Coach Daddy (Dark Daddies 3)

“How bad?” She kneels in front of me, looking concerned.

“Worse than normal,” I admit.

She sighs. “You’re working too hard.”

“No such thing.”

“Seriously, Cole. You have to rest it.”

“I can’t rest, you know that. After the season.”

She sighs. “Fine, okay. Pants off. Let’s rub you down.”

I grin at her and do what she asks. I take off my pants and she gets to work, rubbing my aching leg, working the painful muscle there until it slowly starts to feel a little bit better.

I watch her working, her face concentrating on her task. I want to know about what happened with Atlas, but I also know it’s none of my business.

She doesn’t owe me anything. We’re not together, not technically or officially. Maybe we’re sleeping together, maybe we have this attraction, but beyond that? It can’t happen.

I have to keep my image. And plus, now that Atlas is making his intentions clear, I should stay away. I should stay far away.

And yet there she is, on her knees in front of me.

Fucking hell. My body pulses with desire. She looks up at me, eyes hard to read.

“You’re really tense,” she says.

“Guess it’s been a tough day.”

“Why? We won.”

“True. One win doesn’t mean anything, though.”

“That’s one more win than a lot of people thought we’d get.”

I wince. I don’t need to be reminded what the talking heads say. “Yeah, well, they’re assholes.”

“True. Still, you can take some of the pressure off.”

“When I do that, I get complacent. If I get complacent, I lose. I don’t like to lose.”

“Winning isn’t everything.”

I laugh at that. “It is when you’re a football coach.”

She frowns a little. I grimace as her fingers do something painful to my leg, and I almost pull back, but I don’t. I lean into the pain. I can handle a little pain.

“I just think you should cut yourself some slack,” she says finally.

“Maybe you can do that for me.”

“I’m trying,” she says, laughing softly. “You’re just a tough man to help, you know.”

“I know,” I say softly. “I’m sorry about that.”

She looks up, a little sparkle in her eyes, but quickly looks away.

I lean forward and tilt her face back up toward me. I want to ask about Atlas so badly. I want to tell her how I feel about all this, explain why it’s complicated…

But above all, I just want to kiss her.

The moment passes. I let go of her chin.

She clears her throat and stands up. “I know what you need.”

“Yeah?” I grunt, feeling like hell.

“A bath. A nice, warm bath.”

I laugh. “I don’t take baths.”

“I know. Come on. We’ll do it together.”

I start to decline, but I stop myself. “What’s that?”

“We’ll do it together,” she repeats, like it’s a normal thing to say.

I take a breath and let it out. My pulse gets quicker. “You and me. In the bath.”

She nods. “One of the big Jacuzzi tubs. We can grab a private room, lock the door. I can sit and keep you company, if you want.”

I slowly stand, pull up my pants, and buckle my belt. “That sounds good.”

She smiles nice and big. “Okay then. Let’s go.”* * *I’m sitting in the Jacuzzi alone, arms on either side of the tile, leaning back against the jets.

It does feel good. She wasn’t wrong about that. It’s relaxing in a way I haven’t bothered to feel in a long time.

But my heart’s beating fast, just waiting for her. I’ve been in here for nearly five minutes now, all alone, waiting. I should be doing a million different things right now, from studying tape to drawing up strategy, and instead I’m sitting in this tub.

All because she’s going to join me.

I take a breath and let it out. Relax, Cole. I need to get it together.

The door to the private room opens and I nearly jump. I look up, half-expecting Atlas to come barging in, demanding to know what I’m doing. Instead, Leah comes in, a towel wrapped around her body.

She shuts the door behind her. We’re alone in the room, with only a foggy window overlooking the outside. The door locks as she walks over toward me.

“Thought you got lost,” I say, feeling nervous. It’s a strange feeling. I haven’t gotten nervous outside of a football game in a while.

“Sorry. I had to run to my car to get this.” She lets the towel slip off her body.

I stare at her for a second, eyes wide. She’s wearing a bathing suit, a little black bikini top and matching bottoms. She looks so fucking sexy it’s almost impossible.

The top barely covers her full, creamy breasts. The black contrasts perfectly with her skin, and looks amazing with her hair. She sinks back down into the water across from me and smiles.

“What?” she asks. “You’re staring.”

“Your bathing suit,” I manage to say.

“What?”

“You look good.”

She smiles a little. “Thanks.”