Page 39 of Coach Me (Boston Blues #2)

Lucie

Dex pulls back from our kiss to turn his head, but doesn’t step away. “We’re a little busy?—”

I lean around him and, much to my horror, see my sister standing at his door. “Reagan? What are you doing here?”

Dex whips his head to me as he processes that he just tried to tell my sister to leave because he wanted to finish our dry hump session. “Reagan…like?”

“Like, her sister,” Reagan finishes for him.

Dex gives me a small look as he lifts me off his desk to stand me back up. “Not the first impression I wanted to make,” he whispers in my ear.

When I let out a small giggle, Dex kisses my temple as if he just can’t help himself any time I laugh. It’s really sweet actually.

Reagan cuts through our moment again. “Well, I just thought I’d come grab that plant you sent me a picture of earlier this week. I want to get out of here before traffic gets bad.”

She’s here for the plant… She's here for the plant? !

She hasn’t talked to me all week, and yet she somehow manages to find me mid-makeout with Dex—because she wants his dying plant?

My spine snaps up—I’m finding my backbone today apparently. “Well, maybe answering my text would have been a better way to go about that, Rea. What were you going to do? Just take it out of his office without saying anything?”

“Maybe.” Reagan shrugs. “It would have been nice if you brought it to me instead.”

She has got to be joking right now. “You never even responded to my text about it! Why would I bring it to you?”

Reagan flinches back at my tone. “What’s your problem? You’re the one who’s made time to see Jensen this week and not me.”

“Yeah, Jensen actually answers my texts.”

The room goes deadly silent, and the sister tension is so very thick.

Dex clears his throat as he places his hand on the small of my back. “Why don’t I give you two a minute?”

I give him a small nod and whisper, “Thank you.”

“I’ll be in my meeting, but text me if you need me.” He kisses my temple again, then gives Reagan a curt nod as he walks past.

With the click of his office door, Reagan crosses her arms over her chest. “Well, I can say I definitely didn’t expect to walk in on that little pregame.”

I sigh. “What’s that supposed to mean, Rea?”

“I’m just saying, as your older sister, I’m surprised that you are now dating your boss. Plus, didn’t you say he was super standoffish at the beginning of all this? I mean, good for you if the sex is good, but keep your expectations low, Luce. This could just be a convenience thing for him.”

She’s not serious, she can’t be.

“You came here, not to see me, but to steal a plant, act like it’s completely my fault for also not seeing you, then you throw a backhanded comment like that?”

Reagan waves her hand. “That’s not what I meant to do, but come on, Luce—have you really thought this through?

He was divorced, what, seven months ago?

Seven months to his nearly five-year marriage.

Not to mention the marriage that includes their child…

who you nanny and are supposed to start homeschooling. ”

Okay, I get how Dex’s divorce seems like it could be an issue from her perspective, but with what Dex has told me actually happened between him and Kate, I don’t feel like I’m this rebound or means to make her jealous.

Granted, I can’t tell her any of that. Dex told me that in confidence, and I won’t betray that.

“Rea, don’t you think that if Dex wasn’t a good fit for me, that Will would have said something?”

Reagan snorts a sarcastic laugh. “Will’s got rose-colored glasses now that he’s with Callie. He’s still in that blinded-by-love phase. Does he even know about you two?”

Shoot, I can’t say with confidence that he does. I mean, everything is so new between us, but I still think Will would have said something. He’s bound to at least be suspicious.

Will’s never even mentioned anything bad about Dex ever actually. Boss or potential boyfriend, Will would have said something to me if he thought I was getting into something messy.

“That’s not the point?—”

“It is the point, actually,” Reagan huffs.

“Listen, I’ m saying this as your older sister, as the person who has always looked out for you.

Sweet angel sister Lucie sometimes doesn’t see the full picture, so it’s my job to do that for you.

If Dex is actually serious about you, then great, I’d love that for you.

But maybe you should also consider that you could be just a fling.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being a fling when feelings aren’t involved, but you and I know that’s already off the table for you. ”

Rage rolls through and out of my body. I could argue until I’m blue in the face, but it won’t change the words she’s already said.

“Just take the plant, okay? I don’t really want to talk about this with you if you’re not even going to listen to me.”

Reagan shrugs, then walks around to look out Dex’s window. “This view is awesome.”

