Page 11 of Coach Me (Boston Blues #2)

Dex

Hiring regret isn’t exactly a thing I thought I would have to deal with. Regrets on plays I’ve made over the years? Sure. Questionable life choices? Just look at the divorce papers.

But the immediate hiring regret I feel when the ray of sunshine that is Lucie Anderson walks through my office this morning is at the top of the list.

“Good morning,” she beams as she knocks on the open door to my office.

It’s eight in the fucking morning. I get that the sun is up, but I fear she shines brighter. Her long blonde hair falls over her shoulders, and while she wears simple black leggings and a slightly oversized Blues T-shirt, she looks every bit of…off-fucking-limits.

I give her a curt nod to the chair. When she sits down she takes a sip of some weird green-looking drink.

“What the hell is that?”

Lucie tilts her head, looking at the drink. “A coconut green juice. I wasn’t sure about the order, but, eh, it tastes a lot better than it sounds…and looks.” She shrugs before taking another sip.

“You mean you just randomly ordered a green juice?”

Hell, have I hired a health nut? I’m struggling to get Miles to eat as is.

“Relax, Dex, I’m not going to be forcing green juice on you.” Lucie chuckles. “I’ve never had one, so I thought I’d try it.”

“Well, if you could get Miles on that train, that would be great because he’s been fighting me on food for months now.”

Lucie takes another sip of her drink and nods. “Got it, I’ll see what I can do. Where is the hotshot anyway?”

“Beck took him for a ride on one of the team’s razors. I thought our conversation might go a little smoother without the many interruptions.”

Lucie messaged me one question last night: what time do you need me at the stadium?

I know I practically ambushed her with the offer yesterday, and with the instant hiring regret gnawing on my brain right now, I think offering one more out might be fair…

just not sure if I’m offering it for me or for her.

“Look, if you want to back out of this, I get it?—”

“I don’t,” Lucie cuts me off. “Dex, I get that this is a lot, but I do want this job. And I asked Callie for your team email, so my official pay request is in your inbox. My business-minded sister has drilled into my head that everything needs a paper trail, and a text felt a little informal.”

“Kind of like my interview?” The dry joke tumbles out of me.

Lucie’s face softens with a hint of a smile on her face. “Yeah, kind of like your interview. ”

This was a horrible idea and I’m putting her smile as reason number one.

Clearing my throat, I shuffle in my chair. Who am I kidding? Between her age and the fact that she’s one of my player’s sisters, those are the only things that need to be on my list.

“Okay, I know this is fast-paced, so stop me when you have questions. We’re leaving for Phoenix on Sunday night. I’ll have the team assistant, Shannon, send over the full schedule and itineraries for the team. You can also move some stuff in tomorrow before we leave.”

“Sounds good. Anything I need to know about Miles, like allergies, medical things to watch for?”

“No, Miles is pretty healthy, despite wanting to fight me on every meal of the day that doesn’t involve sweets.”

“Can’t fault him for that, I love a sweet treat.

” Lucie chuckles and tucks her hair behind her ears.

“Like you said, we’re going at an extremely fast pace.

I know getting a routine will come. I looked into some of the requirements for homeschooling last night, but we have some time there so I thought we could talk about that later, but is there anything else I need to know? ”

That Olsson’s “no fraternizing rule” might be lax, but mine’s not.

“In the paperwork Shannon will give you, she has a list of all the emergency contacts and my schedule specifically. Miles can pretty much go anywhere in the stadium, but some meetings and events aren’t exactly the best times for him to be running around.”

“Got it.” Lucie nods again, but then her eyes light up. “Oh, I forgot to ask what you thought about turtles?”

What the fuck? “Turtles? ”

“Yeah, I had turtles in my classroom. They’re a hit with the kids, so I thought Miles might like them too since I’ll technically also be his teacher.”

“No, no turtles.” I shake my head. She’s lost her mind.

Or maybe I have, because when her shoulders drop and she nibbles on her bottom lip, I ask, “With the schedule we have, who’s going to feed them? They’d starve.”

Lucie straightens back up. “So my turtles are actually old enough that they only need to eat every few days, and I have an automatic feeder that I would use on our longer breaks. They come home during the summer, but ya know, things have changed.”

I don’t need turtles in my penthouse. No matter how pretty Lucie is. I. Don’t. Need. Turtles.

“Also, Callie might have already mentioned to Miles that I have turtles.”

“Fucking Callie.” I run my hand over my face. I can’t seriously be considering this. “Can I think on it?”

That seemingly innocent smile dares Lucie’s lips again. “Yeah, of course.”

