The sea of students parted as my stomach dropped through the grass. Silver and blue hair—Lakeside’s signature colors—and sterling blue-grey eyes made their way toward me.
Noah was half looking at other students until they noticed Miss Debbie, thenme.
“This is your shadow parent, Miss Eloise.” Miss Debbie shuffled to me. “And this is our colorguard coach, Noah Thatcher.”
I gaped like a fish, trying to put together how onEarththis could have happened. How would I—a borderline helicopter parent—not know who the high school colorguard captain was before having sex with them in the very back seat my baby rode to school in?
“Miss Eloise.” Noah offered a hand, to which I hesitated to take. The absolute ache in my clit upon hearing them say my name was frightening. “It is a pleasure toformallymeet you.”
I took their hand and gave them a silent smile. Every word wanting to escape my mouth would bound me in hell for an eternal afterlife of misery.
It wasn’t until Miss Debbie looked at me oddly that I forced myself to say something.
“Sullivan.” I cleared my throat. “Miss Sullivan, is fine.”
Noah was far too invested in what I said to be some random meeting, and if my son noticed, I fear how screwed I’d actually be.
“Miss Sullivan.” Noah folded their arms in front of me with the tiniest of smirks. “I’m looking forward to sharing the sideline with you.”
“Thank you for having me.” I melted as their eyes caught the setting autumn sun just right.
Justright. It took me back to the night in the parking lot, when their eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and the photoshoot, when the golden hue of the sun passed through the shattered windows of the rustic building and made their entire body glow.
Oh, I was so fucked.
“And this—” I grabbed the collar of Kendall’s uniform when he tried to walk past and yanked him around. “Is my son, Kendall.”
Something in Noah’s head clicked, and their smile grew.
“Kendallis your child.” They raised a brow at Kendall, a softer look in their eyes. “Welcome back. Looking forward to seeing what you have to bring.”
“All of it, Thatcher.” Kendall grinned.
“Good, good.” Noah said.
Kendall walked off with his friends, and somewhere along the conversation, Miss Debbie disappeared, leaving me alone with NoahThatcher.
“I had no idea.” I felt obligated to say. “I am so—”
Noah crossed their arms across their chest and laughed.
“If you think I’m anything but overjoyed to see you again, you’re wrong.” They glanced toward the crowd of colorguard teens and smiled teasingly. “I should have known you and Kendall were related. You both have that smile.”
They moved to stand beside me, their arm brushing mine as we scanned the practice field from the sidelines. High school students were migrating toward their starting blots, leaving the middle schoolers to feed in the open spaces for warmups.
“Are you flirting with me at a high school football game, in front of my middle schooler, Coach?” I asked.
I felt Noah’s eyes on the side of my face as I watched Kendall prance out with his friends.
Their shoulder bumped mine lightly as Noah leaned toward my ear. To anyone else, it could have looked normal with the instruments clashing through unregulated warmups. However, to the raging war between my brain and my clit, I was about ready to climb inside a tuba.
“Would you prefer I flirt with you over dinner, Miss Sullivan?" They whispered. “Say the word.”
I bit my lip as Noah pulled away.
They didn’t wait for me to respond and stepped off the sideline to join the colorguard.
CHAPTER 11
