CHAPTER 27 JOLENE

Me: Relax, Coach. You know I'm just being nice.

He glances up to see Austin is no longer sitting beside me, and the pinch between his brows seems to smooth over. I laugh a little at his reaction, and he taps on his phone. My phone buzzes with his text a beat later, and it's a little funny that we're texting each other when we're sitting a few feet apart, but I'm not sure how else we can communicate.

Before I get a chance to read his text, I watch as his secretary, Megan, slides into the seat with him.

My claws come out, and I guess I get why he doesn't like when Austin is friendly with me. He flips his phone over so she can't see it, and I read his text to me.

Lincoln: I'll show you nice when I bend you over my bed and make you see stars.

Dear Lord.

Well, now I see why he hid his phone. I don't care that Megan is sitting with him. I text him anyway. He'll read it when he can.

Me: Is that a threat or a promise?

His eyes shift to me so he knows the origin of the buzzing of his phone, but he doesn't check it while he chats with Megan. I'd love to know what they're talking about, exactly, but their voices are low and I can't hear them.

I did have a nice conversation with Austin, though. He asked how Jonah is doing and raved about my son's talent, so of course I enjoyed the chance to brag on my boy, especially since I miss him already.

Lincoln kept shooting us dirty looks until finally he turned to face out the window, and now I find myself doing the same thing.

How different would this be if we could share our secret?

My guess is very different. The team wouldn't have invited me along, for one thing. Having a significant other at training camp would prove to be nothing more than a distraction, but I'm vowing here and now not to get in his way.

We finally arrive at the vineyard, and it's a lovely place out in the middle of virtually nowhere. The team rents out the entire facility for two weeks, and there are several practice fields and plenty of space to hold these first two weeks of camp as these men start to work together as a team for the first time.

Before we boarded the bus, Lily was in the parking lot handing out keys, so we all head straight to our rooms upon arrival. I'm in a room all by myself, and I'm not sure if Lincoln purposely arranged it or not, but my room is adjacent to his—as I find out when we both stop in front of our doors at the same time.

I glance over at him with a sly smile before I head inside, and when I get in there, I find that there's a door connecting our two rooms.

He had to have arranged it. It's just too big a coincidence that we'll be able to actually spend time together undetected over the next two weeks. I open the door the same time he does, and we meet in the middle as our bodies smash together and our lips collide.

He kisses me like it's his oxygen, like this kiss is giving him sustenance, and I'm just about to lose myself in it when he pulls his mouth from mine, but he doesn't let me go quite yet.

"Oh, this is going to work out very nicely."

"How'd you manage this?" I ask.

He chuckles. "Purely coincidence. All the single rooms are on this floor, and only a handful of us have them. Close the door every time you leave, but when you're here, keep it open," he demands. "I'll join you when I can."

"Are you sure? I don't want either of us to get caught."

"We won't." Even as he says the words, there's a knock at his door. He draws a single finger up to his lips as if to tell me to be quiet, and then he closes the door on his side separating the two of us. I glance around the room and set to unpacking the essentials before I head over to the window to check out the view. Virtually everyone is in their own rooms right now, but a handful of players are already outside exploring the grounds. I don't want to get in anybody's way just yet, and I know there's a team meeting in another hour, so I decide to just chill in my room for a bit—to decompress after the bus ride and let everyone get acclimated before I start bombarding them with questions.

I'm not invited to all the events. I can't attend team meetings because of privacy issues, and I can't go to full practices every day—just an hour of practice every other day. But I can be in the open areas and I can hang out in the cafeteria and on the grounds. I can talk to players in the fitness rooms but not the training room, and I can hold office hours for coach and player interviews, and it's way more access than my counterparts at other news channels have.

And it's all thanks to Ellie and the podcast. It was a way to capitalize on the community events, and given that the team owner is her brother-in-law, it was an easy enough sell for her to get me here.

I'm so incredibly thankful, and for that, I shoot Ellie a quick text thanking her. I put my shoes back on and decide to head downstairs for a walk and to see what players do when first arriving at camp, but just as I'm leaving my room, I see Megan coming out of the room next door.

She's patting down her hair and smoothing down her shirt, and if I don't know better, I'd think she just had a romp with Coach Nash.

If I didn't know better, I'd be concerned about the little smile playing at her lips that look red and swollen.

