Page 28 of Dirty Pucker

“Oh, I know,” he says, a lilt to his voice. He huffs out a breath and tugs a hand through his thick, dark hair. “I can do one dance-type thing. You ready?”

I tell him yes, hold up my phone, and hit, “Record.”

He skates backward and then spins his body, like a figure skater doing a slow twirl. He spins a half-dozen times before coming to a stop.

Frowning, he looks at me. “There. Happy?”

I stop recording and look at him, surprised at how smoothly he pulled off that move, especially in all his gear. “That was really good.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I just wasn’t expecting you to pull off a figure skating spin.”

He flashes that half-smile. “My high school girlfriend was a figure skater. She made me practice with her sometimes.”

I grin. “That’s really cute.”

I quickly post the video to the Bashers’ TikTok, choose a trending song, and write a short caption. Del skates up to me and I show it to him.

New guy’s got the moves #dance #bashers #hockey #fyp

I post the video. The team is due to practice here in a few minutes, so I start to slowly walk back to the edge of the ice. Del skates up to me and offers me his arm.

“Let me help you.”

I smile up at him. “Thanks.”

I hold on to his arm and let him lead us off the ice. As we glide along, I take in his size. At almost 5’10”, I’m not used to feeling small. But next to Del, I kind of am. He is massive when decked out in all his hockey gear. He’s already taller than me, but with his skates on he dwarfs me. I really, really like it.

We make it to the edge of the ice and I let go of his arm as I step off, missing the firmness of his muscled arm instantly.

“You headed back to your office?” he asks, still on the ice.

“Yeah, but I’ll be back before practice ends to film you guys for more social media content.”

He groans. I laugh. “Oh come on. It’s not that bad.”

When he raises his eyebrow at me in silent protest, I laugh even harder.

“I’d rather run suicides nonstop for an entire practice than film another TikTok dance.”

I stare at him. “You’re insane.”

The corner of his mouth quirks up as he shrugs.

“Don’t worry. I’m not making you guys dance.”

“What do you have planned?” he asks.

Before I can answer, the sound of doors opening echoes down the hall. A second later, there’s the sound of the coaching staff talking.

I turn to Del. “Have a good practice!” I say as I start to walk to my office.

“Hey, you didn’t answer my question. What are you making us do?”

I twist my head back to look at him. “It’s a surprise.”

Before I turn back around, I see the corner of his mouth hook up as he starts to smile. That familiar giddy feeling blooms in my chest at getting Del to smile yet again.

---