Page 25 of Puck You Very Much

“Sorry, I mistook her for someone else,” Jack chimed in, glancing back at the stands. “It doesn’t matter. So…Lucy. She’s cute. Is she single by chance?”

Dax’s stomach contracted. The reaction was as surprising as it was unwelcome because it made absolutely no sense. Jack could express interest wherever he damn well pleased.

“Ah, forget it,” Leon said, waving dismissively. “She doesn’t date players. That’s her only rule and she takes it seriously.”

“Really?” he drawled, his gaze darting to Dax. “Interesting.”

Dax furrowed his brow. He didn’t like the way Jack responded as if he knew more than anyone else. Anyway, he didn’t find anything about Lucy interesting.

“Well, I’m not really on the roster yet,” Jack replied innocently. “I’m only officially part of the team after the first game, right? And I don’t date during the season, so next week is my only chance to get some action…”

Leon grinned widely. “Go ahead and try. You wouldn’t be the first person she turned down.”

“Oh, we’ll see about that,” he replied vaguely—and abruptly skated toward the door embedded in the boards.

Dax followed before his legs realized what they were doing. All he knew was that Jack couldn’t come in here and infiltrate every aspect of his life. The team, his family…Lucy.

“Leave her alone,” he said darkly, reaching for Jack’s arm.

His brother turned, eyebrows raised. “Ah, so she is your girlfriend after all,” he concluded in a lowered voice.

“Bullshit.” He laughed dryly. The idea was ridiculous. “Didn’t you hear Leon? We hate each other.”

Even if hate wasn’t the word that he associated with her face, there was a profound unease that assaulted his body whenever she put on her sweet, mocking smile. Not hate, but maybe…caution?

Jack looked at him sympathetically and then said in a lowered voice, “You can tell me whatever you want, Dax, but you don’t look at women you hate the way you looked at Lucy yesterday.”

“What?” he asked, blinking in confusion. “I looked at her like I look at any PR consultant who gets on my nerves.”

“So, you want to jump into bed with all your PR consultants?” Jack inquired softly. “That’s a little excessive, don’t you think? Even by your standards.”

That statement was so surprising and direct that Dax flinched. Blinking, he opened his mouth. He didn’t want to…not with Lucy…that was…What the hell?

“I don’t know what drugs you’re taking, Jack, but you have no idea what you’re talking about,” he growled.

“Ah, okay. My mistake,” he said lightly before tilting his head. “Then why exactly can’t I ask her if she wants to go out with me?”

“She doesn’t deserve to be hit on by a sleazy guy.”

“Um, let’s let her decide for herself.”

“No,” he replied curtly. “Because it doesn’t matter whether I want to sleep with her or not.” And he definitely didn’t! “She’s still a part of my life right now, so don’t. I’d like to maintain some distance between our worlds. You’re plenty close enough, already.”

Yes, that was what was bothering him.

“You know, Daxxy,” Jack murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder, “that sounds like a friendly enough request to me, but yesterday you made it crystal clear you didn’t want to be my brother or my friend, so…it’s just tough luck.”

The next moment, he pulled open the boards door and stepped off the ice. A knot formed in Dax’s stomach and his fingers twitched. Jack shouldn’t be able to provoke him like that. Especially not with Lucy.

In general, worrying was completely unnecessary. There was no way Lucy would date Jack. She didn’t date players. She probably had the wordsprofessionalismandsuccesstattooed on her wrist so she wouldn’t forget. No one would take her seriously if she slept with someone on the team and she would never risk that.

And yet his gaze darted to her, scanning her body as if he might find something there he hadn’t noticed before.

She sat in the front row, staring intently at her screen. Her black, buttoned-up blouse contrasted with her strikingly fair skin. Her dark red hair, as always, was combed back from her face and gathered in a hair tie. The wool blanket over her legs hid the tight pencil skirt that she wore 100% of the time. Her feet, however, stuck out from underneath.

Yes, those were her tiny feet, which were in high heels every day. Today she wore ridiculous black ones with straps that wrapped around her bare ankles. They were too sexy for a business suit. She had to be cold in here, right? After all, she was sitting in a damn ice rink! However, she didn’t seem to care.

Sometimes it seemed to Dax like her shoes were the only item of clothing she used as a personal touch to her otherwise boring outfits, shoes whose straps clung to her skin like foreign fingers. Fuck, she probably even kept them on in bed.

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