Page 23

I’m not sure what possesses me to call Ellie on our day off.

And I sure as hell don’t know what possesses me to tell her I need to meet with her at the arena in a half hour.

Okay, so maybe I have a tiny idea why I’m acting like a crazy person.

Ellie has barely made eye contact with me over the past two weeks and it’s driving me insane.

I mean, of course she can barely look at me.

I’m the dick who almost kissed her days after Grayson was fired for being inappropriate.

He gets fired for harassment and creating a hostile work environment, and now I’m over here trying to kiss her.

I’d be fired if anyone caught wind of that.

And I sure as hell would be fired if they knew I wrap my hand around my cock every damn day in the shower, with thoughts of Ellie running through my mind.

Wait, can people actually get fired for thinking inappropriate thoughts?

If so, I’m fucking toast.

I didn’t see anything about it in the HR policies I reviewed when I got home that night, but you never know.

I also didn’t see anything forbidding workplace relationships.

There were a few guidelines for the players, but I skimmed over that because it didn’t pertain to me.

Nothing in there about coaches.

That’s probably because before this year, the only women working for the Bobcats were media personnel or concession stand workers.

Which is totally fucked up, but that’s neither here nor there right now.

Because there will never be any type of physical relationship between me and Ellie.

We need to get back to the job at hand.

And that’s leading our team to the playoffs.

We can’t do that if we are barely able to be in the same room together.

Hell, nothing even happened.

Can you imagine how much worse it would be if we actually had kissed?

God, I am such an idiot.

This job comes first.

This team comes first.

And I almost blew everything because I was thinking with the wrong head for a minute.

I can’t let that happen again.

I need to fix this.

It’s why I was so desperate and called Ellie asking her to meet me at the rink.

We need to squash whatever awkward tension is happening between us, because against all odds we’re a damn good coaching team and we have the potential to make our hockey team playoff contenders again.

I make my way into my office and busy myself with straightening up my practice plans and notes.

I glance over at the clock for probably the eighth time since getting here five minutes ago.

Ellie should be here any second, and for whatever reason I’m a nervous wreck.

Ellie and I have a complicated history as it is.

The last thing we need is to complicate things more because of a physical attraction.

That has to be all this is.

We’ve hated each other’s guts our entire lives.

But now that we’re working together in such close quarters, spending over fifty hours a week together, and even traveling together, it’s impossible not to notice how beautiful Ellie is.

Everything about her is damn mesmerizing.

From her icy blue eyes, to her luscious lips, to her sexy hockey sense and determination, the woman is a dream .

No, Lincoln.

Bad, Lincoln.

She is your coworker and nothing more.

She is not a dream.

She is your worst nightmare.

She is literally the trigger of your nightmares.

I’m busy repeating the mantra in my head when I hear a soft knock on my door.

I look up and forget everything I was trying to tell myself.

Ellie is standing there in black high-waisted yoga pants, a cropped Eric Church T-shirt, her blonde hair braided over her shoulder, and it’s like a sucker punch to the gut.

To make it worse, she’s standing with her arms crossed, pushing up her perfect tits, with a fiery look that tells me she’s not happy I called her here.

She is so exquisite I can’t even breathe.

“Can I come in? Or are you too busy daydreaming over there?” she asks with all the sass in the world.

There’s the Ellie I know and lo— nope.

Don’t finish that sentence.

I lean back in my chair, feigning disinterest.

“Not daydreaming, just wondering what took you so long to get here.”

Ellie makes her way into my office and sits in one of the chairs across from me.

“Oh, is that why I had to knock three times to get your attention?” She raises her eyebrow in an accusatory way while crossing one leg over the other.

My eyes dart to her legs.

It’s impossible not to notice how incredible her thighs look in those yoga pants when she sits like that.

And don’t even get me started on her ass.

I tried not to look when she walked in front of my desk.

I tried and failed.

I am an utter failure.

Ignoring her accusation, I get straight to the point.

“Ellie, I asked you to come here because you’ve been avoiding me ever since opening night. More specifically, ever since the postgame press conference and our conversation in the coaches’ room after. ”

Ellie’s mouth opens for a split second before she slams it shut.

Clearly she wasn’t expecting me to call her out like that.

Good, I like to keep her on her toes.

She sure as hell is keeping me on mine.

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” she says without making eye contact.

I call her out on her bullshit and point at her.

“That. Right there. Denial and no eye contact. This has got to stop. Whatever happened in that room was a mistake. Let’s get back to doing our jobs. Think you can do that for me?”

Ellie narrows her eyes, and the look she’s giving me makes my balls shrivel up.

Damn, she is scary when she’s pissed.

Beautiful, but definitely scary.

The next thing I know, she’s out of her chair with her hands palm down on my desk.

She’s leaning so close to me the scent of lavender wraps around me, making it impossible to concentrate.

Damn, she smells good.

“Do I think I can do my job? Yeah, Lincoln. I can fucking do my job. And you’re right… Everything that happened after the press conference was a huge mistake. I never should have acted that way in the first place and you should have never chased after me.”

I stand and mock her stance, inching even closer to her so we are practically nose to nose.

“I didn’t chase after you.”

I’m a goddamn liar.

She seems to know I’m full of shit because a smirk stretches across her face.

“Right. You didn’t chase after me, just like you didn’t almost kiss me. Keep telling yourself that, Coach. ”

I know I should probably be concerned that she called me out on almost kissing her, but I’m too focused on the way she called me ‘Coach.’ I like it.

I like it way too fucking much.

Ellie takes advantage of my lack of response and pushes herself off my desk.

“That’s what I thought.” She turns and heads for the door .

My dumbass is calling out to her before I can stop myself.

“You tried to kiss me too, Coach. ”

Because that is what’s important here?

I am such an ass.

My comment causes Ellie to halt one step away from the door.

She slowly turns around and if I thought my balls were shriveled before, they’re basically non-existent at this point.

Because the look on her face is pure malice.

“I clearly wasn’t in my right mind after that press conference. What’s your excuse?”

I have no comeback because, quite frankly, I have no excuse.

It was a moment of weakness because this woman makes me weak.

She has my entire life.

But instead of hating her, I’m starting to really fucking want her.

Her attitude, her drive, her focus and determination at the rink, it’s like one big game of foreplay.

Except, I don’t think she knows she’s playing.

She’s still standing at my door, waiting for a response.

Instead of pouring gasoline on the fire, I surprise myself and choose to be mature.

“You’re right. I have no excuse. It was a stupid move and it won’t happen again. But, Ellie, we really need to get over it and get back to work. The guys deserve us at our best. Truce?”

My statement seems to land because the evil look on her face is replaced with one that, dare I say, looks like understanding?

She slowly walks toward me but I’m still on high alert.

I stand straight and brace myself for impact because I never know what I’m going to get with Ellie.

Much to my surprise—and relief—she sticks her hand out.

“Truce,” she says.

I stick my hand out to shake hers and she grabs my hand with such force, I can barely fight the smile that threatens to take over my entire face.

Ellie is a badass and her handshake is one that says don’t fuck with me.

I respect the hell out of this woman .

She drops my hand, and I think we’re done here, but she wouldn’t be Ellie if she didn’t have one more smartass comment to send me off with.

“Now, can I go back to enjoying my day off? You’ve already taken up too much of my time today. I’m supposed to be free of you for eighteen more hours. You’re really ruining my day here.”

I nod my head and gesture toward my door, signaling that she’s free to go.

“Thanks, Coach.” She turns and finally makes her way out of my office.

And I’m left, yet again, staring at that hockey ass, wishing she’d call me “Coach” one more time.