“Think all you want,” Claire said. “We’d be sad to lose you as a dancer if you decide to leave, but know this — you’ve already made an impact here. No one’s questioning that.”
Silence settled for a beat, the weight of everything shifting into something lighter. Something… hopeful.
I cleared my throat. “Coach, I just want to say — I know my contract is up after two more seasons. And I know this probably doesn’t help my case for an extension, so if—”
Coach barked out a laugh, cutting me off. “Lock,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you serious right now?”
Heat crept up my neck. “I just mean—”
“You mean you think kissing a girl is going to tank your career?” Coach cut in. “Son, we’re trying to win football games, not run a monastery.”
A few of the staffers chuckled under their breath.
“You’re one of the best assets we’ve got,” Coach continued. “You show up, you do your job, and you do it damn well. That’s what matters. Extension talks will come when they come, but don’t for a second think this”—he pointed between me and Emily—“is what’s going to hurt your chances.”
My chest felt like it cracked open.
Claire nodded. “If anything, just don’t screw it up by becoming a distraction. That’s the only way this turns into a problem.”
“I won’t,” I said firmly.
Emily squeezed my hand again. “Wewon’t.”
Coach studied us for a moment longer before nodding once. “All right then. That’s settled.”
Claire clapped her hands together lightly. “Great. Now go be in love somewhere that isn’t under a security camera.”
That pulled a laugh out of Emily, and I couldn’t help but grin, too.
We stood, thanking them both, and when we stepped back out into the hallway, the door closing behind us, everything felt different. All the fear that had guided me for so long had evaporated, and in its place, there was nothing but light.
Hope.
Possibility.
Emily turned to me, her eyes shining. “Did that really just happen?”
I pulled her into me without hesitation, my hands framing her face. “Yeah,” I murmured. “It did.”
Her smile broke wide, and I kissed her — right there in the hallway, hoping I could bend those rules we’d just agreed to just one more time.
“Now who’s being trouble,” Emily said against my lips.
I ran my hands down her back, cupping her ass and squeezing tight. “You did this to me.”
“Mm… what else can I do to you?” She nipped my jaw, and I growled, swatting her ass before grabbing her hand in mine and walking faster than I ever had toward the parking lot.
“Let’s find out. You still got that list?”
“Folded in a drawer at home. A copy here on my phone. Forever embedded in my brain.”
“And what’s next on it?”
She grinned, and then took off in a jog, racing me to our next chapter.
“You’ll have to catch me to find out!”
Emily
