rose couldn’t blame him. Shane was gorgeous, all smooth with that flawless skin, only a light smattering of hair down his chest and groin. In the sunshine, his skin looked even more warm, marred only by the flush of red on his neck and chest.

“If I get sunburn on my dick, I’m blaming you,” Shane told him matter-of-factly.

Rose covered her mouth with her hand, smothering her giggles. They both still glanced at her though, and Ilya’s eyes were twinkling with amusement. He winked at her.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we Shane?” Ilya said seriously. “Don’t worry, I will protect your dick from the sun.”

He shucked Shane’s shorts the rest of the way off and dropped them to the side, moving to settle himself between Shane’s legs so that he could swallow him down. He held himself there, nose resting in the lightly trimmed pubes at Shane’s groin, eyes dark.

Shane bit at his lower lip, his whole body thrumming with tension.

Rose stared. She deeply regretted agreeing to Ilya’s instructions not to touch herself. They’d barely even started and she was rubbing her thighs together, trying to get some relief from how fucking turned on she was.

Especially when it became apparent quite quickly that Ilya had no intention of moving anytime soon.

Her two guys stared at each other, Shane looking out-of-breath and painfully turned on, Ilya looking smug. It was another one of their silly little battles, but fuck, so hot.

“I’m not going to beg,” Shane said stubbornly.

Ilya arched an eyebrow. His cheeks hollowed. Shane cursed filthily but pinned his lips together, his whole body trembling.

He glanced at her, and Rose wasn’t sure what her face was doing, but it made Shane turn an even deeper shade of red. Suddenly, he was panting.

“Fine, fine,” he said, looking desperately down at Ilya. “Move, fuck, please, Ilya.”

Slowly, Ilya pulled off, cheeks still hollowed, his tongue swirling around the head.

“You only ever need to ask, sweetheart,” he said, his voice gravelly, lips moving down his cock. “I was only doing what you wanted, after all.”

Shane rolled his eyes, though he didn’t seem annoyed. He was too keyed up.

“Suck me,” he whispered. “I want your mouth, Ilya.”

“Anything for you,” Ilya murmured, licking over his balls and sucking one into his mouth. Shane let out a loud moan, throwing his head back and covering his face with his hands like he couldn’t bear to look. 

But Ilya didn’t rush, just taking his time, slowly working Shane into a shaking, moaning frenzy, his eyes never off of him for a moment as he touched and licked and sucked.

It made Rose feel breathless. When had they ever had this luxury? If they ever even had? The time to just touch and be touched, to let themselves explore?

She’d never seen Shane like this. So carefree, so open. So obviously and completely in love. There was no shame as Ilya took him apart, no covert glances around to make sure they were alone. He had eyes only for Ilya, responding under him like Ilya was a conductor and Shane his symphony.

It was fucking beautiful. She was spellbound.

By the time Shane came down Ilya’s throat, he was a wreck. He moaned Ilya’s name loudly, his hips bucking up against the restraints of Ilya’s hands pinning him down, his eyes squeezed shut and lips falling open. He slumped back in the deck chair, whimpering as Ilya swallowed him down and then licked up his length to flick his tongue over his still leaking slit.

“Beautiful, Shane,” Ilya whispered, drawing his eyes back to him. “Always so beautiful for me.”

Shane offered him an exhausted, sated, love drunk smile. Ilya kissed up his body, moving with a panther’s grace as he climbed up to kiss him. It was unhurried, sweet, loving. They kissed like they had all the time in the world.

Rose squirmed.

They were beautiful together, but if one of them didn’t touch her in the next five seconds, she would probably die.

As if sensing her train of thought, Ilya pulled his lips away from Shane’s and looked at her while Shane trailed his lips over his cheek.

His eyes swept down her body and back up again, resting on her face. He smiled, and it was sexy and it was sweet and it was full of desire. Her heart skipped a bit.

“Look at you, sweetheart,” he murmured. “God, you’re gagging for it, aren’t you?”

She bit her lip and nodded. Her hands were digging into her own thighs with painful, bruising force, but it was the only way she could keep them off of herself. Even the tiny bikini she was wearing felt like too much. She was so sensitive, a live wire of need and want.

“Please,” she said. “Ilya.”

“You have been a good, patient girl,” he said, pushing up onto his elbows. “You deserve a reward.”

He stood slowly, patting the center of Shane’s chest and then stalking over to her, until his looming body blocked out the sun, shining around him instead. His face was shadowed as she squinted up at him, waiting for him to act, to move, to touch her already.

Ilya crooked a finger. “Up,” he instructed.

She sat up like there was a wire in the middle of her chest and he’d yanked it, and his hands went immediately into her hair, smoothing it back, gathering it into one fist.

“Open your mouth,” he said. 

Oh. Fuck yes.

Looking up at him, she opened her mouth as wide as she could get it. Her mouth watered.

Ilya smiled that crooked smile at her, using his free hand to tug his shorts down over his cock. He guided it to her mouth, tracing her bottom lip with the head.

Greedily, her tongue flicked out for a taste but his grip on her hair tightened, so she only got a hint of salt. She still licked her lips, holding his gaze and he cursed under his breath.

“You take what I give you,” he warned her, his hazel eyes smoldering down at her. “Yes?”

She nodded eagerly. Fuck, but he was hot. She glanced at Shane, who was watching them with a dumbstruck look on his face. She liked that he was watching them, that it turned him on. His cock was spent and soft between his legs, but it was already starting to stir at the image the two of them made.

Rose could relate. She was so wet, and she could feel her pussy throbbing. She’d definitely soaked through her bikini. She loved watching them together, too.

Looking back up at Ilya, she opened her mouth again. This time, she waited patiently as he coated her bottom lip in his precome, being the obedient good girl he wanted her to be as he pushed the head of his cock past her lips.

