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I watched, entranced, as she walked toward me.
Her eyes weren’t on me, but at the ground near my feet. As she neared, she bent down to where I now saw her purse sat, and pulled out a bottle of little burnt-orange pills. Ibuprofen. She shook three out, stood, and moved closer, closer, closer...and turned toward the open bathroom to my left. With her hand cupped, she tossed back the pills and a handful of water before turning toward me.
Those blue eyes of hers were completely fixed on me now.
This close, I could see they were a gorgeous blue, too. Bright, like the summer sky up north. Flecks of ruddy blue that reminded me of the frozen lake I grew up on.
I cleared my throat, fighting again to keep that hardness in my face—and not down below my belt.
“One,” she started, moving until we were nearly toe to toe. She stood a good foot below me and with her chin angled up, I could see a fierceness in her face that did things to me.
This wasn’t a girl who would back down.
She may have had a hard time making a move, but once a move was made…
Shit. I knew, I could fucking feel, that everything was going to change in this very moment.
“I am not, nor will I ever be, a puck bunny.” The blues of her eyes were misty and fuck, but there was a slight sheen to them. She was going to cry.
But then, instead of breaking down to do just that, she raised her voice up a notch. How she could with a headache, was beyond me—and if her pupils were an indication, she did indeed have a headache. “Who I decide to sleep with is none of your business. If I decided that because Jason was a gentleman and a good guy, I wanted to be with him, I could be. But, because you’ve decided to make this your business, let me tell you. I have no desire to sleep with any of you bullheaded hockey players.
“Youare in the wrong, Noah Prescott. How the hell do you get off coming into my room, and then accusing me of something I’m not guilty of? I didn’t give you permission to be here. But because you’re here and accusing me of something, how about this? I didn’t want to be here. I wasn’t going to come. But Jason invited me and, quite frankly, I’m a people pleaser and couldn’t say no. Do you not think I’m not embarrassed that I wrote you a fucking note, like some middle schooler? It was a mistake, Noah! I shouldn’t have written it, it shouldn’t have gotten to you. And now you’re here? Oh, let’s just make a joke out of Ryleigh. What was it you said? Oh, yeah.” She forced a chuckle, but I was lost. So fucking lost to her. “Ha,” she said, mimicking my earlier dry tone. “Ha, ha.”
Those muddy specks in her eyes darkened in her rant, making the blues a stormy grey. As she went off on me, as her voice rose with anger, her lips would pucker during words they shouldn’t pucker for; words like, going, pleaser, no.
I had to pull my lips in, as I felt them reaching out. It was fucking crazy.
I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss those lips senseless.
Certifiable, I tell you.
And fucking guilty as hell for being in here. I should have left. I shouldn’t have let Jason bait me.
Fuck Jason.
“Besides, you have a girlfriend!” she said, pulling me from my thoughts.
I frowned. “Huh?”
“I had no right to give you the note. And I was nosy. I’m sorry. I asked Jason if you had a girlfriend. It didn’t warrant an answer, but I got one. I’m just a nobody, and you? You, Noah Prescott, are going to be a somebody. So, just forget about me and that damned note.”
She rubbed a hand over her forehead and turned away.
“Shit,” I heard her mumble, but I couldn’t let this go.
“Newsflash,” I managed to bite out, “but there is no girlfriend. I don’t know what the hell game Jason is playing, but there is no girl. As for the note? I’ll forget it as soon as you change your seats at the game.”
Ryleigh turned around, the frown back on her face. “How do you know where I sit?”
“Ryleigh.” Her name came out with a hint of dryness. “You sit in the same seat, every game. There’ve been countless games since the note, including a few where you’ve brought your friend who gave it to me. This bullheaded hockey player is where he’s at because he can take note of a situation.” And that was the truth, though I’d never been as fixated on a single person in a situation before, prior to Ryleigh.
But I needed to leave. If I stayed any longer, she was either going to call security on my ass, or I’d do something neither of us was in the proper mindset for, because fuck, I wanted this woman. “Meet me in the lobby.”
Before she could say anything, I turned and left her standing in the middle of her room, confusion marking over her beautiful features.
You and me both, Ryles.
Now
