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“I … I …”
Lyric leaned over and put a hand over his. “Take a minute and just breathe.” Gently, she squeezed his hand. “I know this isn’t what you were expecting.”
“It wasn’t. At all. I figured they were just after me to do the exit paperwork.” He looked absolutely stunned.
“Yeah, because Dalton had nothing better to do than to hassle you for your exit paperwork. Doesn’t he have people to do that for him?” She’d never known Heath to run from anything.
“Yeah, but …”
But he was Heath freaking Montgomery. Of course he would assume the team manager would want to talk to him about something as mundane as exit paperwork. In his world, it would probably even be true.
More minutes passed without him saying anything, and she was about to excuse herself, to give him a chance to think about what he wanted—and maybe even to call Dalton back. But as soon as she went to move away from him, he wrapped a hand around her wrist to hold her in place.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Do you think I would make a good coach?”
“I think you would make an amazing coach. You know the game inside out, and you know what it’s like to be a player, so you can come at it from that angle too. Plus, you love people and people love you. I think you’d do a fantastic job of motivating your players and helping them be the best they can be. I also think you’d be really good at kicking their asses in the best possible way.” Yes, she could definitely see him coaching.
He stroked his chin. “I do like to kick a little ass.” He reached a hand out to stroke hers. “If we’re talking about your ass, I like to do some other things as well.”
She was still too raw from his earlier revelation to play with him, but she’d be lying if she said his touch didn’t feel good. Because it did. So did sitting here pressed into his side as they talked about their future.
No, not their future, she reminded herself a little viciously. His future. No matter what he told her parents during their fake engagement, Heath’s endgame didn’t include her.
She didn’t come back with some sexy innuendo like she knew he wanted. “Maybe you should call your agent, talk to him about the whole coaching thing.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t sound convinced.” She tilted her head up so she could look him straight in the eye.
“Josh’ll be up for whatever makes me a lot of money, which this will. But I don’t need money. What I need to know is if I can do this job.” He sounded so uncertain, and he was never uncertain.
“No,” Lyric corrected him. “What you need to know is if you want to do this job. Because we both know you can do it.”
He nodded. “You’re right.”
“I know I’m right. I’m always right. You should learn that now. It’ll make your life so much easier in the future.” She froze as soon as the words left her mouth.
She expected Heath to make some kind of joke about them, to remind her that they were just playing at being engaged.
“Another thing you’re right about.” He nodded.
Damn the man. He was making her insane. But she wasn’t going to dwell on her problems right now, not when Heath’s professional life hung in the balance. “So, what do you think? Do you want to coach?”
“I think I do.” He looked half surprised and half intrigued. “I really think I do.”
Joy raged through her, followed by dread. Once Heath took this job, he’d be out of San Angelo so fast Cherry Cherry’s rims would spin themselves right off the car. And with him would go their fake engagement and all the very real sex they’d been having.
Which was fine. It was good, actually. Better than good, because then she could go about putting her own life back together. As well as the pieces of her heart he was going to break all over again.
But this wasn’t about her. It was about him. Which was why she leaned up and kissed him with all the pent-up emotion inside of her. And then whispered against his lips, “You need to call Dalton.”
* * *
Chapter 25
* * *
Pterodactyls were swimming in Heath’s stomach as he dialed Dalton’s number. Lyric sat in front of him, fairly vibrating with enthusiasm. He’d wanted to take a few minutes to work out what he was going to say, but she’d refused to hear of it. No amount of bargaining had let him off the hook. He was going to make the call right then, and she was going to sit right there and watch him.