He was so big that she couldn’t take much of him, but he didn’t seem to mind. He just hummed his pleasure, watching her with lidded eyes and murmuring instructions to suck his cock down, to free her breasts and play with them, to use her tongue to flick just under the head of his cock.

She followed his instructions wantonly, moaning around his cock, bobbing her head under the gentle guide of the hand tightly gripped in her hair, her own fingers massaging her breasts and tugging at her nipples until they were inflamed and puffy.

“Look at you,” Ilya sighed. “So beautiful, so perfect.”

Rose moaned, and then her eyes were fluttering closed, pleased with the praise, with the heavy feeling of his cock on her tongue, how close she already was just from this, from the way he was dominating her and praising her, from the panting breaths Shane was taking next to her as he quietly cursed and murmured his encouragement, from the bitter tang of his cock starting to leak more and more with every bob of her head.

He was getting close, she could tell.

She moaned again and then fluttered her eyes open, gazing up at him.

Ilya cursed and Rose squeezed her tits together, offering them up to him. He pulled out of her mouth, keeping her close as his other hand pumped his cock, with him cursing and pursing his lips as his hot come splattered over her neck and chest.

And then he was dropping to his knees in front of her, that tight grip on her hair remaining as he licked into her still open mouth with a ravenous groan, claiming her.

“My Rose,” he growled, nipping at her lower lip. “Such a good girl for me, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, and he kissed her again, gentling as his breaths slowed. He nuzzled into her cheek, breathing her in.

“I love you,” he whispered back.

She smiled, turned her head and kissed him again. Soft. Sweet.

His hand dropped from her hair to cradle the back of her neck, and then he was guiding her back onto the deck chair again. He looked over at Shane, who had a hand on his hard cock, his eyes dark and wild and needy.

Ilya chuckled. “Was hot?” he asked.

“So hot it should probably be illegal or something,” Shane admitted. “Fucking hell, Ilya.”

“I can’t believe I get to have you both,” Ilya admitted, looking between them, his smile warm, happy. 

I can’t believe I get to see you like this, so happy and radiant, Rose thought. Both of you are my everything.

But she was too desperately horny to get the words out, so instead she just turned her head to where his hand was still holding her, kissing the inside of his wrist.

Finally, Ilya took mercy on her, and he leaned over her, kissing her softly, holding himself up with one arm over her head while the other slipped between her thighs.

He cursed as his fingers sought out her wetness, instantly soaking him.

“Rose,” he gasped.

She just looked at him, eyes wide and desperate. She keened as those fingers circled her throbbing clit, jolting underneath him.

“I could slip inside you easily,” Ilya murmured against her lips. “You are so fucking wet.”

“Yes,” she whispered. Please. I want that.

He smirked against her lips, as if hearing the unsaid words.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he said, his voice low and sexy. “If I fucked you out here on the deck of Shane Hollander’s cottage where all of his neighbors could hear you screaming my name?”

Rose whimpered. He was still circling her clit with his thumb, while two of his fingers sought out her entrance and easily slipped inside. She bucked into it with a cry, which he swallowed with his hungry mouth.

“Your pussy is clenching so tight around me,” Ilya told her. “Bet it would feel like a vice on my cock.”

Slowly, he slid his fingers out of her, sucking them into his own mouth with a groan. Rose watched him, dazed at the relish he cleaned his own fingers.

And then he was kissing down her body, his expression hungry as he pushed her legs open and rested between them. His eyes glittered at her as he nosed at her bikini bottoms, an almost wounded sound punching out of him as he sought out and sucked her clit through the fabric.

Rose’s hands flew to his curls and gripped on for dear life, her lips falling open on a loud, wanton moan.

Holy fuck, the mouth on this man. 

“Ilya,” she pleaded, her chest heaving for breath that didn’t seem to want to come. “Fuck. Please.”

“Good girl, asking so nicely,” he murmured.

And then his nose was nudging her bikini aside so that he could dive in, his hands pushing her open wider so that he could lap at her soaked entrance. 

She was immediately overwhelmed at how good it was, how close she already was to hurtling over the edge. She was too worked up, too desperate to hold back her moans, writhing under his talented mouth as he licked into her pussy, his strong nose nudging at her clit with every movement.

He came up for air, gasping, before diving back in, and actually fucking growled at the taste of her, and she was dizzy with it, broken moans and pleas filling the open air.

Oh fuck. She was going to come. 

Her thighs trembled. Her toes curled. And then she whined, her whole body tensing as one last hard suck on her clit had pleasure shooting through her entire body like a firework exploding, her pussy actually fucking gushing and coating Ilya’s open, groaning mouth in her juices.

Rose went limp in his hold, trembling like a leaf, her mind blissfully blank as she floated.

Distantly, she noticed him pressing a sticky kiss to her thigh as he lowered it back down, and then he was picking up her towel, discretely wiping his face clean. He looked fucking smug while he did it though, and she gave him a soft little smile, head lolling as she watched him tuck his cock back into his shorts, chuckling to himself.

“I love this place,” he said down to Shane, stretching like a cat.

Shane let out a laugh at that. “I told you.”

Chapter 9

Rose trailed the guys down to the deck, sitting on the edge of it and dangling her feet in the water while they horsed around, splashing and tackling each other. She had no idea where they got the energy from.

She liked watching them, though. They were so stupidly competitive, fighting and bickering with these big, dopey grins on their faces.

It made her smile.

She loved them. Plain and simple.

She envied their stamina, though. It was clear they were athletes from the way their bodies looked, but it was in their strength as well, their insatiable desire for each other, for the constant one-up-manship that dominated their relationship.

Which was why whatever little game they’d been playing had already changed into something different, something hot and sexy and just a little dangerous seeing as how they were trying to get each other off and somehow stay afloat while they treaded water.

Rose watched them dreamily. She’d gotten over her little insecurity from their first day. Both of them were too earnest and involved her too easily for her to feel out of place anymore. They were her guys as much as they were each others.

