Page 3 of Well Played

I squiggled about in my seat, craning up at an uncomfortable angle. “You’re ridiculously tall,” I informed him.

The hard lines around his mouth eased a fraction. “And you’re tiny.”

I laughed at him, loud enough to turn heads, but then who hadn’t just heard that little office level domestic? The rumor mill would be going after that, anyway. “I’m so far from tiny it’s not funny,” I giggled, taking off my glasses to swipe at the tears gathering at the corners of my eyes, and gestured at my curved tummy. That one curved out, not in. No concave bits on this girl.

“Stop,” he ordered again.

I froze and looked up at him curiously. “Do people always do what you say because you say it?” I asked politely.

His mouth twitched. “Yes. But not you, apparently.” He caught my wrist and liberated my glasses, cleaning them absently on the hem of his shirt. His eyes roamed over my face, then he placed them gently back on the bridge of my nose and nodded decisively. “Nah. So much better on.”

I wasn’t sure if my stomach was in freefall, or if he just gave me a backhanded compliment. “Thanks?” I opted for a dry tone.

The small smile was back. He leaned in until his lips grazed my ear and my temperature spiked.

“Sexy as fuck, Hallie.”

Then he straightened, his face clean of emotion, and wandered away like nothing at all just happened.

2

SOLACE

Hallie Newman had no idea the effect she had on the entire office. She was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and prettier after the sun set when everyone left for the night.

That dark head of curls held not only my attention, but every eye in the team and over half the WAGS who usually paid less attention to others than anything else. Their pretence at vagueness was limited to the range of their significant other, and not an inch further—until it came to Hallie.

On a bet, it’d be because I’d taken an interest in her and shown her attention when I should have been more wary of the predators she went out of her way to protect herself against. Hell, I hadn’t had the foresight to realise how bad the bullying got until I watched Mindy demean her in front of me, like she was the office joke.

Not on my fucking watch.

And I’d been watching little Miss Hallie since the day she arrived in the Chimera’s office months ago. The marketingplebin her words, who thought no one saw her. But I noted the hours she worked late, even if her boss never did.

What she didn’t know was that I then waited for her to leave and shadowed her to the bus stop instead of heading to the club with the rest of the team who typically got drunk off their asses and laid by whichever puck bunny was available if their chosen WAG wasn’t in attendance. I hated that culture with a passion and refused to participate, preferring my own stalkerish tendencies for company.

Which made tonight exceptional as I decided to wait beside the front door after I locked up for the night until my pucking little prey decided to pack it in and emerge from the building. While she took her sweet time, working through whatever it was she needed the quiet hours for, I rested my head back against the wall beside the door and planned out my approach.

Well, hers, because I’d be the first thing she saw the moment she stepped out into the night. I didn’t peg her as a screamer, but I was ready for that too, prepared to wrap my hand around her mouth and pull her into my body until her chest stopped heaving, and the muffled sounds eased.

Just the thought of her struggle made me hard. I swallowed back the need to yank open the damn door, storm into the office and find out how well the two of us fit on her desk. No, waiting was sweeter. The tease left the sort of edge I craved, what I ached for. Getting off meant nothing without it.

Fast satisfaction and then…what? Nothing. No more than a drunk puck bunny in a back alley.

No, taking Hallie would be a slow process. Tease and back off. Tempt her and see how she reacted, all the while heightening both our arousal. I was far from immune to the way she responded to my touch at her desk the day before. This morning’s training session ended in a shit show where I couldn’t focus on anything but her. Coach owned my ass, but it was worth it to be here right now.

Her hand pressed to the glass door, pushing it open as I slipped my hands into my pockets, leaving my eyes half open.

Cue scream on three, two, one…

“Jesus fuckingChrist–”she muttered, slapping my chest with her habitual stack of manilla folders I swore she’d pulled straight out of the nineties. “The hell are you doing out here, stalking me?”

I snorted and stared down at her, leaving my eyes half lidded. “Exactly that, beautiful. Stalking you.” I pulled one hand from my pocket and traced over her half open lips, expecting some rebuke, but nothing came. “You have a filthy mouth, you know that? I think I like it.” My cock twitched as my chest ached. “Violent and sassy. My favourite things.”

She glared at me and pulled her head away, retreating as she headed toward the bus stop and dismissed me. “Whatever. Go home, Solace. Are you drunk?”

I loped along beside her, keeping pace easily as she took two steps to my one. “I don’t drink. You know that.”

A small noise I instantly loved escaped her. “Yes, I know that,” she admitted in a voice that carried, even though I suspected she didn’t intend that to happen. “What are you doing?” She stopped walking and turned to face me.

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