Page 5 of Puck My Heart

The dual command was kinda cute. I looked down and shrugged as I accepted the sheet and tucked it beneath my armpits to make him happy. “Sorry. But what did you expect when you barged into a girl’s room unannounced? Not that I’m objecting, and all.” I waved my book—yes, dogeared, it was my personal copy—at his own exposed, damp and steamy skin. “Did you need something?”

He gaped at me. “Yourroom?”

Damnit, he wasn’t here for a booty call after all. My battered ego could have done with a decent round of that.

“Yes, Hux, my room. There’s the door. You found it on your way in.” Via the bathroom, but I wasn’t about to let a little thing like directions ruin my one-liner.

“But it was op-en.” He still gaped at me.

I nodded, sliding onto my back and opened my book with the manchest cover that only slightly resembled him. Okay, a little more than slightly. “Good to see you’re catching on.”

“But this is my room.”

I peeked over the top of the book to see if he stamped his foot. “That’s a great tantrum right there, Cap. But right now this girl’s tired. I was going to read a few chapters, but if you can put a lid on your temper, I promise you can stay.” I looked pointedly at the empty side of the bed between him and me.

Hux stared, and his mouth closed in a firm line. “This has always been my room,” he hissed. I swore he did it without moving his mouth.

Now,thatwas a talent.

“That’s nice. But you haven’t been here for a few years,” I said gently.

Hux blinked. “I haven’t—” he broke off, caught up, and cleared his throat. “I left my bag at the end of the bed.”

“Oh.” I sat forward to check. “So you did. Sorry. I crawled straight across the mattress.” I picked up my half empty wine glass from the bedside table and took a sip.

Hux’s eyes tracked the movement, his gaze coasting over me and back to my face. “Apologies. Which room is vacant this year?” he said abruptly.

I tipped my head backward. “Next door, adjoining the bathroom on the other side, if you want closer to the kitchen. Or any of the ones?—”

“Noted.” He leaned down, grabbed his bag, and stalked out of the room.

Apparently I wasn’t the only person in the house nursing a battered ego.

Huxley’s temper tantrum didn’t end at my doorway. Heavy stomps echoed through the second floor as he threw his things down. I hid in my book and failed to hide my smile. Maybe my shattered heart wouldn’t be so lonely this weekend after all.

If I could inject coffee intravenously into my veins, I would. The snowfall hadn’t stopped overnight, and I still had no reception on my phone. Or the streaming services because, when myinsomnia kicked in at two a.m., I watched old police procedurals on the ancient DVD player in my room.

Ignored the heavy breathing next door that I could hear through the adjoining bathroom.

Eventually I ended up on the sofa in the living room with a thermos of coffee because sleep is overrated, though I threw on a pair of charcoal sweats that weren’t mine and a blue Chimera’s jersey—also not mine—before I flashed Hux again by accident. I really hadn’t meant to give him a show before, but since he was there and all…

Man, did I get sassy when I was stupid tired. Yep, sleep really was overrated.

Which was how I ended up passed out in front of the TV with some romantic scene still playing and cuddling an empty thermos when something warm tickled my feet.

Or at least, that was the order Ithoughtthings happened in when I tried kicking at the thing stroking my feet. The warm thing that refused to move.

“Whoa there, Anya. I might be a confirmed bachelor and all, but I’d like to keep some of my swimmers intact in case I want a baby Hux runnin’ around some day.”

I knew that voice, and that accent. Away from the cameras Hux dropped the perfect enunciation the media coach banged into both him and my brother years ago, and fell back into some older habits. The real him. I kinda liked that he was more than just the TV personality and still the smartass I remembered.

Suppressing a smile, I cracked an eyelid open and found Hux tucked under the other end of my blanket, my feet resting in a sandwich made of his solid thighs and hands that cupped the top of my feet where he traced patterns around my ankles. His head was tipped back against the back of the sofa, his shoulders relaxed, not the tense line they’d been set in the night before.

This was the version of Hux that I grew up with, the one I remembered and had a huge crush on for years. Before he became a Chimera, and hit the realm ofuntouchablefor the girl from a small town who couldn’t compete with fancy city WAGs who trailed him and my brother around in droves.

Mind, I loved my brother's current obsession, though I’d only spoken to Hallie once at Christmas on a quick call. But she seemed much more down to Earth than any of the boys’ other flings that lasted a few weeks at absolute best. Something told me this version for him was permanent.

The idea of someone permanent in Hux’s life, however, left my stomach plummeting off a puck bunny level, snow-covered drop that never seemed to end.

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