Page 38 of Not My Coach
It’s Nate.
My heart trembles, and butterflies dance in my stomach as I answer, “Hello?”
His heavy breathing is loud. “Evie.”
My name on his lips sounds helpless and desperate.
Remaining silent, I gulp, at a loss for words.
“You were never a fluke to me, sweetheart,” he mutters confidently.
“Me neither,” I whisper, my cheeks burning.
He chuckles, and I can practically see the outline of his smile. “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”
Something about that simple request makes my heart feel full.
“Embarrassing? Funny? Cute?” I ask, prompting him further and flirting with him.
Walking across the empty house, I throw myself onto my bed, rolling onto my back and staring at my ceiling.
“Ooh. I need to hear an embarrassing story now that you mentioned it.” He laughs.
I tell him the first one that comes to mind. “I used to have really bad asthma as a kid. One day in PE class, I was the last one out of the locker room. I went to take my inhaler, and as I breathed in and pressed down on the inhaler, a little pebble shot into the back of my throat because it was stuck in the mouthpiece.” My palms sweat as I worry if this is too embarrassing of a story to start with. “I instantly threw up, like, everywhere. I had, like, thirty seconds to be out of the locker room before I would get deducted points for the day. So, I somehow managed to clean it up in record time. And, yeah …”
Silence consumes our conversation until bubbling laughter bursts from him. “That is horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, you sound really beat up about it.” I chuckle.
“I like you, Evie. A lot,” he admits, completely catching me off guard. “I don’t know how we are going to make this work, but I know that running from you won’t help anything I already tried.”
“I like you too, Nate. You can try running. But I’m pretty fast. I’ll catch you eventually,” I murmur, feeling the butterflies from my stomach move into my heart.
We continue to talk the night away, asking each other a thousand questions and just really getting to know each other. It is nice and much needed.
When we finally get off of the phone at two thirty in the morning, I become certain of one thing. I am falling for my brother’s coach, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.
“Where are your seats for tonight?” I ask Evie on the phone, needing to know where she’ll be sitting at the game.
“Same place as last time,” she answers, the noise around her building as she waits to get in the arena. “Try to focus on the game tonight, if you can.”
“I’ll do my best.” I chuckle.
She’s right though. Knowing she’s behind me the entire night is going to be far too tempting not to turn around.
Especially now, knowing that she’s all mine. Fuck, it drives my possession of her to a whole other level. I can’t get enough of her, and I’m really starting to think that isn’t ever going to change.
Someone knocks on my closed office door, and I quickly say to Evie, “I’ll see you tonight. Pack a bag. I want you to stay with me tonight.”
“R-really? Okay. Yeah. I’ll see you later.” Her voice is giddy as she hangs up.
“Come in,” I announce to my visitor.
The door opens, and in walks one of my assistant coaches, Coach Monroe.
“The boys are ready for you. Everything okay?” he asks with furrowed brows.
Standing up, I adjust my favorite tie and grab my clipboard. “Of course. Sorry for the delay. I had an important call to make.”
