Page 37 of Coach Me (Boston Blues #2)

Dex

This might be the first time I’ve woken up with a damn smile on my face. A naked Lucie, all wrapped up in her yellow sheets, lies next to me, still fast asleep. I check my phone on her nightstand for the time—shit, this is also the first time since Miles was born that I’ve slept until nine.

I gently slide over to her and wrap her up in my arms. She makes a little satisfied noise as her body molds to mine.

“Good morning.” She sighs.

I place a small kiss at the crook of her neck. “Good morning, baby.”

Lucie rolls over with a sleepy smile on her face. “Last night was…”

When she trails off, a small pit forms in my stomach that she might finish it with a “one night” situation, but that’s not what this is. I want to establish that now.

I cup her face. “Was really great and will continue to be really great.”

Lucie’s smile grows before snuggling on my chest with a yawn. “Sounds good to me, Coach. ”

I trace small, inconsistent circles up and down Lucie’s side as she tangles her legs around mine.

“What time do we have to get out of this bed?”

Before I can even answer, my phone vibrates on the dresser. I hold one arm around Luce so she doesn’t even think to try to pull away while I grab it, but when I see who’s calling, I sit straight up. Lucie lets out a little yelp at my full change in position.

“Shit. Kate’s FaceTiming me to talk to Miles.”

Lucie laughs. “Okay. Your clothes are on the floor. Go talk to Miles. I’m going to freshen up, then start some breakfast.”

I let out a small exhale as Lucie rolls out of the bed, seemingly unbothered by my panicked tone. It’s not that I’m worried about what anyone else thinks, but I can’t exactly answer the phone like this to talk to my five-year-old.

Throwing on my shorts and shirt, I answer the moment I step out into the hall, then walk as quickly as possible away from Lucie’s door while it’s connecting. If Kate is with Miles, I know she’ll be looking around for any signs of what happened between Lucie and me last night.

Not that I care about her thoughts, but Miles is the priority. I have zero clue how to explain to him that I think I could be in love with his nanny when he still gets confused about why his mom doesn’t live with us anymore.

“Hi, Daddy,” Miles says the moment his face pops up on the screen.

“Hey, bud, good morning.” I let out a sigh when I don’t see Kate, but then she slides into frame.

“Hey, Dex, took you a while to answer. Surely you weren’t still sleeping.” Her head tilts to the side, and I can tell her eyes are scanning her screen .

When she realizes I’m in the living room, she leans slightly out of view. The thing with Kate is that this jealousy isn’t exactly about me; it’s more that she thinks Lucie is excelling in something she didn’t.

But based on the way Lucie laughed and smiled—even though I was trying to get out of her room like a bat out of hell—I don’t think Lucie sees this as a competition. It’ll take some time, but I think Kate will be able to see it too.

I fall back on the couch, and instead of giving Kate’s little comment a direct response, I remind her that I am indeed kid-free right now. “How was your night, Miles? Wake up bright and early like usual?”

“Yep,” Miles and Kate respond at the same time.

Miles picks up the phone and brings it really close to his face. “I had the craziest dream last night, Daddy. It was wild! So, I dreamed that Pip and Pop grew huge! Like monster truck big, and…”

I nod along as Miles begins to tell me the longest dream I’ve ever heard. At some point, it definitely felt like he was more wanting to hear himself talk than actually telling me about the dream he had.

“And then Lucie showed up, and she was dressed up like a princess.” Miles tilts his head to the side. “Where is Lucie, Daddy?”

I open my mouth to tell him she’s in her room, but before I can, Lucie walks into the living room. I can’t stop the smile that comes to my face.

Her long blonde hair falls over her shoulders in soft waves—all signs of it being mussed from hands running through it last night are gone. Unfortunately, no longer wearing my clothes, but instead some black leggings and one of her Blues crewnecks .

“She just walked into the living room. Do you want to say hi?”

“Yes, please!” Miles beams.

Lucie chuckles and walks around to lean over into the frame from behind the couch. “Hey, Miles.”

“Hi Lucie, do you want to hear about my dream?”

Oh great, we’ll be on this phone for hours.

“You know, I would love to Miles, but what about you save it for our plane ride tomorrow? I always get so bored, and I bet your dream is very entertaining.”

“Oh, good idea. Maybe Callie will want to listen too. It’ll be like story time!”

Lucie laughs. “That sounds perfect. I’m going to make breakfast, so you can finish talking to your dad, okay?”

“Okie, can you give Pip and Pop some strawberries? Tell them it’s from me!”

“You know I will. Enjoy your time with your mom.”

Miles yells bye to Lucie, Kate pulls the phone back from Miles, and sets it back to where she’s in the frame. “She stayed the night?”

Her catty tone thankfully isn’t one I think Miles completely understands yet.

“She lives here,” I respond, keeping my tone free of any emotion.

“She does, Mommy. Lucie has her own room and everything. Her room is close to mine because she helps take care of me when Daddy’s working. What is it that Lucie is again?”

“A nanny,” I mutter.

Fuck.

Miles continues on with each word, making my guilt weigh about ten tons .

“Right! Lucie’s my nanny. She’s also supposed to be my teacher when school starts.

She said we’ll have lessons and fun experiments.

We already have a lot of fun together, but—” Miles’s head whips to his mom.

“Do you think Lucie can come here with me since you work too? Or you could come to Daddy, and then Lucie can help while you and Daddy work.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Kate’s mouth opens, but she doesn’t say anything. She simply looks to me like a deer caught in headlights.

