Page 7 of Smitten Pucking Orc

I didn’t need to.

I pushed through the door and let it swing shut behind me.

CHAPTER THREE

BRASHE

Veskar was mid-sentence, saying something about the playoff rotation and how Coach wanted to run more defensive drills before the postseason kicked off, when the air in the hallway changed. Like the seconds before a breakaway, when you could feel the forward coming even though you hadn’t seen him yet. It made the back of my neck prickle.

I turned my head.

She strode down the corridor, wearing a gray blazer that was fitted at the waist, and a snug dark skirt that hugged all her generous curves. She’d pulled her hair back in one of those twists that looked easy but probably wasn’t. She held a tablet against her ribs. Her chin remained level, her gaze forward, and her flats clicked on the polished floor in a rhythm that said she knew exactly where she was going, and she didn’t need permission to get there.

My brain caught up half a second too late.

Ellie.

The name hit me center mass, hard enough to crack a rib.

The yellow dress. The gorgeous smile. The way she’d looked at me as if I was worth seeing, right before I made damn sure she’d never do it again.

Sleeves that showed off the curve of her arms. A skirt that moved when she did, the fabric catching light like sunshine. At the picnic, she’d tilted her head when she looked up at me, quirking her mouth at one corner. Her green eyes had held amusement and interest. My pulse had stuttered.

“Do all goalies have a god complex, or is it just the ones who can do splits?” she’d asked in a sultry voice that made me have thoughts I had no business thinking about Crim’s sister.

She’d smelled like rum and pineapple.

That Ellie was walking past me now.

She didn’t glance my way or slow. Her gaze stayed forward, as if I were an empty cardboard box left in the hall.

No, as if I was drywall. Paint.

The conversation I’d been having died in my throat.

Veskar said something, but the words didn’t come through as anything but noise.

I watched her walk away.

Again.

“Are you alright? Brashe?” Veskar’s voice cut through the clamor in my head. When I turned, he was studying me with an open curiosity that told me he’d seen whatever had just happened on my face.

“I’m fine.” The words came out too fast. Not casual enough. “What were you saying?”

His grin started slow and spread wider.

“That’s the new physical therapist,” he said. “Patty’s new hire. Eleanor something.”

My jaw locked. “It’s Ellie.”

He frowned before he shook it off. “She started today.” He propped his shoulder against the wall beside me, still grinning like he knew exactly what he was doing to me. “I’ve got an appointment with her tomorrow, and let me tell you… Now that I’ve seen her, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

Heat flared in my chest. I wanted to growl that she was mine, which was ridiculous, given that she’d walked past me like I didn’t exist.

I’d earned every second of it.

I kept my voice flat. “I hadn’t noticed.”