Page 14 of The Prince and the Puck
I forced a deep breath in and out and then stepped back, relaxing. “Yeah, okay.”
Porter shook his head and exchanged a ‘what the fuck’ look with Corny, to his left.
I dressed quickly and left the locker room, forgoing my lengthy shower tonight. I wasn’t in the mood.
Lizzy was still in the office she’d taken as her own when I walked by.
“Hey,” I said, pausing in the doorway.
She looked up, a tight smile pulling her lips thin. She wore another of those tight sheath dresses that accentuated every muscle she had. She had plenty. What Porter didn't know, clearly, was that she could probably kick his ass. He hadn't seen her in that parking lot fight, but now that I thought more about it, it might've been her holding off two dudes to keep them from hurting me. And not the other way around. And that… Would be weird.
“Declan,” she said, seeing me lingering in the doorway.
I’d ignored a message this morning that she was hoping to talk to me again, telling myself it made more sense to focus on hockey, and kind of worried about my own less-than-professional interest in her. I told myself I should forget that I’d offered to help her with her documentary. Because honestly? If Ispent too much time with Lizzy, I might act on my feelings. And the last thing I needed was to piss off Coach. But if the guys were getting into her space, maybe she really did need me.
“Sorry I haven’t been around to help. It was a busy week.”
She nodded.
“I should have more time now though,” I said. Nothing in my schedule had changed at all. But something else had. I could acknowledge that what I’d felt was jealousy when Porter had talked about her that way. “So fill me in. How are things going?”
She waved toward a chair to one side of the room. “Things are about where they were before. The guys don’t really want to open up to me, you know? They want to talk about hockey.”
“Go figure,” I laughed. “Yeah, we’re a single-minded bunch, I guess.”
She raised an eyebrow and let out a slow breath. “Well, I may not be the most experienced at this, but I suspect a movie with a bunch of guys talking about how they wrap their sticks and their favorite way to check another player against the boards probably isn’t going to be super compelling.”
“Nope.”
“I need a way to get inside,” she said. “Make them trust me, I guess.”
I nodded. “I have an idea,” I told her. It was a terrible idea if you were me… But I knew it would probably help Lizzy. And I couldn't exactly pretend that I didn't have my own motivations. The problem was that my own motivations would possibly get me in trouble.
“Let’s hear it. I’m drowning here.” She sank into the chair across from me and crossed her legs, and for a minute I was completely distracted by the bulge of her calf muscle as she jiggled her toes, making her high heel flick back and forth.
I took a deep breath, partially to keep my brain from actually thinking about what was about to come out of my mouth. “Date me,” I suggested.
Her eyebrows rose nearly into her hairline. “What??”
CHAPTER 12
LIZZY
NO “FUN STUFF”
I wasn’tsure I’d heard the prince correctly.
I stared at him. “What?”
“Date me,” he said again with a little shrug, as if this wasn’t out of the blue and completely random.
“I might not date much, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t how it works, Declan.”
He chuckled and rubbed one hand through his wavy dark locks, stirring something in me I did my best to ignore. “Not real dating. Fake dating.” Then he laughed and pointed at me and said, “I can't believe you thought I really wanted to date you.”
“Ouch.”
His face fell. "I mean I would totally date you… I mean, I can't date you. Not that you are interested in dating me. Boy this is not going well… What I'm trying to say, is that we can't date."
