Coach gave me a quick once over, then smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s possible for you, Miss King.”
Heat blasted my neck once more. It wasn’t like he was checking me out, more like he was just a man appreciating the beauty of a woman.
Also, a coach realizing what a distraction I could be to his team.
“I’m sorry I didn’t dress appropriately.”
“You can dress however you feel comfortable,” he said quickly. “I’m pretty sure you could wear a burlap sack and still stop traffic. All I’m asking is that if the guys start yucking it up for you, if Vince or anyone else starts to lose focus because they’re wanting to be a part of all this.” He waved his hand. “Just… help me keep them on track. Okay? We have a real shot at a winning season this year, and I don’t want that to go up in flames.”
“Neither do we,” I promised him.
I spoke for us as the Tampa Bay Babes, the organization. But in my head, I was also making that statement for me. The last thing I wanted was the attention of a rich, cocky athlete.
I’d been there, done that — still had the scar to prove it.
Plus, this was my first real test from Reya and Camilla. I wasn’t about to mess it up.
He nodded, and then blew out a breath, checking the time on his watch. “Flight is at four. We’ll take you to the airport in one of our cars. Be back here at two-thirty sharp.”
He paused then, and heat washed over my neck as his eyes found mine. He was sexy as hell, a dark line of scruff on his jaw and his suit all tailored to perfection. I half-wondered if maybe it should be him we were covering — especially considering he was one of the youngest coaches in the league.
“And I’d suggest you pack something a little warmer,” he added with a wry grin as he turned toward the locker room. “Boston is cold as hell.”
An Absolute Rocket
Vince
“Ohhh shit, there he is!” Jaxson said when I boarded the team plane, and he started a slow clap that the rest of the team joined in on as they cheered and made catcalls.
I arched a brow, storing my backpack in the space over my seat. All our equipment and luggage was taken care of by the staff, so that backpack was all I had until we landed in Boston.
When the applause died down, Jaxson wrapped his arm around my neck like he was going to take me down in a wrestling move, but he just ruffled my hair instead.
“Our little pigeon has the whole world losing their minds.”
“And their panties,” Carter added with a grin.
“Want me to rub you down with oil next time, Tanny Boy?” Jaxson asked when he released me. He rubbed my pecs to illustrate before I smacked his hands away with a smile of my own.
“Wow, I’ve never heard jealousy ring out quite so loud before,” I said, taking my seat before I stretched my legs out confidently. I’d dressed in my newest custom suit from Stefano Ricci, and I unclasped the buttons of my jacket as I kicked back. Will was in the seat by the window across from where I sat, and Jaxson took the seat next to him.
“What’s next? Posing on the beach in a banana hammock?”
“Nah, Brittzy,” I said, flicking my sunglasses down over my eyes. “My cock wouldn’t fit in one of those. Now you on the other hand…”
He kicked me before I could finish the joke, but we were all laughing. Well, all of us except Daddy P, who looked out the window with his headphones on.
The team plane was expansive, large enough to fit close to two-hundred passengers if it was designed like a normal commercial plane. But it wasn’t. Instead, huge leather seats donned the space — two facing forward and two facing backward — in little pods of four on either side of the aisle. The coaches and staff usually sat at the front of the plane, while the rest of us filled the middle and back, and before we even took off, we were waited on by the flight attendant staff — the same ones who flew with us each and every away game.
“Seriously, man, is it weird?” Carter asked when he took a seat across the aisle from me. “I heard she’s moving into your building and everything.”
That was news to me — enticing news, if I was being honest — but I pretended I already knew as I took a water from the flight attendant and thanked her.
“It hasn’t even been a full day,” I reminded him. “But so far, it feels like normal. She told me to just pretend she isn’t here.”
Will snorted at that, which told me he was wearing those headphones more for show than anything else.
“I agree with Daddy P,” Jaxson said. “Fat chance in hell you can ignore a woman that fine.”
“I’ll never forget that yellow dress,” Carter added with a far-off look.
“That ass.” Jaxson whistled through his teeth as the both of them shook their head in mutual agreement that those two words were enough to convey a whole story. “She’s an absolute rocket.”
I didn’t know why my jaw tightened a bit as they joked about Maven and how attractive she was, because they were right. It was true. She was the kind of woman who belonged in magazine spreads, the kind who made you forget how to speak. I’d also tossed around these same remarks and worse with the guys about dozens of women before.
Why did it make my hands roll into fists when they talked about Maven the same way?
“That’s enough,” I clipped.
Their smiles fell along with mine.
“She’s essentially a part of the team now,” I said. “She’s going to be uncomfortable enough as it is in a new environment with a bunch of smelly brutes like you two. Show her some respect, or I’ll make you show it.”
Jaxson and Carter bit back smiles, glancing behind me and then at each other before Jaxson put his hands up in surrender.
“Sure thing, Pidge,” Jaxson said. “We won’t rag on your girl.”
“Don’t hit on her, either,” I threatened, chest puffing a little when he called Maven my girl. She was nowhere near that, but I liked the thought of establishing that claim even when I didn’t have the right to.
Suddenly, someone cleared their throat over my head, and I glanced up and back to find Maven standing there with her arms folded over her chest and an amused look on her face.
I didn’t have to glance back at the guys to know she’d been there for a while, especially when I could hear their laughs fizzling out of their chests. I ignored them altogether, standing and extending a hand for Maven’s bag.
“Window seat’s yours, doll,” I said, smoothing my knuckles over her slim shoulder as I removed her bag. She kept her arms crossed until the last second like she didn’t want my help, finally releasing the strap so I could tuck her bag in the bin overhead.
“I’m not your doll,” she bit back. “And I want the aisle.”
I clucked my tongue. “No can do, peach. I’ve got long legs I need to stretch out.”
“More like he’s afraid of flying and being too close to the window makes him shit his pants,” Carter chimed in.
I didn’t even look at him as my fist jutted out and slugged his arm. He laughed on a yelp, rubbing the spot while Maven watched the exchange and I watched her.