Page 84 of The Big Puck

I’ll take his truce and up him one. He’ll need some cheering up after his loss and I’m just the girl to do it.

Chapter 32

SPENCER

The last thing I expect to see when I open the kitchen door is Lainey waiting up for me with hot chocolate and cookies—three different kinds. She leans against the counter in a thin Whalers t-shirt that barely reaches the tops of her thighs.

The surprise is fucking sweet and it shouldn’t be, but my dick is an unreasonable whore. No matter how much reason tells me this is bad, that any relationship between us will not end well==and if Gavonza has his way it’ll end in a spectacular shit show of a scandal.

But does knowing that stop one side of my mouth from rebelling in a half smile? No. It feels too damn good to see her. She’s still here after I invited her to leave because she’s an incorrigible optimistic.

“I need to talk to you,” she says and my gut transforms into a lead ball.

“You’re not moving out?”

She shakes her head. “I want to stay. I want us to—”

I go to her and trap her against the counter, my arms on either side of her holding me inches away, the sweet scent of her cookies wafting around us.

“You want us to be lovers. I know.”

“It is. More than anything.”

“In spite of the cost—or potential cost to your reputation? In spite of not being able to go out or be seen with me and—”

“I’m not Shonda.”

“No kidding. You deserve better than she did. Better than I can give you. You know Gavonza will smear both our reputations if we appear as a couple in public. He’ll make it into something seedy.”

“How can he do that? We’re two consenting adults.”

“Barely,” I point out the obvious, though I realize it’s not obvious to her how young she is. It’ll be glaringly obvious to others especially if Gavonza spurs it on. “Social media will have a field day with our age difference, with the fact that you’re my nanny, working for me. It won’t take much innuendo to have people jumping to the worst possible conclusion.”

“Which is?”

I laugh then, inappropriately, because it’s a sad irony that she’s innocent enough not to realize how jaded people can be.

“Which is that I’m using my position to take advantage of you.”

“I don’t even think Jason would believe that and he’s the least generous of all.”

“Oh, he’ll think the worst, alright. And that would cause a very serious problem for the team, dividing us. It doesn’t take much to spoil a team. Animosity between a star player and coach is the fastest way to have people pitted against each other, taking opposite sides.”

Her eyes like saucers, she stares at me. I stroke her back.

“No, Lainey. We can’t do it. I can’t do that to you. I’m not going to have a secret affair with you and make you feel like you’re less when you’re not. I don’t want you to feel like you’re doing something so wrong you need to hide it, when you’re doing nothing wrong.”

“But don’t you see, Spence? It’s not you making us hide, it’s everyone else. Besides, I don’t think it’s up to you.”

She gives me a look that makes my heart thud—not in a good way—because it’s serious and calculated and determined.

“What do you mean?” I ask even though I don’t want to know the answer, but I need to. know

“I will seduce you every night whether you agree with me here and now or not. I’m not above using womanly wiles. I’m not nearly as innocent as you seem to think I am.”

I laugh. “Oh, I know there’s a part of you that’s far from innocent. But that’s not the kind of innocence you have in spades.”

She quiets and speaks softly. “I know what you mean. You think just because I’m an optimist—”