“Like a volcano about to erupt.”
I grimace. Sounds about right. “It won’t happen again, Coach.”
“I don’t believe you. But try your best, please. Seriously.”
I bite my lower lip. “You know …”
“Don’t say it.”
“Say what?”
“Whatever you’re about to say. It won’t help matters.”
“No, it’s a good thing. It’s coaching related.”
She exhales. “Okay, what is it?”
“I was just thinking if your goal is to coach the very best player out of me possible, then you probably shouldn’t ban me from flirting with you completely. That would be counterproductive, don’t you think?”
Chelsea makes a skeptical face. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m clearly motivated by wanting to impress you. Highly motivated. So, maybe making me feel like there’s at least a chance of me getting with you would inspire me to perform acts of epic greatness. It’s a tale as old as time, baby. Boys like showing off for pretty girls.”
Chelsea rolls her eyes once again. “I’m not going to manipulate you into playing well by disingenuously dangling my sexuality in front of your nose, Luca.”
“Why not? Also, would it really be disingenuous?” I waggle my eyebrows.
Chelsea blushes and doesn’t reply. Which means the answer to the question is an emphatic, “No, it wouldn’t be.”
“Fun is fuel for me, and flirting is fun,” I persist. “In fact, you could even say flirting is my version of making a color-coded spreadsheet.”
“Stop.”
“All I’m saying is banning me completely from doing my all-time favorite thing would extinguish the flame of joy for me—aka the flame offun, which is fuel for me—and that, in turn, would almost certainly negatively impact my performance on the field.”
Chelsea rolls her eyes. “If you say, ‘Fun is fuel,’ to me one more goddamned time, I’ll strangle you with the laces on your cleats. Also, you should be watching the action on the field and learning everything you can, not flirting shamelessly with your coach, who’s not even remotely affected by those dimples you’re currently flashing me, you shameless flirt.”
I can’t help laughing and shooting her an even bigger smile that’s sure to make my dimples pop even more. “Yes, Coach. Sorry about my shamelessness. I’ll try to rein it in.”
“Thank you. Please do.” She shoots me a heart-stopping smile before returning to the action on the field. But she’s not fooling anyone. The crackling energy that coursed between us just now felt like a physical thing. Undeniable and unstoppable.
“Hey, before we leave this topic for good,” I say, “can I make one quick request?”
“Nope.”
“I totally get you screaming at me to show everyone what a badass coach you are. I know I deserved that today. But now that you’ve done that—and very effectively, I might add—can you please tamp down the blustery, screaming coach routine for a bit? At least save that stuff for a practice that’s more important than a no-pads-no-tackling glorified drill session.”
Chelsea looks flabbergasted. She looks around to make sure nobody is watching us, and when she returns to me, she steps into my personal space, so close the tippy-top of her dark hair is now touching my chin strap dangling from my helmet. With both hands, she roughly grips my face mask and spits out, “Listen carefully, Ninety-Five.The way you do anything is the way you do everything.Make that your mantra in everything you do, both in life and in football, and the limit to your success, both on and off the field, will not exist.”
With that, she releases my stunned face with a sexy wink and returns her attention to the action on the field like shedidn’t just rock my world and send rockets of lust shooting through every vein and nerve ending in my body.
My God. The ruthless grab of my face mask. The way she shoved her nose into my grill. And most of all, the blazing blue badassery in her eyes. All of it confirmed she’s the hottest woman alive. A goddess. A unicorn.
There’s no coming back from this moment for me. I’m a goner. Suddenly, I don’t care about the risks associated with going after the head coach’s daughter.I want Chelsea Parker, and I want her now.In my bed. So we can pick up where we left off in Bloomington. And I’m going to do whatever stealthy maneuvering it takes to get her there.
CHAPTER 16
Chelsea
