Page 4 of Puck Me Sideways

Maybe I was full of shit.

“Bring your worst, Cap.” I tightened my pads, nodding to Coach.

He watched me without smiling.

Damn. I had to prove my worth to both of them today. My little playtime would have to wait. I had a job to do first.

* * *

My muscles ached after the beating I gave myself on the ice, but Hux never got another goal past me for the rest of the session. I’d suitably redeemed myself in both his eyes and Coach’s, though I hadn’t yet forgiven myself for the slip. Now the rest of the team—and all but one person—had left for the night, I was free to let my mind run through all the things I wanted to do to the girl I’d banished from my mind earlier.

Hallie Newman had no idea the effect she had on the entire office. She was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and prettier after the sun set when everyone vacated the office for their pithy lives for the night.

That dark head of curls held not only my attention, but every eye in the team and over half the WAGS who usually paid less attention to others than anything else. Their pretence at vagueness was limited to the range of their significant other, and not an inch further—until it came to Hallie.

On a bet, it’d be because I’d taken an interest and shown her attention. I should have been more wary of the predators she went out of her way to protect herself against. The way she curled in on herself at her desk even when I was there, like she expected me to either ignore her or go along with the whole bullshit act, set something alight low in my gut.

Hell, I hadn’t had the foresight to realize how bad the bullying got until I watched Mindy demean her in front of me, like she was the office joke.

Not on my fucking watch.

And I’d been watching little Miss Hallie since the day she arrived in the Chimera’s office months ago. The marketingplebin her words, who thought no one saw her. But I noted the hours she worked late, even if her boss never did.

What she didn’t know was that I then waited for her to leave and shadowed her to the bus stop. Every single night. It became my new routine, instead of heading to the club with the rest of the team who typically got drunk off their asses and laid by whichever puck bunny was available if their chosen WAG wasn’t in attendance. I hated that culture with a passion and refused to participate, preferring my own stalkerish tendencies for company.

Which made tonight exceptional as I decided to wait beside the front door after I locked up for the night until my pucking little prey decided to pack it in and emerge from the building. While she took her sweet time, working through whatever it was she needed the quiet hours for, I rested my head back against the wall beside the door and planned out my approach.

Well, hers, because I’d be the first thing she saw the moment she stepped out into the night. I didn’t peg my little Hallie as a screamer, but I was ready for that too, prepared to wrap my hand around her mouth and pull her into my body until her chest stopped heaving, and the muffled sounds eased.

Just the thought of her struggle made me hard. I swallowed back the need to yank open the damn door, storm into the office and find out how well the two of us fit on her desk. No, waiting was sweeter. The tease left the sort of edge I craved, what I ached for. Getting off meant nothing without it.

Fast satisfaction and then…what? Nothing. No more than a drunk puck bunny in a back alley.

No, taking Hallie would be a slow process. Tease and back off. Tempt her and see how she reacted, all the while heightening both our arousal. I was far from immune to the way she responded to my touch at her desk a few days before. This morning’s training session ended in a shit show where I couldn’t focus on anything but her no matter how much I denied the vision of her.

I might have redeemed myself to Coach, but Shannon Incarsen owned my ass, the moment he and Hux turned their backs. Thankfully he was the only one who noticed my distraction for the rest of the training session.

I sank into my headspace for tonight as lights flicked off inside. Hell, I could almost scent her before she appeared, only a thin wall separating us, though she didn’t know I waited on her yet.Good.

Her hand pressed to the glass door, pushing it open as I slipped my hands into my pockets, leaving my eyes half open, savoring the moment.

Cue scream in three, two, one…

“Jesus fuckingChrist–”she muttered, slapping my chest with her habitual stack of manilla folders I swore she’d pulled straight out of the nineties. “The hell are you doing out here, stalking me?”

I snorted and stared down at her, leaving my eyes half lidded. “Exactly that, beautiful. Stalking you.” I pulled one hand from my pocket and traced over her parted lips that looked too much like an invitation I wanted to take. I kept expecting some rebuke, but nothing came from her lips except a soft breath that brushed my fingertips. “You have a filthy mouth, you know that? I think I like it.” My cock twitched as my chest ached. “Violent and sassy. Two of my favourite things.”

She glared at me and pulled her head away, retreating as she headed toward the bus stop and dismissed me. “Whatever. Go home, Solace. Are you drunk?”

I loped along beside her, keeping pace easily as her shorter legs took two steps to my one. “I don’t drink. You know that.”

A small noise I instantly loved escaped her. “Yes, I know that,” she admitted in a voice that carried, even though I suspected she didn’t intend that to happen. “What are you doing?” She stopped walking and turned to face me.

“Damn, girl. You’ve got some reflexes.”

I pivoted just in time to prevent from overshooting her position and grazed my palm over her elbow—not exposed, because hardly any of her could be seen. I always loved that about her. Unlike the regular WAG crew, Hallie kept herself covered up. It just made me want to peel those layers of clothing from her body to get to the soft, sumptuous curves underneath, and she had plenty of those.

Or maybe rip her layers right off.

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