by Nana Malone
She swallowed hard and tried not to think about it. Maybe if she studied up on sex or something, he wouldn't notice. That might not be the worst idea she'd ever had. More resolute, she plastered a smile on her face to meet his parents. She still didn't know how much Gage had told them about her. He'd mentioned his grandfather could be difficult, and was old money and old school. But had Gage told them that she wasn't a blond debutante?
A message popped up on the screen, letting them know the video-chat had connected, and his parents appeared on the laptop, smiling.
“Hi, Mom. Hey, Dad, how’s it going in New York?” Gage mentioned his parents would be traveling so his father could meet his long-lost sister.
“Hey, kid,” his father said with a wide smile. “We're good. And, so far, so good. But we're not calling to talk family stuff, we want to meet your girl.”
Two things were immediately apparent to Becker, when she saw his father. One, Gage looked just like him. Add thirty years, some gray hairs, and Becker could be looking at Gage. The other thing that was obvious was that Brent Coulter had been sick. His eyes still had deep shadows underneath. But his smile was wide, and his eyes bright, so maybe Gage was right and he was doing better. She didn't know.
Gage had also clearly gotten his electric-blue gaze from his mother. There was no mistaking that. “Hi, Becker,” they both said.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Coulter. It's nice to finally meet you. I feel like I know you, I've heard so much about you.” Oh, shit, was she talking too much. She was definitely talking too much.
Brent Coulter's smile was warm. “Well, you're at a distinct advantage, because Gage has been quiet about you. We figured there had to be someone, because he never seemed to have time to talk to us, and now we see why. It's nice to finally meet you.”
Both his parents were warm and friendly, and not at all like she'd pictured. They were so normal, considering their family was legendary.
“Mom, Dad, I'm calling for two reasons. Obviously, so you can meet Becker,” he said, throwing an arm over her shoulder and giving her a sweet, goofy grin, “and to tell you that I'll be starting in the first home game.”
His father sat up straighter, and the proud, brilliant smile practically blinded Becker. “Oh, shit, kid. I'm so proud of you.”
His mother smacked him on the arm. “Brent! We're trying to impress Becker, not offend her.”
They were trying to impress her? It was official; this was an upside-down day. Becker laughed. “It's okay. I've spent enough time around Gage and his teammates.”
His father nodded. “Exactly. When my kid makes starter as a freshman, I'm allowed to swear.” The older man laughed gleefully. “Listen, Gage, just know that no matter what, we're proud of you. Don't go adding any undue pressure on yourself.”
Gage nodded, even though Becker knew that was exactly what he'd been doing. “Becker is keeping me even-keeled. I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. I promise.” He lied smoothly. As far as she knew, he still hadn't told them about the state of his grades at the start of the semester. He changed the subject. “So for the first game, you'll be in good hands,” he assured them. “She'll bring it to you, live.”
“Thank you so much for doing this, Becker. I need to spend some more time here in New York, so I'll miss it.”
“It's my pleasure, sir,” she assured him. They were so nice. Her father had not been this nice. Matter of fact, he'd been a downright turd, as Avery said. He'd been furious she was seeing anyone other than Daniel. Not going to happen, Dad. She shuddered as she remembered the last time he forced them together.
Gage's sharp gaze pinned on her “You okay?” he asked softly.
Her turn to lie. “Yep. I'm fine.”
After the call with his parents, he finished practice. While he was in the locker room, Becker took the opportunity to fill out more of her application. Luckily, she had some of the tutoring jobs and the volunteering to pad out her resume. So she was looking good. The deadline to apply was approaching fast. She prayed it went well. Because what the hell was she going to do if she had to go home for the summer? She'd have to figure out a Plan B, because that just wasn't going to happen. She swallowed the bile. No. She wouldn't let it happen. She'd figure something else out.
The deadline for submission was a week away, and though she'd gotten the necessary letters of recommendation from her professors the week before, she found herself hesitating at the thought of actually submitting it.
Gage sat down next to her and glanced at the application over her shoulder.
“Is that for the thing you mentioned before, the program you needed money for, so you started tutoring me?” he queried.
“Yup. It's due in a few days, I'm just making sure I haven't forgotten anything,” she said, as she shoved her laptop into her bag and gathered the rest of her things together.
“Looks ready to me. You're the most organized person I know. And you got the letter of recommendation Dax sent, right?” he asked, as he rose to his feet. “He promised he sent a personal one.”
She grasped his arm in exuberance. “Oh, my God, yes. Please thank him again. He was effusive in his praise. Honestly, it was a little ridiculous.”
“You should thank him yourself, when we get back to my room. I need to call him back, anyway. So what's your deal? You were so excited about that program; I thought you'd have submitted the application weeks ago. I know you've been tutoring like mad.”
“Yeah, well…I didn't.” She licked her lips and slid her glance away as he wrapped her much smaller hand in his.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“What if I don't get it?” she asked quietly. “What if, after all this, I don't get it? I need it so bad, and what if I don't get it?” Damn it, her voice wavered.
