Page 92 of Lacey's Fight

Her good mood faded.

Why did he have to go and bring up Ben again?

And talking about Ben helping her in the ocean only made her remember the first time they’d met. Ben hadn’t liked her then, he’d thought she was reckless and irresponsible even though she would have bet everything she owned he would have made the same choice if he were in her shoes.

Two weeks later and after everything they’d been through together, she wasn’t sure he liked her any better now.

Lacey sighed. “What were you doing?” she asked, gesturing at the iPad resting on his lap.

“Puzzles. Logic puzzles,” Coach replied.

She scrunched up her nose. “And you actually find that fun?”

“Love it.”

“Read me one.” Logic puzzles didn’t sound like her idea of fun, but she needed the distraction.

The look he gave her told her clearly that he knew she was attempting to avoid conversation about Ben, but he read her a puzzle anyway. “Three men are lined up behind each other. The tallest man is in the back and can see the heads of the two in front of him; the middle man can see the one man in front of him; the man in front can’t see anyone. They are blindfolded and hats are placed on their heads, picked from three black hats and two white hats. The extra two hats are hidden, and the blindfolds are removed. The tallest man is asked if he knows what color hat he’s wearing; he doesn’t. The middle man is asked if he knows; he doesn’t. But the man in front, who can’t see anyone, says he knows. How does he know, and what color hat is he wearing?”

Huh?

“Umm …?”

Coach laughed. “Black, he’s wearing a black hat.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he knows that if he and the man in the middle were wearing the same color hat then the man at the back would know he had a black hat. And if the middle man saw him in a white hat then given the man in the back’s answer he would know his hat was black.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “And that’s really fun for you? Figuring that out?”

Coach laughed and reached over to ruffle her hair making her swat his hand away. “Yes, it’s fun for me figuring that out. Now stop avoiding, what’s up with you and Rabbit?”

“Nothing,” she answered honestly. When Coach arched a dark brow, she sighed but added more detail. “He saved my life a couple of weeks ago when Artemis Team was rescuing some girls and we got caught in a storm. I … asked him out and he said no. Then we worked together in England and had to pretend to be married.”

“You guys slept together.”

“What, just because it’s me you assume we had sex?” she huffed.

“No, honey. I assume you two had sex because Ben is staring at you like he’s terrified you’re going to disappear, and in my experience, men only look at a woman they’ve been intimate with and have feelings for like that.”

“You need to get your eyes checked. Absolutely positive he doesn’t have feelings for me. Unless being … disgusted … by me counts.” She wasn’t sure Ben exactly felt disgusted, but he certainly looked down on her like she was dirty for using sex the way she did, and he hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.

“No way, honey. That man is into you. Way into you.”

“You’re wrong.”

“I’m right.”

“Wrong.”

“Right, and don’t interrupt me again,” he warned making her roll her eyes at him. “I know about his wife, he was open about everything. Including the fact that he knows he messed up a chance at having the best thing that could have happened to him when he let you go. He came to California for you, Lacey. That’s how he knew you were missing. He wants you, badly, you just have to decide what it is you want.”

As much as she wanted to refute Coach’s words, she wasn’t sure she could.

After all Ben was here.

Coach took her hand and squeezed it. “No right or wrong answer, honey. You do what’s best for you.”

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