Page 75 of Between the Boards
“Actually,” she hesitates. “I wanted to ask you for a favour.”
I quirk a brow curiously at her. “Go for it.”
“I haven’t forgotten that I fired you as my love coach,” she says, cheeks turning a dark pink. “But I‘m kind of freaking out about my date with Zale tomorrow and you definitely did not prepare me enough for it.”
“I prepared you plenty, Kairi,” I scoff. “You’ll be fine.”
She puts her hands on her hip and stares at me with a raised brow. “You took me on like one practice date.”
I frown. “Two.”
She frowns back. “The drive-in movie doesn’t count.”
”Why not?”
Her whole face flushes and she looks almost offended. “B-because it doesn’t,” she stutters. “That was hardly a practice. We…we had sex and stuff.”
I swallow, remembering the little whimpering sounds she made that night. I haven’t been able to get them out of my head.
“So you want to go on another practice date before the real thing tomorrow?”
She shakes her head. “I want you to come to the real thing, sit somewhere he can’t see you, and help me if I get stuck.”
I stare at her, stunned, my lips slightly parted.
She gives me a desperate look. “Please,” she begs. “I don’t feel ready for it. This feels like some final boss level type of date and I’m way out of my depth here.”
It’ll crush me if I go on this date and it actually goes well. I’ll have to hold myself back from picking a fight with Zale anytime he touches her. But how can I possibly say no to her when she’s looking at me like that? When she’s standing in front of me, desperately asking for my help.
“Of course I’ll come, Kai,” I say, my voice sounding weak.
She looks so relieved as she rushes toward me and wraps her arms around me in a hug, her body pressing into mine.
“Thanks Colton,” she mutters into my shoulder.
I wrap my arms around her, closing my eyes as I bask in the feel of her. “What are friends for?” I whisper.
TWENTY-FIVE
KAIRI
“Kairi,can I borrow you for a moment?” Gabriel calls out to me before I can sit down and eat the breakfast Griffin made for everyone.
“I’ll save you a plate,” Eliana whispers, nudging me toward Gabriel.
I stand from the kitchen island and follow Gabriel into the meeting room, my nerves increasing with each step.
“Am I in trouble?” I ask as he closes the door.
He looks at me over his shoulder with a confused frown. “Should you be?”
I shake my head, giving him an innocent smile.
“Do you remember Mark, the sponsor that approached us at the last competition?”
I nod. “Yeah, what about him?”
“His team called and they want to work with you after all,” he says, leaning against the edge of a table with his hands in his pockets. “But they have a condition that they want to run by you first before making any commitments.”