It was Shane who got up early with her, doing yoga in his gym and then making a second smoothie for her automatically. It was Ilya who would wrap her up and pull her onto the couch, cuddling her like his favorite teddy bear.

Shane would lie beside her on the deck chairs, glasses perched on his nose while he read some hockey biography, both of them enjoying the companionable silence.

Ilya would make her laugh with his silly stories about players from across the league. He was a wicked gossip, and somehow he knew something about everyone. She’d started to try and think of more and more obscure players, but she’d yet to stump him.

Like she’d hoped for, Shane had told them more about growing up around here, about the pressure, the need to push himself and constantly improve, the sacrifices he’d had to make to get to where he was.

And Ilya had opened up as well, telling them a little about his mother, Irina. How much he missed her still, how much her suicide had affected him.

Shane had sat with that for a while. They’d set up a bonfire the night before, and Rose had rested her head back to stare up, stunned by the amount of stars in the sky. 

After a while, Shane had broken the silence, telling them about how he’d wanted to start a charity someday, and that he wanted to do it with them. How he wanted to intricately weave their lives together in a way that the public could accept.

And he wanted to name it after Ilya’s mother.

They’d all cried, a little. And they’d made plans. Concrete ones. About Ilya trying to be traded to a Canadian team after his contract with Boston was up. About Rose letting out her apartment and maybe buying somewhere in either Montreal or wherever Ilya ended up. It wouldn’t be hard to get a work visa. It would just take time and money, both of which she had the luxury of.

It had been nice. It felt very adult, making these tentative plans where the three of them could be only a few hours apart instead of on literally three different sides of the same continent.

Rose felt herself tear up again a little bit, thinking about it. She dropped her gaze and smiled wistfully down at her own reflection in the water lapping at her feet.

She was Rose Landry, with two beautiful, successful, incredible men who loved her and were carving a space in their life and their hearts for her. She was so lucky, so blessed.

Their stuff was still up by the deck chairs, and she heard someone’s phone ringing again.

“Fuck off,” Shane yelled, and he and Ilya descended into giggles. She laughed at them, resting back on her hands.

They were rubbing against each other, hands moving below the water, mouths gripping in frenzied kisses and bitten off moans. Rose bit at her lip, entranced. God, she loved watching them together. 

Still, she couldn’t help but glance around a little, making sure they really were alone. They weren’t exactly being quiet, or subtle.

It didn’t take them long to come, and then they were back to splashing and giggling almost immediately. Rose rolled her eyes with fond amusement.

“I’m getting kinda hungry,” she said down to Ilya as he swam up to her, pretending to be some kind of shark.

He pouted up at her, running a hand up her leg.

“You sure you don’t want to swim?” he asked cheekily.

She bit back a smile. “Maybe later,” she told him. 

He pressed a kiss to her ankle while Shane swam up, too.

“This guy bothering you, miss?” he asked, grabbing around Ilya’s shoulders and dunking him under the water. He came back up with a splutter and Rose laughed, kicking her feet to splash at Shane.

“Never,” she said warmly. “But let’s go make some lunch. It’s getting way too hot out here.”

“Is nice in the water,” Ilya pointed out with a smirk, shaking his hair and splattering her with a spray of water from his drenched curls. 

She pushed herself up with a shriek of laughter, walking quickly up the dock. Rose didn’t look back, but she heard the splashes and felt the heave of the dock bobbing in the water as they both pulled themselves up.

They caught up to her quickly, Ilya throwing an arm around her shoulders, Shane taking her hand. It was sweet, and she beamed at them both.

On the deck, she dried off with a towel, stealing Shane’s t-shirt from earlier and pulling it on over her head. It was large on her, covering her to mid-thigh, and Shane kissed her when he saw her wearing it, his hands lying possessively on her hips.

She smiled into it, and Ilya came up behind her, pulling her against his chest and kissing her neck.

“What are you hungry for?” he asked her with a purr, nipping at her ear with a scrape of teeth.

Shane let out a laugh, leaning back, and Rose turned, leaning back against Shane instead so that she could look up at Ilya. Shane rested his chin on her shoulder, and Ilya looked softly at them.

“I love you both,” he said, adorably shy.

He cupped Shane’s cheek, kissing him and then her, his lips sweet and gentle, handling them like they were precious.

No one else got to see him like this. No one knew how big his heart was.

All three of them heard a noise.

As one, they whipped their heads around.

They saw Shane’s dad standing inside the house, staring, frozen, at where they were wrapped up in each other on the deck.

For a moment, no one moved. No one made a sound. Everyone. Just. Stared.

Then, very quickly, Shane’s dad turned on his heel and walked toward the front of the house. Shane stepped back from Rose and said, “Shit!”

“Your father, yes?” Ilya murmured.

“Yes! Fuck. Shit. Okay…” 

Rose exchanged a concerned look with Ilya as Shane held his head with both hands, cursing fiercely.

“Should you-?”

Shane nodded and went after his dad, and Rose watched after him, her heart pounding in her chest. Fuck, he looked terrified.

“What do we do?” she asked, looking up at Ilya.

“We go after him, obviously,” Ilya said, taking her hand and leading her into the house.

Shane was standing in the open front door, hyperventilating. There was no one else there.

Ilya touched Shane gently. “He was already gone?”

“Yeah,” Shane whispered.

Rose felt her stomach sink. He hadn’t waited long enough to let Shane explain. That didn’t seem like a good sign.

Ilya cracked a joke, making Shane laugh, and some of the tension eased. Shane looked worried, still, but some of the panic was gone, now. Instead, he just seemed a bit resigned.

She worried at her lower lip with her teeth, lending half an ear to the guys deciding on a course of action.

A change of clothes, and then they would drive to the Hollander’s and see what they had to say.

They got ready quickly, and Shane snorted as Ilya walked out of the bathroom in his Boston Bears T-shirt. Rose was already sitting on the end of Shane’s bed, wearing a plain black singlet and a pair of denim shorts.

