Page 29 of Twisted Collide

I stand in the front of the crowd directly before him. My brow is lifted when he catches my gaze. He gives me a nod. From my knowledge of this man, this is his way of telling me there’s a story, and it’s a story he’ll tell me later.

Interesting.

“Here she is,” he says as he pivots his body toward the door. My head turns in the direction with him, and the moment his daughter saunters through the door, my heart stops.

What the hell is this?

Her footsteps are barely audible, but in my head, they echo like a freight train. Actually, that might be the sound of the blood rushing through my veins or the pounding headache that is now threatening to knock me unconscious, and the reason stands right in front of me.

Hellfire.

The little hellfire is the coach’s daughter.

Fuck my life.

10

JOSIE

A deer caught in headlights,that’s what I am.

The moment I stopped, I saw him, and now I can’t pull my gaze away.

It’s him.Holy shit. It’s him.How is this possible?The look on his face is one of pure shock. And how could it not be? Last night was random. No names and all our talk of hating hockey . . .

Wait.

He said he hated hockey.

Was that real? Or an act.

No. I’m good at deciphering how people are feeling. I can read people well and take in their emotions. That was all real.

He hates hockey, yet he plays for my father.

“Josie,” the man’s—who I now know as the sperm donor—voice cuts through my thoughts and forces me to pull my gaze away from the handsome and sinfully sexy stranger from last night.

I step up to where he is forcing me to turn away from myone-night stand turned awkward first day at work, and look up toward the man I only just met.

Should I call him sperm donor? Dad? Coach? Robert? Mr. Harris?

All of the above.

Since it’s a job, I’ll call him Coach Robert.

Yeah, that’s easier.

Coach Robert nods down at me. “Josie will be interning with us this season.”

A bunch of the guys start to speak at once, and despite my best efforts, I can’t make out what anyone is saying.

How long do I have to be here today? Will he try to speak to me?

My heart rattles in my chest. I hope not . . . yet I do. I want to speak to him.

“Now, listen closely. . .” Coach Robert takes a step forward and looks right at some younger, handsome player. “No one, and I mean no one, will cross me on this. Josie is off-limits.”

His words drop like the bomb that they are. The stranger in front of me goes ramrod straight. If I didn’t know better, I’d mistake him for a statue. His jaw is stiff, and he stares at me like he hates me.

---