Page 47 of Of Pucking Course

Dakota offers to walk them out. I listen as they make their way out of the living room, their voices fading.

Slowly, I stand up from the bed and make my way to the door as quietly as I can. I need to walk out of here and go to my bedroom without Dakota seeing me or hearing me. I don’t want her to know that I heard all the personal things she shared with her friends.

I open the door right as I hear the front door close. Dakota tells them all goodbye.

I start to speed-walk across the living room toward the hallway when I trip over the leg of the nightstand from my bedroom that my brother-in-law helped me move out here earlier.

Pain shoots through my foot.

“Shit!” I cry out instinctively.

A second later, Dakota comes running over. “Oh my god. Sam, are you okay?”

I swallow back a groan. “Yeah, just…” I nod at the nightstand as I kick out my foot.

She walks up to me. “I didn’t know you were here.”

She glances over at the open door of the guest room. I forgot to close it, so it’s pretty fucking obvious I was in there. Shit.

“Wait, you were in the guest room this whole time?”

I hesitate. “Yeah. I was trying to take a nap before tonight’s game since my bedroom is a mess.”

Her big brown eyes go wide. “Wait, you didn’t hear me talking about…”

I hesitate as she trails off. I can’t look Dakota in the eye and lie to her. But I also don’t want to upset her.

Her cheeks flush. “Crap. You did hear me, didn’t you?”

I nod.

“How much did you hear?”

I hesitate. “Um, well, I was asleep for a while?—”

“What’s the first thing you remember hearing?” she demands, cutting me off.

“Something about you never feeling comfortable in bed with Jake,” I mumble.

Her mouth falls open.

“I-I’m sorry, Dakota,” I say quickly.

She covers her face with her hands and falls against the wall. “Oh my god, you heard so much.” She groans. “Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed.”

“Hey,” I say, my voice gentle. “It’s okay.”

She drops her hands to her sides and her head falls back as she lets out an exasperated laugh. “It’s not okay, Sam. You overheard me rambling about my most embarrassing, humiliating secret.”

“You don’t have any reason to be embarrassed, Dakota. Or humiliated.”

She frowns at me like she’s confused.

“The only ones who should feel embarrassed andhumiliated are your exes. I’d be fucking mortified if you were my girlfriend and I couldn’t make you come.”

She blinks at me. A pink flush paints her cheeks.

“I’ve never heard you talk like that,” she says softly.

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