“That’s not going to help.

Ilya looked amused. “Oh, do they not know I play for Boston?”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Rose got into the back seat of Shane’s Jeep this time, and stayed quiet during the long, ten-minute drive to Shane’s parents’ cottage.

Mostly, she stared out the window and worried. Yuna and David had been so nice to her when she’d met them, and it had been important to her, making a good impression on them, on Shane’s important people. Had what David witnessed made him second-guess her being good enough for his son? 

She absolutely adored Shane and Ilya both, loved them fiercely and with every part of her, but she knew that most people wouldn’t really understand the three of them and their relationship. They wouldn’t ever be able to all get married, and there was so much stigma around polyamory, not to mention the sheer amount of homophobia the guys faced in the NHL.

It would be an uphill battle, but it had been easy, for a few days there in their own private little paradise to pretend it would all work out.

She wanted it to. She’d fight for it to work. But she couldn’t deny it would be hard.

And Shane was so close to his family. Ilya was an orphan. Her own family was more removed. The occasional phone call, exchanging photos and videos in a family group chat, the semi-annual trip to her parents place in Minnesota.

They supported her, she knew, and would support her in this whether they understood it or not. She could only hope that Yuna and David would do the same.

It was far too soon when Shane pulled into his parents driveway behind his father’s car.

“Okay,” Shane said, taking a shaky breath. “Just… let me do the talking.”

“No problem,” Ilya agreed.

“Fuck, maybe you two should wait in the car.”

Rose glanced at Iya, who raised an eyebrow at him. Shane sighed.

“No, no, never mind. Come on.”

He got out of the car and they both followed him. He didn’t knock, just letting himself in through the front door.

“Hello?” It’s me. It’s… Shane.”

His parents stood from where they had both been sitting on the couch. It was clear that David had told Yuna what he’d seen.

“Shane?” Yuna said. Her voice sounded strange, and Rose carefully took Shane’s hand, giving it a squeeze. Yuna tracked the movement, her expression shuttered.

“Mom. Dad. I… I think we should talk.”

David cleared his throat. “We forgot to buy dishwasher tablets,” he said. “I just wanted to see if I could borrow some. I didn’t know you had… company.”

His eyes flickered between Ilya and Rose, who flanked Shane on either side.

“Dad, it’s okay. I’m sorry. You… shouldn’t have found out that way.”

“Found out what, exactly?” Yuna asked. She was also staring between Ilya and Rose. It was very intimidating.

“That um, well, I like guys,” Shane stuttered. “Which I was going to tell you. Soon. I just.. Sorry. I wish I’d told you.”

Neither of them responded. Yuna was looking at her now, her brow furrowed now in slight confusion.

“And uh, Ilya.. and Rose. They’ve both been visiting. He’s… we’re, um… the three of us…”

He glanced helplessly back at Ilya.

“We are lovers,” Ilya offered. His hand was low on Shane’s waist, fingers drawing a little circle in the space where his shirt had hiked up slightly. Rose wasn’t sure if it was meant to be comforting for Shane or Ilya. 

Probably both.

“I know this is probably a shock,” Rose said, looking at Shane’s parents. 

Yuna nodded. “A shock, yes,” she agreed. “I thought you two were exclusive. And Rozanov… Shane, you hate him.”

Shane shook his head. “No, I… I don’t. I mean. Sometimes I do, kinda. But mostly I… love him. Actually.”

“You… what?” David whispered.

“I love both of them,” Shane said. “Look, can we just sit down? I know this is a lot, all at once. I didn’t want this to be how I told you. At all.”

Shane’s parents were silent and then David nodded, gesturing them towards the couch.

Yuna and David sat together on the loveseat, while Ilya and Rose took the two armchairs facing them as Shane ushered them into them. He perched himself on the arm of Ilya’s chair, while also reaching over to keep holding Rose’s hand.

“Shane…” Yuna said haltingly, her expression pained. “I think… Well, we have suspected for a while now… that you might be gay.”

This seemed to surprise Shane. “You did?”

“Yes, well. We didn’t know for certain, obviously. We just thought it might be a possibility. And then you and Rose started dating, and we weren’t sure…” She frowned. “I guess I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on here.”

“Geez,” Shane said, shaking his head slightly. “I had no idea you thought that.”

“We know you pretty well,” Yuna said, a slight smile turning up her lips as she looked at her son.

“What we did not suspect,” David added, his hand curled on Yuna’s knee, “was that you were… friendly… with Mr. Rozanov here.”

“Ilya,” said Ilya gently. Rose glanced at him. His face was carefully blank, but his eyes were intense as he looked at David. Rose could tell that he was scared, maybe a little upset.

David nodded. “Ilya, then.”

“It’s… a long story,” Shane shrugged. “And it doesn’t even make sense to us.”

Rose, who had heard it all by now, nodded with an awkward laugh.

“None,” Ilya agreed.

“I know it’s not… It’s not conventional,” Shane said haltingly. “But Ilya and I, well, it’s been a long time. Since our rookie season.”

Shane’s parents looked floored at this admission.

Beside Shane, Ilya cleared his throat. “Well, that’s not right. Was before that.”

“Before that?” Yuna asked.

“A little before,” Ilya clarified. “Summer before.”

Everyone blushed as Shane’s parents came to the conclusion that Ilya and Shane had been sleeping together for almost ten years, and Rose bit back a giggle at the pained expression on Shane’s face. 

“So then…” Yuna said trailing off as she looked at Rose. “How did this happen?”

Shane squeezed her hand. “Ilya and I, we were casual… I guess, for a long time. I met Rose when Ilya and I had been apart for a while, and we just kind of… clicked.”

Ilya snorted at this. “I was very jealous,” he said with a fond smile. “I thought he would run away and marry her. Have many pretty babies.”

Rose rolled her eyes, but she didn’t interrupt, just gazing at Shane and letting him talk.

