The girl plastered to my chest started giggling when my back pocket wouldn't stop vibrating, but whereas her sigh when I answered it was from impatience and annoyance, mine was out of relief that I could drop the charade that I was actually into what we were doing.

"Hello?"

"Eli? This is Mike Bruins. I was wondering if you had a second to talk?"

Holy shit. Either his daughter had spoken to him to let him know that I had been a total ass when I first met her, or he was calling to tell me that he had finally agreed to be my coach.

"Yeah, of course sir."

I prayed he didn't hear the tremble in my voice.

"I was calling to ask if you were busy this afternoon and if you wanted to stay for dinner? We can talk about your future, and I'd love for you to meet my family. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"Yes absolutely! Thank you so much!"

Was it sad that I was more excited about going over to eat dinner at a grown man's house than I was to have a nearly topless woman in my lap, grinding herself upon me while trying to distract me from my phone-call? Most likely, but I wasn't going to question it too much.

"I'll text you the address. Once you get the family approval, I'm sure we'll be a great fit. See you at four o'clock, Shepherd."

"Yes sir, can't wait."

The phone hung up and I was faced with a new problem. I needed to talk to Virginia before she had a chance to do the same with her father.

"Hey, I'm really sorry but something came up with basketball," I told Mia, who had since donned her sheer black shirt paired with a revealing tank top to go underneath it.

"That's cool. We can meet up later tonight?"

I scrunched up my face and hers fell upon seeing my reaction.

"I'm sorry. I know we said we'd 'keep the tab open' or whatever, but honestly, I'm going to be so focused on basketball and school and this extra coaching...I have really enjoyed our time together but I just haven't been feeling it lately. I'm sorry, Mia."

One dark eyebrow raised in amusement and a half smirk on her lips, and I was officially confused.

"What's her name?"

"What?"

"The girl. The one who's got you all tied up in knots? It'd be cute if it wasn't so painfully obvious."

"There's no girl," I tried to explain but Mia wasn't having any of it as she pushed a lock of black hair off of her shoulder.

"Eli, it's okay. I'm not mad. We're both consenting adults, we knew this was just a little bit of fun and nothing serious. If you want something more, a deeper connection or something, then you deserve that. You're a really good guy, and she's a very lucky girl."

I hung my head and didn't respond, because what could I say to that? 'There's technically two girls that I haven't been able to get off my mind, except one I've never seen before in person and the other is my soon-to-be coach's daughter, so she's totally off limits'. Yeah, that wouldn't sound completely out there at all. So, I kept my mouth shut about her, or rather, them.

"Thank you for being so cool about this, Mia."

"Don't worry about it," she said flippantly while grabbing her bag from my desk chair, stopping to look back only once before making it to my dorm room door.

"Word of advice? Don't hurt her. Us women like to talk."

She threw me a flirty wink and then she was gone, and I had no idea what had just happened.

***

Virginia was a hard girl to track down on campus.

A few art majors craned their necks as I passed, their eyes wide with shock upon seeing me on 'their' side of campus, considering I'd never made an effort to visit the liberal arts section of the liberal arts college I actually attended.

Keeping my head down to stave off any more curious stares, I finally found my destination: the theater building, or more specifically, the choir room inside said building.

Decrepit with chunks of paint peeling off in swaths, the building had seen better days, and it was obvious that this portion of the school was underfunded and barely cared for.

Music floated through the doorway, a combination of beautiful voices that reminded me of an angelic choir lifting to reach my ears and I strained to try and pinpoint which voice belonged to Virginia, panicking for a split second that the mysterious girl from the gym with the unbelievable voice would belong to her, but brushed it off as soon as the thought popped into my head.

There would be no way that a girl like that even existed. She would be too perfect.

The music abruptly ended after a long note sustained by the three girls in the choir room, Virginia dead center, and my heart almost stopped beating entirely on its own just from the sight of her.

If only I affected her the same way she did me, then maybe I wouldn't be afraid to go against my own personal rule of not pursing anything with my coach's daughter, but it was obvious from our last encounter that she thought I was a douchebag, and I intended to keep it that way.

Easier to stay away from her if she wanted nothing to do with me.

Patrick and Maddie were inside the room, clapping on their feet and praising the music while Virginia stepped out in the hall to answer her phone.

It was her father, and they were exchanging pleasantries while I pretended like I was on my phone waiting for Patrick, trying not to seem like I was spying on her, even thought that was almost exactly what I was doing.

I could see her through the glass walls dividing the hall in half, but I could still hear every word she said, and her tone grew almost sarcastic and amused as she spoke back to her father after something he'd said on the other line that I couldn't hear.

"Yeah of course I am. That's our deal, I come home every weekend and you pay the bills. You're lucky I'm even gracing you with my presence."

Her twinkling laugh filled the air after something he'd said and the action crinkled her eyes at the corners, dark brown skin pulling up on her cheeks with her wide smile.

"Yeah, well, if you'd have let me go to a performing arts school and not the pride and joy of basketball fans everywhere, maybe I'd stay every day with you after classes."

Ah, so that was why she was at UCM and not somewhere else for the major she'd chosen. I had wondered why a theater major had chosen a school with an arts program so small someone could attend the school and never once cross a student from that department.

A few more exchanges between her father, and her mood soured. Her mouth turned down in an adorable pout, those gorgeously pink lips in a frown as she said, "Of course she is."

I listened on, wanting to know what had made her so upset so quickly, even though I had no right and it wasn't any of my business.

"I will be happy for them, it just sucks that they're flaunting their relationship in my face. I swear, I'm never dating again."

She'd shared the same sentiment previously at the gym in front of me and everyone else who'd gathered around for introductions. Something about cats, and how they weren't sexist assholes, and I was positive she meant me when pulling the trigger on that insult.

"No no, don't do that. I will be fine dad, just as long as he's going home and not staying over..."

Color me intrigued. There was another guy in her life, one that was close to her family. And he was going to be at the dinner later that night.

Was it terrible that I couldn't wait to see this dynamic for myself?

A few more words exchanged and the phone call was over, but before I could gather up the courage to talk to her, she spotted me.

Wildly beautiful eyes ensnaring me in their trap, I was like a deer caught in the headlights. Sweat gathering on the palms of my hands, I soaked up her image like a greedy man inhaling more than his fill, the picture of her beauty seared in my mind as I took one step, two, then three away from Virginia and everything that I had planned to say to her.