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Ella was glad to be in work today. Her new flat was still a mess of boxes and other people’s dust, and she’d had no time to do anything about it. However, the move had gone smoothly, thanks to Sloane, with added help from Nat.

Ella was impressed Nat was playing as well as she was, with her parents still causing issues. However, they had at least started to message her again unprompted, which made Sloane very happy. She was living her alternate reality through her teammate. Ella had everything crossed it worked out second time around.

A knock on her door made her look up. She was about to tell whoever it was to come in, but Sloane already stood in front of her desk, that crease on her perfect forehead, a taut hand pinned in her hair.

“Good, you’re alone.” She tapped her fingertips on the top of Ella’s desk.

Sloane’s fingers always got Ella’s attention. Something was up.

“What’s wrong?”

Sloane held out her phone. “Press play and find out.”

Ella did as she was told while Sloane pulled over a chair. A prominent YouTuber had put together a montage of the two of them, set to a Taylor Swift love song, one of Ella’s favourites. After watching it, Ella had to admit it was pretty good. If she was a fan, she’d totally believe they were a couple. Which they were. The video and its screenshots were doing the social media rounds. Ella knew there were only so many times they could deny anything was going on.

“What do you think?”

Ella walked around her desk and leaned on the front of it. She breathed in Sloane’s familiar bergamot scent, already one of her favourites. She wanted to wipe the frown from her face. “I think we get ahead of any gossip and tell Lucy. Whether she’s seen the photos or not, she’ll hear about it.” She glanced to her right. “She’s there right now. Strike while the iron’s hot?”

Sloane nodded, then put a hand on Ella’s arm. “We’re just telling Lucy for now?”

Ella sucked on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t like hiding anything, but this was for Sloane more than her. She had to follow Sloane’s lead in this. Plus, she didn’t want the world knowing their every move, either. She nodded.

When they walked into Lucy’s office moments later, questions flashed across her face. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

Ella dragged a seat across and settled into it. “It’s not bad news,” she said, allaying Lucy’s fears. “We just want to let you know something.” She paused, then glanced at Sloane, who looked terrified. Surely she’d handled this sort of thing before? But perhaps it was different with a member of staff rather than a fellow player.

“Have you seen the montage of us on social media?” Ella studied Lucy’s face as she reacted.

She shook her head. “I haven’t.” She frowned. “Should I have?”

Ella risked a smile. “No. But speculation is starting to build about whether or not we’re more than friends.” She took a deep breath. “It’s very early days and we want to keep this on the downlow, but we wanted you to know, as our boss, that we are an item. A new, freshly formed item.”

Lucy moved her mouth left, then right. “Okay.” She paused. “Since when?”

“Since Christmas,” Sloane replied.

“Right.” Lucy sucked on the inside of her cheek.

Ella cleared her throat, now incredibly itchy. “We want you to know, just in case you see photos and you’re curious. But because we’re so new and because Sloane is who she is, we’re not going public just yet. But we wanted to keep you informed.”

“And let you know that when we’re in work, we’ll be nothing but professional,” Sloane added.

That made Ella blush, thinking about the steam room.

Mostly, professional.

Lucy’s gaze landed on them both, before she tapped her pen on her desk and took a deep breath. “First, wow. I have to say, I didn’t see it coming, but my wife always says I’m a bit slow on the uptake, so no surprise there. You’re both grown adults, and you both know the score.

“Relationships between football coaches and players aren’t okay, but we’ve had physios dating players before. Performance and lifestyle coaches? I don’t know, we don’t have a precedent. But I’m sure I don’t have to tell either of you that as soon as this comes out, there will be more scrutiny on you both, from inside and outside the squad.” She pointed at Ella. “If you were a team psychologist, it would be a no.”

“I know,” Ella replied.

“But you’re not, and you’re not full-time. Plus, we like what you do, and I trust you both to keep this professional at work.” She turned her intense gaze on Ella, then on Sloane. “Can I trust you both?”

Ella nodded. “Of course.”

Sloane followed suit.