“How?”
“Because I know once you leave your house in an hour, you’re no longer my sweet, soft baby sub. You’re a respected coach with a team that looks to you for guidance and support. You’re acoach that other coaches admire and look up to. You’re a coach that aspiring coaches hold as a role model.”
Shively laughs quietly, the sound telling me he’s hovering somewhere between my sub and my coach.
“All of that is true. I’ve heard all those words from either verbal interviews or having read them online in digital interviews. You’re good at your job, and your team needs you to be completely present tonight. So when you walk out of your front door, not even the concern that someone might know about us is going to bother you. Concerns like that don’t touch Coach Shively.”
He sighs. “Thank you.” There it is, the tone that doesn’t belong to my sub at all.
“You’re welcome, Coach.”
“I appreciate that you always know what to say.”
“I know what you need, especially when you tell me. Thank you for telling me. I’m pleased with your honesty.”
He laughs under his breath. “Yep, I still really like to hear that.”
“We’re going to be fine. You know that, right? Both in this and in hockey.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to worry so much.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re allowed to worry. We will continue to talk through your concerns as often as they come up.”
“As strange as it might sound, I think I have more concerns now than I ever have, but I also feel more confident because you’re… in my life.”
“I’m going to take that as a win. Your confidence is sexy, Coach. So. Damn. Sexy.” His quiet laughter is breathless. I grin. “I want you to drink some water. Eat something high in protein. And then head to the arena early. You don’t need to get lost in your head again. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
I scrunch my face. Yep, that’s not going to work. We’ve been trying different honorifics over the last four days, and we keep coming back to sir, but honestly, I’mnota fan.
“Now be a good pet and do as I say.”
I love the sound of his laughter as he hangs up. Nope, crossing pet off my list too. I have some dirtier names that I’m going to try on, though I don’t anticipate they’re going to be any good for more than playing. It’s kind of strange that I never gave this much thought before, yet it feels important.
I turn my attention back to my list of read books and absently swipe through the covers, waiting for one to jump out at me. Hmm. Maybe I need to take a look at superheros. I do love me some tight lycra. And you know that there’s always a ton of sexual tension going on there.
Is there anything better than falling for your nemesis? There’s already built-in tension without even trying.
Or falling for someone completely unexpected.
Like your mentor. Or your coach.
Hmm. Maybe that’s what I need to do. Time to dive back down the rabbit hole of comic books and see what inspires me to write. There’s loads of alpha males looking to be dominated within the colorful pages of comics. All I need to do is choose.
CHAPTER 10
SHIVELY
“Thank you,”I tell the receptionist as she hands me the stack of keycards and a list of where the rooms are located. I skim the list and find the outlier on the tenth floor. One room. Mine.
I find that set of cards and grab a sticky note out of my pocket, writing the room number on it before sticking it to one of the cards. Then I search for another outlier and find that there are only two rooms being used on the second floor. I grab one of the room numbers and stick my card in it, intending to give that one to Dasan.
Picking the pile of cards up again after ensuring mine is safe in my pocket, I keep Dasan’s separated in my hand by my finger and turn to my team milling about the lobby.
“Alright,” I call. “Rooms are ready.”
My team makes a sloppy line, and I hand them each a sleeve with their room cards in it as they come by. There’s a constant stream of “Thank you, Coach” as I hand them out.
