Read Online Coach Maddie and the Marine by Blaire Edens - Free Book Online Page A

of pain, forgotten his self-hatred at losing two men under his command.
    Forgotten that he was the reason Maddie was alone.
    He’d forgotten everything but the taste of her lips, the smell of her hair. When he kissed Maddie, the only thing in the world was her.
    He’d felt something, and that scared the hell out of him.
    He unlocked the door of his apartment, hung the uniforms he’d picked up at the dry cleaner’s in the closet and poured himself a generous glass of bourbon.
    ...
    On Friday , Tommy’s mom picked up Andrew. She was treating the boys to hamburgers and a matinee. Andrew wouldn’t be home until at least eight o’clock.
    Maddie was a little nervous. After the kiss, she wished Andrew was going to be home to put a barrier between the two of them. It couldn’t happen again.
    She wouldn’t let it.
    With less than an hour before David arrived for lesson number two, she intended to look as unattractive as possible. After a quick shower, she applied only moisturizer. No makeup. She wound her unruly curls into a tight bun and removed the glittering heart necklace that brought attention to her breasts.
    After thirty minutes in front of the bathroom mirror, a full ten minutes longer than it would have taken to apply her makeup if she were trying to look good, she hustled to her closet and tried to pick out the most unflattering thing she could find. She finally selected a loose cotton T-shirt spattered with a rainbow of paint stains and a pair of tattered cargo pants in olive drab .
    Nip the attraction in the bud. Once and for all.
    She’d be doing him a favor. Not to mention herself.
    Looking in the full-length mirror in her bedroom, she turned, checking to make sure the pants weren’t tight enough in the rump to draw any attention.
    She might be able to live without makeup, but fragrance was another story. She was spraying her favorite perfume on her neck and wrists when the doorbell rang. After one last look in the bathroom mirror, she headed for the front door.
    “Hey, there.”
    “Come on in,” she said, stepping back from the door.
    “I see you got all dressed up for me,” he said, looking her over. “How many houses have you painted in that shirt?”
    “Just my comfortable clothes. No reason to get dressed up just to learn football.”
    He winced, obviously disappointed. If she hadn’t been looking right at him, she would’ve missed it. “You wouldn’t have dressed like that on purpose to scare me off or anything, would you?”
    Oops. Busted.
    “What are you talking about? Of course not.” She laughed, hoping he didn’t hear the nervous edge.
    “The flaw in your plan was the perfume.”
    “What perfume?”
    He laughed. “What’s it called?”
    Maddie placed her hands on her hips. “It must just be my soap.”
    He raised one eyebrow. “It’s not the soap.”
    Maddie huffed. “It’s called Rosewilde. I’m surprised you noticed. I didn’t put on very much at all.”
    “Noticed? A man would have to be dead not to pick up on a smell like that. I’m surprised you haven’t been approached by random men on the street.”
    Maddie giggled. “Who says I haven’t?”
    Something flashed across his face. It was tight, edgy. Could it be jealousy?
    “That ridiculous outfit, which, by the way, looks like something Lucille Ball might wear to fool Ricky Ricardo. It was kind of a dead giveaway.”
    “When I get ready for a new man in my life, I’ll wear something else.”
    There. She’d said it. Made it plain. Nothing more was going to happen between them. Only football.
    “Good to know.” He smiled. A tepid, fake half smile, half snarl.
    She hoped he hadn’t taken her declaration as a challenge, but the look on his face told her it was a distinct possibility.
    Whether he realized it or not, he wasn’t ready for a relationship either. Clinically speaking. He was too consumed by his brother’s death and the death of a man under his command. The first stages of grief had a way of turning a