Page 136 of Chasing Headlines

“Milline.” He flipped up his sunglasses. I found myself caught in blue eyes with those long, dark lashes. They looked brighter, he was freshly shaved. A small sprinkle of very light freckles dotted one side of his nose. My insides warmed, and still he stared—at me, through me, good God he was beautiful. I swallowed and stepped back.

“Why are you here? You can't practice. You're supposed to be on rest, remember? Three days and I know you were counting Sunday but I don't think you should.”

“Gotta report in. Trainer.”

I blinked. Pinched my arm, nope not asleep. “Wait, you said words to me other than “no comment”. Do we need to go back to the ER? Did you forget who I am, again?”

He grinned that smirky, confident half smile. “Can't forget my girlfriend. Did you come to cheer me up?”

Wait, what? “You can't be serious.”

“Never was that good at lying.” He moved through the doorway. I stepped back as he approached.

“Wouldn't make sense that I'd lie to my Coach.”

My insides went from toasty-melty warm to unbearably hot. “No.”

“And you can't break up with me so soon after we went the distance in the bedroom . . . all weekend long.” My back hit the wall. He leaned close to my ear. “No one would believe you.”

“Nooo.” Stars sparked in front of my eyes and I had to remember to breathe. “Oh my God . . .” I grabbed his arm. “How long are we going to have to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Ugh, seriously, how long do we have to pretend to like each other?”

He tipped his head to one side and shot me a dark look. “You mean “date”.”

“Yes, fine, whatever. How long does it have to be . . . before we can break up?”

His lips pursed together, and then twitched. He covered his mouth with one hand.

“What?”

Heavy-lidded eyes met mine. He put his hand on my waist and leaned closer. My whole body tingled and trembled.

“You're on the clock, Coop. Say bye to your girlfriend. She'll still be here when you're done.” Eberhardt crunched into an apple as he walked by.

Coop bent at the knee and met my gaze. I was no doubt turning strawberry-pink. My stomach wobbled as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Two minutes, Cooper!” Coach shouted an instant before the locker room door clattered shut.

“Seriously, how long?” I said with a gasp.

“So, you're asking me how long before a couple can break up after having sex?”

And I was a tomato. “Yeah.”

“So you've never broken up with someone after having sex?”

I stared at him. And that smug sonofabitch had the nerve to chuckle. My face was on fire and I wanted to slide to the floor. Under the tile. “That's not . . . it isn't?—”

“I can fix that for you. Seems like the least I can do. But not until day four.”

Before I could hit him, Eberhardt called out: “Time's up, Cooper!”

He bent and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Should I call you Sugar? Or Baby? Maybe Honey?”

“You could try calling me by my first name, ass.”

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