Page 44 of Behind the Bench

No, Lincoln. Bad, Lincoln.

She is your coworker and nothing more. She is not a dream. She is your worst nightmare. She is literally the trigger of your nightmares.

I’m busy repeating the mantra in my head when I hear a soft knock on my door.

I look up and forget everything I was trying to tell myself. Ellie is standing there in black high-waisted yoga pants, a cropped Eric Church T-shirt, her blonde hair braided over her shoulder, and it’s like a sucker punch to the gut. To make it worse, she’s standing with her arms crossed, pushing up her perfect tits, with a fiery look that tells me she’s not happy I called her here.

She is so exquisite I can’t even breathe.

“Can I come in? Or are you too busy daydreaming over there?” she asks with all the sass in the world.

There’s the Ellie I know and lo—nope.Don’t finish that sentence.

I lean back in my chair, feigning disinterest. “Not daydreaming, just wondering what took you so long to get here.”

Ellie makes her way into my office and sits in one of the chairs across from me. “Oh, is that why I had to knock three times to get your attention?” She raises her eyebrow in an accusatory way while crossing one leg over the other.

My eyes dart to her legs. It’s impossible not to notice how incredible her thighs look in those yoga pants when she sits like that. And don’t even get me started on her ass. I tried not to look when she walked in front of my desk.

I tried and failed. I am an utter failure.

Ignoring her accusation, I get straight to the point. “Ellie, I asked you to come here because you’ve been avoiding me ever since opening night. More specifically, ever since the postgame press conference and our conversation in the coaches’ room after.”

Ellie’s mouth opens for a split second before she slams it shut. Clearly she wasn’t expecting me to call her out like that.

Good, I like to keep her on her toes. She sure as hell is keeping me on mine.

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” she says without making eye contact.

I call her out on her bullshit and point at her. “That. Right there. Denial and no eye contact. This has got to stop. Whatever happened in that room was a mistake. Let’s get back to doing our jobs. Think you can do that for me?”

Ellie narrows her eyes, and the look she’s giving me makes my balls shrivel up. Damn, she isscarywhen she’s pissed. Beautiful, but definitely scary.

The next thing I know, she’s out of her chair with her hands palm down on my desk. She’s leaning so close to me the scent of lavender wraps around me, making it impossible to concentrate. Damn, she smells good.

“DoIthink I can do my job? Yeah, Lincoln. I can fucking do my job. And you’re right… Everything that happened after the press conference was a huge mistake. I never should have acted that way in the first place and you should have never chased after me.”

I stand and mock her stance, inching even closer to her so we are practically nose to nose. “I didn’t chase after you.”

I’m a goddamn liar.

She seems to know I’m full of shit because a smirk stretches across her face. “Right. You didn’t chase after me, just like you didn’t almost kiss me. Keep telling yourself that,Coach.”

I know I should probably be concerned that she called me out on almost kissing her, but I’m too focused on the way she called me ‘Coach.’ I like it. I like it way too fucking much.

Ellie takes advantage of my lack of response and pushes herself off my desk. “That’s what I thought.” She turns and heads for the door.

My dumbass is calling out to her before I can stop myself. “You tried to kiss me too,Coach.”

Because that is what’s important here? I am such an ass.

My comment causes Ellie to halt one step away from the door. She slowly turns around and if I thought my balls were shriveled before, they’re basically non-existent at this point. Because the look on her face is pure malice.

“I clearly wasn’t in my right mind after that press conference. What’s your excuse?”

I have no comeback because, quite frankly, I have no excuse. It was a moment of weakness because this woman makes me weak. She has my entire life. But instead of hating her, I’m starting to really fucking want her. Her attitude, her drive, her focus and determination at the rink, it’s like one big game of foreplay. Except, I don’t think she knows she’s playing.

She’s still standing at my door, waiting for a response. Instead of pouring gasoline on the fire, I surprise myself and choose to be mature. “You’re right. I have no excuse. It was a stupid move and it won’t happen again. But, Ellie, we really need to get over it and get back to work. The guys deserve us at our best. Truce?”

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