“Reagan, seriously!” Okay, rage coming back.

Reagan doesn’t flinch or even change her casual tone. She looks completely uninterested in hearing anything I have to say, and that’s what’s hurting me the most.

“Look, I really don’t mean to be harsh, but I’m just looking out for you, Luce. We aren’t glued to each other’s hips anymore, but I’m still your older sister. If I can’t tell you the things you don’t want to hear, then who can?”

I scoff a breath. “Yeah, well, you’re wrong.”

Reagan finally steps back to me and rests her hands on my shoulders. “Maybe I am, but I also can’t help but think that this is why you’ve been avoiding me. You knew I’d see your feelings even though you know it could end badly and that I would point them out.”

I step back from her touch. “We just started this thing between us last night . Maybe you’re just being pessimistic.”

Reagan snorts. “Considering you just called it a ‘thing’ instead of clear terminology tells me enough already. You also didn’t develop these feelings overnight. I can’t tell you to be cautious if I don’t see it for myself.”

“Let’s not forget that you were the one who ditched me all week before I took this job, and it was you who didn’t return my text.”

Reagan folds her lips together. “I’ve been busy. You know that.”

You know what, egging this on will get me nowhere. “Just take the plant, Reagan.”

Reagan sighs. “I’m just looking out for you, Lucie. You know I love you, and I don’t want to see you lose the job you were excited for and get your heart broken at the same time.”

Her words cut through my chest. I see that point. I really do appreciate her wanting to look out for me, but her execution could have been so much better. “Thanks, I love you too, but in all fairness, just take the plant and go. Please.”

Reagan nods and turns to grab the pathetic little plant that looks about how I feel right now, then leaves without another word.

When the door clicks, my sanity snaps. I want to be angry at her and tell her she’s wrong about everything she said. I want to cry a little because I hate that, while I don’t like her words, could there possibly be any merit to them?

No, she’s wrong. I’m not a rebound or a fling. Granted, I don’t know entirely what I am. Part of me wants to walk right up to Dex and ask him straight up, “What are we, exactly?”

But we literally started this last night. I told him I could be patient. This has been my whole thing to begin with, letting Dex lead. Letting Reagan’s words affect me this much isn’t fair when I have no real reasons to believe her words either.

I’m patient, but not a pushover. Just because I don’t feel like I need to get an answer out of Dex right now, doesn’t mean I won’t ever ask him.

I take deep breaths before walking back over to Dex’s office chair. There’s no way I can walk around now, I’m too worked up to talk to anyone.

I reach for my canvas bag. Maybe finishing this turtle for Miles will help. It forces me to focus on something instead of Reagan’s words bouncing through my mind. Not to mention, it reminds me of the sole reason Dex and I are taking this one step at a time to begin with. Miles.

Growing up, our mom always said she never introduced us to any dates she went on because they were never serious. She never wanted to bring someone into our lives who wasn’t even thinking about staying.

I knew this would be complicated. I’m already so entangled in Miles’s life. I need to take it one step at a time. I can’t say how Miles would feel about me dating his dad. I have to trust that Dex knows the best way to handle this, because I am serious. I’m serious about both of them.

I get my stuff set back up and start my first loop when there’s a knock at the door. I swear, I won’t be able to handle another round with Reagan, and honestly, I’d prefer it not to be Dex either, with my brain feeling all twisted.

“Hey, Luce, can I come in?” Will’s voice comes from behind me.

I spin around in the chair to find him standing in the doorway. I have to blink my eyes a lot because my immediate reaction is to cry. I don’t know why—it’s the dad- effect, I guess. That safe feeling of knowing I can cry and he won’t judge me.

But I’m judging me. It takes quite a lot of willpower, but I swallow down enough emotion to speak. “You can come in, but don’t you dare hug me. I don’t want to cry.”

Will chuckles before stepping in and closing the door behind him. “You know, when Dex texted me asking to come check on you, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. But I did not think I’d find a grandma. Are you knitting?”

“I’m crocheting for Miles. I will never do this again.” I can’t form a full laugh yet, but a smile threatens my lips for a moment. “Dex texted you?”

“Yep, he said Reagan showed up, and I might want to come check on you.” Will picks up one of the small chairs and brings it around to the window. “Want to talk about it?”