Page 4 of Stalked By the Assistant Coach

“Not really. No.” She was lying. That made me sit up straighter.

“Oh.” I felt my brows bunch. “What are you doing?” I pressed and watched as she settled deeper into the couch. If she wasn’t careful, she would fall asleep there, and I knew from watching her would end up with a crick in her neck the next day.

“Not much. Just lying around and reading.”

“No, I meant this weekend.” Come visit me. The words were on the tip of my tongue. Hell, they always were. But I could never spit them out.

I shut my eyes for a moment as I thought about the house I had fixed up and built for her. It was almost ready. I wanted things perfect, but that meant getting rid of the space I was in. There was no way I could risk her seeing the fucking room that was all but a god damn shrine to her. I stood and turned the lights on to soak in the space. Pictures of her, of us, were printed and thumbtacked to the walls. Countless pictures. Hundreds, if not thousands.

A lifetime of pictures of us together because my obsession had never gone away, never tempered down. Hell no, it had only grown.

“I might go out. I’m not really sure.”

“With?”

“What is this, an integration?”

“You used to tell me everything.”

“And you used to…” Her voice drifted off, and I watched her contemplate what she had been about to say.

“I used to what, bug?”

“I wish…”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She faked a smile even though she had no idea I couldn’t see her. “I’m sorry. I’m moody, Red. I’m just tired. It was a long day. Do you mind if we talk later?”

“Sure. Umm?—"

“Okay. Take care, bye.” And with that, Kait was the first to end a call in eighteen years. She hung up on me.

Go to her, you dumbass! a voice shouted. A voice I used to be good at ignoring, but fuck, it was getting harder and harder to do. I watched as she stared at her phone before she set it down. Her hand rose to her neck, and she licked her lips before sitting back on the couch. A look flashed over her face, a look I knew. My hand dropped to my lap, and I stroked myself to completion as I watched my beautiful girl play with herself after talking to me.

I had no doubt how she felt about me.

I never had.

I knew she cared.

I knew she found me attractive.

That was the beautiful thing about Kaitlyn. Everything she felt was always splashed out over her face. My girl wore her heart on her sleeve, and maybe because of that, I’d been the asshole who had taken advantage of it by waiting. Of keeping her in my life close but always with a hand up between us, stopping us from taking it to another level.

I’d had my reasons.

When I claimed her, I wanted everything I could possible offer ready for her. And I was almost there. I just needed a little more time.

For a man who watched her the way I did, you would have thought I would have realized that my time was up.

But I didn't.

CHAPTER 1

RED

“Red?” a feminine voice I knew better than my own called out, and my heart stopped.Not literally but fucking close.