Page 38 of Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny

My heart beat so hard I thought it might burst right out of my chest.

“Were you, or were you not, checking me out?”

“Are you high on testosterone right now?” I asked. He wasn’t usually so straightforward, and I wasn’t sure how to react to this version of Ryder. The confident way he’d called me out and jerked me toward him sent my hormones into overdrive, and set my in-danger-of-falling-for-a-hockey-player sensor on high alert.

“It’s possible.” He tugged my hand, bringing me close enough that my hip bumped his leg. “Now, how about you answer the question?”

“I may have been doing a little ogling.” I lifted my chin. It wasn’t like he didn’t know I was attracted. I’d pretty much laid it out before. “What? Friends can’t ogle their friends?”

“Shit, I hope that’s not a rule, or I’ve been breaking it all fucking morning.”

I wasn’t sure how he possibly could’ve been checking me out, considering he’d been lifting all those heavy weights. I resisted the urge to smooth a hand down my ponytail.

“Now come spot me so I don’t have to keep craning my neck to check you out.”

I wasn’t sure who was in charge of my body, because she nodded and just went along with it.

He moved to the bench press and I stood behind his head, the way I’d seen people do at the gym before. The old me used to spend a ton of the time in the gym. The more in shape, more toned, the better chance of catching a hockey player’s eye. Plus, there’d been times I’d found out where teams worked out and “randomly” bumped into them there.

Ryder’s large hands wrapped around the metal bar.

I frowned as I studied the weights on the end. “Um, if you can’t push the bar back up, I don’t think I can lift it with how heavy it is, even with your help.”

“It won’t come to that. Like I said, this is about less neck strain.” A cocky smirk twisted his lips and he waggled his eyebrows.

“What’s come over you this morning?” I asked. What I didn’t add was that I liked it, despite my best attempts not to.

“I’m just in a good mood.” He lifted the bar, slowly lowered it to bump his chest, and then lifted it again, pushing out rep after rep.

“And you’ve got all that testosterone pumping through your body. Like I mentioned a second ago.”

“Thanks for noticing,friend,” he said between reps.

“Sure thing, buddy old pal.”

Without realizing it, I’d wrapped my finger around the end of my ponytail and bit my lip. Judging from the heat in Ryder’s eyes, he’d noticed.

I told myself I should probably cool it with the coquettish gestures, whether they’d happened on autopilot or not, but I was having fun with our little exchange. Friends could flirt a little, right?

I draped my arm on one of the rests for the bar and batted my eyes at him. He continued to lift the bar, but I could tell his concentration wasn’t as steady as usual—I figured all the staring I’d done this morning, including during his first set of bench presses, practically made me an expert.

Maybe not all of the old me was so bad. She did know how to snag guys’ attention, and I only wanted one guy to pay attention now. Just him and me, no competition involved.

I moved around the bench and stepped over him so I was straddling him but still standing, which left plenty of space between our bodies. “I think I can spot you better from this angle.” I gripped the sides of the bench, right by his hips and bent forward, flashing a little cleavage while I counted out his reps with him.

“Now I know…you’re…” He pushed the bar up, straining more than he had during the last few presses. “Trying…to kill…me.”

“I was going to get mad about you being so bossy earlier, but I think punishing you this way is more fun.”

A loud metal clank echoed through the room when he slid the bar home. He sat up on his elbows. “I hope you know turnabout is fair play.”

“Bring it.”

He started to reach for me, and I quickly stepped over the bench and crossed my arms. “Next machine, right?”

“Actually, I need to do some weighted push-ups.” Ryder set up in plank position. “Hop on.”

“Seriously?”

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