Page 104 of Her Coach

He traced his thumb along my cheek. “I won’t lie, there are a lot of similarities between the position I’m in with you and the position I was in before. But do you know how I know this situation is different?”

“How?”

“Because I didn’t love her the way I love you.”

I froze. Did he just say what I think he just said?

“Colton,” I whispered.

“You don’t have to say it back,” he said with a soft shake of his head. “You don’t have to say it, ever. But if I’m going to start this between the two of us as a new man, I want that new man to be honest. About everything. And I care for you, greatly. More than I’ve ever cared about any woman in my life, and that includes my ex-wife.”

My eyes bulged. “Don’t say something like that. You were married to her for years!”

He nodded softly. “Married, and unfulfilled. She was a responsibility I felt I had to take on. Don’t get me wrong, I cared for her, but I didn’t love her. Not really. Not until I realized what love was when I first laid eyes on you.”

My gaze watered over. “Oh, Colton.”

He cupped my cheek, holding my gaze with his. “You are everything I could have ever asked for, and then some, Brynn. And I know we haven’t known each other for long. I know we’ve just kind of been tiptoeing around this and throwing caution out the window, but I want to do right by you. I love you. And I want that to be apparent in every move I make with you.”

I sniffled. “You really are good with your words.”

He chuckled before he leaned forward, kissing the tip of my nose. “Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely.”

He tucked another strand of hair behind my ear. “Then let’s get some sleep. We can pour out the alcohol I’ve got here in the morning, and then we can talk about some boundaries you should keep with your mom. If anything, so that both you and her have the privacy that grown women need.”

I smiled and went to agree with him, but my phone buzzed. I hated how quickly I rolled out of his embrace just to get to my phone, and when I saw it was Mom, my heart leapt into my throat. I swallowed it down, already noticing the fact that the life I had chosen had me wound so tightly.

I knew Colton was right.

I opened Mom’s text and decided that, whatever it said, I’d be fine with it.

Mom <3: Everything’s fine. I watched the game on television. Just couldn’t get out of the driveway.

I smiled and quickly texted back.

Me: Love you. Glad you’re okay. See you sometime tomorrow.

Even though I wanted to go home and check on her, even though I wanted to see Mom for myself and make sure she was fine, I forced myself to put my phone down. I made myself roll back toward Colton. But the second I laid eyes on him, it was easy to curl back against his mountainous form.

It was easy to find myself back in his embrace.

“Everything okay?” he muttered.

I nodded before a yawn escaped from my lips. “Yeah, yeah, she’s fine. She just couldn’t get her tire changed, and I guess everyone was at the game when she needed someone, so she just watched the game at home.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

He paused before he looked down at me. “There’s a local broadcast deal for the games?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Mom locked in a regional broadcast deal years ago. It was a big deal at the time — she fought hard for it. But we’ve never really done anything with the streaming rights beyond the basics.”

His eyes implored me for more details, so I smiled as I gave them. “Mom pushed for it when I got sick with mono one season and couldn’t make it to the games. She wanted me to be able to watch from home. But honestly? It’s just been sitting there, barely touched.”

“Huh.”