And according to Michaela, he doesn’t have any ‘lady friends’ either. Yesterday, she told me that she’s going to pester him tostart dating again. I listened raptly and pretended like I didn’t want to retch at the thought ofmycoach crush with someone else.
If he goes to a bar, he’s definitely going to catch the eye of multiple admirers.
How can he not?
Thane’s got this quiet, broody, sexy thing going on that attracts women to him like bees to honey. He’s going to find one tonight and they’ll fuck each other’s brains out.
Ugh.No, Marlow. Stop thinking about Thane with other women unless you want indigestion before the party.
“Marlow.”
Thane calls out right when we open the front door. Michaela doesn’t hear him. She bounds down the porch steps and leaves me in the entrance with her brother.
“Y-Yes?” I’d hoped to be calmer and more composed the next time we were alone.
“Give me your phone.”
I arch a brow, steeling my spine. “Why?”
“So I can plug my number in. Michaela has mine, of course, but you don’t.”
A schoolgirl type of giddiness pounds in my veins. Never did I think Thane would give me his number. If he didn’t have his fingers in my pussy and his mouth on my nipples already, I’d have thought this moment was a figment of my imagination.
“Oh. That’s okay.”Especially since I’m leaving after the party.“I’ll be with Michaela. We can reach you from her phone if needed.”
His expression darkens into a glower.
“Marlow.” Thane’s jaw clenches and his eyes get stuck on my bare thighs. My dress is dangerously close to exposing all of me if I so much as bend the wrong way. I wore it on purpose. A part of me wanted Thane to see me before I left and regret the way he’stiptoed around me all week long. “I know that, but I also wantyouto be able to call me if anything happens.”
The abandoned inner child in me who longs to have people care for her aches. But I remind myself that he’s mostly doing this because he’s a good human being and concerned for his sister—and by extension,me— and I shouldn’t read too much into this.
Sighing, I reach into my clutch and pull out my phone, unlocking and handing it over to him.
The girly rhinestone encrusted phone cover looks comical in his big, work-weathered hands. He puts in his number and hands it back to me. “Here you go.”
Sparks fly when our fingers brush.
Thane clears his throat and nods at me. “You wear a lot of short dresses like that?”
Of all the things he could have asked me, this is it?
Frustration rises in me like a tidal wave. I want to tell him that he has no right to ask about my outfit when he spent days ignoring my presence like a pesky fly. But I don’t say that.
My toes curl when he rakes his eyes across my body again, mentally undressing me. “Why?” My voice is sultry. Unrecognizable. “You got a problem with my dress, Coach Thane?”
Do I need to remind him that I came to him, wearing an even shorter babydoll that was practically transparent?
“Nah. You look beautiful. Except the thought of you going to a party where a bunch of guys will salivate over you and there’s nothing I can do to fend them off?” He grunts. “Yeah, that fucks me up.”
I hate that joy balloons in my chest at his words. They imply that he’s territorial about me—that maybe he cares for me beyond that hookup. But maybe it’s my mind, begging forcrumbs, that’s trying to convince me that he could want me beyond one-night.
He doesn’t and I doubt he’ll change his mind.
So I square my shoulders and paste a saucy smile that showcases more bravado than I actually feel. “Well, I’m not sure how that concerns you, since last time was a one-off, Thane. And I only wear short dresses like these when I want to get laid,” I lie and his eyes widen a fraction. I blow him a kiss, spinning on my heels. “Have fun at the bar.”
I’m out the door before he can get another word in, joining Michaela and Addie.
* * *
