Page 14 of The Run Home
CHAPTER SIX
Shae
I’d never been muchof a swearer to begin with. Working in education meant I frequently felt like swearing but I’d honed my habits, so I spit out carefully crafted alternative swears, most of them quite comical, according to my friends and coworkers. Except when Boon was around. Apparently he turned off the filter firmly affixed to my mouth for thirty-nine years.
Cassie, our captain who’d pulled Kinsley immediately under her wing, lifted her head and stared at me as she racked a weight. Yep, I swore. Probably should apologize for the slip, but I didn’t get a chance before Boon grabbed my elbow and dragged me through the door into the gymnasium. The feel of his warm skin against mine left me mute.
The door slammed shut, leaving just the two of us in the gym. I tried to wrench my elbow away, a little too late in my opinion, and rounded on him. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t manhandle your way into using my weight room.”
Boon’s handsome face screwed up before his gaze dropped to where we still touched. He yanked it back as if I’d burned him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
He ran that same hand over his face, the dark strokes of an exquisite wolf tattoo on the back. I hadn’t noticed the tattoo over the weekend. Hadn’t noticed how freaking hot a hand tattoo looked on the over-muscled man standing before me. Just my luck that the boy who’d bullied me in high school now looked a thousand times hotter twenty years later.
“Listen, I didn’t mean for it to sound like my team takes precedence or that you have to clear out. I just want to work out a schedule or something with you so we can both use the space.”
I glared at him. Mostly because he looked good enough to eat now changed into a formfitting performance T-shirt emblazoned with the school logo and workout shorts. He looked every bit the professional athlete still. Not that I knew what those looked like up close, but if Boon was the stereotype, they were bigger than life. Hotter than the summer sun. Able to trample on my feeble small-town teacher’s heart without even noticing I was underfoot.
I folded my arms across my chest, afraid not even my industrial sports bra could contain the way my nipples were reacting to his pheromones, the little hussies. I inhaled, ready to firmly enforce my boundaries, but my lungs filled with his scent. Spicy, clean, and the type of manly scent that made women steal their boyfriend’s sweatshirts.
I knew the silence was stretching out. Knew my resolve was weakening in the face of the most viral man I’d ever known. He’d made me dreamy and irritated in my youth. Now he was like dropping a nuclear bomb on my life. Boon’s mouth hitched on one side, like he knew the effect he was having on me and found it humorous.
Thankfully, that did it.
Rage flared brightly and I was able to wrangle my brain back in gear. “It sounds to me that you’re being a stereotypical man, kicking the women out. Thinking our sport isn’t as valuable as the men’s.”
Boon lost the half grin in a flash. “No! That’s not at all what I’m saying.”
“Really? So I won’t find your entire team waiting outside the weight room, thinking they’re going to push my girls out?”
Boon snapped his lips together, which only made me study them. This stupid goose gobbler actually had a pair of lips on him that looked like they were made for pleasuring a woman. Not too thin, not too full. Soft but backed by a firm jaw. He winced, and I knew I’d guessed right.
His hand reached up and scratched the back of his neck, Boon’s tell. He was more confident than any man had a right to be and yet he still had his moments. I noticed the neck scratch for the first time way back when he decided to ruin my tea party when I was like six or seven. Considering I was stalker-level aware of him at all times, I studied him. I knew his tells. And he only had one. The one he was giving me right now.
“Listen,” he began, which always pissed me off when men started sentences like that.Don’t farking tell me to listen when I’m right freaking here.Of course I’m listening. I’ve got ears don’t I?“I just want my guys to be able to get stronger over their offseason so they don’t get injured when they start practice for real. Is there any way you can let me know your schedule in the weight room and I’ll work around it?”
Well, fudge sticks. That was actually…nice? Accommodating? I must be missing something because the Boon Wolfe I knew wasn’t capable of compromising.
“Or we could have the teams blend and work out together,” he added, stopping me short.
There it was. He had no intention of compromising. He’d said that first bit just to get me to drop my guard and then he swooped in with what he wanted in the first place.
I opened my mouth to let this chucklehead have a piece of my mind, but the door on the other end of the gymnasium opened and we both turned to see Principal Joseph walk in, his belly leading the way.
“Oh good, you’re both here. I was just on my way to let you know Mr. Wolfe’s team will be joining you in the weight room, Ms. Fletcher.” Mr. Joseph smiled at Boon like he just couldn’t believe his good luck in snagging an ex-professional baseball player to coach our small-town team.
I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew how the world worked, and I could read the writing on the wall. Boon’s team would be working out in the weight room whether I gave my permission or not. This was already out of my hands.
“Yes, we were just having a conversation about how we were going to make this work,” I said with what I thought was the pinnacle of demureness.
Boon’s half smile was back. He studied me, not Mr. Joseph, and it was disconcerting. “I’d like Ms. Fletcher to lead the way.”
My head snapped up to meet his gaze, looking for the trick. Looking for the “gotcha” moment that would leave me feeling foolish in front of my boss. But none came. Mr. Joseph made a few more inane comments about our incredible athletic teams and then ambled off.
Boon lifted his arm toward the door that led back into the weight room. “After you, Ms. Fletcher.” That half smile turned into a full smile, a hint of his famous dimples on either side of his mouth. It was deadly. Unfair, really. How could one person be gifted with so many insanely pleasant physical qualities and yet be so bereft of common decency and kindness inside where itactually counted? “This is going to be a great thing for the guys. I can teach them how to treat women.”
The virulent snort that escaped my mouth echoed loudly in the empty gymnasium. “And what would you know about that?” I snapped.
Nonplussed, Boon grabbed the door handle and opened it. Weights clinked and several girls lifted their heads to see what was going on. Normally I kept a very close eye on them during their lifting sessions.
