Coach Maddie and the Marine (7 page)

“That’s sound advice. Thank you again for everything. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“It’s nothing. Plus, I’ve enjoyed the perks of teaching you the game.” He winked at her.

Heat began at her hairline and moved down her face to her neck. She couldn’t believe they had almost tumbled into bed together earlier tonight.

What had she been thinking?

“David, listen, about that…”

“I’m sorry, Maddie. I know you aren’t interested in a relationship right now. And frankly, I’m not in a place where I could give one hundred percent to a woman. But I just can’t seem to resist you. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t say you’re sorry. I wanted it as much as you. It’s just that I don’t think a relationship between the two of us is the right thing. At least for now.”

“It doesn’t have to be a serious relationship, Maddie. We could just—”

She stopped him before he could go any further. “I can’t do that. I’m very attracted to you, but I’m afraid I’m not built that way. I don’t believe in—”

This time, he interrupted her. “I wasn’t going to say that. For heaven’s sake, Maddie. I was just going to suggest we let things unfold naturally. See what the possibilities are.”

“I don’t know. I just don’t think either of us is in the right place.”

He nodded and tried to look like it didn’t matter but she saw the hurt in his expression. “I guess I’d better get going. See you at the field tomorrow afternoon?”

“I’ll be there. I have to admit that I’m a little apprehensive, though. I mean, I thought I was prepared for the first practice.”

“Hopefully you know a little more about the game now and I’ll be there to help. And if things get out of hand, I’m pretty good at tackling people. Get some rest.” He placed his hand over hers and squeezed gently. “And I won’t let it happen again. Scout’s honor.” He raised two fingers and looked deeply into her eyes. “Unless you ask.”

After he left, she fell back onto the sofa and willed her heart to stop pounding so hard.

“Line up in front of the bleachers,” Maddie said, taking charge of the practice from the very beginning. “I’ll be assigning positions. When I call out your name, step forward and I’ll let you know where I’ve put you. Keep in mind, these assignments are not permanent. We’ll move people around as we see their strengths and weaknesses. So no complaints about where you’re assigned.”

Maddie read through the list quickly, calling each name out in a sharp voice. As the boys stepped forward, David handed them their equipment.

“Here’s the schedule for practice. First, we’ll run some laps around the track to warm up, and then we’ll work on some offensive drills. After that, we’ll take a water break and I’m going to go over the things I expect from each one of you, and I’ll refresh your memory on penalties. To finish up, we’ll spend a few minutes on a defensive drill. Every player will take part in each of the drills. I want you all to be able to play on either side of the ball. Any questions?”

Every eye on the team stared back at her.

“All right, then. What are you waiting on, fellas? Three laps around the track. No laggers. Fall back into line when you finish.”

As the boys jogged off around the track, she made a few notes on her clipboard, then felt David brush against her.

“Good job, Coach Maddie. You gave clear, precise instructions in a tone that allowed no argument. I’m proud of you.”

“I sounded a lot more confident than I feel,” she admitted. “And I wrote up a script last night after you left and repeated it to myself until I had it memorized.”

The boys fell back into line. It was easy to tell who was in shape. Some of the boys weren’t even breathing hard, while a couple of others had sweat running down their tomato-red cheeks.

“Good job, guys. A few of you were a little slow finishing up, though. I suggest that you run a few laps on the days we’re not playing or practicing. If you’re not in good shape, it’ll show in the game and you might not get as much playing time as you want. Okay, now Coach Sterling will be leading the offensive drill,” she finished and gestured toward David, then stepped back and let him take over the team.

“We’ll start with stance. Now, most of you played last year, but I’m going to show you guys the proper three-point stance.”

David demonstrated for the boys. Standing behind him, she tried not to gawk at the view. His upper thighs, hard as iron, stretched the fabric of his shorts and as he leaned forward, the muscles in his shoulders and back rippled. She reminded herself that she was, at least in name, the coach of this team and it just wouldn’t do to be drooling over her assistant coach.

The boys copied his stance with mixed levels of success. She walked behind the line of boys offering small suggestions.

“Relax your left arm a little bit, Wiley,” she said, moving along the line. “George, get your back straight.”

He winked at her over the heads of the boys and she knew she was doing okay. When she listened to herself, she actually sounded, at least a little bit, like a real coach. And the boys hadn’t given her any problems yet. Maybe her crash course in the game actually taught her more than she thought.

When he turned the practice back over to her, she stepped forward and began with the rules they discussed.

“We’ll start with the things I expect from each member of the team. The rules are simple.” She paced in front of the boys. “One: Respect the coaches, each other, and the players on other teams. Two: Conduct yourself with good sportsmanship, at all times. No swearing, taunting, or cheap shots. Three: You come to practice or you don’t play. I hope those rules are clear because if you choose not to follow them, you won’t be playing on my team. You’ll be warming the bench. Is that clear?” she asked, moving down the line of boys and making eye contact with each one.

The boys nodded.

“I asked you if you understood.” She deliberately put a hard edge onto her voice.

“Yes, ma’am,” the boys answered in unison.

