Page 40 of The No Try Zone
Bang, bang, bang!“Sam, sis, come on!” Ollie’s voice is muffled. “Open up!”
I mutter and roll over, burying my face in the mattress and pulling the pillow over my head. But it’s no use. He’s got a key and he’ll use it if I don’t answer.
“I’m putting the key in the lock!” he yells.
See?
“Hold on!” I call back, unsure if he can hear me over the racket he’s making on his own. Covers hit the floor as I thrash out of bed, stomp to the door and yank it open right as he’s turning the knob. I glare up, squinting at the cheery daylight that envelops him as the cool air hits my legs.
“There she is!” he gushes, then turns his head. “Told you she was here.”
I can feel my face morph into something like sheer panic. “You brought someone here?” I hiss.
He looks back at me. “Coach and I were about to go on a run – I was bragging about the pond we run around – and I suggested we see if you wanted to join us.”
Colin is here? Colin is here.Colin is outside my apartment.“You brought your coach to my apartment at…what time is it?”
He beams, his blond hair shining in the sun that is, I swear, as bright as a nuclear explosion. Not that I’d know how bright that is, but let’s not dwell on the details. “Eight.”
I drop my head and scrub at my face. I never get to sleep this late. “I’m going to kill you,” I mumble into my palms.
“Let’s leave her here,” Colin says, still hidden from view. “If she can’t handle a measly five-mile run with us, then it’s probably best we get a move on.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I shoot back, indignation coursing through me. I step forward and shove Ollie out of the doorway, looking left to find the source of my anger.
He’s…hell. He’s in training shorts, showing off those thighs that remain just as thick as they probably were when he played. Thighs that I’ve seen before. Thighs that aren’t nearly as sculpted as the players on his team. Thighs that I have never had a thing about until now, when I’m fresh off a dream where my hands were on them mere minutes ago.
He’s in a ratty T-shirt, which tells me he’s probably going to pull it off when it’s time to run, and he’s wearing a black Granite baseball cap…backwards. A move I would not have bet on, and it’s doing things to the lower parts of my body that I’d rather not admit. His blue-green eyes are practically twinkling with mirth when I meet them, as though he knows precisely what he’s done by saying those words.
Then I step farther out of my apartment, giving him a show of my own. Because two can play at this game, and all I’m wearing are hipster underwear and a camisole so old that I’m certain it’s see-through in the exact right spots it needs to be.
Immediately, his cheeks flush and he coughs.
Ha. Take that, you gorgeous asshole.
“Then what are you saying?” he chokes out.
“I’m saying give me a few minutes to get dressed.” I whirl around and walk away, leaving the two of them to come inside. Dimly it occurs to be that my husband is in my apartment, but I shut that thought down.
I check the temperature on my phone before shutting my bedroom door, then fly around my room, throwing on a sports bra and running shorts before plucking a pair of socks from my drawer and pulling them on. It may be the first week of December, but it’s sixty-five degrees outside. I pull my hair into a ponytail as I shove my feet into my runners, then I give my teeth a perfunctory brush and swipe deodorant on. Letting my hips sway as I waltz back into the living room, I don’t miss the way Colin’s jaw clenches as his eyes sweep the length of me.
“Ready?” I chirp.
“You missing a shirt there, sis?” Ollie asks.
I level a look at him. “I’ve got on a sports bra.”
“Right. And it’s not that hot outside. So…shirt?”
“I’ve got on a sports bra,” I repeat, my voice cold.
“But you nev –”
“Ollie,” I warn. “Do not test me with your fragile masculinity right now.”
His jaw drops. “Fragile masculinity?”
I open my front door, knowing they’ll follow. “I know it’s a big boy phrase, Ollie. Try to understand. Are you so insecure with yourself that you need to have me covered up in order to feel like you’re in control?”
