Chapter Thirteen
Corey
The next day Corey felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The first three interviews had gone perfectly, as Dom had predicted. The boys she talked to today were happy and normal. They wanted to play ball, for no other reason than that they loved the game.
It felt good to have started this process and to be emerged in doing what she enjoyed. She truly adored this part of her job, getting to talk to the kids. She supposed the light, airy feeling she was experiencing might also have a little something to do with Dominic Hardy. She’d had the dirtiest dreams about that man all night. She was so looking forward to their date. And she figured he’d be in a good mood since all three of the players she’d talked to today came by during their free period. No one would miss practice. She changed clothes and headed out to the track. She wanted to get in a run in while it was still daylight and she was still allowed. Silly men and their stupid caveman rules. When she hit the track, she noticed the same group of guys running as yesterday.
Riley, the one with the floppy red hair, caught up to her first. “Hey, Ms. Cooper, this running going to be an everyday thing?”
She glanced at him sideways. “It might be. Is that a problem?”
“Not for me. I was curious why you run in the middle of the day. Shouldn’t you be working?”
“Shouldn’t you be in class?”
Riley laughed. “We all have this period free, and during baseball season we use it to get in a little extra training. Don’t worry, miss, we aren’t falling behind on our schoolwork. Coach would kill us.”
“I have to run during the day. The coaches won’t let me run after dark.” She wasn’t sure if that was something she should share with the students, but for some reason, she innately trusted Riley.
Jasper and Jace came up on their right, and Riley ignored them. “Really? Weird. Are they worried someone here might hurt you? Not one of us, right?” He seemed genuinely upset by the thought.
Why would he think that? Well, why not, she guessed. The dean, the coaches, everyone around here acted like these kids were dangerous. Of course they would think that about themselves. “I’m sure it’s men being men, trying to protect the poor helpless girl.” She turned to him, eyes narrowed playfully. “For the record, girls aren’t really into that. I let these guys get away with it because, to be honest, I don’t like running after work. I like to go home and relax. I’m lazy that way.” Corey winked at Riley. Crap, was she allowed to wink at the students? She bet Dominic would say no.
“What are you guys talking about?” Jasper asked.
“Coach won’t let Ms. Cooper run after dark.”
“Hardy is awfully concerned with the safety of a woman he’s only known for two days.” Jace turned and studied her. As if the answer to his statement was written on her forehead. She kept her expression as impassive and neutral as possible.
She shrugged in response. “It is what it is, I guess, and it doesn’t really bother me.” They all jogged along in shared silence for another few minutes. Well, she, Jasper, and Riley did, Jace pulled ahead of them to run on his own. After a while Corey broke away from the pack, waving her good-bye. “I better get back to work, thanks for letting me run with y’all. Don’t be late to your next class,” she called over her shoulder.
The staff around here was crazy. Every student she’d come into contact with was wonderful. Polite, respectful, and easygoing. Corey was actually looking forward to getting to know the rest of the baseball team. She had a couple more hours of work that needed to be done before she could call it a day and go home to get ready for her date.
***
Corey opened the door wide, smiling at the gorgeous man standing there. He was fidgeting and he looked nervous as hell. She bet that Dominic didn’t go on many dates.
He cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his white button-down. “You look so fucking, um, you look beautiful.” He winced like he couldn’t believe he’d used the word fucking in that compliment.
“Thank you, you look really fucking great too.” She giggled when he smiled. “Who knew the coach would clean up so well?” And wow, had he cleaned up. He was dressed downright sharp even though she doubted he’d meant to. She wanted to pull him into her house and straddle him on her couch. Quickly, she shut and locked the door behind her. He held his hand out, helping her down off the porch, and then not letting go on the way to his truck. Man, did she love his truck. It was big and jacked up a few inches. Black with big tires and black rims. It’d turned her on that first night he had followed her home and it was turning her on now. You can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl.
Dominic opened her door and helped her inside. “I figured we could go to dinner and then come back here to have some drinks? It’s supposed to be a relatively warm night. We can sit on the patio.”
“That sounds perfect. Before this date gets in full swing, something kind of weird happened earlier today when I was running. Riley, Jace, and Jasper were down at the track again and—”
“They run during their free periods, they’re allowed to do that. The dean gives the team extra practice time during the season if they want it. I’ve already had and won that argument with the other teachers.”
She held her hands out, laughing quietly. “Okay, slow down, speed racer, I wasn’t saying that the boys running was weird.” She guessed extra practice time instead of extra study time was a topic of debate at St. Leasing. “What I was saying was that I got to talking to them a little more and I kind of mentioned that I ran during the day because y’all didn’t want me running at night. Jace reacted funny. He was all like Hardy is awfully concerned with the safety of a girl he’s only known for two days then he kind of stared at me. All the boys got real quiet after that. Is there something going on with that kid that I should know about?”
