Page 37 of Revenge Puck

“Sorry I was a dick who assumed the worst about you. I…I guess I have trust issues with people. But I promise I won’t flip out like that again on you.”

“Good. Because of that macho bullshit, I’m this close to being done with you, Preston.” Elle holds up her finger and thumb about an inch apart. Shit. I really am fucking things up with her.

I haven’t seen this tougher side of Elle, and it’s hot, even though I know she means every word. I’m on seriously thin ice with her.

“This is my place of business,” she reminds me. “If a client had been in here when you started roaring…”

“I’m sorry,” I say again. “I’ll go. Wish I could press rewind and leave for the first time again.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Elle lets out a heavy sigh. It’s a sigh that says that she didn’t sign up for me calling her a liar or demanding to know things about her past that aren’t any of my business.

My trust issues come from an ugly, fucked-up history of having the people I loved, the people I trusted more than anyone else in the world, hurt me. That’s another reason why I haven’t tried to date anyone in years.

And even fake dating a beautiful woman is turning out to be even harder than I expected.

11

Elle

“What was all of that about?” Audrey asks when she walks out of the back. No doubt she was hiding while Preston and I argued.

It didn’t feel like a fake argument for a fake relationship, either.

“I wish I knew,” I admit as I stare out the glass where he just disappeared down the sidewalk. “He’s so…confusing.”

“No kidding. But your cut and shave made him like ten times hotter.”

Grinning, I tell her, “He has a nice face. It shouldn’t be hiding under layers of hair.”

“Agreed.”

“Ugh, damn these handsome hockey players!”

“You’re worried he’s just like Christian?”

“He’s nothing like Christian,” I say confidently. “But that doesn’t mean he won’t find a way to break my heart too if given half a chance.”

“Your fake relationship got awfully serious fast, didn’t it?”

“Right?” I agree. I rub my temples. “My head is just all over the place. It’s telling me to call this whole thing off with Preston and avoid all things hockey until next season.”

“But?” Audrey correctly guesses there’s more to it.

“But my gut seems to like Preston and wants me to keep helping him keep his temper in check on the ice. I want to trust him, to keep doing…whatever this is that we’re doing for some crazy reason.”

“Maybe because he’s a nice distraction from missing Christian?”

“Yeah. Maybe. How ironic is it that I need a distraction, and Preston is all about avoiding them in his career? That’s why he never dates.”

“There’s definitely more than meets the surface with the slightly less woolly mammoth.”

Unable to help my smile, I tell her, “Stop calling him that.”

“How about caveman? He’s awfully jealous for a fake boyfriend. I think deep down he wants to throw you over his shoulder, take you back to his cave, and have his way with you.”

“I don’t know. He called me cupcake when we first met.”

“Cute.”

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