“I don’t know how it happened, really. It was like, she saw me, clocked me fucking immediately, to be honest. The second she saw me looking at Ilya… she just knew. And she brought us all together.”

She smiled at him, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes.

“And then she was there for us, again and again and again, like, holding onto us, keeping me sane while Ilya was in Russia for his dad’s funeral, helping Ilya while I was in the hospital and then recovering. She never complained or asked for anything. She just loved us unconditionally.”

He shook his head. “It’s a fucking miracle, to be honest.”

“Shane,” she whispered.

“I love you,” he told her seriously. He looked down at Ilya. “And you as well.”

“Ya tebya lyublyu,” Ilya murmured.

Her heart was so full. Her boys. She gave them a watery smile, which Shane returned before looking back at his parents.

“The point is, we’re… together. The three of us. Sort of. Or we’d like to be. If it wasn’t basically impossible.”

For the first time, the looks of shock left Yuna and David’s faces and shifted to something like sympathy.

The awkward silence stretched and then David was offering everyone a drink, Yuna was muttering about needing something stronger than beer, and Shane was looking down at Ilya, his expression fond.

Ilya gave him a slight smile in return.

David returned with drinks for everyone and Rose accepted hers with a quiet “thank you.” 

“I just…” Yuna said with a disbelieving shake of her head. “I just can’t believe any of this is real.”

“I know,” Shane said.

“All this time,” David said quietly, almost to himself. “You’ve been holding this secret inside. The whole time.”

Yuna’s expression went horrified suddenly. “You didn’t ever… You didn’t ever let him win, did you, Shane?”

“God, Mom! No!”

Ilya laughed at that, looking more comfortable suddenly. This was more familiar territory. Hockey. Their rivalry. “He does not need to let me win.”

Rose still remembered that game, the one where Shane had been injured, at how much she’d wished Yuna could see the joy on their faces as they battled for the puck, oblivious to their teammates or the thousands of screaming fans on the other side of the glass.

“I would never,” Shane said quickly. “The team comes first. Always. And besides, I like beating him.”

Yuna was frowning at him, still distrustful. She took hockey just as seriously as Shane did, Rose realised.

“When you and Dad play Yahtzee, do you let him win?” Shane asked desperately.

Yuna relaxed, shooting a smile at her husband. “Never.”

David smiled at her and turned to look between the three of them. “So, is your plan to just keep doing this? Keeping this a secret? Until you retire? Forever?”

Rose winced.

“Maybe,” Shane admitted. “I mean, yes. Probably.”

“Oh, Shane,” Yuna whispered, looking at him sadly.

David shook his head. “Honestly? I don’t see another way. I wish I did.”

“I know,” Shane said miserably. “We know. It’s not something we can announce.”

“I have to say,” David said. “I’m surprised about you, Ilya. You’ve always had such a reputation as a, you know, a ladies’ man.”

“Is not untrue,” Ilya admitted.

“Ilya likes both,” Shane said. Rose bristled at the concerned look Yuna and David exchanged. They didn’t know Ilya, they were writing him off, just like that, because he’d had a lot of casual sex in his younger days. So what? Who hadn’t?

She leaned forward to berate them, but Ilya beat her to it, shooting her an amused look.

“I have been with lots of women. That was not…fake. But…” He looked at Shane, then at Rose. “But I have only been in love with two people.”

And just like that, her ire faded away, replaced by fuzzy warmth. She smiled at him, and next to him, Shane looked down at Ilya like he hung the moon, tears welling in his eyes.

“Me too,” Shane murmured.

Rose nodded, squeezing Shane’s hand again. He interlocked their fingers, squeezing back.

The moment swelled. Suddenly, Rose wished that Shane’s parents were somewhere else. Somewhere far away. She wanted to be alone with her guys. She wanted to show them how much they meant to her, how important it was, for Shane and Ilya to sit here in front of Shane’s parents and tell these people that they loved her.

Yuna got to her feet, clapping her hands together. “All right,” she said. “So, what’s the plan? We’ve got a problem, let’s solve it.”

It was such a Shane trait. Rose could see now where his determination came from, his fierce resolve. Just like that, Yuna Hollander had accepted them. She was on their side.

They talked for a little longer. About Scott Hunter. About the plans they’d started to make. Montreal. Ilya traded to a different team. Rose getting her work visa.

One panic attack and a promise to see them again the next night later, the three of them were stumbling out of the front door and into Shane’s car.

Shane paused for a minute, hands tight on the steering wheel, resting his head on it.

Rose glanced at Ilya, who also looked a little shell-shocked.

“I think that went okay,” she offered.

“Holy shit,” Shane whispered. He didn’t move from his position. “Do you think it was? Fuck, that was really weird.”

“Well,” Ilya said with a shrug. “Now they know.”

Shane blew out a breath, letting out an incredulous laugh. “Yeah, yeah they do.”

Rose squeezed his shoulder, wanting to comfort him, to touch him. He reached a hand up, resting it on hers.

He took a few more steadying breaths and then sighed.

Ilya smiled at him. “Let’s go home.”

Shane nodded, sitting up and pressing the ignition button.

Rose leaned back and put on her seatbelt, looking out the window at Shane’s parents’ cottage, still reeling a little.

They’d accepted them. Her. The three of them. Were willing to help them, even. 

It was a heady feeling.

Chapter 10

Chapter Notes

If Rose ever needed to get into great shape for a movie role, she knew for a fact that she would never need to see the inside of a gym.

All she needed to do, to be perfectly honest, was spend two weeks with Shane and Ilya.

Because, God, there could be absolutely no doubt that they were professional athletes. Their stamina was insane, their strength, just… the positions they could put each other into was like nothing else she’d ever seen. 

There was no tiring, no sating their appetites. If Shane needed a breather, then Ilya would roll to her, lips already kissing up her thigh.

