Page 41 of 4th Degree

My hands clench fists where she can't see. I'm too desperate to just fucking touch her?—

A breeze blows by, and a shiver runs through Skylar. I jerk my chin toward her house. “You should go. It's late.”

She nods, adjusting the bag strap on her shoulder. But before she turns to go, a small smile appears on her face.

“You're going to wait until I actually get inside, aren't you?”

I dig my hands into my pockets and give her a hard stare in answer.

Her smile widens. “I knew you'd be the type.”

“What, old-fashioned?”

The look she gives me is warm and sweet and makes me want to get close to her all over again.

“The good kind,” she says softly. Giving me one more smile, she turns and starts to walk up the steps of the townhouse. “Goodnight, Coach.”

And even though I told her I'd wait for her to get inside the house, I stand on the sidewalk for far longer than that.

15

SKYLAR

I have no idea which version of Dominic I'm going to find when I walk into the gym.

Is it going to be the coach keeping his distance? The professional who doesn’t open up or test boundaries? Or will I get to enjoy the man who I feel comfortable talking to and laughing with, one who actually sees me.

The same man who I know is experiencing the same tension I have been.

I wasn’t sure of his feelings before. But everything changed when he drove me home. Now, there’s no more hiding or denying what’s happening between us.

I’ve never been affected by someone like this. A single look has my heart racing. A simple touch might make it stop.

And I wasn't the only one. One look at Dominic made that obvious.

I want to say I understand why he’s fighting this attraction between us, but I think that would be a lie. Sure, a coach dating a student would probably turn a few heads, but it’s not like it’s illegal. I’ve seen plenty of female fighters marry their coaches. So what’s wrong with a kiss behind closed doors?

Whatever his reason for fighting this is, I expect to be greeted by a cold, distant Coach Dominic, but I'm stunned to find the opposite.

When Dominic makes eye contact with me while I’m warming up for my class, everything I think I know goes out the window. I forget about everyone around us, about the fact that it took me all day to school my emotions and promise myself that I wouldn’t react when I finally saw him. I forget all about how what’s happening between us might be wrong. With one glance, I forget all of it.

He’s not avoiding me, he’s letting me see the full force of his emotions. And I can sense every ounce of his hunger, his yearning, his hesitance.

That knowledge has me stuck in my head during my class. Thank God, it’s cardio kickboxing, with mindless repetitions instead of new techniques, because the surprise of seeing Dominic’s unfettered emotions has me spinning with confusing assumptions.

I thought the attraction was one-sided.

I thought he wouldn’t want me even if it wasn’t.

I thought he hated the idea of us because it would be against the rules.

My movement on the heavy bag stutters at the last thought.

The rules? Or his rules?

I never really stopped to think about where his hesitation would come from. I figured with our age and with him being in an authority position that he wouldn’t take anything like this lightly, but I never thought about how far that would stretch. Is it frowned upon or completely against the rules with a zero percent chance of anything happening?

I glance over at Dominic where he’s working with Tristan on the other side of the room. His attention is wholly on his fighter, but the second the rest timer goes off and Tristan turns away to grab some water, Dominic’s eyes immediately flit to me.

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