“Good. Let’s move on to the penalties. As I explain each one, Coach Sterling will show you what the call will look like.”

She quickly went through the list. David did a great job of showing the boys the signals. The boys all seemed to understand the penalties, so as soon as she finished, they put the boys through twenty minutes of defensive drills.

With the practice finished and the boys heading to their parents’ vans and SUVs, she sat down on the bleachers and took a deep breath. David sat beside her.

“I think it went pretty well,” he said.

“Me, too. I’m shocked, actually. I thought they would all still resent me being their coach, but they seem to have adjusted. It can’t hurt to have a rock-star jock as my assistant.”

“Maybe it helps a little. But it was obvious to me and the kids that you do know the game. I’m really proud of you. You worked hard to learn this stuff.”

“I’m starting to understand why everyone is so crazy about football. The strategy and the competition could become addictive,” she said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s round up Andrew and go to the community center pool. This heat is unbearable.”

Andrew waved good-bye to the last of the players on the team and stood beside David.

“Let me take you to the one on base, at the Officers’ Club. You can be my guests. They have a slide,” he said.

“Yay,” Andrew shouted.

After stopping by the house to pick up swimsuits, the three of them piled into David’s car and drove to the base.

Even though she had an ID card so that she could shop at the commissary for Andrew, she avoided the pool since there weren’t always lifeguards on duty. She wasn’t much of a swimmer and it made her nervous to be responsible for Andrew in the pool. While he’d had a few swimming lessons, he wasn’t very confident in the water. The pool at the community center was always well-staffed and that made her a little more comfortable.

“Andrew hasn’t had many lessons,” she said.

“I can work with him.”

She chewed on her thumbnail. “Promise you’ll watch him?”

He smiled, making her attraction meter go crazy again. “Of course I’ll watch him.”

Her nerves were shot, and it was about more than Andrew’s swimming. It had been ages since anyone other than Callie or Andrew had seen her in her bathing suit. She took a deep breath. While there was heat with David, it wasn’t like they were dating.

In fact, it was almost better if he didn’t like what he saw when she came out of the changing rooms.

David parked near the entrance to the pool. He leaned across the center console and whispered, “We’ll stay in the shallow end if it will make you feel better.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

The guys went into the men’s locker room to change while Maddie went across the hall to the ladies’. She tossed her tote bag on a bench and took her suit into a changing room. At least it was a one-piece in black.

While it didn’t hide much, it didn’t bring attention to the flaws either. After turning to see herself in the mirror from all possible angles, she decided it would have to do.

Holy smokes.

Her bathing suit fit perfectly. Too perfectly. So perfectly he could think of nothing but peeling it off.

Thank God for cool water.
He sank lower into the pool, and his trunks plumped up a bit from the water.

He tried not to stare. After all, he’d promised that he’d keep a close eye on Andrew. They were in the shallower end of the pool and the boy was splashing around, paying little attention to anyone. This late in the afternoon, there were only a couple of other swimmers and they were all in the other section of the pool swimming laps.

It was black. Sleek. He flashed back to his longtime crush on Catwoman. Maddie would make a perfect Catwoman.

She bent over the edge of the pool and he couldn’t help but stare. Her cleavage deepened, and he half wished her breasts would spill over the top of the suit. The temperature rose and he stuck his hands in the pockets of his trunks.

“Y’all okay?” she asked.

More than okay. Thankfully I didn’t say it aloud.

“Just fine. Thought I’d let him splash a little before I gave him some pointers.”

She nodded and rose.

“You’re not coming in?” he asked.

“I thought I’d just sit on a lounge chair.” She pointed to the one where she’d tossed her tote bag and towel.

He grabbed her ankle. “Come swimming. The water feels great.”

She shook her head. “I’m good.”

“Come on, Aunt Maddie, please. Come swimming with me. Please, please.”

David raised one eyebrow and looked at her. “He’s begging.”

With a deep sigh, she walked to the steps and crept into the water a little at a time.

The way the water beaded up on her skin made him even harder. When she was waist deep in the pool, her nipples hardened, no doubt because of the cold water, but it was sexy as hell. He had no trouble imagining teasing those nipples with the tip of his tongue. He shivered.

“Cold?” she asked. She moved deeper into the water and closer to him.

“Something like that,” he answered with a wink.

Chapter Seven

After seeing him in the pool after practice, she decided that her first impression of him was correct: his body was perfect. Like something off a romance cover.

While they’d agreed just to be friends, it wasn’t easy to stop thinking about him. To stop wondering what he’d look like totally naked. And in her bed.

On Wednesday, Maddie jumped every time the phone rang. She told herself it was because she hoped Callie called. But she was lying to herself. While she’d love to hear from her sister, somehow her calls home only made things harder. Finally, around midnight, she admitted to herself that she was hoping for a call from David.

By Thursday afternoon, she was beyond testy. Almost forty-eight hours had passed without a word from him.

She had to keep reminding herself that she’d told him she wasn’t interested. If she didn’t want to get involved with him, why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

The body. The wink. Those were two of the big whys. She wasn’t even going to think about his lips. That was dangerous territory.

