A muscle in Levi’s jaw pulsed as he tried not to bristle at the title ofMisterrather than being recognized as a fellow coach himself. Then again, he was a disgraced coach who was lucky to even have a job at this point, and that job was thanks to the man in front of him, so beggars couldn’t be choosers, or he wouldn’t bite the hand that fed, or whatever other proverb fit his current predicament,especially since he was about to ask for more.
“Coach!” Levi replied, striding forward with his hand outstretched. “It’s good to see you.”
The older man gave Levi’s hand a firm grip and a hearty shake. His salt-and-pepper hair used to be brown, but the guy was probably more fit than others half his age. Levi wondered if he still ran drills with the teams.
Tommy’s father narrowed his eyes. “You’re not here to turn down that job coaching the varsity soccer team now that our Student Services Department has already printed the schedules, are you?”
Levi laughed, even as the thought of a schedule that included anything other than running football plays on the field made him a little nauseous.
“No,” Levi assured him nervously. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. I just kind of have another favor to ask you.”
Coach Crawford crossed his arms over his chest and smiled at Levi with bemusement. “Another favor, huh?” He scratched the white stubble on his chin like they were simply talking about the weather.
Then Levi grinned. “Wait… Tommy put you up to this, right? He texted you I was coming to ask about the apartment and told you to make me sweat it.”
Levi crossed his arms too, both of them in a typical coach’s stance as they eyed their team on the field. Only Coach Crawford did not return the grin. Instead he sighed.
“I hate to burst your bubble, Rourke, but I’ve already got someone upstairs looking at the apartment right now.”
Levi swallowed. “Your place is one of the few availableimmediately, isn’t it?”
Coach Crawford raised his brows just as the bell jingled over the door behind Levi and a woman spoke as she approached.
“I’d love to take it,” she started, setting a ring of keys down on the counter. “But it’s a little out of my budget. I guess—”
Holy shit.
“BirthdayGirl,” Levi said, and the woman’s whole body froze, hand still on the counter, palm covering the keys.
Or maybe he should have said BirthdayGhost.
He hadn’t been angry that she’d left. They were strangers, and maybe she’d gotten cold feet. No way in hell he’d fault her for that. But thewayshe’d done it, sending him for ice so she could disappear without a word? What if something had happened to her? What if… What if… What if he could just admit that being ghosted like that kinda stung? Levi traveled a lot as a coach and was no stranger to hotel beds and hotel guests. But despite her insistence on not disclosing names, something about their short time together had made him think last night might have been different. But he’d been the only one to feel that, right? Otherwise she would have at the very least left a note.
Levi rolled his shoulders, attempting to shake off what he was sure was nothing more than a bruised ego.
The woman finally let go of the keys and smoothed nonexistent wrinkles from a fitted pink-and-black running top and matching leggings. He recognized the Under Armour logo and couldn’t keep the corner of his mouth from turning up at this tiny connection to his football world.
She pivoted slightly and finally met his eyes.
“Um, hi, Mr. Um…Tux.” She bit her bottom lip and winced, then mumbled something that sounded like “Merde.”
She hadn’t been wearinganythingthe last time they’d seen each other. But he wouldn’t remind her of that in front of Coach Crawford.
“Do you kids know each other?” the older man asked, eyeing them with raised brows.
“No!” the woman exclaimed, maybe a little too emphatically for someone who borrowed his Jacuzzi and took off with sixteen dollars’ worth of Swiss chocolate. He figured this warranted acknowledgment that they had—at the very least—met.
“Oh,” Coach Crawford replied. “That’s a shame, seeing how the apartment is a two-bedroom, and if you needed to offset the cost, you could rent it as roommates. I mean, you will know each other eventually since you’ll both be working for the Summertown School District and coaching the boys’ and girls’ high school soccer teams. At least for the next year, that is.” He raised a brow and gave them both a knowing look. Levi wasn’t exactly sure what the guy knew. “Of course, when I say ‘roommates,’ I mean roommates. With this next year being particularly important to both your futures, I trust none of us want any sort of…entanglements…that could get in the way.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell into anO. Then she took a giant step back as if horrified at the thought of not only being his roommate butalsohaving to work with him.
“I’ll take it, Coach,” Levi told him. “But you’re right about those entanglements. I don’t think I need to split the rent.” Heactually could really use the help with the rent. But…no. Not with her. They were already—entangled. He shrugged, eyes still on the woman in front of him, and reached for the keys on the counter.
“Damn,” Coach Crawford interrupted. “Would you look at that? I forgot to take my lunch break. I’m going to head on over to the inn for a quick bite. Go on up and take a look before signing on the dotted line if you’d like, Rourke. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Levi and his stranger from last night watched as Coach Crawford strode out from behind the counter and straight toward the door, flipping the sign toClosedas he marched out into the early-afternoon sun.
“Nice to see you again,Dash. I’m going to go check out my new apartment.” Levi moved to step around her, but she burst into laughter.