Fuck! I don’t know how to respond either, but I know I can’t explain again why his mom and dad don’t live together anymore over the phone.

“Miles, we’ll talk about that more tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.” Miles shrugs.

If we can move on from this topic for now, I can think of ways to explain it better and have a more productive conversation when I’m with him.

But then Kate finally speaks. “Lucie also only works for your dad, Miles. She’s his employee .”

Motherfucker. She said that more for me than anyone.

Miles tilts his head. “What’s an employee?”

Kate doesn’t miss a beat this time. “That means it’s someone your dad pays. He is her boss, and being your nanny is her job as the employee.”

Yep, that’s fucking helpful. “Okay, well, I need to get ready to head to the stadium. Miles, you can call me before the game, and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.” Miles beams. “Have a good game, I love you.”

“I love you too, bud.” I don’t want to give Kate any room to say anything else, so I remind Miles of how much he loves to press that red button. “Why don’t you hang up?—”

The FaceTime ends abruptly—yep, that’s a five-year-old for ya.

I toss my phone to the other side of the couch. Leaning back, I run my hands over my face.

Fuck, how do I approach this? I don’t want to fuck this up with her, nor do I want to fuck up my kid any more than I already have.

Walking into the kitchen, Lucie gives me a soft smile as she cuts up some strawberries. “I was thinking of making a yogurt bowl. Do you want one?”

I clear my throat. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Lucie walks around the island, and just when I think she’s headed for the fridge, she’s in front of me and her hands land softly on my face. “Dex, I’m patient. It’s one of the few things I’m very sure of about myself.”

I let out a small sigh of relief. Of course she knew what I needed to hear. “I like you, Lucie, I need you to know that. I also need you to know that it’s not the divorce that gives me pause, it’s?—”

“It’s Miles, and how Miles handled and will continue to handle the divorce. Dex, I’ll repeat myself—I’m patient. You telling me how you feel about me…and with last night…it's enough for now. I don’t mind finding these moments with you while you navigate this.”

God, I’m falling so fucking hard for the nanny.

“Luce?”

She looks up to me with a blush tinting her cheeks. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for telling me to get over myself that night. I like having you on my team.” I place a kiss on her forehead .

Lucie’s breath catches for a moment. “I like being on your team. Thank you for trusting me to join.”

“So someone’s in a better mood today.” Beck appears next to me on the field with a stupid cocky grin on his face.

I’ve been in the bullpen helping the guys warm up for the past couple hours, but the moment I stepped on to this field, I should have known the nosy asshole would find me.

Yeah, my mood is definitely better. After our talk in the kitchen and breakfast together on the balcony, I pulled Lucie into the shower with me…then we may have also had a quickie on the couch before I left for the stadium.

If we’re working on moments we have together right now, then I’m going to take advantage of them. Lucie may be patient, but that doesn’t mean I should let her think there isn’t something to be patient for.

“Go away, Beck.” I’m trying to come off short, but I fail.

“You know…you really should be nicer to me. Here I am, concerned about your well-being. I walked by the bullpen and saw you actually talking to Jordan, while not looking like you wanted to kill him or yourself. Want to tell me what that’s about? Are you sick?”

“That’s not the question you want to ask.” I laugh.

“Holy shit, you’re laughing? I guess I got my answer. Damn it, Tripp and I owe Adam fifty bucks.”

I snap my head to him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Beck gives me that cocky grin. “We might have had a little pool going on when you would finally get over yourself and be with Lucie.”

Adam comes up next with two bats in his hand, then tosses one to Beck. “You got my money?”

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

“You all seriously bet on this?”

“Obviously. I needed one more month of you holding out. Actually, I thought you’d need more time to win over Lucie…

she’s all happy. You’re kind of an asshole sometimes.

” Beck tosses his bat around mindlessly.

“Even though I feel like it’s unfair now.

I knew Anderson would be fine with it, but I didn’t expect him to give his fucking stamp of approval. ”

Adam gives an arrogant hmph . “I may have casually reminded him of how obvious he was in the beginning. Worked like a damn charm. I expect cash from you and Tripp.”

Beck scoffs. “Dude, you fucking cheater.”

“What the fuck, you guys?” I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Does Will know you all bet on his sister? He may not care about me, but?—”

Adam laughs again. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you the money if you go tell Will that we made a bet about you hooking up with his sister, and it’s over now.”

Yeah, no, not doing that.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m okay with Callie and Will, but I don’t ask fucking questions.” Adam puts his helmet on his head. “I’m gonna go hit a few. Daines—cash only.”

Beck waves him off, then claps my shoulder. “The one and only time I’m happy I’ve lost a bet. Don’t fuck it up.”

“I don’t plan to.” I can’t. I won’t .

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

Lucie

It felt too weird not being at the stadium. I’m going to finish up these turtles for Miles in your office.

Are you in my office now?

Yeah, is that okay? I can go to Callie’s if you need me to.

Don’t you dare.

I start to walk to the dugout so I can go meet her, but then Beck calls for me.

“Hey, Dex, the pitching machine keeps getting jammed. Why don’t you come out of retirement for a minute and throw some?”

My knee-jerk reaction is no, but then I think about Lucie watching me from my office. I was her favorite player, right?

“Alright, hold on,” I holler back to Beck.

Fucker probably thought I’d say no, but I pull my phone back out.

Bring my chair over by the window if you want to see your favorite player throw some pitches.