Page 86 of Grumpy Darling

“I’m not one to kiss and tell,” I replied.

Her eyes moved from my lips to her notes, and she nodded, but then she glanced back up at me. I could still see the curiosity in her eyes, and she looked like she wanted to ask a follow-up question, but I couldn’t risk it.

“What’s next?” I asked, changing the subject. “My best pickup line? How many kids I want to have someday?”

“No to both of those,” she said, shaking her head. “Luckily, that was the last question. I can’t believe I have to repeat these to every guy on the team.”

“Well, I hope I helped you warm up a little,” I replied. “And if not, call Bonnie and tell her she can get over here and ask the questions herself.”

She smiled. “You couldn’t have given me this pep talk before I asked you all that embarrassing stuff?”

“I guess I was intrigued. It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t that bad.” She scrunched up her nose, almost annoyed that she agreed with me. “Can you send Reed over next? I have to get a move on or there’s no way I’ll finish before practice ends.”

That was it. I’d survived the interview, with only one skipped question. Still, I didn’t feel any more confident about whether my coaching was having an impact or not. Paige had definitely reacted to a couple of my answers though, I was sure of that.

“No problem.” I smiled as I stepped off the bench and back onto the ice. “Thanks for the chat, Pidge.”

As I skated away, my stomach dipped. Now that my interview was over, it wasn’t long before Bonnie’s plan would kick into gear. Paige would have to interview Damien and ask him all those questions. Suddenly the moments we’d shared during our interview, whatever they’d meant, didn’t feel like enough. Damien had been flirting with girls from the moment he’d arrived at Ransom High. There was no way I could compete.

I did my best to return my focus to training and ignore each of my teammates as they skated over to talk to Paige. One after another, they came and went. I thought I was hiding my protective instincts quite well, and not once had I scowled at anyone. But that all went out the window the moment Damien sat at Paige’s side.

Chapter 21

Paige

I was almost at the end of the interviews, and despite my initial apprehension, it was going quite well. Surprisingly though, it had felt far easier asking Grayson’s teammates the questions than it had done with him. He was usually the person I could talk to about anything, and he’d even suggested I use him as a practice run, but his interview had felt like the main race.

I knew he was mostly just joking around with me, and it had been fun, but a few of his answers threw me off. Especially the soulmate question. I’d been doing my best not to think about waking up in his arms. And I wasn’t sure if he’d been messing around when he answered that way, but the mere suggestion had sent a tingling sensation dancing across my skin.

The final question of our interview had also left me intrigued. We didn’t really talk about girls or relationship-type stuff—at least, we hadn’t before this whole coaching thing. But I was curious why he’d been so reluctant to dive into details about his first kiss and, not for the first time, I contemplated who he might have shared it with.

Still, after doing a few interviews, I started to relax more and more. Matt was currently in the hot seat, and he was chuckling as my line of questioning turned more personal. We were on the boxers or briefs question, which I was certain Bonnie had put in as revenge after I stopped her snooping through the Darling boys’ drawers.

“You really want to know what underwear I have on?” he asked, before leaning in close. “It’s like you want Gray to kill me.”

“Gray’s not here...” I already knew he was on the other side of the rink doing defensive drills—not that I was keeping tabs on him. “And everyone else was more than happy to tell me.”

“I’m not like everyone else. I don’t have a death wish.”

“So, I’ll just write no underwear then?” I asked with a smirk.

He gave me a curious look. “How’d you know?”

I laughed and moved to the next question. “Blondes or brunettes?”

“I don’t like to pick favorites.”

“What’s your idea of a perfect date?”

“Just what kind of article is this, Paige?”

“A fun one,” I replied with a smile. “So?”

“A hike,” he replied.

“That’s really your idea of a perfect date?”

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