Page 120 of Control Freak

I chewed my bottom lip. “He’s so considerate. He’s the best boyfriend. I’m not exactly suffering over here.”

“Maybe not. But this touch aversion of Holden’s doesn’t just affect him. It affects you too.”

The acknowledgment of that hit me hard. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because I’d been pushing down my feelings about it, so concerned with Holden that I didn’t process what everything meant to me.

“I love him,” I said shakily. “I don’t want anyone else. Not ever. But…”

“It’s hard,” Emory said.

I nodded. “He gives me so much more than my past relationships. In every way, he’s a better man, a better boyfriend. I’d never trade that in for anything else.”

“Of course not,” Emory said. “We can all see the love between you. But if you ever need someone to talk to about howyoufeel in all of this, I’m here for you. Holden has his therapist, and he has all his brothers. You need someone too.”

I leaned forward impulsively, hugging him. “Thank you.”

He patted my back. “You got a good one, Shy. But so did he. Don’t forget that.”

CHAPTER 29

Shiloh

Monday afternoon,I opened the break-room fridge at Riverton Grade School to pull out my lunch leftovers to take home with me.

I’d had a pretty amazing weekend after Holden took me out for a second dinner date. We’d stayed in bed most of the weekend, just exploring his limits—and mine. Not even the pleasure of his first blow job could distract him from driving me crazy for long. That manlovedtaking control of my pleasure.

I got lost in the pleasurable memories for a minute, staring into the fridge, my mind a million miles away.

“Hey, Shy,” Parker said, rudely pulling me back to reality. “Who were you filling in for today? I didn’t even see you.”

“Gym teacher.” I groaned as I straightened with my lunch bag. “Might have overdone it on the sit-ups. And the pull-ups. Not to mention the push-ups.” I sighed. I was in pretty decent shape for twenty-six, but apparently not enough to show off to a bunch of grade-schoolers without paying the price. “One of thekids said I couldn’t do as many as Mr. Carney, so I had toprovethat I could.”

Parker laughed, and so did the art teacher, Shelly Lockhart, who was rinsing out the coffeepot at the sink.

“I can’t believe you fell forthattrap,” Parker teased.

“I can’t believe they didn’t wrangleyouinto covering gym, Mr. Football Star.”

“Yeah, that ship sailed years ago. I’m probably softer than you.”

Ha. Not likely.

“But I could have covered your class,” I said with a playful pout. “Your kiddos love me.”

“Yeah, probably more than me,” he joked. “Especially because they had to do testing today.”

Shelly shuddered. “Ugh. Testing. It never ends.”

“That’s for sure.”

We grumbled about bureaucracy and school funding while we gathered our things. Parker walked into the hallway with me.

“You know, if you got hired properly, you wouldn’t have to cover gym class.”

“Anything to get out of gym,” I joked. “But, actually, I’m hoping to submit my formal application next week. I just have to make sure a few things are taken care of first.”

“Really? Don’t tease me now.”

“Yeah, I had to jump through a few hoops for licensing, but I should be ready.”