Page 3 of The Grinder

She wanted to take it back the second the words were out of her mouth and barely managed not to roll her eyes at her own words.

Damn it, she wasn’t her younger sister, Vivi, who’d never met a guy she didn’t want to sleep with. Although no one would blame her for wanting to see this man stripped down to nothing because, holy crap, he was hot.

His smile widened as he shook his head. “Not anymore, no. I just rub it out of habit. So what do you think?”

“That maybe you want to get another job? This one seems dangerous to your health.”

He burst into laughter and, Jesus, if she’d thought he was hot before, now he was off-the-charts drool-worthy. His mouth alone made her want to grab him and kiss the hell out of him.

And since that was completely out of the question, she could only smile back when he stopped laughing.

“Yeah, it kinda is, but it’s still fun and I love to play so I’m gonna until I physically can’t.”

He certainly looked physically able at the moment.

Her gaze dropped to his broad shoulders then to his muscular chest. She’d never been this up close and personal with a hockey player before. The only other professional athlete she’d ever been this close to before had been Vivi’s ex, a football player. And he’d been a cocky asshole Aly had hated on sight.

This guy looked just as cocky. She’d reserve judgment on the asshole part.

Which doesn’t matter because you’ll never see him again.

She didn’t go to hockey games, didn’t think she’d like them. From what she’d seen on TV when her dad used to watch, the sport was rough and loud. Two things Aly tried to avoid as much as possible in her life.

She usually dated nice guys, nerds who spent hours in front of a computer every day and considered Hacky Sack a sport. The ones who took off the day the new Marvel movie released.

Nice, regular guys. Who left her completely cold.

Tearing her gaze away from his chest, she looked over his bill again.

Luckily, there was no one else here to see her make a fool out of herself. The five other women who worked in this office would have never let her live this down.

“So, what’s the problem with your bill?”

“Well, it should’ve been paid by my previous team. The injury happened during a game so I figure it should’ve been covered under their policy. I don’t know why it wouldn’t.”

“Which team?”

“The Colonials’ ECHL team in Lancaster.”

“How long have you played hockey?”

Okay, technically, that had nothing to do with his bill but, sue her, curiosity had taken hold.

Leaning his elbows on the counter, he cocked his head to the side. “For as long as I can remember. Have you been to a game?”

She shook her head. “No.”

His eyebrows rose. “Would you like to? I could get you tickets. We have a game tomorrow night.”

Yes and No popped onto her tongue at the exact same time.

Yes, because hello, hot guy. No, because, well, she didn’t accept random offers of hockey tickets from unknown men. At least, she never had before.

She blinked, trying to reboot her brain. “I don’t think I’m available.”

Which was total bullshit. She didn’t have a date. She and her last boyfriend had parted ways six months ago. He’d wanted more than a few dates a week and sex whenever they could squeeze it in. She’d been perfectly content with the arrangement.

It wasn’t like she’d been planning to marry Paul.

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