Page 3 of Puck Me Sideways

No sound came out of my mouth when it fell open, because what else could I be beneath hands that size?

He switched his attention forward, his tone hardening. “She’s not your fucking doormat. Go back and play with things at your own level,” he snapped at the WAG throwing her tits in his face.

I didn’t think she was attached to him, but then I never paid attention to the revolving door of the Chimera WAG squad anyway.

“Okay,” I breathed, unsure who I answered.

Cindy-Mindy huffed and flounced off, snatching her mug back from my fluttering hands. Her razored talons in the same lurid fuchsia—at least they aren’t gold—that lit her name in neon on the mug grazed my fingers hard enough to draw twin lines of red along my fingers.

“Sit up,” Solace ordered.

I squiggled about in my seat, craning back at an uncomfortable angle to find his face. “You’re ridiculously tall,” I informed him.

The hard lines around his mouth eased a fraction. “And you’re tiny.”

I laughed at him, loud enough to turn heads, but then who hadn’t just heard that little office level domestic? The rumor mill would be in full swing after that, anyway. I discarded my brand of camouflage and did something different for once.

Solace brought out a part of me I’d kept hidden, apparently. He made me feel…reckless.

“I’m so far from tiny it’s not funny,” I giggled, taking off my glasses to swipe at the tears gathering at the corners of my eyes, and gestured at my curved tummy. That one curved out, not in. No concave bits on this girl.

“Stop,” he ordered again.

I froze and looked up at him curiously. “Do people always do what you say because you say it?” I asked politely.

His mouth twitched. “Yes. But not you, apparently.” He caught my wrist and liberated my glasses, cleaning them absently on the hem of his numbered shirt. His eyes roamed over my face, then he placed them gently back on the bridge of my nose. Fingers traced my hair, flicking it out from behind my ear. He nodded decisively. “Nah. So much better on.”

I wasn’t sure if my stomach was in freefall, or if he just offered me a backhanded compliment. “Thanks?” I opted for a dry tone.

The small smile was back. He leaned in until his lips grazed my ear and my temperature spiked.

“Sexy as fuck, Hallie.”

Then the Jericho Chimeras behemoth of a defender straightened, his face clean of emotion. Solace Hunter wandered away like nothing just happened between us at all.

CHAPTER TWO

SOLACE

The puck slid across the ice in front of Huxley Radfield like the damn thing was made of candy floss. I set myself to defend the signature slap shot he’d set up. Despite the action in front of me, my mind kept drifting to the pretty little dark haired temptation working in the main office who shouldn’t be such a distraction. And yet, she was.

“Heads up, Hunter!” Coach yelled.

I heard him a fraction too late. The puck slammed past me into the net before I managed to raise my stick.

I swore liberally at myself while nodding to my captain. “Great set up, Hux. Saw it coming, but I know your style.”

“Pity you didn’t do anything about it.” He removed his helmet, and frowned. “That obvious?”

“Yeah, but I’ve been playing side by side with you for three years, my man.”

He nodded, his mouth set in a tight line. “If you see it, so will the opposition. Try to keep an eye on the puck and out of whatever pussy you were daydreaming about, alright?”

Ah, fuck.

I cast Hallie as far to the back of my mind as I could banish her for the moment, apologizing liberally to the girl I’d harbored a long running dark as fuck fantasy for, and promised myself I’d notch it up a level soon. Getting close to her earlier in the week brought out something in me I hadn’t felt for a damn long time.

Maybe I’d come to the end of my long tease with myself. Maybe I’d broken my own rules by touching her.

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