No amount of reasoning put her in a better mood. Andrew noticed her foul humor the moment she picked him up from school.

“What’s the matter, Aunt Maddie?”

“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong.” She cringed, hearing the bark in her own voice.

“You haven’t even fussed at me for not pulling my hood over my head in this rain.”

“I’m fine, really. I just have a lot on my mind. I had a lot of difficult clients today. And I’m trying to mentally prepare for the game on Saturday.”

“You’re upset because Coach Sterling hasn’t called, aren’t you?”

How did the kid get so smart? Did he miss anything?

“No. Coach Sterling has his own life. He’s probably a very busy man. He was just helping me learn the game and now we’ll probably only see him at practices and games.”

“Then why was he kissing you? Kissing has nothing to do with football.”

“You have a point, Andrew,” she admitted. “But sometimes things between adults aren’t so black and white. It’s okay. I’m fine. Do you have lots of homework?” she asked, trying to steer the conversation in a decidedly different direction.

“Not much. Can I go over to Tommy’s house later and stay for dinner?”

“Sure, I guess. I thought you didn’t really like going to his house when you had to stay inside.”

“Usually I don’t, but he’s got a new Wii game I want to play and his mom’s grilling steaks on their covered porch. We never have steaks. We don’t even have a grill.”

She ignored his barb about the grill, which he’d been begging for all summer. Apparently they were the only house in town without one.

“Well, finish your homework and then you can go. I’ll pick you up after dinner.”

As soon as she entered the house, hauling Andrew’s fifteen-pound backpack over her left arm, the phone rang. She dropped the pack in the middle of the living room floor and raced through the house trying to locate the cordless phone. She grabbed it off her cluttered desk just as it stopped ringing. Of course the caller hung up before the answering machine had a chance to pick up the call.

She checked the caller ID in the window of the phone. Private call.

It wasn’t like David didn’t have her cell phone number.

She stomped into the kitchen, grabbed an apple out of the fruit basket and poured herself a diet soda.

After telling herself that she wouldn’t let herself get so upset over a guy she wasn’t even dating, she took the snack back to her office and checked her email. After all, they’d agreed that a personal relationship wasn’t a good idea.

At least she thought they’d agreed.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

She willed her heart to stop racing, smoothed her unruly curls back from her face and walked to the door.

It was him.

“Lieutenant Sterling. What a surprise,” she said, her voice sounding much cooler than she felt.

“When did you stop calling me David?” he asked. He quirked an eyebrow and stepped into the living room.

She had to stop this confusing charade. Now.

“Look, last week we spent so much time together, and things got so…heated, and even though I told you we couldn’t get involved, well, a part of me laid some kind of claim to you. But, after thinking through it, I realize that you have your own life.”

“My own life?” He knitted his brow and looked down at her.

“I just realized that you have a life outside of coaching fourth-grade football. I don’t think I considered that before.”

“My own life? All I have in my life is my job. I jog, I go to work, run errands and call my parents in Mississippi. That’s it.”

“But I have no right to assume any kind of ownership of your time. We’re working together and that means I need to respect those boundaries and not assume a personal connection.”

He shook his head as if to clear it. “Girl, you think way too much for your own good.”

She smiled. “Professional hazard.”

“While you were doing all that thinking, did you consider my suggestion? That we just let things unfold naturally and see what happens?”

She wanted to say it wouldn’t work. Wanted to turn him down.

“Before you answer that, let me tell you why I came over tonight. Would you like to go to dinner at Merrimon’s on Saturday night? We could talk about the game over a nice dinner, complete with a bottle of wine.”

She’d wanted to eat there since she’d moved to town. “Merrimon’s, huh?” She felt her resolve weakening. She shouldn’t. She knew that. But before she could stop herself, she said, “Okay, then, Saturday night. I’ll see if Peggy will let Andrew stay over.”

Why did she always cave when it came to David? She’d been about to tell him, again, that there was no future for them, and now she had a date with him.

“It’s a date then.” His eyes glittered with impish charm. “How about you wear one of those girly-girl dresses?”

“I’ll see what I can come up with.” She grinned.

He moved toward her. Before she could stop herself, she moved closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. She ran her arms up his steel-hard biceps, feeling the iron of his muscle through the thin cotton fabric of his T-shirt. His amber eyes looked deeply into hers for a long moment. Her stomach tightened with desire.

With a quick seamless motion, he slid his fingers through her curls and lifted her head toward his lips. The moist heat of his lips on hers sent a wave of electrical current up her spine. He deepened the kiss, putting more pressure on her swollen lips. She felt his need to taste her as she heard a moan escape her lips. His mouth moved from her lips down the side of her neck.

He pulled away slowly, each kiss getting softer and softer.

“What are you…?” She couldn’t seem to string a coherent sentence together. She still craved the taste of him, the sweet pressure of his lips on hers.

“Mmm…” He looked at her. “You taste so good, like spun sugar. I can’t wait until the time is right for me to spend all night doing this.”

She smiled, breathless. After those kisses, she’d totally forgotten she’d nearly written him off forever less than half an hour ago.