Page 19 of Sweet as Puck
I shuffled in and immediately realized the problem. Neither of us were small people, and the seats were built for Barbie dolls. The fit was snug at best. I wasn’t quite sitting on his lap, but our thighs were pressed together from hip to knee, and I was tucked in tight to his side. I barely held back my shiver of desire, and my whole body flushed hot.
The poor guy had no room to move at all with me pressed against him. I cursed the tiny seats—and the width of my ass—but at the same time drank it all in. This might be my one and only chance to speak with him.
I fanned myself, hoping I didn’t smell. Had I put deodorant on that morning? I couldn’t remember. A sweat broke out on my brow as I tried frantically to remember whether I had.
I was drawing a blank.
My mind was a haze of static.
Hux cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, and I immediately stopped fanning myself. I was probably blowing BO his way.Ew.
“Hi,” I whispered, my voice as high and squeaky as a mouse’s. “I’m Cara. I’m travelling with your team, and I’m here for whatever you need. You name it, you’ve got it.”
Alec raised a brow, and I choked out a strangled laugh. I didn’t mean the innuendo, but I couldn’t even think straight sitting next to the sexiest man on the roster with his spicy scent and all that warmth and rippling muscle pressed against me.
“You must be starving,” I continued, hoping that he’d let my slip go. “I’ve only had one slice of vege toast this morning and two cuppas. My stomach was churning too much to eat more. Did they feed you on the plane? I mean, of course they did. You’re all professional athletes—they wouldn’t let you starve.But are you hungry? We have a private ballroom set up at each of the hotels you’re staying at so that you can chill there with the team. All the hotels will make sure there’s always food available there, too, but you can also order room service or go out for breakfast. I….”
Oh my goodness, stop talking!
My words petered out on a whisper/squeak, and I looked wide-eyed at Alec. He was staring at me, his brows hiked up high and his lips pressed together. He probably thought I was nuts. Silence. I needed to give him silence.
He hadn’t moved a muscle except to blink since my word-vomit had erupted. Goodness gracious, I’d just been rambling totheAlec Huxley. I’d followed his professional career from the moment he’d been recruited to the Seals. Then I’d gone back and downloaded as many of his college games as I could find. Now I was sitting next to him, and he probably couldn’t wait to get away from me.
“Anyway, I hope—”
“How far away is the hotel?” His words were short, clipped, and devoid of emotion, but his voice was pure sex—all smoky and deep. He was counting down the minutes until he was free of me, while I was rambling, full of nerves at being near him.Well done, Cara.It was the beginning of day one, and I’d already made one player want to run away from me.
My breath wobbled as I inhaled sharply. There was a sting behind my eyes and in my nose. I blinked fast, trying to clear it. I really didn’t want to cry, but I’d messed up royally. Instead of looking after the team, I’d made him uncomfortable and impatient. Goodness, why was I such a mess? Why couldn’t I be cool and calm? Collected?
It was no use. A tear rolled down my cheek, and I dashed it away quickly, trying to hide what I was doing. But my nose wasinstantly blocked, and I sniffed too. My breath went all unsteady again.
Alec groaned, and I begged the universe to put me out of my misery. Surely it wasn’t too much to ask for a freak lightning bolt to turn me into a puff of smoke. Or maybe an asteroid to obliterate me.
“About twenty minutes away,” I whispered.
“Good.” He turned away from me then, resting his hand on his chin and looking out the window.
The second hand on the clock at the front of the bus was ticking away at the speed of a glacier. I was sure the battery was going flat, except it was keeping time with my phone.
I opened my manuscript and typed, my fingers flying over the tiny keyboard on my phone as I poured the angst and humiliation onto the page. My characters were far more suave and sophisticated than I was. They knew what to say and when. There was none of the awkwardness that I suffered through every day. But this scene was in a later part of the book—the obligatory breakup at the 80 percent mark—but I didn’t want to follow that formula quite so strictly. I wanted them to work through their differences, the trials bringing them closer together.
The bus pulled into the hotel exactly twenty minutes later. It was the newest luxe development on the riverfront in a prime position close to the city’s shopping precinct. All the best restaurants, the parklands, museum, theatres, were nearby, too, and it was only a few steps away from the ferry terminal.
I glanced across at Alec, and he had his lips pressed together. A frown line marred his forehead, and his jaw was tense. He was not happy to be here. The bus had barely come to a stop before he was climbing out from beside me, practically shoving me out of the way in his haste to get off the bus as quickly as he could.
I bit back a choked sob and plastered on a wobbly smile. I stood up and turned to face the other passengers. “Welcome to Brisbane. Please head inside with your hand luggage. Your room keys will be handed out at the reception desk. I already arranged check-in, so there’s nothing you need to do apart from collect your keys.”
Jacques smiled warmly at me from the row behind and said, “It’s good to be back. Feels like forever.”
“Ten years, isn’t it? How are your parents?”
“They’re good,” he replied. “Mom wants your mom to come and visit again, especially given the last month.”
“I know she wants to.”
I waited for the bus to clear and checked the overhead luggage compartments for anything leftover. There was a backpack placed directly above where Alec had been sitting. Standing on tiptoes, I reached up and tugged it out. It was heavy, but thankfully it didn’t smack me in the face as I pulled it down.
“Thank you,” I said to the driver as I hopped off the bus.