Page 31 of Coach Me
Beck takes the seat Lucie just vacated and holds his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. I’ll drop it…for now. I think we all know the romantic in me won’t let it go. Don’t think I didn’t see your eyes watch her as she walked away.”
Why am I friends with him again? “The romantic in you has no place here. Lucie’s my employee now.”
“Oh, but when you say it like that, it only makes it sound so much hotter.”
“Get out of my office.”
I turn in my chair to check for the email from said employee. Scanning her email, it's written out so professionally. Her pay request definitely seems like she’s lowballing, but I’ll just add to it later when I actually have time to read this email thoroughly.
I’ll admit, Lucie may be twelve years younger than me, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel like it.
“I think someone else is grumpy too.” Beck stands from the chair and raids the mini fridge in my office for water. “You coming for a morning workout?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.” Pushing my chair back, Beck tosses me a water as I round my desk.
“Let’s go. It’ll help you work out some sexual frustration.”
Chapter 11
Lucie
Well, I officially have a job. And a new place to live. My turtles, on the other hand, their situation is still up in the air. Dex may not have freaked out like Reagan did when I brought up the topic, but he definitely didn’t love the idea.
It would hurt a little bit to give my babies away, but this job will be good for me, I can just feel it. Turtles or not. Creating makeshift travel classrooms for Miles will be tricky, yes, but the challenge feels good.
I feel good.
“Come on, Lucie. Don’t be a slowpoke. Shannon’s office is down this hall.” Miles waves his hand over his shoulder as he starts to skip.
“I’m coming. You’re just so fast, I can’t keep up.”
“That’s what my dad says too! I must be really fast.” Miles comes to an abrupt halt and whips around to me. “Can we race?”
“Race?” I laugh.
Miles jumps up and down. “Yeah, a race! My dad saysit’s unfair to start a race with someone without letting them know about it. So, can we? Can we race?”
“Alright, let’s do it.”
Miles jumps next to me as he gets into his starting position. Now I’m not an overly competitive person, Reagan and Will definitely are, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to push Miles a little.
“Am I counting us down or are you?” I ask Miles, mimicking his stance.
“Me!” The small mischievous laugh that bubbles out of Miles tells me everything I need to know about his countdown. “One-two-three-go!”
Miles takes off, and for a moment I let him get ahead, but after a few steps I catch back up to him.
“Wh—hey!” Miles giggles.
I’m not actually running by any means, but I can tell he’s not giving it his all, so I get a little bit ahead of him.
I look back because the giggles from Miles have stopped, and now there’s nothing but pure determination on his face. That’s much better.
Miles pushes himself a little harder, but it’s not until he reaches me that I start to slow down.
I won’t always let Miles win, but there’s a give and take here, especially when we’re unevenly matched. Sometimes letting them win helps build their confidence, and really, I want to build that confidence with me. Crushing his heart on my very first day doesn’t necessarily seem like the best tactic, but I want him to know he’s going to have to give it his all every time.
“Yes, I win!” Miles cheers when he passes the first office door we come across. When his victory dance starts, I have zero regrets about letting him beat me.