Either one of them could just… pick her up, hold her in place, and it was so fucking hot she’d nearly combusted immediately the first time Ilya had just stood there, in the middle of Shane’s bedroom, holding her up with her legs flung over each of his arms while he fucked up into her with a deliciously slow pace that had had her whole body shaking.

She had probably had more orgasms in the past few weeks than she had in the entire year previous. She actually had to watch her water intake, had to fuel her body like she was preparing to run a marathon.

Which was not to say that all they did was have sex. They also swam, and yes, eventually did take the canoes out on a long, rambling trip to the other side of the lake and back. Shane watched fondly as Ilya tried to teach her how to shoot a puck into the net, chirping them both good-naturedly the entire time.

They did yoga, and watched movies on the couch, piled up in a tangle of limbs. They soaked in the tub, they kissed, they shared secrets and talked about their future around a bonfire.

And it was nice, so fucking nice. The most magical summer of her life.

She didn’t want it to end. 

Which was why she was hiding up in Shane’s bed, curled around his pillow, while the guys were downstairs doing whatever they were doing. Last she’d seen, they had been playing their NHL video game, chirping relentlessly.

Rose sighed, burying her nose in the pillow, the scent soothing her. She’d already squirrelled away a hoodie of his in her suitcase, and a shirt of Ilya’s as well. Something that she could stash in her closet and pull out when she needed it, when she missed them.

She was going to miss them so much.

“So, this is where you are hiding,” Ilya said as he slipped onto the bed behind her, his strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her into his chest.

Rose hummed in agreement. Ilya pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, a hand gently tracing a circle against her stomach.

“You are sad?” he asked quietly.

She nodded, emotion choking her. So much of what they had talked about was that ephemeral after, that magical time when Ilya was in Canada, and she had her work visa and they could steal as much time as possible.

But what about tomorrow? Tomorrow, she would have to drive to the airport, and then she would sit in a plane for almost nine hours, and then finally a cab back to her empty apartment.

And then, what? She would see them only on those rare times one of them travelled to the West Coast? It sucked. It was so unfair.

Ilya nuzzled into her neck. “Me too,” he admitted quietly. “How am I meant to go back to sleeping in big empty bed? Or in hotel rooms?”

She turned in the circle of his arms, releasing Shane’s pillow to instead wrap around him, tucking her face against his chest.

“I don’t want to go,” she said. Ilya squeezed her and then reached for her chin, tilting it up. He pressed a kiss to her lips and then her cheek, his other hand soothing up and down her back. 

It was nice. He was so nice.

“Cuddling without me?” Shane asked with a pout from the doorway.

Rose gave a watery laugh. “We’re just being sad and pathetic,” she said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Yay,” Shane said, walking around the bed and flopping down on her other side, making them both bounce.

He curled up behind her, making a happy noise.

“Mmm, you smell nice,” he mumbled against her neck. “And you’re warm.”

“You’re like a puppy,” Rose said, tilting her head back to look at him.

He just gave her an easy smile.

“No, no,” Ilya disagreed. “We have already discussed this. Shane is a kitten.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Whatever, you’re just mad I beat you at the video game.”

Ilya scowled. “You cheated.”

“Ah yes, Shane Hollander, very well known for his cheating ways,” Shane said, nodding solemnly.

“Well, they don’t know you like I do,” Ilya grumbled. “Think you are golden boy, prince of hockey, do no wrong.” He scoffed. “If only they knew.”

Rose had her hand stuffed in her mouth, but her shakes soon gave her away. Ilya pouted down at her.

“Are you laughing at me, Rose Landry?” he asked, offended.

She nodded, and then Ilya was tickling her and she was shrieking, begging for Shane to save her.

He did, obviously, scooping her up and turning to put himself between her and Ilya, while he did his best to still get to her with Shane fending him off. They were all smothering laughs, and Rose felt a little of her melancholy slip away. She couldn’t be sad when her guys were right there. She had to treasure the time she did have, not dwell on what was coming next.

“Okay, okay, truce,” Ilya said eventually, breathless with laughter, his chest heaving as he held up his hands in surrender. “You have defended the maiden’s honor, prince of hockey wins again.”

Rose gave a cheer and Shane giggled, flopping back on the bed beside her. He looked up at Ilya, who was kneeling on the bed, eyes bright as he looked down at them.

“I feel like we should get some kind of prize,” Shane whispered to Rose. “What are our demands?”

She contemplated this, eyes flicking up and down Ilya’s body.

“I think we deserve a show,” she whispered back.

Shane nodded seriously. “You’re right,” he agreed. He turned back to Ilya. “Your queen demands a show, knight,” he demanded, waving a hand at him imperiously.

Ilya smirked. “Is that so?”

Rose licked her lips and nodded. 

“Well,” Ilya said, sliding back off the bed, stalking like a panther to stand at the end of it. “I could not disobey direct order from my queen.”

She wiggled back against the pillows, watching him eagerly as his hands drifted to the bottom of his black singlet. Beside her, she felt Shane go very still as he also stared. Ilya dipped a hand underneath the shirt, rubbing up his own abs, showing only a flash of skin.

His eyes were dark and intense as he looked between them, his hips slowly started to swivel in a little figure eight that had Rose’s mouth running dry.

This was… fuck. So fucking hot. She was spellbound.

One hand traveled up over his shirt, gripping at the side of his neck, his chin tilting to the side. The other dipped below the waistband of his shorts. Rose’s eyes flicked between both hands and his face. She could feel her cheeks flushing, the sweet ache of arousal starting to flicker in her belly.

“Holy shit,” Shane whispered.

Rose nodded her agreement.

Ilya gave them a crooked grin, and then he slowly turned away from them, reaching for the bottom of his shirt and arching his back as he pulled it over his head, revealing the ripple of his muscled back.

“You’re so beautiful,” Rose sighed.

He glanced back at her over his shoulder, giving her a saucy wink.

And then he folded his shirt, turning and gently placing it on the end of the bed.

Shane actually whimpered.

