“You’re kidding me.”
“Uh, no.” Her wide grin lit up her face, even as her blush lingered. “I met him in Tallahassee so we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew, and we didn’t leave the hotel room for three days.”
“Holy . . .” Slumped into the settee, food forgotten, he stared at her. “Hell.”
“Stop looking at me like that.” Burying her face in a sip of icy water, she waved a quelling hand at him. Man, that was the longest he’d ever seen her blush – she was pretty unshockable – and that was damn cute on her. Her glass hit the table with a solid thunk. “Listen, there is something to be said for an experienced man who knows what he’s doing.”
“You had a three-day fling with Coach Z.” His fuzzy brain refused to wrap around that. He’d trained it to wrap aroundTick and Hollyor eventhe future Mrs. Holly Calvert, but not Holly and Coach Z. Not in a million years. Reconciling Holly with the man who’d had them running drills and punishment laps was akin to reconciling Holly with Mr. Davis.
Glaring, she flung herself sideways in the settee. “Are you going to make me regret telling you this?”
“I’mregretting you telling me this.” He mirrored her pose, gesturing between them with the flat of his hand. “I don’t need those mental pictures.”
She made ahmphhigh in her nose, a quintessential noise of disdain he knew she’d learned from Lorraine King. “Then we’re even because I totally wanted the imagery of you and . . . Lord, I can’t even say her name.”
“Thank you.” Because he didn’t want to hear her name. He stared into her narrowed blue eyes a moment before the ridiculousness of the argument sank in, and a chuckle worked up from his chest. “So was he any good?”
“Well.” Her smile reappeared, pure mischief, pure Holly. “That was the weekend I realized sex might be worth all the hype. I mean it wasokaythat one time with–”
She clamped her lips shut, and he arched a brow. One time? No way that was all because the two of them were always together, Maybe she meant one time before Coach Z and wasn’t counting everything after.
He got the idea of a relationship that offered affection and okay sex. Things had been . . . decent . . . with him and Tyler. They hadn’t exactly been burning up the bed, but it hadn’t been awful, either.
“Maybe this is one of those things we talk about once and then forget.” He reached for his glass, condensation chilling his fingers.
“So you don’t want to know I slept with Mr. Danny?”
He choked, spewing icy droplets across his hand. Their youth pastor? “What?”
Her laugh rose between them, clear and sparkling, bursting over him like soap bubbles on a sunny day. “Okay, that one’s a lie.”
“Thank You, Jesus.” His own laugh clenched his belly and rolled upward, spilling free. He rubbed at a water spot on his shirt. “Damn it, Holly.”
“Your face.” With a cheeky grin, she tucked a knee on the settee, the fine knitted fabric of her dress stretching across her hip and thigh.
“Why are we friends?” He gave up on the spot. It was just water, after all.
“Hmm, because I don’t lead you into as much trouble as Wally.”
Because he didn’t let himself get into situations where she could lead him into trouble. He sobered, relaxing into the velvet. This was good, feeling lighter and less tense, like shaking out halfway through a run. Still, he couldn’t sit here all night.
“We should probably go.” Lifting a hip to grab his wallet, he caught Teresa’s eye and signaled with a finger.
“Put that up.” Her tone brooked no argument, and she pulled her own wallet free of her bag, passing her card over to Teresa. “We’re celebrating, and this is my treat.”
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut on a I’ll-get-it-next-time. He limited any meals with her to once in a blue moon, so not like they’d be doing this again any time soon.
Settling up didn’t take long, and he ushered her ahead of him, a tug of regret in his chest, a weird iteration of watching Del and Chuck at church with their families or sitting a few pews farther back on the Sunday’s Tick was there, giving him space, missing the way they’d been close.
He’d rushed the end of the evening, that was all. Wasn’t like he wouldn’t see her again soon, when Ralph needed food or when he serviced the clinic.
Except he’d be in the warehouse now, not going in the clinic every week.
Outside, the air had chilled, and she shivered, tucking a hand through his arm and huddling into his side. “Oh, that’s cold.”
“Yeah, won’t take the truck long to warm up.” He dug his keys out of his pocket, ignoring the imprint of her fingers on his forearm, of her body next to his.
If anything, she pressed closer, a wave of heat from his biceps to his thigh. “We could walk around the square.”
