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

perfectly nice man into a terrible boyfriend. Maddie had seen it too many times to count in her work.
    He wanted her. She could tell by the way he drank her up with his eyes, the way he stood close to her, assumed a very protective stance when he was standing beside her.
    The silence was awkward.
    “Point taken.” His smile was genuine and she liked the way his dimples weren’t perfectly symmetrical. The one on the left was deeper than the other. “Ready for some football?”
    They settled on the couch and he cued up the game. Maddie dutifully picked her notebook up off the coffee table.
    “Today we’re going to work on offense. Let’s talk about each position and what they’re responsible for during the game.”
    As they talked, she kept good notes. She wanted to make this successful and she didn’t want to miss a single detail.
    After nearly an hour of discussion, David asked, “Now, what players play on the offensive side of the ball? Those are the players that are trying to score with the ball.”
    “Let’s see,” Maddie replied, looking at her notes. “Well, definitely the quarterback is an offensive player and then you have the offensive lineman, the center, the tight ends, the fullback, running backs, halfbacks…but what about guards and tackles? Couldn’t they be either?”
    “Good job, Maddie. Both the offense and the defense have guards and tackles. Sometimes it’s the same guys, sometimes it’s not. Just depends on the team. How does the offense line up at the line of scrimmage?”
    “Line of what? I know I’ve heard that word, but I’m not entirely sure what it means.”
    “It only means the line where the play starts.”
    “I’m not sure how they line up. But I did write down the numbers that are assigned to each position, so can you freeze a play so I can try to figure it out myself?”
    “Sure.” He paused the game on a close-up shot of the team’s offense.
    Maddie moved closer to the television, squinting to decipher the numbers on each of the jerseys. After a couple of minutes of scribbling down notes and mumbling to herself, she returned to the couch.
    “Let me draw it for you.” In her excitement, she sat too close to him. Her right leg was touching his. She tried to keep her focus and ignore the iron firmness of his thigh. As much as she wanted to draw back quickly, she feared it would make the situation more awkward. Bending over the notebook, she drew out a line of circles which she labeled with positions. Finished, she looked over her drawing one last time before she passed the notebook to David.
    “Perfect,” he said, once he’d checked her work.
    She made a move to scoot to her right, firmly back onto her side of the couch but he placed one large hand on her thigh.
    “I really admire your commitment to Andrew and this team.” His amber eyes sparkled and she felt those sparks again. She tried to ignore them but they were making her stomach feel strange. Bubbly.
    “Callie would do the same for me,” Maddie said. “I know she would. We’re more than just sisters. We’re best friends.” As soon as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she regretted them. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was very insensitive of me.”
    “It’s okay,” he said, patting her knee. “I’m glad you have Callie.”
    “Me, too.”
    The house was quiet. Too quiet. It was like being a teenager, alone in the house with a boy when you weren’t supposed to be. The silence grew. His hand was still on her knee and every skin cell on her body was conscious of his touch.
    “We should probably get back to football. Sorry I didn’t bring any gold stars to reward you.”
    “I can think of better rewards.”
    Oh, no. Why did I say that? The sentence just tumbled out of my mouth. What the hell was I thinking? Not ten minutes ago I rationalized all the reasons we shouldn’t be together and now I’m flirting.
    “Really? And what might those be?” he asked in his deep, husky