“With Jace? Nah, he’s an okay kid. Maybe a little intense, but I don’t think he means any harm. Some of the other teachers think he’s a little creepy. It’s a good thing his parents put him in all boys’ school so he can grow out of that before he tries to pick up girls.” Dominic smiled at Corey.
She didn’t get to ask him anything more about it because they pulled up to a small, nice-looking Italian restaurant. He shut off the engine and then came around to open her door and help her down. After the hostess seated them and they’d ordered and received their drinks, they fell into an easy conversation.
Dominic took a long pull from his beer. “Tell me about where you grew up.”
“Well, as you know, I grew up in central Louisiana, in a town called Forest Hill. It’s such a small town, but it’s so pretty. There is this huge lake where I spent most of my summers, getting a tan and getting into trouble.” She smiled. “It’s a lot like here, really green with lots of trees. There are a ton of local nurseries. And when the plants start blooming, the whole town turns pink, red, and purple. Everyone knows everyone’s business, lots of gossip.” She took a sip from her wineglass. “What about you? I don’t think I even know where you’re from.”
“I am from a small town as well. Pierce, it’s in southern Colorado. Same deal, too much gossip. Your average happy childhood surrounded by cousins and family. When I was sixteen, my mom left us and then two months later my dad passed away. It was really hard. Luckily I had uncles I was really close to. My dad’s brothers, they were all bachelors. But they took me under their wing, gave me a home and stability. I went to college at the University of Colorado, played ball there, and then started coaching here. My whole life, here in Colorado.” He studied her from across the table, the candlelight making his eyes glow. “You are really brave leaving everything you’ve ever known behind to start over.”
“I don’t know if brave is the word I’d use.” Corey took another sip. “I think coward is more like it. My family is great, perfect almost. My parents are still happily married and still in love. They are so supportive of anything I choose to do, even moving thousands of miles away from them. Even dating assholes. To be honest, I felt like I was being smothered.”
“Dating assholes? You are going to have to elaborate on that one. And I’m really hoping you aren’t referring to me. I mean your family doesn’t even know me yet. They should hold judgment until I can prove I’m an asshole at least.”
Corey laughed into her glass. “No, not you. Uh, are we really going to get into the ex-talk already?” She hadn’t meant to mention her ex. She’d regretted it the moment it had slipped out.
“Hey, lady, you brought it up. You can’t drop a statement like that and not elaborate. It’s irritating, like vague-booking.” Dominic winked.
She took a deep breath, let it out and then started in on her painful past. “I’ve only had my heart broken one time. I’ve never really been the girl who looked for love, you know? I wanted to have fun and hang out. Then I met my ex. He was a few years older than me, so I didn’t really know him in school. But he had a reputation. He was your typical bad boy. And I was that typical stupid girl who thought she could change him. I fell hook, line, and sinker for all his moves. We dated for a while. I thought we were really into each other. We’d done the meet-the-parents thing, we’d even moved in together. Which was how I came to find him sleeping with not one but two girls in our bed. Of course I lost it, went all batshit crazy on him. Started throwing things and screaming. Small-town gossip said I was nuts and that was why he had been cheating on me for months. He stayed in town and got one of the chicks I’d found him with pregnant. Now they’re married with another one on the way.” Corey drank the rest of her wine in one gulp. “What about you, Hardy? Tell me about the last person you dated.”
He winced. “The last person I dated was Nicole West. I was seventeen. Her family was friends with my family. They kind of pushed us together, but she was hot and she let me hit allllll the bases.”
Corey’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “The last girl you dated was when you were seventeen? What have you been doing for the last twelve years?”
“Well, I mean baseball kept me pretty busy and I didn’t have time to date. I mean I work at an all boys’ school in a tiny town in northern Colorado. Don’t get me wrong here, sweetheart, I’m no saint. I have my fun, but there hasn’t been only one girl since I was a kid.”
“So you’re a whore?”
“No, I’m not a whore. I’m selective. I like to test drive before I lease, and there hasn’t been a girl worth leasing yet.”
“Before you lease? Isn’t the term test drive before you buy?”
“Yeah, I definitely haven’t been in the market to buy. Buying infers long term.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “So you’re a commitment-phobe?”
“Would you stop trying to label me?” Dominic put his hand to his chest in mock indignation. “I’m not scared of commitment. I wasn’t in that frame of mind. I liked my life the way it was. Fun and easy and uncomplicated. I always knew that when I was ready the right girl would come along.” Dominic stared at Corey and she started to squirm in her seat. Was he referring to her? Everything he’d said he used the past terminology. Did he think she was the girl for him? He couldn’t possibly, right? They’d met only a few days ago. Hell, he’d tried to get her fired.
She ignored his odd comments, too afraid to broach that subject.
They ate in silence after that.