Gage frowned slightly. “First of all, you're going to get it. It's all about visualization. You helped teach me that when I was struggling to hold shit together. And secondly, you're the smartest, most prepared person I know. You're gonna get it. But, if somehow you don't, you can apply again. I mean, you're a freshman. You have time.”
She chewed her lip. “Yeah, but that still means I'll be stuck at home with my dad, so that's not an option I'm looking at.”
“Have you looked into other programs that could be backups?” Gage suggested gently.
“I have applications for a few others that I haven't bothered filling out yet. They'd be for next spring, but I really want this one.” She tried to convey her desperation and fear without sounding like she was whining, or thought she was incapable.
“You're more than qualified, I'm sure you'll get it,” he reassured her, slipping an arm around her shoulders as they walked. She got hold of him around the waist, so that they were nearly leaning on each other as they moved.
“And what if I do get it? I'll be moving to New York for the duration of the program, and if there are job offers down the line, they'll almost certainly be based in New York, as well. I mean…I'm not trying to put pressure on this, on us, but it's…”
“It's something to think about,” Gage admitted with a laugh. “I'm not worried, though. It's something I've kind of grown up around, watching people make these kinds of relationships work. Most of my brothers have to travel a lot. Hell—I'll be traveling a lot for games already. We'll figure it out as we go.”
Becker frowned. “I grew up with it, too. My dad would go away for weeks at a time, to hammer out the details on a deal, or to supervise a project. My mom didn't like that he was away so much, and they fought about it a lot. They'd wait till they thought I was asleep upstairs, but it was an easy house to sneak around in when they were preoccupied with each other. There was one time when he had a project that went over the summer, so he took us with him, thought it would make my mom happier…” She shook her head. “It was a disaster. We still hardly saw him, because he was busy with work things all day, so we were still on our own, but on top of that, we were also in a remote filming location, where there was almost nothing to do to keep
ourselves occupied until he did show up.”
Gage had pressed his fingers to Becker's mouth to stop her talking. Looking up at him over his hand, she closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.
“Your parents' relationship is one relationship. It's not ours. Neither are the relationships I've seen where they were able to make things work,” he said, with a careful deliberateness. “We'll figure out what works for us when we get there, all right?”
His hand was still loosely covering her mouth, so she nodded and he removed it.
“Come on. We're heading to a wi-fi spot, so you can send that in now,” he told her, redirecting their trajectory from the dorms to the campus center.
What she didn't ask was if they were going to move anything with them forward. She was too worried to hear the answer.
Nineteen
Becker couldn't believe it. He was leaving, again? This was their third date in two weeks, and the third time he'd kissed her at the door, and was leaving her…at the door. Why the hell wasn't he coming in?
He turned back to her with a smile. “Yeah, what's up?”
“You’re just going to leave, and not come in?”
He pressed his lips against her forehead. “No, I need to study.”
“Okay, then study with me. Isn't that the point of having a tutor?”
A shadow crossed over his face. “Yeah, it's one my other classes, but I have huge test coming up.”
Becker frowned. “Do you want any help?”
His lips touched hers again, but shook his head. “Nope, I got it.”
She wasn't going to give up without a fight. Since he'd been back, most of their kissing had been sexy, and hot, but easy. Light. Not at all like the frantic, urgent need of that night before he'd had to go home. It wasn't as though he hadn't come into her room again, but it had never been for more than a few minutes. It was either to quickly drop something off or pick something up, or to bring her home. But he didn't stay. Had he gotten that bored already? Had he already decided he wasn't that into her? “Is something wrong? I get the feeling you don't want to come in?”
Gage straightened. “Of course I want to come in. I promise, nothing's up. I just need to—study.”
“Okay, if you need to study, go study. But aren't you gonna kiss me goodbye?”
Gage froze. “I already did.”
Okay, something was off. Before he'd gone home, he'd been pretty much all over her with the PDA. The constantly being around. The frequent touching of her neck, her arm, holding her hand, brushing his fingertips against hers. But now he was acting like she had the plague. “That was hardly a kiss, and you know it.” She wasn't going to beg, but the words were ready to come out. Who are you kidding? Dammit. She didn't want to feel like this. She had been perfectly fine with the dead-and-buried libido. But then Gage Coulter had walked into her life, making everything come alive.
Gage looked like he might waver. Like he wanted to kiss her. And then he gazed at her lips, and muttered, “Fuck it.” He leaned over her, forcing her chin up.
His lips were demanding, desperate, and before she knew what was happening, he had her back to the doorjamb, his body pressing into hers. When she gasped, his tongue licked inside her mouth, claiming, teasing, injecting fire into her blood. She felt, more than heard, his low rumble, as he pressed his hips against her center. Becker rolled her hips into him, and he muttered a sharp curse.
He shoved away from her, breaking their kiss and body contact. He licked his lips, his gaze on hers. But instead of returning for more, he whispered, “I want you so fucking much, I probably have the worst case of blue balls known to mankind.”
Becker was left to stand in her doorway, knees still weak, panties wet, watching Gage Coulter walk away from her.
