Page 5 of My Virgin Puck

With four sets of eyeballs watching, I shake my head and bite down on the soft, crumbly texture of the lava cake. A sweetness melts against my tongue and my tastebuds burst alive before a tartness from the smooth, silky blue sauce meets the back of my throat.

“Wow,” I say, finally looking up to Mason and holding firm. “These are good. Really good.”

My tummy flutters. Our eyes linger for a split second, but it feels like eternity. My chest is pounding but I never want it to stop. I’m never going to look away. He’s gorgeous. Absolutely fucking gorgeous.

“Uh… Ah, thanks, Madi,” Mason says, a warm sideways smile melting my insides like the gooey centre of his delicious cakes.

There’s an awkward silence gripping the room. Judy’s nose hairs are whistling with every annoying breath she takes, and Lucy’s just staring at Penny with a twisted grin.

Mason slaps the counter, “Well, ladies, I had better get going. Keep the container, I’ll collect it on the way out after training.”

It’s all a blur. The noise. The cake. The flirty giggling from the ladies. Everything around me is spiralling in a spinning circle. I’m too distracted by the way my name sounded on his lips to care about anything else.

Madi. Madi. Madi.

I throw the last piece of cake in my mouth. Mason’s voice has filled me with warm fuzzy feelings, and I can’t wipe the smile from my face. I chew the delicious treat, ignoring Judy and the other girls who are swooning over Mason as he bids them farewell.

Mason pulls his bag over his shoulder, the length of his arm curling as he does, showing off the stiffened curve of his bulging bicep.

Holy arm muscles, Batman.

I feel my nipples harden. A wave of unfamiliar heat zips through my veins and down to my core.

I gulp down, forgetting to chew properly. Mason turns to leave and when I catch a glimpse of his perfect, rounded ass, I swallow hard. Something catches in my throat, and my eyes begin to water. I start coughing and a mixture of spluttering saliva and mushed up cake flies across the desk.

Hunching over, I try to suck a gasped breath but something’s blocking my airways.

“Madi! Are you ok?” Judy’s perfume chokes me even more as she sweeps over me. “Someone! Do something! She’s choking!”

“Help! Help!” Lucy’s desperate voice cries out.

I gasp for breath, my eyes blurring with watery tears. I’m gagging, dry-retching, coughing… Anything to try and force the food from being stuck in my throat. A feeling of panic fills the room and I hear thumping footsteps circle around the desk and pound across the floor behind me.

“Madi! Just relax,” A distant voice demands as a hot palm centres in my back. “Judy, get water. Now!”

My eyes clench together. I’m fading from consciousness and my knees begin to give way. There’s a distant fumbling and screeching coming from behind me. Seconds later, a cup glides beneath my hazy vision and the same calming deep voice rumbles closer to my ear.

“Drink this… Little sips at a time.”

The warm breath tingles my ear. Everything is echoing, but I grab the cup and tip, allowing the cold water to trickle into my mouth. I swallow as best as I can, and as I do, I feel a hard, solid thump in the middle of my back. It’s not painful, just firm.

And it must have been in the right spot.

I cough and a large lump of cake comes flying out of my mouth and onto the desk like a disgusting, wet, brown furball.

“Not the accommodation documents!” Judy screams. “Not the documents!”

Judy scrambles in front of me, swishing pieces of paper paper and pushing anything that’s close to the drool-soaked cake away so it doesn’t end up like the team’s hotel documents.

I don’t care. I can breathe again. And when I turn, it’s like I’m looking up at a giant fucking mountain. A handsome, rugged mountain.

My lungs are heaving, catching the air they’ve been craving. And now they got Mason’s breath-taking features to contend with as well.

“Thank you,” I gasp, trying my best smile.

“Are you ok?” Mason lifts his hand and cups my shoulder, concern gripping his features.

A wave of heat fills my belly, and I’m doing my best to cool the fire simmering through my body. My eyes latch on, sinking into the depths of the deep purple gaze that’s pinned me to the spot. There are stretches of black in his eyes, darkening the unique violet colour.

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