“Anything else I need to think about? So far, you’ve come in with green juice and turtles.”

Lucie snorts an adorable laugh, it sounds so warm and easy—I want to hear it again already. Yep, that’s reason number two on my list.

Lucie looks at me. “Remember when you said you were desperate?”

I’m so fucking desperate.

“Lucie!” Miles exclaims as he bursts through the doorway. “Are you really going to be my teacher? Daddy said that you were going to talk about it.”

Miles is practically hanging off the arm of Lucie’s chair, talking ninety miles a minute. When Beck finally makes his way in my office, Lucie doesn’t even spare him a glance because she’s giving all her attention to Miles.

“It looks like it. That is, if you’re okay with it?”

Miles nods his head eagerly. “Oh yeah, I’d love for you to be my teacher! And my nanny. Oh! Does this mean we get your turtles in our classroom?”

I’m going to kill Callie.

When I open my mouth to tell my son that I’m thinking about it, Lucie speaks first. “I’m not quite sure yet. I might let some other students have my turtles, but either way, I promise we’ll still have a fun time learning. Plus, we get to have a traveling classroom which is so cool, don’t ya think?”

“So cool!”

Miles doesn’t even flinch at the idea that he might not get to see Lucie’s turtles—but internally, I do. Lucie responded to that so effortlessly, and what gets me the most is that she didn’t once put the blame on me and my hesitations.

She could and probably should have. It is on me, really, but that’s not what she said. She made it sound so good that Miles didn’t even mind the idea that we might not have them and put zero of the well-deserved fault on me.

Finally pushing off from Lucie’s chair, Miles moves to the edge of my desk.

“Dad, are you done talking now? Can I show Lucie around the stadium?”

“Yes, you can, but can you do me a huge favor and take Lucie by Miss Shannon’s office first? She has some papers for her.”

Miles crinkles his nose. “Do I have to? Miss Shannon’s kind of grumpy. ”

Beck chuckles as he leans against my door frame. “So that’s the kid version of she’s kind of a bit?—”

“Okay,” Lucie cuts him off. “Miles, I would love for you to take me around the stadium. It doesn’t matter if Shannon’s grumpy, her mood doesn’t affect ours.”

“I guess, but she’s still not very fun.”

Miles very much has a point. Our team assistant isn’t exactly the easiest to get along with, but she does her job. “Just a quick stop in there and Lucie will be with you for the rest of the day.”

“Awesome!” Miles yells. “Can we still come see you sometimes, though?”

“Of course you can, just have Lucie text me to find out where I’m at, okay?”

Miles whips his head to Lucie then back to me. “Okay, we’ll probably do that later. We have a very busy day today.”

“Oh, well…squeeze me in where you can, please,” I mock softly.

Another small laugh comes from Lucie as she stands, placing her hand on Miles’s shoulder. “I’m sure there’s extra time in there somewhere.” Lucie looks to me next. “I’ll keep you updated.”

I nod. “Please.”

Lucie’s pink lips turn up slightly, but then she turns back to Miles. “So, should we get started?”

Miles beams like he’s on cloud nine. “Yes!”

“Dex is really throwing you in head first, isn’t he, Lucie?” Beck says as they leave my office. I knew that fucker wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut.

Lucie waves her hand. “I’m sure there’s a baseball pun in there somewhere, Beck. I’ll let you think about it. For now, I’ve got a tour to get to. ”

Without another glance back at either myself or Beck, Lucie follows Miles right out.

“So, I see you hired a nanny,” Beck teases. The cocky prick has that stupid cheesy smile on his face that he uses on all of the reporters.

“Don’t start.”

“What? I was just stating?—”

Please. I know this fucker too well. “Beck, we’ve been friends for six years—don’t start.”

Beck takes the seat Lucie just vacated and holds his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. I’ll drop it…for now. I think we all know the romantic in me won’t let it go. Don’t think I didn’t see your eyes watch her as she walked away.”

Why am I friends with him again? “The romantic in you has no place here. Lucie’s my employee now.”

“Oh, but when you say it like that, it only makes it sound so much hotter.”

“Get out of my office.”

I turn in my chair to check for the email from said employee. Scanning her email, it's written out so professionally. Her pay request definitely seems like she’s lowballing, but I’ll just add to it later when I actually have time to read this email thoroughly.

I’ll admit, Lucie may be twelve years younger than me, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel like it.

“I think someone else is grumpy too.” Beck stands from the chair and raids the mini fridge in my office for water. “You coming for a morning workout?”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Pushing my chair back, Beck tosses me a water as I round my desk.

“Let’s go. It’ll help you work out some sexual frustration.”