Hooking - Kristine Allen Page 0,16

that office.

“I’m sorry. Yes?”

“I asked if you could set up the photographer for Tuesday to shoot the images of Alex and Kristoffer,” she repeated, though I’d missed it the first time.

“Of course,” I replied with my cheeks on fire. I dropped my gaze to my tablet, where I entered the note to call the photographer. When I raised them, it was to find Alex’s locked on me.

The meeting was called to an end, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I thought I’d make it back to my small office without having to awkwardly interact with Alex again. Lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t realize he’d followed me until I dropped my stuff on my desk and the door clicked.

Startled, I glanced up to find him leaning on the closed door.

“Alex,” I said in surprise. Nervously, I shuffled things on my desk.

“Oh, so you do remember me?” He raised a sexy brow and smirked. Damn him for being so beautiful. Several of the players were pretty hot, but I obviously hadn’t seen them all. And in my defense, it never crossed my mind that Alexander Kosinski, left wing of the Austin Amurs, would be my one-night stand Alex.

Since starting my job, I’d noticed a lot of hockey players were beat up and rough-looking. Speaking of my job, it had turned out to be one that I surprisingly enjoyed enough that I hadn’t bothered looking for a different one.

“Of course I do.” My face heated again—something it did often around him. “But I didn’t know who you were that night. Honest.”

“Trust me, I know you didn’t,” he said as he continued to stare at me. The predatory look in his eyes reminded me of the critically endangered cat the team was based on.

“Oh. Okay. Well, I didn’t want you thinking I was trying to use you as a connection to get this job. I actually thought you were a biker. I mean, you were with that club and staying in a hotel.” I dropped my gaze to my desk, but he was mesmerizing, and I had to look at him again.

He chuckled. “Well, my brother, Cooper, is a member. I just hang out with them every so often.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling awkward and suddenly at a loss for words.

“I still want you,” he bluntly announced. My eyes bugged. If I thought my face was heated before, it went up in flames at his statement.

“Alex! I—we can’t!” I sputtered.

“Why not?” He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that it would be a big fat no-no for us to be together. Granted, I hadn’t read the employee manual like I probably should’ve, but I was sure there had to be some kind of fraternization policy with the players, or people would be trying to get jobs with the team to hook up with players all the time.

Not to mention, I couldn’t risk losing my job. I needed my job. My father would be all through my ass. Hell, he might disown me. Or worse, make me work at his company. So far, he’d been happy with my choice of jobs. For one, it made my mother happy because I was working with charitable endeavors. When Mom was happy, Dad was happy.

“Maybe because you’re a player and I’m an employee of the franchise?” I asked incredulously, like it should’ve been obvious. He took a step closer to me, and I retreated behind my small desk.

“Are you afraid of me?” His head tipped inquisitively. My traitorous eyes trailed down his fit body, remembering every inch of it. Inwardly, I groaned. His moisture-wicking shirt hugged every muscle. The edge of his tattoo peeking from the end of his sleeve, reminded me of digging my nails into his inked skin as he hovered above me. I licked my lips, and he chuckled darkly.

Slowly, he advanced on me. Since my office was small and the desk had one end against the wall, I had inadvertently trapped myself when I stepped behind it. Holding my hands out, I intended to ward him off, but he didn’t stop until my hands were pressed to his chest.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus.

I jumped when I realized my hands had traveled down to slide over his abdomen. My gaze shot up to his heavily lidded one. “Don’t stop,” he rasped.

Snatching them away like he was on fire, I hugged myself to keep from reaching out for him again. Because lordy, did I want to more than anything. I tried to reason