Page 47 of Goalie's Obsession

After practically telling Ethan to get the hell out of my life until he sorts his shit out, I don't need attention like this right now.

But then the reporters spot us.

"Lucy! Over here! Are you and Connor officially dating?"

"How did your family react to the kiss?"

"Are you traveling as his girlfriend?"

I blink like I’ve walked into the path of an oncoming train. I'm just about to stammer something vaguely professional when an arm slides around my waist and my skin heats.

Connor stands beside me, grinning like he invented sex and decided to give it away for free.

He smiles at the press standing in our way. "Lucy Lou… yeah, she's mine. Has been for awhile."

The flashbulbs in my face gonuclear.

Somewhere behind us a girl shrieks, "HE CALLED HER LUCY LOU! HOW FREAKING CUTE!"

"Connor!" I hiss under my breath, trying to smile as Connor's arm tightens around me. "Youdid notjust call me that in front of the entire fucking world!"

"What?"

He doesn’t even glance at me. Just keeps smiling for the cameras like he’s at his own wedding.

"You paid fifty grand for me, sunshine. I’m just making sure you get what you paid for."

Sophia chokes on a laugh. Natalie silently mouthsoh my Godand flaps a hand in front of her face like that will stop the flush washing over her cheeks.

I groan and smile through my teeth like a woman on the brink. “Swear to God, Walsh, I will murder you in your sleep.”

“Sure,” he says, still smiling for the cameras. “But only after you kiss me goodnight.”

I mean it.

I’m going to kill him. Slowly. With a souvenir foam finger that I'm about to snatch of that kid who won't stop shoving it in my face.

And then—because clearly I haven’t suffered enough—Coach Brody’s voice cuts through the madness and the crowd parts like he's fucking Moses in the Red Sea.

“Walsh. Lucy. Over here. Now.”

Connor winks at me. “Now look what you've done. You've pissed off Coach.”

I go to yell at him, but what's the point?

We follow our furious head coach through the terminal, past a row of vending machines and into a private hallway by the gates. He stops and turns to look at us, Connor first, before his expression lands on me.

And boy oh boy, itisthunderous.

"Let me make this real simple," he says, turning to face us with arms crossed like a bouncer at the gates of hell. "I said no bull shit. We had that last season, and I'm not allowing it again."

"Yes, Coach."

"So you either play the part—" He looks directly at me, making me feel like this is personal. "Or be done with it. Right fucking now."

I open my mouth but Connor beats me to it.

"It’s real, Coach. Isn’t it, babe?"

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