Page 30 of Revenge Puck

“How was your training?” she asks.

I consider faking my enthusiasm.

“Thorough,” I say instead. “They leave no stone unturned.”

She smiles patiently. “You’ll appreciate that there are no gray areas. Only black and white.”

I nod.

She laughs and gestures down the hallway. “Walk with me?”

I fall into step beside her, still trying to regain the circulation in my legs. When they wobble, I’m grateful for the ballet flats on my feet.

“I wanted to talk to you about the annual foundation fundraiser. It’s not for another ten months, but we’re touring the ballroom again this afternoon,” Whitney says as we slow near the elevators. “I want to see the flow for cocktail hour and the stage setup in person.”

Butterflies begin fluttering in my stomach.Is she going to invite me along?

My boss taps her security badge absently against her hip. “I thought it’d be good experience for you to join the walkthrough.”

“I’d love to,” I breathe, doing my best not to sound so eager.

“Good.” She smiles, checking her watch. “We’ll head over in fifteen?”

The elevator dings behind us.

And because the universe is a cruel bitch and has a flair for horrible timing, Aaron Bishop materializes out of thin air as if I manifested him through sheer anxiety, and the fact that I haven’t been able to get him out of my head.

It’s one thing to see him in a hallway, it’s another to suddenly have him hovering over me, breathing my space…

“Hello Aaron.” Whitney radiates pleasure at his presence. “Can we help you?”

She’s so professional and composed.

He shifts the strap of his gym bag higher on his shoulder. “I think I left a folder here after my meeting earlier. Came to grab it.”

Then his eyes move to me.

Whitney turns to me, cheerful as ever. “Aaron, this is Juliette! She just joined our player engagement team. Juliette, this is Aaron—the Wolves’ secret weapon.”

Not such a secret, considering he’s one of the league’s best defensemen, but he nods politely anyway, his eyes looking everywhere but at my face.

The wall.

The conference room.

Then he finally forces himself to make direct eye contact. “Nice to meet you, Juliette.”

Nice to meet me?As if he hasn’t seen me naked from the waist down and had his mouth on me!

Then, because I’m the most awkward person on the planet and have no idea how to react to his cool demeanor, I blurt out, “Good to meet you, sir.”

Aaron’s brows shoot up, the corner of his mouth twitching enough to suggest he finds the situation amusing.

Two idiots pretending…

Whitney checks her watch again, blissfully unaware. “We’re actually heading out to do a site walkthrough for the foundation fundraiser at the end of the year.” She hesitates, then tilts her head at Aaron. “It might be useful to get a player’s perspective. Would you have any interest in tagging along?”

He blinks at her. “You want my opinion on aballroom?”