Page 29 of Pucked and Pregnant

“No, nothing like that. It’s just…”

A knock on the door makes all of us jump.

“You three go hide in the bathroom. I’ll deal with it,” I whisper.

“I’m a grown-ass man. I’m not hiding from anyone,” Dimitri growls under his breath.

“So, if it’s Max, you want me to just fling the door wide open then?”

“Now that I think about it, hiding in the bathroom sounds like a great plan,” he concedes then quickly adds, “but only because I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Has nothing to do with fear.”

I roll my eyes at him and he flips me off before reluctantly striding into the bathroom.

The knock comes again, more insistent this time.

Once the men are in the bathroom, I throw on my robe and head to the door.

If it is Max, I’ll talk him into breakfast, which will allow the guys to sneak out in peace once we’re gone. If it’s anybody else, though I don’t know who else it could be at this early hour, it will be even easier to get rid of them.

My stomach shoots up into my throat when I look through the peephole.

I take a deep breath, tie my robe even tighter, then open the door.

“Good morning, Travis. Is there something you need help with? Clearly, it’s something urgent if you’re up and knocking on my door this early.”

“No, nothing urgent per se,” he says. “I overheard you say that you’re an early bird, so I figured I’d come by and see if you wanted to go grab breakfast before the meeting.”

“You came here at six-thirty in the morning to see if I want breakfast?”

The way he’s looking at me makes my skin crawl. His gaze is so overt, so sleazy it’s like his hands are actually on me.

As soon as I get rid of him, I’m hopping right back into the shower and scrubbing myself until my skin is raw. Even then I’m not sure the exfoliating brush I brought with me will be enough to make me feel truly clean again.

“Of course. I want to make sure you feel welcome on my, er, your new team. How about a little breakfast bonding? I’ll wait here while you change into something nice. We’ll go and get breakfast, and then we can set our laptops up back in my room and brainstorm while we wait for the meeting to start,” he says, grinning at me in what I’m sure he thinks is a charming manner. Thank goodness there’s nothing in my stomach because it would have made an appearance by now.

“The meeting isn’t for another hour and a half. I don’t think that will be necessary. Besides, I’m already set up here.”

“I can join you in here then.” He takes a half step closer. “And I’m sure we can find a way to fill our time between breakfast and the meeting. There’s plenty for us to discuss, about the game, of course.”

Perhaps I should lean into this whole nauseated feeling and try to puke on his shoes. That should send a clear message of how I feel about his plan.

Stay professional, and document all of it later. You want the complaint to stick, remember?

“I prefer to be alone for web meetings. It helps me to stay present. That, and it eliminates the possibility of mic feedback entirely. Thank you for offering.” I give him a terse smile and move to shut the door.

“What about just breakfast then?” Travis presses.

“I tend not to eat breakfast,” I lie. “But thank you for the offer anyway.”

I continue to shut the door, but he jams his foot in it before it closes entirely.

His face twists into something ugly, and for the first time during the encounter, I feel afraid.

“Just a word of advice before I go,” he hisses. “I suggest you cover that hickey on your neck before the meeting. It might give people the wrong idea about you, maybe even make them question if you’re right for this job.”

I force a placid smile onto my face. “Thank you for the advice. I appreciate your concern. Now please remove your shoe so I don’t accidentally shut it in my door.”

He jerks his foot out of the space with a scowl as I slam the door closed, locking it as fast as I can.

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