I climbed into the car and was glad to be back in the warmth. Coach closed the door behind me, the fact he had opened it for me caused me to roll my eyes at him and him to snicker in response.
I pulled the seatbelt across my body and tried to fasten into place, however it wouldn't lock. The tongue just kept sliding in and out of the buckle but it wouldn't catch. I grew frustrated and growled slightly beneath my breath, clearly louder than I expected. Coach reached across, his hand fell on my hand that held the seatbelt. His lips so close to mine, his eyes so close to mine. My heart started beating, vibrating through my whole body. I felt the seatbelt click into place but his hand and gaze remained in place.
I swallowed hard and tried to centre my thoughts.
"Did you want to eat me tonight?"
His eyes grew larger and sparkled in delight, my face grew red as I realised what I had said.
"Eat with me! With me"! I scrambled to correct my mistake.
"Can't I do both?" He laughed, his right eyebrow raising.
I pushed him away gently, he sat back in his seat and let out a long sigh.
"That's a no then?" He looked over at me, his stupid grin still plastered on his face.
"You can eat with me...then we'll see how it goes from there." I looked out of the window, trying not to crack up.
No sounds came from beside me so I turned slowly. Coach just stared at me with his mouth dropped.
"What?! You're the only one who can make a joke?" I beamed back at him, trying to cut through the awkwardness that was flooding the car.
I probably shouldn't have tried to carry on the joke but I couldn't resist, he'd picked on me the whole time, a little payback couldn't hurt, right?
I raised my hand and ruffled his hair.
"Come on, don't tell me you're shy now?" I tilted my head and stuck my bottom lip out.
He blushed harder than I had seen him blush before. His eyes looked like they were shaking, like he didn't know what to say or do.
His face darted forward and he cleared his throat as he started the car.
"Let's go."
Had I pushed him too far? The car journey was silent for the first ten minutes or so.
I swallowed my pride and admitted defeat.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
My mind flashed back to this morning, he hadn't batted an eyelid to our naked bodies grinding against each other, a few thrusts from starting to enter him but I make a joke and he suddenly shuts down? I don't think I could ever understand this giant. Maybe that's just it, maybe he is a giant from legend so he doesn't think the way us humans do. I chuckled at the thought.
"What are you giggling at?" He questioned softly.
"I was just thinking maybe you're an actual giant, like the ones from Icelandic myths?"
"You're weird, you know that?" His face loosening up a bit, even stretching as far as a small smile.
"I'm weird? You just got all pouty over a joke..." he looked at me, his pride visibly hurt.
"You're right. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath, shook his shoulders and grinned at me.
Who knew this giant could feel things other than pride and cockiness.
"You didn't answer me about if you wanted to eat together." I tried to be as soft and gentle, I didn't want to startle him again.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" That stupid over-the-top smile glaring back at me. I rolled my eyes.
His emotions are all over the pace! I couldn't say much, I hadn't exactly come across as the most stable person the last few days.
We arrived back at the hotel and ran through the blizzard into the hotel.
As we made it to my door we agreed to freshen up and meet back at the hotel restaurant in half an hour. I couldn't take my eyes off of Coach as he turned the corner, his large body seemed to fill so much of the corridor. He truly was an impressive man, if only physically.
I quickly rifled through my luggage, trying desperately to find something a bit fancier than a jumper. I wasn't sure why I wanted to dress up, but I did.
I hadn't thought of going out anywhere special so I didn't have any formal clothes. I found a polo shirt which was about as dressy as I was going to get.
I shrugged as I threw it onto the bed with some clean underwear and jeans.
I showered quickly and looked like a mad man racing around the hotel room naked while trying to locate an iron. I knew there must be one because there was an ironing board. As I dashed around I kept thinking about why it was so important that the polo be ironed? I'm sure Coach wouldn't care about a few creases. Why would it matter if he did care?
I eventually located the iron and got to making sure both the polo shirt and jeans were crease free. I even started on my boxers but realised that is taking it too far, plus it's not liked he'd see them, right?
I threw on the clothes and sprayed myself in way more cologne than I needed. My heart was beating way faster than it should be, I could feel myself sweating. I wasn't sure why but I felt nervous, my stomach was doing flips.
