Page 40 of Not the Puck Bunny

“She's still the boss,” I pointed out. “And I'm not going to play games with her just to please a bunch of strangers. Been there, done that. Fucked if I'm doing it again.”

I turned back to throw rice and vegetables into bowls. I all but slapped one down in front of Alice and tossed a fork roughly in her direction.

Somehow, she managed to catch it without losing her grip on her wine glass or her phone.

“I'm not asking you to pretend without her knowing what's going on,” Alice said. “I know you don't do sneaky.”

I stabbed my fork into a piece of carrot. “No, I don't. I'm not going to pretend, with or without her knowledge.” That was the end of the story, as far as I was concerned.

“Would you really be pretending?” She eyed me over a chunk of broccoli.

“What are you talking about?” I was more snappy than I intended. She was stepping too close to dangerous territory.

“I'm talking about the fact my oldest brother wouldn't go around kissing anyone if he didn't care about them,” she said. “You do, don't you? That's why you're all prickly and defensive.”

“I'm not defensive,” I argued. Defensively.

She snorted like a pig with a head cold and a mouth full of food. “You're so full of shit.”

“It takes one to know one,” I said. Why not pretend to be grade school-aged again? Wasn't that what siblings were for?

She laughed. “That doesn't even make any sense.” She stabbed the air in front of her with her fork. “Which is typical Cam.”

“It is not,” I protested. “I make perfect sense. Some of the time. I mean, most of the time.”

“You were right the first time,” she said. “Prickly, defensive and now deflecting. You must really like this woman.”

“Me, deflect? Oh look, a seagull.” I pointed my fork towards the window.

“You're such a dork,” she said. “I'm not falling for the old seagull out the window trick.”

“It used to get your attention,” I grumbled.

“When I was three.” She sipped her wine and shook her head at me. “You need to up your game if you're going to divert my attention.”

“Chris Hemsworth just flew past?” I suggested. Yes, I was also a comic book geek from way back. So was Alice. She'd seen every Marvel and DC movie a hundred times each, at least. She was more than a little obsessed with the Australian actor who playedThor. If he went past, she'd be out the door like a shot.

“Closer, but it lacks plausibility,” she said. “Since, as far as I know, even he can't fly.”

“You never know,” I said with a nod. “If anyone could, it'd be him.”

“No wonder you're so good at playing hockey,” Alice said slowly. “You're good at keeping the topic of conversation away from the goal. Andi Welling being the goal.”

“I figured,” I said half under my breath. “Has it occurred to you that I don't want to talk about her?”

“It has, but I ignored the thought.” Alice smiled. “Because the Internet wants to talk about you and her, so I do as well. Admit it, you like her. Putting aside the fact she's technically your boss, you're both consenting adults. As far as I know, there are no laws against you being together. So what's the obstacle?” She cocked her head and frowned. “Don't tell me, she doesn't like you.”

“I think she likes me,” I said. She didn't push me away when I kissed her. She kissed me back. She'd even made a soft little moan that made my dick twitch.

“Then what's the problem?”

What was the problem?

“For one thing, she's out of my league,” I admitted. “You've met her, she's fucking gorgeous. Smart and successful.”

“You never heard this from me, but some people would describe you that way.” Alice wrinkled her nose. “Not me though. To me, you're just my dorky big brother who used to use my dolls as pucks.”

I grinned. “Yeah, I did. I was a shit back then.”

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