Page 18 of One Bet

He smiled at the mention of my agent. “Now there’s a woman who knows her business.” I nodded because he was right and because no one argued with Coach Rollins. I wasn’t about to be the first. “She can talk football with any man, at any time.”

I nodded, she also worked the best deals and was the reason I hadn’t been cut from the team yet. “Yeah. I owe her. A lot.”

He shook off whatever he was thinking with an actual head shake then folded his hands on top of his desk. “Did you ever get your degree?”

I’d signed before the end of my senior year and took incompletes for my classes. “No.”

He shrugged and stared at me. “Look, kid, I need a good quarterback coach. You can’t teach instinct, but you can show them when to use it and how to look up the field. How to find the receiver, when to run, when to cover up. You interested?” When I didn’t answer right away, he cocked his head. “It’s a pay cut, but it keeps you in the game.”

Football had been my everything from the time I first learned to throw a ball. The game had seen me through a childhood that could’ve broken me, gave me discipline and a life I could’ve never achieved without it and the money wasn’t really an issue. I had plenty. “Yeah.”

He chuckled. “Here, you’ll always be a golden boy who made it. It’s not the Super Bowl, but it’s something. Right?” He was throwing me a bone, one I should’ve been grateful for, but instead, the weight of failure crushed me.

But what other options did I have?

“I’ll probably be released this week, so when do you want me to start?” And I had another thought. “Can I pick my own staff?”

It had been a while since I’d been on a field. The hit I took in the first game this year had taken me out. How he knew about it made a lot more sense when I looked behind his desk and saw a picture of him and Olivia on some beach with the sun shining behind them and their arms wrapped around each other.

Everybody had somebody to love except for me. Maybe staying here at Glouster, where Avery was a respected professor, could change that for me. This had always been our place.

One Decade Ago

It’d been two days since the text I couldn’t stop thinking about. During those two longest days of my life, I went to class, went to practice, but I didn’t see Avery once. Didn’t even run into her in the one class we had together, the same one she cut on Monday and then again today and she wasn’t answering my texts. Any other girl, I would’ve shown up at her place with flowers or a giant stuffed animal, but those things wouldn’t work on Avery.

I needed something better, but I honestly had no idea how to deal with a woman who wasn’t as into me as I was into her. It never happened that way and Avery was too smart and too unshakable to fall for shenanigans and those were just about all I had to work with.

It wasn’t until I was zipped into my costume, sitting in front of her house that I reconsidered the wisdom of this move. I looked ridiculous, but before I could drive away, she opened the door to my car and slid in. To her credit, she didn’t laugh at the leather pants and matching jacket, my slicked-back hair, or the sound the leather on leather combo made when I moved.

More than that, though, while she took in my outfit, I almost fell out of the car when I looked at her. Apparently, we'd both decided on a wardrobe change. Dress to impress and all that, because she’d forsaken the thick eyeliner for a lighter line, the black lipstick for a shade closer to flamingo pink, her band t-shirt, also always in black, for a light pink cardigan and a button-down shirt. She’d also replaced her combat boots for a pair of low heels that matched the cardigan and lipstick.

A laugh bubbled from her lips. “Would you look at us? We’re the scary version of Danny and Sandy from Grease.”

I smiled at the movie reference. At least she’d picked one where the guy got the girl. It gave me enough hope to want to twist toward her and kiss her, but this was Finn’s jacket, and since he wasn’t as big as me on top, it was too snug for so much movement. “I think we, well, mostly you, look amazing.”

Her skin flushed and she looked down.

“Do you want to come in?” Hell, yes, I did, but I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to get out of this car. She looked down at her hands when I didn’t answer. “I was going to come to see you, but I couldn’t figure out how to ride my bike in these shoes.” She slipped the white shoe off and held it up to glare at it.

I really wanted to touch her. Kiss her. “I would’ve come to you.”

Her smile was delicate as if another word could shatter it and she’d dissolve. “This sweater’s so itchy.”

I nodded. “My jacket’s too tight.”

She wrapped her hand around the back of my neck and leaned in so I could feel her breath on my mouth. “I could lend you a shirt.”

I lifted my arm and ignored the sound of the leather creaking, it didn’t matter, all I cared about was Avery, this moment, and kissing her before she changed her mind and ignored me for another couple of days. “And I could help you with your swea...”

She kissed me, hard and needy, desperate, and with one hand moving between my seat and the door to slide me back. And if I’d thought I knew anything about heaven or pleasure before, I was wrong. I knew shit about it until she twisted to slide over the console onto my lap between my chest and the steering wheel.

Because I didn’t want to scare her, didn’t want to send her running out of the car with wrong ideas, or maybe the right ones, spinning through her head, I didn’t run my fingers over the miles of bare leg lying across the console, or into the gap where she’d missed a button on her shirt. But it took every ounce of willpower I had to keep my hand in PG-13 land.

And I would’ve, but she twisted to unzip my jacket, her tongue still swirling inside my mouth. Her hand brushed against my skin, and I could’ve died from the sheer pleasure of it, but then she moved her lips down to my throat.

“You’re supposed to wear a shirt with this jacket.” Every word was punctuated by a kiss. Her mouth opened against my collarbone, and my dick twitched. I’d never wanted someone so badly. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

I wanted to touch her, to explore her with my hands and mouth, to taste her skin one delectable inch at a time, and just as I unfastened the second button of her shirt, a hard knock on the window made her jump and squeak out an almost quiet scream. She looked up and behind her. “Oh, shit.”