Page 25 of Forbidden Puck
Puck Bunnies
Radar
I was still in the shower when I heard a huge commotion out in the living room. I was sure it was Lance and Ella, but what were they doing? How were they making so much racket?
Hope they're getting along,I thought to myself.I don't know how much more of their fighting I can take.
I wasn't sure how much I could take being in the middle of those two, either. Last night was on my mind all day. I realized how weak I'd been in the moment last night—how Ella's big, expressive eyes had captured mine, how her sweet smell had intoxicated me and made mealmostdo something really, really dumb. I still didn't know what the hell came over me. Was I really that close to kissing her? Or was I just drunk and not thinking clearly?
Man. Talk about a dangerous situation. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't touch Ella. Not in a million years. It'd be bad enough, since she's my roommate's sister—but the sister of my best friendandteammate? Nope. You can't get any more off-limits than that. If I went anywherenearher, I'd create a firestorm on the team.
Hell, I've heard rumors of locker rooms that were split over less. I'd heard of guys getting shipped out of town because he boned a teammate's distant cousin. I wasn't about to inviteanyof that drama onto our team.
And besides. Not to sound like a dick, but Ella wasn't the type of girl I went for. I liked girls who gave me that star-struck look. Girls who were easily entertained, and easily kept at a healthy distance. Ella? Something told me I'd never dealt with a girl like her before. That she wasn't quite so impressed by the fact that I was an athlete—that she wanted me to be somethingmorethan that.
Why the hell are you even thinking about her like that?I thought to myself as I shut the shower off.You're losing your mind. Cut it out.
I wrapped the towel around my waist and headed back to my room. That's when I saw what had made all that noise earlier—Lance and Ella had managed to bring home a big and red leather couch.
I tried to hurry past without stopping. “Hey guys. Sweet couch.”
“Oh, there he is! Hi RyRy!” Ella sang. She jumped off the sofa, hooked her arm through mine and pulled me to a stop.
RyRy? The hell?
“We were just talking about you,” Ella said with mischief in her eyes—eyes that stole a glance at my bare chest. “So what do you think of the new couch?!”
“Looks great. It's huge.”
She smiled. “Yeah. We must've looked at 80 different red leather couches today, but they weren't big enough for Lance. I know how much you athletes love furniture made for giants …”
“It's true.”
She pulled on my arm, tugging me towards the couch. “Don't you wanna sit and test it out?”
Lance groaned. “He's wearing abathtowel,Ella.”
“Yeah, maybe later,” I said.
“So what'd you do today, Radar?” Lance asked.
“I hung out with Ilya and his girlfriend.”
“Cool.” Lance added to Ella, “Ilya's our goalie. He's Russian. So's his girlfriend. She's actually a star in women's tennis—maybe you've heard of her? Natalya Anasenko.”
“Neat,” Ella said, pretending to be impressed when she clearly wasn't.
“How about you guys? How'd the shopping go?” I asked, pretending that it was totally normal to be wearing nothing but a sopping-wet bath towel while my teammate's sister clung to my forearm and discreetly ran the pads of her fingers over my muscle.
This is insane.
“Good,” Ella said. “We brought home what we could. The rest of the big things are getting delivered tomorrow.”
“Cool,” I croaked, “thanks for making our place nice.”
The smoothness of Ella's nails, lightly dragging along my warm and shower-fresh skin, was a dangerously seductive sensation. I had to get away from her, and I had to get away from hernow,because a carnal pulse began to pump between my legs, whether I wanted it to or not.
And I wasnotabout to pitch a tent in my bath towel.
