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He laughed, but my back went ramrod straight at the comment.

“Hadn’t considered that, huh?”

“I mean, I don’t think we’ll need to do any of that…”

God, I hope we don’t need to.

Thatcher scoffed. “You ever date a woman you didn’t touch? No one is going to believe it’s real if you don’t act like you’re actually dating her, man. Do what Ari and I did—practice kissing her in private.” He shrugged a shoulder, like it was no big deal.

But there was only one woman I wanted to kiss at the moment, and she was one I definitely should not be kissing.

My will to care about that was dwindling by the second.

“Damn, Coach. You look like we just fucked up a power play,” Jimenez said, coming up beside us, a water bottle swinging loosely from his hand. His dark eyes flicked between Thatcher and me. “Or is this about your new relationship status?” he prodded, pulling out his phone.

Itzel’s soft smile filled the screen. Her hand lifted in a little wave as we walked out of the lunch spot Graciella had sent us to. Our arms might’ve nearly touched, but we looked miles apart. My eyes were focused straight ahead, hands shoved in my pockets.

Still, the caption read, “Stars head coach steps out for a second time with mystery woman.”

Thatcher huffed, leaning forward to catch Jimenez’s eye. “Says their dates were ‘fine.’”

Jimenez’s brows shot up. “So, shit.”

“No, not shit,” I said, irritated we were still talking about this.

“But you’re not interested in kissing her,” Thatcher added. Fucker knew that’d get Jimenez’s ears perked up. The guy lived for gossip.

Jimenez rubbed his hands together, looking way too happy. “All right, I’m listening.”

“You’re always listening,” I grumbled.

I hesitated, jaw tightening. I didn’t enjoy sitting around dissecting my love life, or lack thereof, like this.

But I was also desperate. All I needed was for dumb and dumber to tell me to get my shit together and stop thinking about Graciella.

“Itzel is fine,” I said again, hating the word more the second time around. “She’s nice. Easy. No drama...”

We only seem to talk about her best friend. I winced at the pathetic thought.

“But…” Jimenez prompted.

I let out a slow breath. “But nothing. There’s nothing to say. This whole thing was fake from the start, and that’s exactly how it feels with Itzel, and I’m cool with that...” Even to my ears, it sounded like there was a shit ton I’d left out to my two best friends.

Truth poured out before I could stop it. “I thought about Graciella the whole time I was there.”

That shut them both up.

Thatcher leaned back first, dragging a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”

“Damn. You went from no women in your life to dating someone you don’t like and being hung up on her friend.” Jimenez slapped my back. “Good luck with that.”

So much for sage advice.

I glared at them. “That’s all you have to say? Good luck with that?” Irritation crawled up my spine. “You’re supposed to tell me to forget about Graciella and that it’s a stupid idea.”

“Why?” Thatcher’s question was a direct blow to the chest. “Why can’t you be with her?”

“She’s my publicist, and I’m dating someone else. It’s wrong.” The words were like ash on my tongue.