Page 25 of Stalked By the Assistant Coach

I had called Ryan when I woke up and told him he needed to get his ass to practice because I wasn’t going to be there. When he tried to argue with me, I told him I was cashing in the favor he’d said he owed me, and I wouldn’t be back to the field until Tuesday.

I was bound and determined to spend the entire three-day weekend my girl had by her side, and I was going to make sure I’d soak in every second I possibly could.

“I love you, too, bug.” One of her hands dropped and touched my bare chest. I knew without glancing down that she was tracing my tattoo.

“I can’t believe this is… well, you know… us.”

“It is,” I reassured her and dropped kisses all over her face. There wasn’t a square inch of her body I hadn’t had my mouth on. I’d made sure of it. From the moment I woke her up after making love to her the first time and throughout the day. I had no idea how I had been able to keep my hands off her for so long. Now that I knew what she felt like, not touching her, not being around her would more than likely kill me.

“Your house is beautiful,” she mentioned, and I nodded as I scanned to the one-story ranch house.

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat. Nerves started to prickle at the back of my neck.

“You haven’t given me the grand tour,” she pointed out, and I shrugged. Those nerves just grew inside of me. I hated the guilt that ate at my gut. The fear that felt heavy at the thought of her finding the room I had locked up tight.

“It’s not much,” I muttered. “The guest rooms are plain white and empty.”

“Except for your office?” I nodded, trying to keep my expression as neutral as possible. How the hell had I worn a mask of indifference for almost twenty years, and now, after one day, I had no clue how the hell to keep a hold on it?

Earlier, when I’d been making lunch, she was in the kitchen with me and said she needed to use the bathroom. I hadn’t thought anything of it until she came back and mentioned she got lost and asked about the locked door.

“I didn’t know college playbooks were so top secret,” she teased, but I couldn’t bat away the anxiety that crept up.

“Yeah.” I'd kissed her temple. “Secret.” Secret was the obsession she didn’t know I had.

That anxiety I tried to mask mounted inside of me. What would happen if she ever saw the things I’d taken from her? If she ever looked at the pictures I had printed and pinned up like wallpaper in the room?

Would she run out of here?

Go to the police?

Push me away?

You’d lose her, a voice mumbled in my ear. And those were the innocent things I’d done. What if she ever found out about the way I had breached her privacy for my own satisfaction?

I was more than aware of when you had everything, you had everything to lose.

My arms banded tighter around her, and she smiled brighter as she leaned in and rested her head against my shoulder. She thought I was being cute, when in reality, I was terrified of fucking losing her.

“Did you really give Principal Brewer season tickets to keep an eye on me?” My body locked tight for a split second. I’d confessed that the day before. I was fine.

“You’re mine, bug,” I huffed, “Did you really think I would leave Beech Grove without making sure someone was letting me know how you really were?”

“I don’t know. I thought… you didn’t really come back after that last visit,” she said quietly as her hand started to doodle along my chest. I was finally able to talk to her honestly. Openly.

About everything but what’s in that room, a little voice in my head reminded me. I tried to sweep the thought away, but it was always near.

“It was too hard, Kait. Being that close to you and—" I shook my head. “Being that close to you and having to leave and not bring you back here, it about killed me." I had no idea how I managed the truth, but I did. Her dark eyes peeked up at me without leaving her spot on my shoulder.

“You’re as hopeless as I am.” She smiled easily, but she had no idea.

I was leaps and bounds more hopeless than her.

My love and feelings for her had surpassed an obsession. She lifted her head and touched my face, I leaned into it. I couldn’t get enough of it. She’d touched me throughout our friendship, but it had been small ones here and there along with shy glances and sweet smiles. But this was different. So much more beautiful than I could have ever hoped for.

“I probably shouldn’t ask this… but…”

“What?” My voice sounded hoarse.