Page 26 of Melting the Ice

Fuck, I should not have been thinking about her that way. And I definitely should’ve told Ray that she was staying with me when he’d texted me yesterday. Or two days ago. Or ten daysago, when she’d initially moved in. But it wasn’t like he’d asked about her.

How had she twisted my brain up in only ten days? And I’d been gone for six of those.

I rolled my shoulders and glared at the door in front of me, then stood up, trying to force my attention back to warrior pose, which was next on my list.

Twenty minutes later, I finished up that portion of my routine. Not my best session, but it was done, and I was still not relaxed. I sucked down half of my water bottle and walked over to my puzzle desk. This never failed. Time to tackle two corners of this beast. Setting down my water, I put on my glasses, slid onto the chair, and scanned over the piles I’d made.

Center. Relax. Focus.

I was so ready for it.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered as I tried to fit a piece in twenty minutes later. I was still distracted by Josie and by a short text conversation I had ten minutes ago with her brother, one where I still didn’t mention that Josie was staying with me.

I should’ve silenced my phone when I walked in here or maybe not looked at the incoming text. It’s not like it was abnormal for Ray to send me a good luck message on game day. We’d had a brief and typical exchange, but I felt guilty as hell knowing that his sister was one wall away from me right now.

But again, it wasn’t like he’d asked.

I flipped the piece back and forth between my fingers, having already tried it in five different spots. If I ended up bending this piece, I was going to lose it. Fucking mountains and all their brown and gray coloring that looked identical to the other five hundred pieces. I should’ve picked one with more colors and more variation, but no, I’d wanted a challenge.

Stupid-ass idiot.

I put my elbow on the edge of the table and proceeded to knock two piles to the floor. Why were they so close to each other?

“Dammit,” I yelled, hitting my shoulder on the lip of the table when I crouched down to pick up my mess. I took in a deep breath.

I was not freaking relaxed or centered or focused as I tried to keep the puzzle piece piles separate.

Then I proceeded to knock my head into the table when I stood up. Rubbing my head and then my shoulder, I glared at the stupid puzzle.

“What’s going on in here?”

I huffed out a breath and turned to see Josie in the open doorway, her head tilted in question, no doubt taking in the room.

“I knocked over some pieces and hit my head,” I grumbled.

“You okay?” She took a couple steps closer to me. Shit, now the space was going to smell like her.

Which was ridiculous because she’d been in here before.

I was a fucking disaster.

“I’m fine.” My back hit the table as I shifted backward, and I tried not to groan.

“You sure?”

I sighed and raked my hand through my hair—and dropped a few puzzle pieces that I’d forgotten I was holding.

“Son. Of. A. Bitch,” I whispered, crouching down to pick up the ones that had fallen before quickly standing back up.

“What’s going on with you? You’re supposed to be relaxing so you can be ready for the game. I know I’ve only been here for one pregame ritual, but I don’t remember it sounding so chaotic.”

She was fully in the room right now, way too close for my comfort, her hands on her hips and her arms perfectly framing her gorgeous body.

Fuck, I was pathetic. Maybe I just needed to get laid.

But not by her.

No matter how much I wanted to taste her again. Should I tell her that? Would it shock her? Turn the tables?

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