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“I’ve been known to be reckless.”
Without meaning to, I licked my lips and zeroed in on her eyes. We stayed locked like that while she processed the meaning behind my words. I kept telling myself not to flirt, not to charm, and not to engage with her beyond kicking the ball around. But like I had just said, I was occasionally pretty reckless, and she was making me fight that urge every second we sat there together.
Her green eyes contrasted with her dark hair, making her unique, and so fucking beautiful. A woman’s eyes had always been my weakness, and I could count on one finger the number of times I got lost staring into them the way I was with Ash in that moment. Her eyes were phenomenal.
She was staring back at me, holding me in her gaze, but she seemed to be asking questions without saying anything. Did she want to know more about me? Did she read some shit on the internet and wonder if it was true?
“I have a game tomorrow,” I said abruptly, making us both shake from our heads, the lust that had settled in during our quiet stare.
“Yeah, I know,” she nodded. “I have one the day after that.”
“So then, see you Friday?”
“Don’t ask me,” she scoffed. “I’m here when Coach tells me to be.”
“Then be here Friday.”
“Thought you weren't my coach,” she teased.
“I’m not.” I stood unable to help her clean the balls up again. I had to get out of there, get myself away from the temptation burrowing inside of me. I started walking backward toward my car, so clearly running away that it was almost embarrassing. “But be here anyway.”
ChapterSix
Ash
Two goals and an assist by the sixty-minute mark, and I looked up to see Coach calling me to the side of the field.
“Sub,” he yelled at the sideline referee, getting his attention to pull me from the game. Erin gave me a high five on my way off the field, and Rachel did a dainty clap, as if I was a princess in a parade.
“Good job, Keller,” Coach said when I got to the bench. “Glad to have you back.”
Hunter was sitting on the end of the bench, his eyes on me. Instead of saying something uplifting, he looked at me with haughtiness, and stayed silent. He was starting to scare me a little.
What happened?I wondered to myself. A week or so ago, Hunter was nicer, happier. Yeah, we all knew he wished he had gone pro, and was disappointed he was an assistant coach for the women’s team, but he wasn’t normally scary. Just moody.
Bringing my focus back to the game, I watched as we scored two more times, beating North Carolina by six goals. The win was huge, and everyone was giddy as we celebrated in our locker room.
Coach gave us a quick speech before leaving us alone to change. Home games were the best, because I got to walk back to my apartment and crash the rest of the day. After the long week, being alone sounded like Utopia.
“Coach wants to see you,” Rachel said, quickly brushing past me on her way to her locker. I had already changed, but she was still in her uniform, having to do the post-game wrap up duty that came along with being the captain.
I figured Coach wanted to make sure I was still planning on meeting with Rhys. It shouldn't take long to tell him I’d be there and keep working on whatever it was he thought I was getting out of it.
“Come in,” Coach mumbled after I knocked gently on his ajar door.
“Hey, Coach. Got your message to come see you.”
His eyes shot up, and he seemed to be distracted by whatever was sitting in front of him. He took a minute to look around and clear his head before standing and waving the sheet of paper at me.
“Good game.”
“Thanks.” I took the paper and looked at the numbers written haphazardly in his messy script. “What’s this?”
“Rhys Peyton’s cell phone number.”
Had I been anyone else, I may have passed out from holding those numbers in my hand. Women would sell their soul for those ten digits. As for me, I was more concerned than excited.
“What for?”
