Page 109 of Timelessly Ours
“I don’t know what you mean.” There is zero innocence in the way she claims it.
Which ticks me off even more.
“I mean you avoiding me all night by talking to literally every player on the team,” I snap.
She smirks. “You kept track?”
“Shamelessly,” I admit, glancing back at Rory in the backseat, sound asleep. “I thought I made it clear, you’re not my dirty little secret. You didn’t need to talk to guys tonight just to prove there’s nothing going on between us.”
She blinks, staring out the window. The wheels in her head spinning and I’m not even sure she hears me.
“Nicole.”
“Hmm?”
Glancing in my rearview mirror, I pull the car to a stop on the side of the road and zoom in on her. “What’s going on?”
“What’s Carter’s deal? He’s a little quiet, no? Has he always been quiet?”
I take a moment to answer. My insecurities—the ones I refused to feel ever again when it came to women—spiking. “Carter?” I ask sharply.
Carter Hayes is quiet. He’s also the newest in the team. A rookie last year but not someone I would ever think to be Nicole’s type. "He’s like nineteen."
“He’s twenty-three, was born in Brooklyn, has two sisters, and just moved in with his high school sweetheart.”
My brows shoot up. “You know all this from one conversation?”
Her eyes shift down and to the side. “Or was it Peters who has the two sisters?”
“What?”
“Oh and did you know Garret grew up without a father? Or that he had one close by but left and started a new family or something…” She scratches her chin, trying to remember.
I did know that. I know a lot about the team’s family background. It’s how I knew about her. But I’m not in the mood for life stories. “Nicole.”
“But he’s hoping to rekindle that relationship—tell ya, that guy is a talker once—” She glances at me as if snapping out of it. “Why are we stopped? Shit. Did we get pulled over? Let me do the talking.”
“No, I pulled us over, Nicole. And you’ve got five seconds to catch me up to where your head is before I snap.”
Biting her lip, she waits just about six seconds—because of the spiteful little minx she is—then takes a breath to explain. “The guys told me that you suspect someone on the team may be sabotaging the games.”
My head falls back in the seat and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Anyway…when I found out the whole team was going to Bridges, I knew it could be a good opportunity to get to know the players on a more personal level. I tried to at the executive suite last week, but everyone was too stiff there. No one was drinking because of the VIPs attending. But today, whoever it was, should be in a visibly different mood than everyone else. I have a skill in reading people. I can help you find out who it is…and why.”
I blow a breath into my fist. “So you’re not interested in a younger man?”
Understanding settles in and her lips spread into a grin. “You’re the only man I’ll ever want.”
The way I burn for this woman.
“I’m still angry with you,” I tease, pulling her in for a soft kiss as she rides me slowly.
She nibbles on the corner of her lip, her forehead still pressed to mine. “I think I like angry Coach in bed.”
I jerk her harder onto my cock and glide my hands over her bare ass. “I didn’t take you for a girl who likes to be spanked.”
“Neither did I…but apparently…”