Page 62 of Her Coach

But before I had a chance to open my mouth and apologize, a knock came at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Mom said briskly before quickly clicking out of my room. “And you should put a gold ring on your left hand to balance out the bracelet on your right.”

Then she disappeared toward the heavy knocking on the door.

“Ring, right,” I whispered as I scrambled to find the simple gold one that I knew she was talking about.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror before slipping into a pair of matching flats. I fluffed my hair one last time, grabbing the gold clutch Dad had gotten for me for my twelfth birthday because I wanted one just like Mom’s, and then I stuffed as much of the contents of my regular purse as I could into it.

That was before I heard Mom’s threatening voice filter down the hallway.

“If you so much as harm a hair on my daughter’s head,” she glowered, “you will never work in this sport again. Understood, Coach Colton?”

Fuck my purse. If I forgot something, I’d just have to deal for the evening. I wasn’t going to let my mother chase this man away just because she decided she didn’t want him. Just because she wanted to be unhappy in her sorrows and grief didn’t mean I had to make the same choice. And while I shouldn’t have yelled that in her face, I’m glad I said it all the same.

I beamed as I came rushing down the hallway. “Hey there, Colton.”

Even I clocked the hard look he gave my mother before he pulled those predatory eyes in my direction.

And the second his face fell, a smile tugged at my cheeks.

His eyes roved down my body, seemingly not caring that my mother stood right there. I secretly enjoyed every second of it. I giggled as I flounced up to him, standing onto my tiptoes just to give him a kiss along the underside of his jaw.

I felt his jaw flex, but all he did was wrap that strong arm of his around me and pull me toward the door. “Ready to head out?”

I peeked over at Mom. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Mom nodded and opened the door for us, and I knew that was her silent gesture for the fact that she bowed out of the argument. She shot Colton one last look, but I did my best to ignore it. She made her choice, and now it was time for me to make mine.

I wanted to spend the entire evening getting to know Coach Colton Mercer.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said as I squeezed her hand while passing by.

She simply nodded, and I wanted to apologize. I wanted to tell her that whatever life she wanted for herself, all she had to do was step outside and claim it. All she had to do was cut herself a bit of slack and recognize that she had a whole life ahead of her still to live. But as I reached for her hand, I realized Mom didn’t even follow us out to the porch.

I watched her close the door, and my heart ached with leaving things between us the way I had.

“Everything all right?” Colton asked.

His voice pulled my attention back to him and I let him usher me to his car. “Yeah, yeah. She’s just…”

I stopped talking the second I saw the car parked at the curb.

It was a Bentley. Black. The kind of thing you only ever saw rolling past you on the Strip while you were stuck at a light in your ten-year-old Honda. Low and wide and so clean it looked like it had never touched a road in its life. I didn’t even know what model it was. I just knew it cost more than my mother’s Louboutins times a thousand.

“Protective?”

I snickered as he opened my car door for me. “Among other things.”

He took my hand and helped me into his car. “Well, let’s see if I can’t get your mind off of things for a few hours.”

The smirk he gave me before he closed my car door forced a warm shiver down my spine.

I was ready for our evening together.

I was ready to get on with my life.

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