And even though I do know better, a jealous rage still fills me.

It's the hot temper rearing its ugly head, and I've managed to keep it in check since things have been going well between us, but I'm not going to stand by and wonder. The miscommunication and assumption thing might work for other people, but it damn well doesn't work for me.

"Oh, hey," Megan says as she passes by me.

"Hi." I turn to look back at my door. "Oh, shit. Forgot something." I'm muttering to myself but loud enough that she hears me, and I head back into my room.

I open the door separating my room from Lincoln's and I start banging on his.

It opens a few seconds later. "Why are you banging on the door?" he asks calmly, as if Megan wasn't just leaving his room looking all nice and freshly fucked.

Hold it together, Bailey.

"What was Megan doing in here?" I demand.

He looks confused for a beat before he glances at the door she just walked through.

"She's my assistant," he says. "She was checking in to see if there's anything I need."

"And you needed her out of her shirt?" I demand.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"She just walked out of your room patting down her hair and smoothing out her shirt wearing a smile like she was freshly fucked and satisfied."

"Excuse me?" he asks, clearly confused, and his confusion makes me feel a little better but my temper has now taken hold.

"Oh don't play dumb." I roll my eyes.

He takes a menacing step toward me, and I think he expects me to back up, but I don't. I stand firm.

His eyes heat over. "Jealousy is hotter on you than I imagined it would be."

"What's going on between you two?" I hiss.

He takes another step and runs the back of his fingers down my cheek. "Were you imagining her riding on top of me or underneath me?"

My jaw clenches tightly as fire lights in my eyes. "Neither. I was imagining you being faithful to me because of the things we've said."

"We didn't make any promises," he argues.

And he's right, we didn't. But that doesn't stop my hand from coming up to connect with his cheek.

He doesn't look surprised that I just slapped him. He doesn't move or react. It's as if it didn't faze him in any way at all, which only serves to heighten my anger.

"What did you do with her?" I hiss through that clenched jaw of mine.

His brows arch, and then he shakes his head. "I didn't touch her. I imagine she saw you in the hallway as she left my room and wanted to get a rise out of you, Jolene. And clearly…it worked. It's not like she hasn't heard us in my office on more than one occasion. The only time I shut my door is when you visit."

I take a step away from him as embarrassment sets in, but he links an arm around my waist and hauls me into him, clearly not about to let me get away with anything.

"I have two things I need to say to you. One, I have work to do while I'm here, and I need to focus. I have neither the time nor the inclination to cater to these ridiculous accusations. And two, you are mine. I am yours. There is no one else. We might not have made any promises, but I vow that to you here and now. But if you can't control your temper, and if you ever think of raising a hand to me again, I will send you back to Vegas so fast your head will spin. Understood?"

My nostrils flare in anger, but he's absolutely right—no matter how much I don't want to admit it.

I try to back out of his hold, but he's got me locked in tightly against his body.

I blow out a frustrated breath. "Fine. Understood."

His mouth quirks a little in a sort of half-smile. "Great." He reaches a hand down and cups my pussy outside my jeans. "Now as much as I want to punish you for even thinking I'd look at another woman," he says as he drives that hard erection toward my hips to prove how much that's true, "I need to get downstairs to meet with the coaching staff." He flicks open the button of my jeans then reaches his hand down until he slides his finger right into my pussy. "Stay the fuck out of trouble while I'm gone," he says, and I let out a soft moan as he pumps his finger in and out of me, "and be here tonight at midnight for that punishment."

My entire body throbs at the mere thought of being punished by this man as he continues driving his finger in and out of me. My hips sway to meet each drive of his finger, my body betraying me since I want to be mad. But I can't be when he's doing this to me, and the pure pleasure takes over my every thought as the need to climax pulses through me.

My moans get louder as I get closer. And then…it all stops. He pulls his hand out of my jeans and buttons them back up.

"Don't you dare finish that without me." He sounds angry as he says it.

Holy shit.

So that's the punishment.

Or…at least that's part of it.

My pussy aches with need at the mere anticipation of it.

I lean forward to kiss him, to seal what just happened between us into some sort of promise, but he lets me go and backs away. He grabs his tablet and walks out of his room, leaving me standing there a panting, needy hot mess who really needs to get downstairs to interview players with this need to come sitting heavy between my thighs.