Page 51 of The Coach

“I… I…thank you,” I stumble out, still yanking my hands. But hell, even for fakey handcuffs, these things are durable.

“Oh, let me—” The door to the apartment shuts loudly out in the main living room, and Tanner’s voice—at least I’m pretty sure—asks his dad what they want to do for dinner.

“Uh, son, you should go to your room.” I hear his dad say, and the tears I’ve been holding back finally fall.

This could not be more embarrassing if I tried.

“My room?” Tanner asks, his footsteps sounding closer, and he peers around his mom’s shoulder. His eyes widen as they take me in, and I drop my head, hoping my thick hair will do its job and hide me forever. “Mick?”

“I’m gonna let you handle this,” his mom says before I hear her feet shuffle off and the door close.

An embarrassed sob wretches out of me, and I feel the mattress dip where Tanner sits. “Mick, what happened?”

I shake my head, unable to form words.

“Are there keys to these?” he asks, tugging on the handcuffs, and I nod toward the nightstand. He quickly unlocks both of them, and I start to scoot off the bed before an arm clamps around my waist and brings me back. I settle into his warmth and resist the urge to fight him.

“Mick, hey, look at me.” He lifts my chin gently, and I wipe away a tear from my face. “Hey, it’s okay.”

I balk at him. “It’s not okay! Your parents just saw me fucking naked!”

“I mean…” His gaze drifts over my body. “You weren’t completely naked.”

I hit him on the shoulder. “Bad enough.”

He looks back at the handcuffs and to me, taking in the candles and the mood I’ve set. His gaze softens when they land on me again. “You were trying to surprise me.”

“No shit,” I snap back, trying to scoot away from him to no avail.

“Micayla, hey.” He pulls me back to him and kisses me until the words I want to say, to push blame on him so that I’ll feel less embarrassed, disappear from my mind.

After a few moments, we come back down to earth, both of us aroused and unable to do a damn thing about it.

“This is the best Christmas present ever,” he says, his thumb running over my rib cage where lace lays.

“Ugh,” I groan and flop back onto the pillows. “I’m never going to face your parents again.”

He chuckles and then his laughter continues until he can’t breathe properly. I can’t help it when my laughter tags along, and before we know it, we’re laughing so hard that all the embarrassment—for now—ceases to exist.

“God, I love you,” he says, pulling my arm until I’m sitting up, my laughter trickles off, and I stare into his eyes, shocked by his admission. He shrugs, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, I couldn’t not say it.”

“You love me? Like… love, love?”

He smirks at me, furrowing his brows. “Yeah, I do.”

I reach behind his head, pulling him to me and kissing him hard.

I don’t reply to his declaration, not verbally, but I can show him that I’m… almost there. One hard gust of wind, and I’ll be right there with him.

twenty-one

TANNER

After we got Mick dressed, we met my parents in the living room, where I could properly introduce her to them.

Thankfully, Sonny and Debra Mitchum are some of the most laid-back parents a son could have and thought that Mick’s performance was entertaining, not embarrassing.

After introductions, we decide to order food in and have ourselves an impromptu get-to-know-the-girlfriend session. I was thrilled, not because Mick got embarrassed. Hell, if I’d known better, I most definitely would not have invited my parents to dinner tonight because whatever my girl had been planning was fucking out of this world.

---