Page 16 of Puck Me Sideways

“Holy shit, Solace.” I thwacked him with the back of my free hand and hurt myself. That earned him another glare that he fully deserved. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought you said you weren’t a screamer.” He surveyed me with a tired smile, though his eyes travelled over my body hungrily.No change there.His rumpled clothes were, though. “No tights today, huh?”

I cocked a hip, pleased when Mica’s fluffy head finally squished back in where it should be, and my door locked. “Someone wrecked my best ones.”

He braced an arm over my head, pushing my freshly filled coffee thermos into my hands. “I promised you I’d get you more.” His eyes searched mine.

I swallowed and stared back, unsure what this was exactly as I spotted his yellow sports coupe parked right out front of my rental townhouse. “Thank you for getting me coffee.” Then my mind thunked into place without its usual caffeinated morning lubricant. “Wait, have you been out here all night?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you got home alright.”

I gaped at him guppie style. “I woke up at two in the morning and felt so guilty. If I’d known, I would have—” I closed my mouth with a snap.

His eyes glittered at me. “Hallie, are you telling me I should have been camping out here all week rather than pining for you at home and edging fuck out of myself when I couldn’t have you, beautiful?” The predator in him rose to full heat.

I backed into my door, flattening myself to the scarred wood, but there was no way around him. “Solace, you’re too much, sometimes,” I murmured, my breaths coming short.

“Only sometimes, huh?” He caught my chin with his knuckles and grazed his mouth over mine. “Did you eat last night?” That came out as a demand.

I bit my lip and shook my head. “No.”

He nodded. “I didn’t think so. I watched you go inside, and the place stayed dark. My heart fucking shattered, Hallie. I came so close to pounding on that door until you answered, but I didn't wanna scare you.”

My vision of him blurred. “I wish you had.”

“Christ.” His arms dropped, folding around me and my thermos. Mica pawed and mewled at the door from the other side frantically. “Hell, I’m scaring your other pussy.”

I giggled in his arms, resting my head against his chest. The rhythmic beat of his heat, strong and slow, settled me as I breathed at the same rate. My arms tightened around him. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have slept rough because of me.”

“But I did.” He tangled his fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp. “You know why.”

I nodded, knowing what he’d say and weirdly, I didn’t need to hear it anymore. I’d kind of come to accept who he was and how we were in the last hours, though my heart still bore the scars another man left in the same place.

“This is scary to me,” I whispered. “It hurt so much last time.”

“Not gonna happen,” he said firmly, crushing me to him.

“Coffee cup,” I choked out, managing a breath when he released me.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, pulling my clothes right. “Have we got time to get you some breakfast before we go in?”

I stared at him, my mouth falling open. “But you have training this morning. Then practice. And a commercial that films at nine.”

He grinned at me. “Beautiful, you know my schedule better than I do.”

I shrugged. “I kind of know the whole team’s schedule. It’s my job.”

He frowned, and I hurried to remove it from his face, smoothing the deep lines with my fingers.

“No, it's not that I don’t stalkyourschedule. I do… Actually, I always have. And your stats. You know, when you beat Newtown? That was your best game of the season. We were trounced. Seventeen saves, Solace. That put you at a .937, you know that? I mean you guys were coming off a buck’s night, and Coach was furious, but whatever. It made you top of the league, saves percentage wise. You still can’t be beat.” I stopped rambling when he stared at me, bemused. “What?”

“Why aren’t you my PA? Or on our management team? Why are you wasted running over whatever the fuck you do hiding behind paperwork all day long?” His soft voice rocked my world on its axis.

I nibbled my lip. “You really mean it, don’t you?”

He didn’t have to ask what I meant, knowing I wasn’t talking about work. “Yeah, Hallie. I do.”

My eyes shuttered as I sucked in a long breath. “Okay. Let’s try this thing.”

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