Page 25

Hunter couldn’t find a parking spot, so he dropped me off at the door to collect the ladies.

I’m not too thrilled with the idea of showing up uninvited, but Hunter practically threw me out of the car, so here we are.

Standing at Ellie’s door, I suddenly feel extremely nervous to be in her space.

My hands clench and unclench at my sides, trying to work out the nervous energy.

My throat suddenly feels dry, making it hard to swallow.

I take a deep breath, attempting to steady myself.

With a deep breath, I lift my hand and knock.

No one answers so I try again.

Raising my hand to knock for a third time, the door swings open, and HO-LY SHIT .

Ellie is a damn vision standing before me.

“You’re not Hunter,” Ellie says, stepping aside to let me into her apartment.

“Very astute observation.” I wipe my shoes off on the welcome mat and can’t help but chuckle.

Written in lime green lettering it says hope you brought margaritas with a giant margarita next to it.

Ellie doesn’t seem to appreciate my sarcasm by the look on her face but chooses to ignore it.

“What are you even doing here? And where’s Hunter?” she asks, glancing over my shoulder to look down the hall.

I open my mouth to respond but am interrupted by Ellie’s roommate.

“Oh hey, Lincoln Scott. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Sadie. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Nope.

I definitely don’t like the sound of that.

I reach my hand out to shake her hand when she throws her body at me.

She wraps her arms around my middle and gives me a giant squeeze.

It’s at this exact moment I realize my bladder is about to burst.

I think she may have squeezed a little bit right out of me.

Patting her back awkwardly I ask the girls, “Would you mind if I used your restroom? Hunter made me chug like three beers before we left.”

Sadie finally releases me and walks to the kitchen while pointing down the hallway.

“Sure thing. It’s at the end of the hall. Don’t leave the toilet seat up.”

Chuckling, I make my way down the hall and take care of my business.

After washing my hands, I return to the living room.

The ladies are putting their shoes on, and I think I might die and go to heaven.

Ellie is bent over strapping up her red heels, and I have the perfect view of her pristine ass.

A gentleman would avert his gaze, look anywhere else.

Thankfully, I’m no gentleman, but now I’m also entertaining some vivid and very filthy fantasies of my assistant coach.

Fantasies I should most definitely not be having.

Stop it, Lincoln.

You can’t be fantasizing about your assistant coach.

I knew coming out tonight would be a terrible idea.

Hunter gave me the guilt trip saying he didn’t want to be the only guy out with the ladies.

Okay, he didn’t have to twist my arm too much but now I’m definitely regretting my decision.

Sadie clears her throat, and I realize I’m still staring at Ellie’s ass.

I look over to Sadie to see her with her arms crossed and a wicked smile on her face.

Bless her heart because she doesn’t call me out.

“Where is Hunter anyway?” she asks instead.

“There were no close parking spots so he dropped me off and said he was going to do a lap. We should probably head down. Are you two ready to go?”

Ellie stands up straight, thank god, and grabs their coats that are hanging on the hooks in the entryway.

She hands Sadie her coat, and before I know what I’m doing I’m behind Ellie.

“Allow me,” I say while reaching for her coat.

She looks as stunned as I feel.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

Reluctantly, she hands me her coat and turns around.

She grabs her hair, which is down tonight, and pulls it over her shoulder and that’s when all bets are off.

Starting at the base of Ellie’s neck and winding down her spine is the most beautiful tattoo I’ve ever seen.

A vine with flowers of some sort—I think violets—trails all the way down her spine until it reaches the top of her jumper.

I’m a man lost in my dirty thoughts, imagining just how far down that tattoo goes.

Does it stop there?

Does it go all the way down to her delicious ass?

Does it wrap around at her hips to the front, an invitation if you will?

I need answers.

My dick is tight in my jeans, and I hear Sadie snort as I adjust myself.

Thankfully, Ellie is oblivious as she asks for her coat.

“Oh, yeah. Here you go.” I take a step closer, doing my best to avoid brushing my erection against her back, and Ellie puts her arms through.

I fix her hair, my fingers grazing her neck, sending a jolt of electricity straight down to my already hard cock.

I run my hands down her arms, with the lightest touch, and because I apparently have no self-control, I lean in until I’m close enough that only she can hear and whisper, “You look beautiful tonight, Ellie. ”

She inhales deeply, forcing me to take a step back.

Ellie turns and meets my eyes.

We stand there, lost in each other, when Sadie’s voice cuts through the tension.

“Time to go! Hunter just texted me that he’s downstairs. He told me to tell you you’re a dick for ignoring his texts, Lincoln.” She gives me a knowing smirk and opens the door to head outside.

I look back at Ellie as she finishes zipping up her coat.

My eyes always seem to make their way back to her.

She looks up and catches me staring, but rather than give me shit, she gives me a small smile.

“You go ahead, I gotta lock up.”

“Right,” I say while nodding at her.

I stop in the hallway and wait for her as she locks her door.

Once she finishes locking up, she turns and has a tender look in her eyes and she appears grateful that I waited for her.

We walk together in silence to the end of the hall where there’s a door leading to the side parking lot.

I open the door for Ellie and my hand automatically finds her lower back.

Her body stiffens for half a second but she doesn’t say a word.

Okay, so she doesn’t hate my hand on her lower back.

Nice.

Sadie has already climbed into the back seat on the far side of Hunter’s SUV, so I quickly beat Ellie to her door and open it for her.

She starts to climb in, but pauses and turns back to me.

Shit.

Did I do too much?

Ellie surprises me when she reaches out and squeezes my bicep.

“Thanks, Coach,” she says with a smirk and then she climbs in the SUV.

I close the door, lean my head back and look up to the heavens.

I say a quick prayer to anyone who’s listening because it is going to take a miracle to save me from myself tonight.

I climb into Hunter’s SUV and Lincoln closes the door behind me.

I look over to see Sadie’s knowing grin and she waggles her eyebrows like some romance novel hero.

“Not a word,” I say to her while buckling my seat belt.

Hunter chimes in from the driver’s seat.

“Not a word about what?” he asks while eyeing me in his rearview mirror.

Lincoln climbs in and shuts his door at the same time I say, “nothing.” I give Hunter a death glare in the rearview mirror.

He laughs and shakes his head while pulling out of our apartment complex.

The silence in the car that follows is excruciating.

It’s awkward as hell and you can cut the tension between Lincoln and me with a knife.

It’s stifling and making me more on edge.

When Lincoln’s fingers grazed against my arms, I swear the world stopped.

His presence and touch sent my nerve-endings haywire.

The reaction confused me but also lit me up like a firework.

What sent me over the edge was when he leaned in close, whispering I look beautiful.

His breath brushed against my ear, making my skin tingle and causing my heart to pound against my ribs.

I’m still trying to calm my erratic heartbeat when I abruptly blurt out “Could you turn on some music?”

I hear Sadie chuckle next to me, and I make a mental note to tell an extremely embarrassing story about her later tonight as payback.

“You got it,” Hunter says.

He hands Lincoln his phone cord from the center console.

“You can be DJ, Lincoln. I know how picky you are about your music.”

Lincoln grunts, but takes the cord from Hunter despite his lack of enthusiasm.

It only takes him a second before the opening chords of “Smoke a Little Smoke” by Eric Church fill the SUV.

He turns to set his phone on the center console, but not before looking back at me and giving me the smallest hint of a smile.

Does Lincoln Scott love himself a little Church too?

A man after my own heart.

I sink back into my seat and let the music calm my nerves.

Just when I’m about to get fully lost in the music, my phone buzzes in my hand, breaking the spell.

Sadie

You are so freaking screwed.