bruised.
Being back with the girls was a huge lift to my mood.
Jessica had been on the team for three years. We had started at the same time and she was easy to get along with. She was also insanely beautiful and talented and looked way better in her uniform than I did. “You look amazing,” I said. The contrast of the white uniform with her dark skin tone was stunning. “I feel like I’ve gained five pounds. My gut looks enormous and I have no tan.”
“Thanks,” she said. “But don’t downplay yourself. You look amazing, too. There is no gut, sorry.”
Liana, who was only nineteen, shook her poms at us and changed the subject. “That new coach is so hot.”
“Shouldn’t you be looking at players, not the coach?” Jessica asked. “A couple of those rookies are like twenty-two years old. That’s your lane, honey.”
“I have a daddy thing,” Liana said with a grin.
“Who’s the new coach?” I asked, curious. I had paid zero attention to what was going on with the team, having been super preoccupied with starvation and the prospect of having to move back in with my parents.
“Are you for real?” Jessica asked. “How can you not know that? He got hired toward the end of last season after we sucked so hard. He’s in his thirties, used to play professionally.”
I couldn’t explain a lot of things about my life, frankly.
“Brandon Macnamara,” Liana said dreamily.
Brandon? Ugh. That was annoying. Now all season I had to be reminded of the Brandon that had gotten away.
“He was the assistant offensive coordinator in Seattle,” Jessica said.
Hold on. Seattle? That was where my Brandon had moved from.
Well. Not my Brandon. Not my Brandon at all. Just briefly, when he had been inside me, but not since that one night. He couldn’t possibly be the head coach. That would be… crazy.
Then Jessica pushed Liana back. “Oh, time to go, girls.”
Teri was in front of us giving the go-ahead.
We ran out onto the field and down the sidelines, cheering and waving our hands. I fell into formation, my heart racing with adrenaline. I needed to catch a glimpse of the coach, but I couldn’t see that far down the sideline. But then I saw the jumbo screen, where they were showing the coaching staff.
He had a baseball hat with the team logo on, and his head was down, so I couldn’t see his face at all. But that body looked familiar. Right height, same broad shoulders. I was so fixated on the screen, I almost missed a cue but I pulled it together. Dancing was second nature to me. It didn’t need my entire focus.
Which was how I was able to not miss a beat when the new coach, Brandon Macnamara, lifted his head on the screen.
It was him.
Carriage rescue man.
Hater.
Giver of multiple orgasms.
I would have given anything in the universe to walk thirty yards over to him and demand an explanation for the fake number, but that was obviously impossible.
So instead I was forced to jump and kick and cheer the whole time knowing that the man I had spent the last six months fantasizing about was within reach. The only thing between us was a few suited-up football players and the water boy.
The first two quarters lasted approximately nine hundred hours. It was brutal. I was pinning everything on halftime. I needed a drink of water and five minutes alone in a bathroom stall to google the crap out of Brandon Macnamara. I wanted to know if he had a girlfriend and otherwise torture myself with details about him.
Finally, after half my life, the players ran past us to the locker room.
The coaching staff followed. Normally, I paid them zero attention, but my heart was racing and my throat was tight as I did our cheer. I was terrified I was going to be in a turn when Brandon walked past. I wanted to see him.
Fortunately, I wasn’t facing the stands but directly at him when he walked past, studying his laminated chart in his hand, pushing his headset up and away from his mouth. I gave a high kick.
When my leg was dropping back down, I realized he had glanced at me, then looked away. Damn it. He either hadn’t seen me or he didn’t recognize me. That would be mortifying. I shook my hips. Brandon did a double take almost immediately. It was like his brain had needed two seconds to process he had seen me. His eyes widened and