Page 57 of Dirty Pucker

He shakes his head before I even finish speaking. “No, it was my fault.” He steps back and smiles. “Are you here for the physique photoshoot too?”

“No, I’m not an athlete.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “Really? You could have fooled me. You definitely look like one.”

I laugh. “I’ve never played any sports, ever.”

He smiles. “My mistake then.” He sticks out his hand. “I’m Owen. Pleasure to meet you.”

I shake his hand and smile at him. “I’m Ingrid. I was assisting Del Richards during his shoot earlier.”

His brow lifts slightly like he’s intrigued. “Del agreed to do this?”

I nod, wondering why he’s so surprised. “Yeah. Do you know him?”

“We play against each other sometimes. I’m a defenseman for the Las Vegas Bandits.”

“I do social media for the Bashers. We play you guys tomorrow.”

Owen grins. “Cool.” A beat later his gaze focuses on me. “Sorry, but you look familiar…” A second later he snaps and points at me. “Wait, are you Ingrid Thompson, the lifestyle influencer?”

My cheeks flush as I smile. “Yeah.”

“Oh man, I follow you on Instagram. I love your account. You travel to so many cool places. I booked a vacation at that new resort in Maui because your Instagram post about it made it look amazing.”

“What did you think? Did it live up to the hype?”

“And then some. That place was sweet. I didn’t want to go home.”

I laugh.

“So what other places are you traveling to?” Owen asks.

“Oh, I’m not doing that anymore. I’m focused on working for the Bashers.”

“That’s cool.” Owen flashes a suave smile. “Will you be at the game tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I’ll be filming stuff for the team’s TikTok.”

“Hopefully I’ll see you there. And hey, it’s probably against the rules, but maybe we can film a TikTok together?”

“Hey.”

I hear Del’s voice up ahead. I peer around Owen and see Del back in his street clothes, frowning at us.

“Oh hey, Del,” Owen says as he turns around.

Del walks up to us and stands between Owen and me. He does it so abruptly that Owen moves back a few steps.

“So you met Owen, huh?” Del says as he looks at Owen.

Owen’s smile fades. He crosses his arms over his chest.

I look between them, noticing the tension in the air instantly. I guess they don’t like each other.

“Yeah, we just ran into each other a second ago,” I say.

I expect one of them to say something, but they just stare at each other.

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