She wasn’t sure how folding a shirt could be considered foreplay, but she had no notes. He looked hot as fuck, and she was so turned on she felt like she was about to combust.

Her teeth dug into her lip as Ilya’s fingers wandered over the dips and planes of his impressive chest and toned stomach, roving up and down in a nonsensical pattern. He gave a little sigh, rolling his neck.

“This is the best idea I’ve ever had,” she muttered to Shane.

Shane hummed his agreement, reaching to take her hand and squeezing it. “I fucking love you so much, Rose.”

“Love you too,” she said, flicking a glance at his face. He was also bright red, his eyes hungry as they looked at Ilya.

She smiled. There was something about Shane’s expression when he stared at Ilya, like he was a fucking miracle, or something. Like he was some kind of immortal being and Shane was just there to kneel at his feet and bask in his light.

It was beautiful to witness, to be part of. She loved it.

Shane, sensing her gaze, turned to look at her and gave her a soppy look. “Our man is so hot,” he said with a giggle that was so fucking endearing that she couldn’t stop herself from leaning in and kissing him.

He returned it eagerly, a hand reaching up to cup her chin.

“Now, it is me who gets a show,” Ilya said with a bark of laughter.

“Oops,” Rose murmured against Shane’s lips. He giggled again and then flopped back on the bed, returning his gaze to Ilya.

He looked so happy. She watched him for a few moments longer before wrenching her eyes back to Ilya. He met her gaze, and understanding dawned between them. They would both do anything, anything to keep him like this, so carefree and happy and besotted. 

She smiled at him and he returned it. Rose brought her other hand up to her chest, tracing a circle against her collarbone. Ilya blushed but looked pleased.

It was the same thing he always did, when he was touching either her or Shane. Just one finger, tracing a circle, again and again.

I see you. It said. I love you.

Shane squeezed her hand again, his thumb tracing the same circle.

“Okay, strip show over,” Ilya said, eyes a little glassy. “I want kisses.”

He crawled up the bed and they made room for him between them, both of them teaming up to plaster his face with a million little kisses until Ilya was laughing and squirming.

It was, quite frankly, adorable. She couldn’t help but kiss him properly and he sighed into it.

Rose caught his mouth in a deeper kiss while Shane moved his kisses down Ilya’s body.

She knew the moment he swallowed Ilya’s cock, feeling the way Ilya jolted against her, giving a loud, slutty moan into her mouth. Rose flicked her tongue against his, tasting the sound of it.

Things escalated quickly from there. Ilya was touching her, both of them panting into sloppy kiss after sloppy kiss as he drove her close to the edge while Shane did the same to him, his head bobbing between Ilya’s legs.

“Fuck,” Ilya groaned, pulling back, his eyes dazed as he looked from her down to Shane. “Stop, come here.”

Shane pulled off of his cock with an obscene slurp, pressing a kiss to the tip and Rose bit her lip. Ilya’s fingers were still deep inside her, his thumb softly circling her clit. She could feel her thighs starting to tremble.

It didn’t help when Shane claimed Ilya’s mouth in a hungry, claiming kiss, both of them moaning into it. 

She had Ilya’s arm in a death grip, keeping it right there, right where she needed it. A whimper fell from her lips and both of them paused to watch her face.

“Close, sweetheart?” Ilya asked her, plunging his fingers out and then back in.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Fuck, Ilya, please.”

“Tell me what you want,” he said to her. “You want to come like this?”

She shook her head. “Fuck me,” she pleaded. She needed to feel him inside of her. Needed to be close.

Shane rolled off of Ilya, reaching over to the bedside table to grab a condom. He tore it open with his teeth, rolling it over Ilya’s cock while Ilya removed his hand.

The two of them manhandled her into position, with her perched over the top of Ilya, her legs stretched obscenely on either side of his hips, Shane plastered to her back as he guided Ilya’s cock up into her.

She moaned loudly, her hands clutching tightly on Ilya’s pecs as she slid down over the top of him, her eyes rolling back in her head at the stretch of him filling her. Fuck, he was so big, filled her so well.

“Beautiful,” Ilya praised her. “Look how good you take it, Rose. So fucking wet for me.”

Rose shuddered, fully seated, her thighs trembling at how good it was. She’d already been on the edge. This wouldn’t take long.

Ilya watched her, giving her the time she needed to adjust, his hands rubbing soothingly over her thighs. Shane kissed her neck, his fingers digging into her waist. She could feel how hard he was against her ass.

He ground it against her and she cried out, clenched her pussy over Ilya’s cock, which in turn got an answering moan from him, his hips bucking up into her.

“Christ,” she gasped. 

She needed to move.

Bracing her hands, she raised her hips up. Shane’s hands helped her, guiding her up and then back down in a painfully slow glide.

Up and then down, up and down.

Beneath her, Ilya’s expression was dazed, his lips open as he panted, staring up at them desperately. 

Shane had probably gotten him close as well. He was as hard as a rock inside of her.

Soon, they had a rhythm going, and Rose was bouncing on his cock, her thighs burning at the exertion, her pussy fluttering.

One of the hands at her hips lifted and then sought out her clit, and just that light brush over her sensitive bundle of nerves sent lightning firing through her body. Shane teased her with soft touches while Ilya groaned, starting to thrust up to meet her, and she saw fucking stars, coming with a blinding force, their names falling from her lips in a garbled moan as she went limp in their holds.

Rose whimpered as Shane helped her off of Ilya, gently depositing her beside him. Ilya turned and kissed her gently. She felt completely boneless, a bit floaty from how fucking good she felt.

She could feel the tension in him, though, like every muscle in his body was poised and primed.

“How close are you?” she murmured, smiling against Ilya’s lips.

“Fuck, Rose,” he groaned. “You have no idea. Your pussy is fucking heaven.”

Looking down, she watched as Shane peeled off the condom, chucking into the bin. Then, he pulled out the lube, and Ilya groaned again as he immediately started to finger himself open.

