Page 68 of Coach's Temptation

No way I could afford it.

I crouch down, running my fingers over the smooth new planks, my heart pounding. I know what the work order said. I know what my budget allowed for.

This? This was notsupposed to happen.

Did Mike send the wrong crew? Was there some kind of mix-up?

But before I can even unlock my phone to call him and figure all of this out—

BRRRING.

The sharp ring slices through the quiet, making me jump. I scramble to pull my phone out of my pocket.

Mom.

I squeeze my eyes shut.Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Hey, I—”

“Where are you?! The lamb is getting cold!”

I blink. “I'm on my way, Mom."

Dad’s voice filters in from the background, deep and grumpy as ever. “It was overcooked the second she said she was coming.”

“Harold, if you say that again, I swear to God—”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. I do not have the energy for this right now.

The apartment is spinning around me, full of questions I don’t have answers for, but Ireallydon’t have time to figure them out now.

I rub my forehead, already dreading this lunch before I have to leave for Vancouver.

“I’m on my way.”

I lock my phone, silencing my mother's complaints, and take another look around. The hardwood gleams beneath my feet, rich and warm and absolutely not what I can afford.

My stomach drops. The quote Mike gave me was already stretching my savings to the breaking point. This? This is way beyond that.

"I'm so screwed."

I lean against the counter, trying to breathe through the panic before I have to torture myself more with lunch at my parents.

Maybe there was a mistake. Maybe Mike got carried away. Maybe—

Wait.

Hunter's voice echoes in my head from this morning: "Make sure you stop by the apartment before lunch. Just... check on things."

The insistence in his tone. The way he wouldn't quite meet my eyes when he said it and how he had distracted me with a surprise kiss on the lips.

I grab my purse and storm toward the door. The fancy new hinges don't even squeak as I slam it shut.

Oh, we're definitely having a conversation about this on the plane.

Chapter Seventeen

Hunter

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