I grabbed my phone and wallet, pushing them into the pockets of my skinny jeans.
I opened the door and almost fell backwards in surprise. There waiting for me, his hand raised as if he was about to knock, was Coach.
His hair was messy but in a tamed way that you could tell took effort. My eyes traced over him slowly, taking in every detail. His stubble looked like it had been freshly trimmed. He smelled amazing, it was his usual fragrance but it just seemed headier than before. His crisp, white shirt fit perfectly, accentuating every muscle as they seemed to ripple beneath the surface, before disappearing into tight, black suit trousers that, again, bulged in all the right places.
"How do I look?" He smiled as he span on the spot, turning slowly enough that I could focus on his tense back muscles desperately trying to force their way through his shirt, down to his firm ass that was cupped so nicely by his trousers.
"You'll do, I suppose." I smirked as I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. I couldn't let him see how attracted I was to him in this moment. Sure I'd noticed he was a good looking guy before, and he had a great body but now, in this moment, it was like a Greek god was standing before me.
"Come on." His hand outstretched towards me, without thinking I took his hand in mine as we walked through the corridor into the restaurant.
Coach pulled out a seat for me and pushed it in as I sat down. Where was this gentleman before? Does he have a physically identical twin but with a polar opposite personality and this was all a set up?
We sat and talked, joked and laughed for what seemed to be hours. The food tasted so much more delicious in his company. His attitude seemed completely new, he was still making jokes and picking on me but it just seemed different. Maybe it was me who had changed? Maybe he was exactly the same but all it took for me to stop getting frustrated at him was for him to trim his stubble and throw on a shirt? Was I that shallow?
"Are you ok?" His eyes narrowed.
"Sorry, yeah my mind just wandered a bit." I tried to laugh it off.
"Anywhere nice? I must be boring you if you're thinking of somewhere else."
"I was thinking about you, actually." I regretted saying this as soon as it left my mouth.
His eyebrows raised and I could see that playfulness spark up in his eyes.
"What were you thinking?"
Why did I say that, of all the things I could have said.
"Just....ummm..that..y..you look...nice..I guess.." I shrugged, feeling like a school kid who was talking to their crush.
"Thank you, I thought you deserved the effort. I mean, we can't all look that good in a polo shirt you know." He followed up with a wink.
I knew I was blushing, hopefully he'd think it was the wine accompanying the meal. We carried on talking and laughing, I made sure not to let my mind wander, or at least not for long. It was hard to stay focused when his chest and arms looked like they could burst the seems of the shirt at any moment.
It suddenly dawned on us that the restaurant had emptied.
"What time is it?!" I struggled to get my phone out of my jeans.
"It's 9:45" he answered nonchalantly.
My eyes widened in panic.
"What?! We have to be up early tomorrow!"
"It's fine, there's a lot of driving tomorrow so you can sleep between stops." He smiled.
"But....I think I should go to bed...." I wanted to stay, I really did and I would have given anything to have paused the time so we could carry on chatting.
"Ok, let me walk you back."
He stood up and pulled out the chair so I could stand, if he'd been this sweet from the start we wouldn't have had so many disagreements.
As I went to reach into my pocket to grab my wallet his hand flew down, resting on my hand that was pressed against my hip.
"This is on me." He smiled sweetly.
A small amount of panic built inside me, tonight seemed to be going a little too well, especially after he'd been so awkward earlier in the car.
I couldn't argue with him so left him to it, I could always slip the cash to him later on.
We walked back to my room and we stopped outside my door as he wished me good night. I stood staring into his deep brown eyes, and it took every ounce of strength not to lean in and kiss him, but then I remember him stopping me the last time. My chest tightened at the image of being denied again.
"Goodnight" I said as I quickly unlocked the door and rushed in. My back pressed against the door and I could hear that he hadn't turned to walk away yet. My hand hovered towards the handle, floating above it waiting for a sign that I should open the door to see him again but my hand fell as I heard him leave and walk away.
I slumped onto the bed and sighed as my eyes filled with tears and darkness.
