I actually held back in part to see what Brooke would do. Would she call me and ask to get together? I have to admit, the fact she didn’t dinged my ego a bit. She’s totally into sex with me, there’s no doubt. But maybe she’s just too shy to initiate? Or maybe once a week is good for her or something? Or perhaps she needs something more from me before she gives it up, and that right there would definitely mean we were in a relationship.
I guess.
Not sure.
Regardless, we lost three days we could have been getting to know each other to help solidify this ruse. Even more important, due to inaction on both our parts, we lost out on a whole lot of great sex. Now we’re both getting ready to walk together in front of the entire team and eyebrows are going to be shooting skyward everywhere.
This is going to be especially so, since just last night, a large group of the players—including significant others—met for dinner and drinks. I did not ask Brooke, although I thought about it quite a bit. In the end, I just sort of chickened out putting off the inevitable awkwardness that would come with questions when we were seen together.
The player and the coach’s daughter.
It was going to be portrayed like a fucking episode of the Kardashians, and there were going to be questions upon questions from everyone.
Speaking of which, I better bring Brooke up to speed. “So…there was a get-together last night. A bunch of the players and their wives and girlfriends.”
“Okay,” she drawls.
“Well…we didn’t go together,” I add as I reach the door and open it for her.
“That would be a true statement,” she replies tartly as she walks through and I follow.
I reach out, grab her hand, and pull her off to the side. A few of the players and their guests come in, casting curious glances at Brooke and me. “People are going to wonder why you weren’t there last night, so I figure we should get our stories straight.”
“You’re just now worrying about us having our stories straight?” she asks with a cocked eyebrow. “Right before we’re walking into a team event together as a couple for the first time?”
I ignore the pointed jab. “So what should we say to people who might ask why you didn’t come out last night?”
“Tell them the truth,” she says with a casual shrug. “I was working.”
“You were working?” I repeat dumbly.
“Yeah…I was working.”
“Why would you be working at night?” I ask her, now completely interested in her on a different level. “You’re assistant to the director of team services. I know exactly what that job entails, and I doubt it’s much more than a forty-hour-a-week job.”
Brooke’s chin tucks in and she crosses her arms defensively over her chest. “I suggest you not malign my job if you want this relationship to last more than the next ten seconds.”
I’m duly chagrined, but before I can apologize or explain my curiosity in a more tactful way, she continues. “As it happens, I’m also working part-time in the merchandising department. There wasn’t a position available when I first applied, and yes, they did create this job for me as an accommodation to my dad, but it’s not what I’d like to be doing with my time. My background is in merchandising, and I’m hoping I can slide full-time over there.”
Now that’s interesting. “Merchandising. What does that mean? Did you go to school for it?”
Her eyebrow arches higher. “Seriously, Bishop? You want to get my life story down right now?”
Okay, so perhaps I should have put in some more effort this week getting to know her rather than obsessing about sex with her and waiting for her to call me like a petulant kid.
I blow out a long breath. “Okay…sorry. We should have made some time this week to discuss these things.”
“Yes, you should have,” she says, throwing a tiny jab of her own.
I hold my hands up. “Whoa, I didn’t see you reaching out to me. You know, you’re the one that got us into this mess. Why didn’t you call me and ask that we get together to discuss these things?”
Brooke’s eyes flash with amusement rather than the anger I thought I’d get. Her arms drop, only for her finger to come up and poke me lightly in the chest. “Because I know your idea of a get-together and mine are two totally different things. You made it clear that you want the sex benefits, and I didn’t want to call you and have you thinking that’s all I was after.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that,” I assure her.
Another cock of the eyebrow. Damn, she’s not believing much of what I say.
“Look,” I say softly as I step in closer to her. I snag her hand and bring it up between us, squeezing it gently. “Let’s get through dinner and we’ll stay for a bit to be sociable. But then let’s get out of here and go somewhere and talk. We can go to a coffee shop or something, okay?”