Page 72 of Every Move You Make

“Dude, you can’t coach women like that. Have you never coached women?”

“No. But it’s not any different than coaching men.”

“The fuck it isn’t! I would never speak to my clients that way. Maybe you’ve played on or coached men's teams that responded well to militaristic orders. Fine. But your players need something different. They need positive reinforcement. They need to hear that you’re proud of them before you can give them critique. You want them to respect you? Let them know that you’re a safe place to ask questions.”

His brows pinch together. “They can ask me questions.”

“I don’t know, Zay. Other than Robyn, no one on this team looked like they would come to you for advice. You need to get to know them on a personal level before anything else. Have you tried that?”

“Um, they… they asked me a lot of personal questions when I first joined the team.”

“Okay,” I smile. “See, that’s because they wanted to know who you really are behind the curtain. Did you ask them similar questions?”

He looks at his feet. “No.”

“Hey,” I say softly and lift his thickly bearded chin. “Do you remember when you first started coming to your sessions and I asked you a million personal questions?”

“Yeah. You’re pretty invasive.”

“I know,” I chuckle. “But then we found out we both love true crime, and our friendship built from there.That’swhat needs to happen with you and this team. You can do this. You just need to get to know them on a personal level.”

For a moment, I get lost in Isaiah’s beautiful blue eyes until he looks both ways down the empty corridor and back to me. Suddenly, I’m being squished by mighty arms and I smile. Would you look at that? This big grumpy bear just needed a little bit of praise.

“You can do this,” I repeat softly, holding him close. “Think about how much it will mean to Robyn if you get to know her teammates the way she does?”

He nods against my neck.

“Who knows,” I smirk. “She may be so happy that she’ll kiss you.”

Isaiah pulls back and scrubs a hand over his beard as heat rises in his cheeks. A couple players walk out of the locker room and head in the opposite direction.

“We have a social upstairs I need to get to,” he says. Robyn then steps into the hallway. When her eyes find us, she stops in her tracks as if wondering whether she should follow her teammates or join us.

“Why don’t you go,” I nod. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to talk to her for a minute and then send her up.” Isaiah looks pleasantly surprised that I even asked him, not that either of us are in charge of her, really.

“Okay,” he says, walking over to her to say somethingbefore heading for the stairwell.

She walks slowly over to me. “What did you say to him?”

“That if he didn’t change his attitude, you were never going to kiss him,” I tease.

“Dell!”

I chuckle and grab her hands, pulling her into an alcove nearby. “I know you have to go upstairs, but come here.” I push her up against the wall and lean my forehead against hers. “You played great today.” She smiles, and her fingers find my hips as I cradle her jaw and lean in to place a hungry kiss on her lips. She still has the smell of the game on her and I kind of like it. “You looked so strong and commanding,” I murmur into our kiss.

Robyn relaxes against me and lets out the cutest little whimper that I eagerly swallow down.

“What do I have to do to get you to tackle me in bed?” she quips, and I chuckle.

“You minx. I have a plan for the both of you.”

“Does it involve you?”

Pausing our kiss, I push back the flyaways from her hair, but they pop right back up. “It does now. Don’t worry, darlin’,” I whisper. “He’s ours.”

Chapter 32

It's a Trap

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