Misadventures of a Rookie (Misadventures #11)(22)

He’d let it go to his head, and since Gus Persson’s head was big enough for an army, I wouldn’t contribute to that. I’d watch him, though.

Leaning on my shovel, I kept my chin on the handle and leaned my hips into the bar, putting more of my weight on my good leg. I watched as he skated the rink like he owned it. In a way, he did. The puck always found its way to his stick. His teammates loved him. The crowd loved him. Shit, everyone loved him. Well, everyone except me. I had to stay smart when it came to Gus.

I had to keep him at arm’s length, though it was becoming very hard. I really appreciated everything he was helping me with. He was amazing with kids, and he had the patience of a saint. But he wasn’t the guy for me, and that was that. Yeah, I had agreed to go out with him, but I had decided that it would be a one-time deal. After that, we’d go our separate ways, no hard feelings, no nothing.

Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

I held my breath as Gus stormed toward the goal, right in front of where I was standing. He had such determination on his face. His eyes narrowed with the goal in sight as he moved the puck with a quickness that I was convinced only hockey players possessed. When a defenseman tried to cut him off, he passed it up to no one, but then he was there, grabbing the puck and rushing the goal once more. He deked right and then right once more, pulling the goalie completely out, but instead of shooting then, even with an open goal, he spun around and backhanded it in.

Like a fucking boss.

An obnoxious boss, but a boss, nonetheless.

I cried out, surprising myself. I threw my arms in the air, and the shovel toppled to the ground. What the hell was I doing? I was immediately embarrassed at my reaction and tried to reach down for my shovel. But Lizzy was there, handing it to me with a look on her face.

“Hmmmmm.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hmm what?”

“Oh nothing,” she said, a little grin pulling at her lips. “Just hmm.”

The whistle blew for an ice cleaning, and I stuck my tongue out at her. “There is no reason for hmm.”

She just smiled. “Oh, of course not.” Her eyes were all-knowing as she rushed out onto the ice. I hobbled to the door and handed my shovel to another girl as I held the trash can for her to fill. Emily wasn’t much of a talker. I was pretty sure she hadn’t said more than two words to me, but she was quick as hell on the ice. She scooped the ice and dumped it in, but for some reason, I wasn’t paying attention.

I was watching Gus.

Like a dumbass.

Squirting water into his mouth, he licked his lips as some of it dripped down his chin onto his jersey. A grin was on his lips, his eyes bright as he leaned into the boards, talking to his teammates. When he squirted more water in his mouth, I held on to the trash can, my whole body going hot. Pulling his jersey out, he squirted the water down his chest, his neck, and then all over his face.

He was hot.

And I don’t mean the temperature.

It was utterly sinful the way the water dripped down his sharp angles and caught in the stubble on his jaw. My pussy clenched at the sight, and I wanted to lick every single drop off his face, his neck…hell, his body. I didn’t care. I was suddenly so damn parched that I couldn’t think of anything but that water in my mouth.

Hell, all of Gus in my mouth.

Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me?

But before I could even try to figure that out, he turned, his gaze meeting mine as he wiped his chin with his hand in such a simple movement but, I swore, an erotic one. His eyes were dark and when his tongue came out, wetting his lips even more, my knuckles gripping the trash can went white within seconds. When his lips started to curve, his teeth slowly showing as he held my gaze, I wanted so bad to look away, to flick him off just to show I didn’t care, but I couldn’t move.

Not even when Emily missed the whole trash can and covered me with the excess ice.

“Oh, shit, Bo. I’m so sorry.”

Still I couldn’t answer. I just shrugged, moving my hands down the front of my little uniform. I should have been worried. Really worried.

Because not even the ice was able to cool me down at that moment.

And that was bad.

Very fucking bad.



Lying back in my bed, my ankle perched up on a pillow, I worked on some homework that I had left until the last minute. It wasn’t like me to wait so long to finish, but I had been distracted. Between my ankle and hoping that Gus didn’t embarrass me at work, I had reasons to be distracted, but that just validated my issues with Gus even more. He was nothing but trouble. I knew this, yet my thoughts kept swirling back to him.

Shit, I was two seconds from drawing little hearts on my homework.

Groaning, I shook my head as I went back to work, pushing aside any and every thought of Gus. I was doing great, until my door opened and Lizzy popped her head in. “Hey.”

I looked up, a smile on my face. “Hey.”

She came in, falling down on the bed, careful of my foot as she leaned on her hands. “So, I think I’m going to go out with Roger.”

My face twisted in confusion. “Roger as in Roger McMillian, our professor?”

She shrugged, a grin curving her lips in an innocent but oh-so-wrong way. “Yeah, he’s not like a professor professor. Come on.”

“He’s still our professor,” I stressed. “I’m pretty sure that is against the rules.”