Page 63 of Late to Love

And if you’re wondering, I absolutely asked him to use that same voice on me last night…while coaching me to, well, swallow his cock like a good girl.

I wave my suddenly heated face in the morning breeze of Mobile, the location of the bowling tournament, and take a giant slurp of the extra-large iced coffee with vanilla cold cream that Amanda, God bless her soul, handed to me wordlessly when I climbed into her car this morning. Agatha carpooled with us, but she had her thermos of sweet iced tea and wanted nothing to do with our “overpriced coffee shenanigans.”

Devon showed up with Aaron, and Agatha’s daughter Betty is also here.

“Hey, Darcy girl,” comes my dad’s gruff voice as he wraps an arm around me and pulls me to him.

“Dad!” I look up in surprise. “You’re here?”

He winks down at me. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

I tip up to kiss him on his leathery cheek. “Thank you. Means a lot.” And it does, more than I thought it would, judging by the way my heart ka-thumps in happiness. It’s the first time he’s shown up for me like this, but in fairness, it’s the first time in my life I’ve done anything approaching sporty. “Can’t believe it’s finally here!” I gush, looking at the bowling pin sign that turns slowly in the air above us.

“Ican’t believe we all got here on time,” Amanda snorts.

“With everything we needed,” Agatha adds.

“In our shirts!” Devon finishes.

I laugh. “C’mon, ladies. Let’s go register and see if we can intimidate our competition with our sweet matching shirts.”

A half hour later, an announcer calls the raucous room to attention. “Each bowler rolls ten frames, and the team with the highest score wins. We have thirty teams here, so we’re breaking you into six sets of five. The top three teams in each set of five will move on to the next round, meaning we’ll have eighteen teams remaining. From there, we’ll break you into six sets of three, and the top two teams in each will progress, getting us to twelve teams. We’ll take a break, then after that, the twelve teams break into six sets of two. The highest-scoring six teams will then bowl against each other. The top three teams go on for the final placement. Questions?”

No one dares raise a hand. Pretty sure the woman barking instructions at all of us scared just about the entire room.

Ignoring my ridiculous wish that Anthony could be here—my dad is here, and Anthony has a whole business to run, and it feels like I’m being greedy—I turn to my team and grin. “Let’s go, girls!”

“Woo, a Shania Twain reference!” comes Agatha’s enthusiastic hoot.

I’m gonna be honest: my only goal was to get us all here and bowling. Imagine my surprise when we actually make it through the first cut—andwe’re not even at the very bottom. That distinction falls to the group of middle school teenage girls who look like they’re trying to make bowling the modern version of the word “fetch.” In other words, it’s not going great. But alllll the points for enthusiasm.

“Looks like you made it to the next round.”

I turn, surprised at the gravelly voice behind me. “Anthony?”

His hazel eyes bright, he tips a grin at me. “Did you think I wouldn’t come?”

“I mean…a little,” I admit. “You’re busy.”

He tilts his head and frowns. “Darcy. Of course I’d come. This is your moment!” Then he steps closer and murmurs, “Plus, I worked my ass off with you four this past week. I deserve to see some action.”

I giggle. “You’re insane.” Still, there’s no denying the way my insides warm at his actions. He pulls me to him, and I wrap my arms around his neck, tipping up to kiss him. The distinctive woodsy-Anthony scent of him curls around me. “Thank you,” I whisper.

His hands are warm and reassuring on my waist. “Any time.” He steps away and claps. “Okay, girls, let’s kick some ass.”

Agatha howls again, making all of us laugh. “You got it, Coach.”

“Give me the rundown, Amanda,” he says.

Amanda’s cheeks blaze, but she does it, pointing out who we’re up against and what she’s seen from each team. When she’s done, I gawk at her.

“What?” she asks self-consciously.

“You—holy shit, Amanda, you know your stuff!”

She shrugs, her blush deepening. “I mean…yeah.”

I shake my head. “I’m so impressed with you right now I could kiss you.”

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