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Because instead of my dad, to my absolutehorror, I faced Tyler Jettersen.
And while I was in a robe holding a bloody tissue to my head, he was standing there looking like his effortlessly hot self with his high cheekbones, strong jawline, and swoopy hair, wearing a hoodie and gray sweatpants… and I’d one hundred percent be lying if I said the sight of him didn’t send some kind of electroshock through my body.
I briefly questioned if I was dreaming, because why of all people wouldhebe standing there?
Annnd all thoughts of attraction quickly evaporated when hegagged.
“Ugh!” I screamed and tried to throw the door shut on him.
He quickly shoved his arm out to stop me. “Sorry… You uh… You just don’t look so good.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just what every girl wants to hear,” I muttered.
“Oh no!” His eyes bugged out. “I didn’t mean it like that. I promise.”
“I’m gonna go… fix this,” I said, motioning to the bloody tissue on the corner of my forehead.
“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, “good idea.”
I tried to close my door again, but he pushed inside and briefly held a large hand to my lower back as he passed me. I tried to ignore the little part of me that liked the protective feeling of his hand on me.
“Uh, excuse me?” I stammered.
“I’m here to help. Your dad asked me to check on you, and you obviously need some help,” he said, sticking his hands in his sweatpants pockets.
I closed my eyes to focus. “Let me get this straight, he sentyou?” I cracked. God. I was standing so close to his perfect abs, I could practically reach out and touch them. And his cologne.Sucha turn on. My sandalwood candles couldn’t hold a flame to the smell of guy cologne. But here I was, looking ‘not-so-good’… I could literally kill my dad. And really? Why would my dad sendhimof all people? I looked back up at him. Standing this close, I could see a faint scar above his lip. I cleared my throat and pursed my lips. “For one, I don’t need anyone, and two, you’re really telling me he sent the one person who can’t even see someone sneeze? What a load of help,” I said sarcastically.
And let me tell you– the way his face dropped had me wanting to shove the words right back into my mouth, but in my defense, I was starting to feel pretty low.
“Yeah… Well, I’m the only one here right now,” Tyler said quietly.
I blew out a sigh. “Thank you for stopping by, Tyler,” I said in a gentler tone. “But you can leave. I’ll tell my dad you came to check on me, but I am fine. If you stay, you’re just gonna get sick and then the whole team will get sick. This flu is nasty.” I turned and headed to my bathroom, hoping he’d take the hint and go away… But lo and behold, I felt his strong, solid presence on my heels, trailing after me.
I walked up to my bathroom mirror, and he loomed behind me in the doorway that connected to my bedroom.
“I don’t get sick,” he said. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Huh?” I winced as I changed paper towels. My forehead really was still bleeding pretty badly. I nicked the right corner of my forehead right below my hairline. I tried to stay standing, but my knees were starting to feel really wobbly, so I slowly sat down on my toilet seat. Tyler kept his eyes trained on his feet, probably so he wouldn’t barf at the sight of me. While it felt shitty to bephysically gagged at, it was maybe slightly endearing that he had a weakness, most hockey players were practically allergic to showing vulnerability.
“Yeah, I don’t get sick,” he repeated. His broad shoulders shrugged. He held the sides of my door frame. “Wished I did when I was a kid so I could skip school, but always a clean bill of health.” He smirked.
His words brought a mental picture of him looking super shaky and insecure at school to the forefront of my mind. “You didn’t like school much, huh?”
His face flinched. “I’m setting a timer,” he said, changing the subject. “Ten minutes of pressure on that, okay? If the bleeding doesn’t stop, we’re going in.”
I was momentarily surprised by how commanding he sounded, and by how attractive that was. Jeez, I was losing my mind. “Oh no,” I scoffed, “it’s really not that bad. You may go,” I said sternly.
He snorted, like what I said was funny.
My face slightly burned. “Why are you laughing?”
He scratched his cheek and a lopsided grin slid onto his face. “It’s funny you think I’m gonna listen to you just because you use that whole teacher-voice thing.”
My mouth dropped open. “What? What are you talking about?”
“‘You may go,’” he said, sticking his nose in the air, mimicking me.And OhmyGod I looked like my mother.“Does that work on everyone?” A teasing smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
I sat there blinking, feeling dumbfounded. “Well, yeah. Mostly.”
