Page 57 of Her Coach

I eased myself back down into my own office chair before my eyes bulged.

“The door,” I hissed.

Brynn rushed up from her chair like a bat out of hell and silently unlocked my office door. She tiptoed back, quickly easing herself back into the chair, and I took a few massive bites of the food I had forgotten about since the instant Bry walked into my office in that dress of hers.

I hoped that Victoria would simply head into her office and not think twice.

But instead, I watched her shadow creep beneath the lower slat of my closed office door before she knocked.

“Coach,” she said as she came in, her knock merely announcing her presence, “I wanted to speak with you quickly about—why is it so dark in here?”

She flipped on my office light, and I grunted with its intrusion. Brynn shielded her eyes for only a second, but it was enough for Victoria’s eyes to harden on both of us as they darted from me to her.

Me to her.

Me to her.

Then, back to me.

“Yes?” I asked as I took another bite of my vegetables.

“Everything okay, Mom?” Bry asked.

Victoria kept her eyes squarely on me, though. She didn’t move from the doorway, either.

Fuck.

Victoria cleared her throat. “I wanted to speak with you about the upcoming game this weekend. It’s the first game, and usually we do a big thing out in the parking lot where The Hideout provides basic essentials for any pre-game cookout or tailgate. I need to know if the team is going to attend.”

I shook my head. “Last thing the team needs is to fill up on meat and carbs before their game. I can bring them around to rile things up maybe half an hour before we fill the stadium, but anything more than that and it risks their abilities on the ice.”

She nodded and jotted a few things down onto her clipboard. “Sweetheart?”

Bry peeked over at me before she looked back at her mother. “Yeah, Mom?”

Victoria didn’t look up from her clipboard as she turned around. “You gonna be home for dinner?”

Brynn cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah. I’m not working tonight, so I’ll be home.”

That’s when Victoria picked her gaze up from the clipboard and looked between the two of us one more time. Her eyes lingered on me, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Or, rather, I had a few ideas as to what she was most likely thinking.

How much she wanted to wring my neck.

How long it took for me to seduce her daughter.

At what point in time Brynn went from trying to hook us up to trying to hook up with me.

But instead of asking us a billion of those questions, Victoria simply nodded her head one last time before leaving.

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until Brynn stood from her seat. “You didn’t take anything from me.”

My gaze quickly snapped to hers. “What?”

She walked back over to the door and closed it, then turned and leaned against it. Her voice was soft, most likely due to the fact that her mother’s office was right down the hallway from mine. But I heard her just the same.

“You didn’t take anything from me,” she said as she sauntered toward me.

She leaned her hip against my desk, and I had to stand just to keep my body from reaching for her. She was like a magnet for my palms, and her mother was in the office.