“Shane,” he begged.

“Hang on,” Shane said, knocking his hand away as he reached for him. His brow furrowed in concentration as he slid a second finger in. When he adjusted his wrist slightly, he closed his eyes in pleasure, throwing his head back. Rose bit her lip, watching him with open fascination.

She loved watching this, whether it was Shane doing it or Ilya, it was always so fucking hot. Idly, she wondered if Shane would let her do it for him sometime.

After a third finger, he was ready, and he rolled a clean condom onto Ilya’s still rigid cock, slicking it up with more lube.

He held Ilya’s cock upright, sinking down onto it easily, letting out a loud moan as he fucked himself onto the full length.

Because she knew it would make him laugh, she glanced at Ilya. “He’s such a show-off,” she muttered.

He grinned while Shane rolled his eyes. “He has had many years of practice riding my cock,” he said fondly.

“True,” Shane agreed. He still sent a wink at Rose, though. “Let me show you how it’s done, kid.”

And he raised himself up with just the strength of his ridiculous thighs.

“Always stealing my lines, Hollander,” Ilya complained, bucking up to chase his ass.

“You love it,” Shane told him cheekily, shoving Ilya back down onto the bed and riding him like he was fucking born to do it.

They both grunted and moaned, sweat-slick skin shining in the golden light coming through Shane’s open windows. It was beautiful, poetry in motion, and Rose watched them, slack jawed.

She’d seen Ilya folding Shane basically in half and fucking into him, but this was somehow even more impressive. 

Her eyes were glued to where Ilya’s cock was being swallowed by Shane’s greedy hole. He was taking him perfectly, stretching around it so easily, his cock leaking steadily as it slapped against his stomach with every thrust.

“Wow,” she whispered.

Ilya moaned. When he turned to look at her, he looked fucking ruined. “So close,” he gasped. “Fuck, Rose, gonna come.”

She reached for him, pulling his lips to hers in a soft kiss. “You can come, sweetheart,” she told him. “You’re so good.”

And with a cry, he did, going rigid all over, straining against Shane’s hands as he shuddered, fucking up into him.

Shane had reached for his own cock and was also moaning, his hand a blur on his cock. It was barely ten seconds later and he was crying out, his come shooting up over his own fist and dripping down, landing in the dark curly hair on Ilya's stomach.

He sagged over Ilya, one hand landing on his chest, the other up on the other side of his head. Ilya tilted his chin up and Shane kissed him adoringly.

With a groan, he slid off of Ilya, again dealing the condom. He flopped down on Ilya’s other side, and all three of them just laid there, slowly catching their breaths.

“That,” Shane said after a little while, “was probably the hottest thing that has ever happened to me.”

“High fives all round,” Ilya agreed, still a little out of breath. “We are so fucking good at that.”

Rose giggled.

Fuck it. She held her hand up, giving him a high-five.

Ilya burst out laughing, and Shane rolled his eyes, smacking Ilya in the chest. 

“Idiots,” he said fondly.

***

They were sitting in the car at the airport. Rose was resting her head against the headrest, alternating looking between Shane and Ilya, drinking them in as they bickered good-naturedly. Her flight would be first, and then Ilya’s an hour later. She would have to leave soon to go to her check-in.

But she was putting it off as long as possible. She didn’t want to leave them.

Sensing her melancholy, Ilya reached to take her hand, squeezing it, his thumb drawing a circle on the back of it.

Shane smiled at her, and then glanced at the time on his phone, his face dropping.

Rose felt her lower lip wobble.

Ilya released her hand, turning away to dig in his bag.

“Here,” he said, passing a small package to her. Rose accepted it, blinking back the tears threatening to fall.

“What’s this?” she asked him, searching his face.

Ilya waved her off, gesturing for her to open it. She glanced at Shane, who had a sad smile on his face.

Rose studied the package. It was a fabric bag, and she opened it at the top, finding a small box inside. She eased it out.

It had a small clasp, and she flicked it open, staring at its contents, her brain stalling.

“How?” she whispered, looking up at Ilya, stunned.

Ilya shrugged, trying for nonchalant and missing it completely, his cheeks turning pink. “Shane helped. He told me where the store was, and you told me about them, remember? Was easy to go back later and pick them up for you.”

With trembling hands, she dropped the box and caught his face in her hands, kissing him tenderly. She felt her tears spill as she poured all of her love into the kiss. He returned it just as gently, and then when she pulled back, she could see he was tearing up as well.

She smiled at him and then turned to give Shane a kiss as well.

“You like them?” Shane asked, caressing her cheek.

She nodded. “I do,” she said. “I love them. And I love you, both of you, so much.”

They murmured the same back to her and she gave a watery laugh, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to cry,” she complained.

“Is okay, you look beautiful anyway,” Ilya lied, drawing another laugh from her.

“No, I don’t,” she said with a shake of her head. 

Rose picked up the box from where it had fallen, her heart full as she looked at the earrings she’d seen while out with Shane in Montreal all those months ago. 

She was going to miss them fiercely, but it would be nice to wear these when she did, to carry them with her between visits, a silent message that she was thinking of them when she appeared in photos from set or out with co-stars.

Rose pulled down the visor of Shane’s jeep, using the mirror to carefully put them in, before turning to show her guys.

“How do they look?” she asked shyly.

Shane beamed at her. “Beautiful, just like you.”

Ilya’s smile was soft. “My Rose,” he said affectionately.

Rose smiled back.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you everyone for your very kind comments throughout this fic. Your overwhelming support as I lost consciousness and was possessed by some kind of writing demon was very much appreciated. I hope you enjoy the ending of this fic. Maybe one day I will continue on with the next steps of their journey, but I'm happy to set them down for the time being and go play with a few different shorter aus.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me on tumblr (same username) or twitter (extrasteps726), especially if you want to feed the demons with more prompt ideas!!