All the refs looked right at me.
“Huh?” Slowly, Hunter turned around, curious what the refs were looking at.
The battle instantly left Hunter's body when he saw me. “Honor? What're you doing here?” His eyes swept down my body—at my bath towel and my bare legs.
I stared at him. My mouth opened, but no words came out—I didn't know what to say. I wasn't supposed to sayanything to him. Hell, I was already in trouble fornottalking to him. I toed the tile floor—literallytoedit, since I had no socks or shoes.
Hunter spied my bare feet, and stepped closer. He lowered his voice. “What're you doing in here? Why are you in a bath towel?”
“I … I got locked out of the girl's dressing room. I just popped in here to get away from all the eyeballs out there.” I gestured through the door, at the noisy hustle and bustle that passed through the hallway.
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Why didn't you just knock to get back in?”
I sighed. “I did.”
He scratched his chin. He hadn't understood.
“They aren't letting me back in, Hunter.” I shook my head. “What was I thinking when I took this job? Those girls already hate me.”
I should've taken Derek's offer and just moved back home,I thought regretfully.
“Hey, c'mon. You looked fantastic out there, Honor.” Hunter rested his goliath hand on my bare shoulder. His huge and salt-gritty hand felt so hot and right on my cold but clean shoulder. “It was your first day on the job. They're probably just hazing you. It'll pass.”
I frowned, a happy, hopeful kind of frown. And I felt so comforted by Hunter that I stepped forward and wrapped my arms tight around him. I didn't even care that the back of his shirt was soaked through with sweat.
“Oh—” Hunter sounded surprised by my hug. But he put his arms around my back and squeezed me into him. He buried his mouth and nose against my clean hair, his warm breath soothing on my scalp.
He was so tall, my face pressed right into his round, firm pecs. Lingering in the dead-center of his muscular chest was the manly scent of a sweaty athlete in his physical prime.
Mmm.
I closed my eyes, let that scent fill my nostrils, and took an even deeper breath. And with that breath, I caught a trace of something else, something deeper and hidden. An underlying scent, a muted note of sweetness. It was so faint, it disappeared as soon as I'd found it.
I wanted more of it. Ineededmore of it. Discreetly, I tried to find more of that sweetness in him.
But our moment was interrupted by the referees.
“Hey uh, can you lovebirds go flirt somewhere else?” the senior ref said. “We're tryin' to enjoy our post-game brew over here.”
With a hot flash of embarrassment, I escaped Hunter and instantly put several feet of space between us. I didn't need the ice girlsandthe referees to all think I had a thing for Hunter …
“It's not like that,” I mumbled.
Hunter shot the refs a look. “Next time, I want you guys to watch for Cunningham's antics.” Then he put his hand on my back. “Come on, Honor, I'll get you back in that room.”
I went with him and we walked through the hall together. He tried to shield me as much as he could with his much-bigger body, and his arm around my shoulder.
Outside the girl's dressing room, he told me to try the door.
I did. The door was still locked, so I knocked again. “Hello? It's me, Honor.”
No answer. Hunter stepped to the front of the door instead.
“I'm not sure this is a good idea, Hunter,” I said, biting my lip nervously. “Please—just don't make a scene!”
Hunter tested the knob himself—still locked. He tried to bust the door open with his shoulder, but the heavy thing didn't budge. Then he began pounding his fist on the door.
“Madison! It's Hunter. Open up.”