Twenty
Sweat poured from Gage's brow as he leaned forward, bracing himself on his knees, as he and his teammates huddled around Coach Patterson to receive instructions during the timeout. They had been passing the lead back and forth with their opponents the whole game, and were currently down by two, but there were almost five minutes left on the clock in the second half; plenty of time for them to retake and hold on to the lead.
They broke and went back onto the court, where their opponents still controlled the ball. Before the ref called for play to resume and the clock to restart, Gage managed to find Becker, sitting a few rows back from the home team's bench with her phone up to catch the action for his parents.
A second later, play resumed and his attention was completely focused on the game once more. He called to one of his men to keep an eye on number forty-two on the other team; the guy was sneaking out from behind him to get open. His call distracted the guy holding the ball just long enough for Jon, one of the seniors on Gage's team, to steal the ball away and dribble it up the court to take a shot and tie the game.
Sweat from the players combined with the rubber soles of their shoes and the waxed floor to create a cacophony of high-pitched squeaks, punctuated by the low resonance of the ball as it bounced rhythmically between passes and shots. Gage found himself with the ball and open to take the shot, making it with ease and putting his team back ahead. Though there had been a lot of banter about the players' point totals in the No Sex Challenge in the locker room, once the game started, there was only one point total that mattered—the team's. Someone else would keep the tally for the individual players.
The last minutes dragged by on the clock, and Gage's legs felt like rubber from running up and down the court, but when the final buzzer sounded at last, Billings had won by five, Gage had played for almost thirty of the forty minutes of game time, and Coach Patterson gave him a grin of approval before clapping him on the back and muttering low in his ear, “Keep it up, kid, and you'll keep starting.” He didn't even hear how many of the points in the game had been his, as Becker came towards the bench so he could give a more direct and private wave to his parents, before disappearing down the hall to the locker room and a shower. The only thing that might have made the day better would have been his parents' physical presence.
It wasn't until he was getting his things together to meet Becker, who'd made him agree she would take him to dinner to celebrate his first game, that the stupid challenge crept up on him again.
“Not bad, Coulter,” one of the seniors said, jabbing playfully at his arm. “Seventeen down, eighty-three to go. And I'd put money on you starting again next game. By the time you hit a hundred, you'll be begging Coach to start Daniel, so you'll have enough energy left at the end to treat your lady right.” Then his teammate made a series of lewd gestures and sounds that had Gage ready to punch something. “Watch your mouth, Adams.”
Dylan Adams met his gaze with a steely one, but then backed off. After all, Gage had the inches and the muscle on him. But then the guy laughed. “You don't even know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“You're in love, and shit. Good luck trying to keep your dick in your pants now.”
Gage could only stare, as Adams trotted down to the locker room.
Gage was quieter through dinner than Becker had expected, given how well the game went. She'd taken him to the buffet place where they'd gone on their first unofficial date. It had become a favorite for them since, and seemed like a logical restaurant to choose for such an occasion. But halfway through dinner, Becker was beginning to wonder if he'd been hoping for something more flashy, or something a bit more private.
“What's going on with you?” she asked, as they walked out of the restaurant. “I would've thought you'd have worked up an appetite during that game. You were all over the place; it was amazing to watch.”
“I'm fine. And this is great. Sorry, I'm just out of it.” He shook his head. “You want to head out to that movie?”
Becker blinked. “A movie?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah, wasn't that the plan?”
She frowned. “I—uh, I just thought, you know, we'd go back to my room.”
Gag
e blinked, his pupils dilating. But then he cleared his throat. “You're tired?”
What the hell? “No, dammit. I'm not tired. I'm trying to figure out why my boyfriend doesn't want to see me naked.” Oh, shit, that was too loud. Several diners waiting for tables turned to stare.
Gage's mouth hung open, then he scrubbed a hand down his face. “Is that what you think? That I don't want to see you naked?”
She shifted in her seat. “Well, what am I supposed to think? Since you got back from that weekend with your parents, you won't touch me. And it's confusing, especially with what was happening just before you left. You were all over me then. And now…” Her voice trailed off.
He swallowed hard. “Becker. It's not like that. I—” He slid his gaze around, and lowered his voice. “I do want to see you naked. Believe me, I pretty much picture that every single night when I go to sleep.”
“Then what is it? I mean, you've barely even kissed me.”
His sharp, intense, gaze focused on her, and her skin warmed. This. This was the look she'd been missing since he went away for the weekend. “You've been thinking about me kissing you?”
She swallowed. “Of course, you jackass.”
Gage rose, while signaling to the waiter for their bill. “Let's go.”
Becker blinked. “What? Where?” Pushing away her confusion, Becker paid for their meals.
“Back to your dorm.”
She blinked. “Oh.”
The car ride back felt interminable, filled with an uncomfortable silence. A couple of times, Becker opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, they were heading down the hallway toward her room.
“Look,” she said, inhaling a deep breath, “I just want to know if I'm doing something wrong. Or you're not actually into me, or you really are into guys, or something.” She let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “And now I sound like the crazy girlfriend.”
“No, you don't sound like a crazy girlfriend, and hell, no. I like girls. Always have, always will.”