Power Play (Nashville Assassins Next Generation 2)

Shit, does she want to fight me?

But then she claps, nodding. “Exactly what I wanted. I wanted you to think on the fly and to change it up. That pass was perfect. When you see the player reading you, switch it up. You got this.” She smacks me in the middle of the chest, and when she notices everyone is watching, she also smacks Aiden and Wes. “All of you. Great job.” Then she turns. “Everyone, great job. Hit the showers.”

Everyone files out as I skate to pick up her stick and gloves.

When I hand them to her, she glares up at me. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Get my stuff for me, defend me. I can handle myself.”

I shrug. “I know, but I want to do those things.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not helpless. I don’t need rescuing.”

“I know that, Posey,” I say, but then I drop my voice when I see Jakob coming. “I do it firstly because no one will ever doubt you in front of me. And second, if I can make your life easier, I will.”

Something flashes in her eyes, and then she taps her stick to my shin. “Great job today.”

“Great coaching.”

Once more, her eyes sparkle, and then she turns just as Jakob reaches her. I watch for maybe a second as she talks to him. Her shoulders are back, and she stands with a new self-assurance that I’m thankful for. I hate that she was questioning her coaching. In my opinion, she’s phenomenal. She’s got me doing something right, and it isn’t because I want to impress her. It’s because she works the shit out of me and won’t give up on me.

Just as I won’t on her.

Posey isn’t the kind of girl you play with. She’s Shea and Elli Adler’s daughter. She demands respect, and I have no problem giving it to her. I want to. I just don’t understand how anyone could mistreat her or play with her feelings. She’s… Well, I don’t know. She’s just fucking great. I get that guys haven’t treated her right and she doesn’t know what it’s like to be in a good relationship, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop what I am doing. I’m going to show her what it’s like to be with a good man. A man who goes to bat for his woman. A man who won’t allow anything to happen to her. I don’t care if we’re on the down-low because, no matter what, I have her back. That thought blows my ever-loving mind. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to get involved with anyone. I didn’t want to give my heart away again for fear of how it would come back to me. My only hope is that it doesn’t ever come back. It stays with Posey.

Chapter Nineteen

Posey

Boon: I didn’t realize this was going to be so hard.

I bring in my brows at Boon’s text.

Me: What?

Boon: Being maybe ten feet behind you and unable to touch you.

I feel my face warm as my lips turn up. He’s a dream.

After a grueling afternoon of meetings and then boarding the plane, we’re on our way to New York to start our twelve-day road trip. It’s my first road trip as a coach, and while I’m excited, I’m a little worried. I don’t like hotels—not a fan at all—and I really don’t like hotel beds. I can’t ever seem to sleep right, and they’ve freaked me out ever since I watched a documentary on bed bugs. Boon thinks my fear is funny since he’s been on countless road trips with no problems, but I’m a little squicked out. Shelli says she’ll make sure to have them change my sheets in front of me, but I packed a bottle of Lysol for good measure. But now, with Boon in my messages, bugs are the last thing I’m thinking of.

Me: That is hard, especially when all I want is to touch you.

Wow. I’m being bold this evening. Must be the fact that he brings out the boldness. I don’t have to look at him to know he’s grinning that shit-eating grin of his, but I still look through the crack between the seats in my row and find him maybe ten rows behind me. He has his phone up, that grin on his face as he types. Man, he is gorgeous. He’s wearing a green suit that hugs those thighs so perfectly, it almost made me whimper. His eyes are dark, his lashes long, and his beard is fierce. He went to the beard barbershop downtown since I couldn’t meet him for lunch. The barber must have hooked him up, because he looks fantastic.

I worried it would upset Boon that I have meetings and obligations to the team. He is very much a man who wants all my time, but he’s so damn supportive. I know my inexperience doesn’t give me much to work with, but I’ve seen movies, read books, and my best friend is Ally—a woman who has been through her fair share of relationships. It’s rare for a guy not to text when he knows you’re busy. Not to demand your time. Boon does just that, though. He’s so patient when we’re apart that sometimes it feels as if he doesn’t care. But when I’m with him, in his arms…oh, I know he cares. And then some.