Page 33 of Pucking Dirty

I eye him silently for a long moment. "What's her name?"

"Sutton," he says, his tone soft.

"You like her."

He whips his head around, glaring at me.

I smile gently, not buying the act when I heard the truth in his voice. He has feelings for her. Intense, complicated feelings. "You're allowed to like her, Jordan. Just because you have issues with her brother doesn't mean you have to have issues with her."

"She's his sister."

"There's no rule that says you have to forgive him." I shrug. "That's up to you. But you don't have to punish her for whatever he did."

"She doesn't even know." He resumes pacing. "How the fuck am I supposed to tell her what he did, Lariat?"

"Do you want to talk about what he did?"

"Hell no," he barks. "Not with you."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to tell her?"

He shrugs, which makes me smile. He really likes this girl. Interesting.

"Then don't tell her. You can hate him and what he did and still protect his relationship with her. That doesn't mean you're doing it for his sake, Jordan. If they're close, let it be for her sake."

"Yeah," he mumbles after a minute. "Yeah, maybe I can do that."

"Then problem solved."

He grunts, shooting me a look. "You don't suck at this."

"Surprised?"

He holds his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "I had my doubts after the whole lizard dick, circle jerk fiasco, Lariat. But…you might actually make it around here."

"Might?" I arch a brow at him. "Don't flatter me too hard, Silvestri. I might begin to think you actually like me."

He grins, striding toward the door. "Who me? I don't like anyone."

"Right," I say, chuckling as he disappears into the hall.

Alice pops her head in not even sixty seconds later. "Did I just see Jordan leaving your office?"

"You did."

"Wow," she says, clearly impressed.

"I know, right?"

She laughs softly. "I'm going out to the arena to watch them practice. You want to come?" She waggles her brows at me. "I heard that a certain defenseman is out there."

I glance at the paperwork on my desk and then at her. "Hmm… paperwork or staring at Whatley's ass," I say, pretending to think about it. "Tough call."

"Girl, get your ass out of that chair," she says, cackling.

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