Taking a Shot at Love Page 5

Athena stood and pulled her wallet out of her desk. “I’m going to grab a sandwich. You want anything?”

  “Yes. My usual, please.”

  Athena held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Athena Chang.”

  “Hello, I’m Celeste Bouchard.”

  Athena nodded as she invited Celeste into their office, then behind Celeste’s back, Athena gave Lisa a thumbs-up and mouthed “wow.” Lisa gave a subtle shake of her head, indicating to Athena to drop it. Lisa had told Athena the other day that Emily’s English professor was the one she’d found so attractive…and so irritating.

  “What can I do for you, Professor?”

  Celeste took a couple of steps deeper into the office. “I wanted to apologize for our misunderstanding the other day.”

  “I’m pretty sure it was your misunderstanding, Professor. You were the one who thought I was trying to cheat.”

  Lisa felt a small pinch of satisfaction when Celeste looked down at her feet before meeting Lisa’s glare. “You’re right. I assumed one thing before I got the facts. That was very wrong of me, and I wanted to apologize in person. I also wanted to let you know I met with Emily a little earlier, and I think we figured out what’s happening and how we can fix it.”

  Lisa gestured to the chair for Celeste to take a seat, and she rolled her chair back behind her desk. She crossed her ankle over her knee and steepled her fingers. She took a moment to observe Celeste, who was dressed in a blouse and skirt. A pencil skirt, Lisa thought they were called. See? She knew a little about fashion. Celeste’s dark brown hair fell a few inches below her shoulders in ringlets, and Lisa wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through her hair. Was it as soft and luxurious as it looked? Would it feel like silk between her fingers? What would it feel like brushing across Lisa’s chest?

  She cleared her throat and prayed her face wasn’t turning beet red. “Oh, really? She worried me toward the end of last spring because her grades fell, and I know what a good student she is. Then to see her start off poorly in your class, I really grew concerned.”

  “I don’t want to betray Emily’s trust, Coach, but I think she might be having some personal issues. She talked to me about it, but if she comes to you, she’s going to need reassurance that she’s not disappointing you.”

  “Disappointing me? Why would she think that?”

  “Like I said, Coach, I don’t want to betray her, but I’ll encourage her to talk to you about it.”

  Celeste re-crossed her legs and her skirt hiked up just enough to make Lisa’s heart rate increase. Man, did someone turn up the heat? She felt she might break out in a sweat at any time. She’d heard what Celeste had said, but she had trouble concentrating on anything except for Celeste’s bare, creamy legs that taunted her.

  “I’ll meet with her a few more times, but I think she’s catching on. She gave me permission to keep you informed of her progress if you wanted. She was very concerned about not letting you down.”

  “I appreciate you taking the time to help her, and I accept your apology.”

  Lisa saw Celeste looking at the television where she’d paused the video. The faint scent of Celeste’s perfume was starting to make its way to Lisa’s senses, and it was having a softening effect on her. She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders, and she started to relax.

  “Athena and I were just watching a game tape of tomorrow’s opponent.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry I interrupted.” Celeste stood and Lisa followed suit.

  Lisa extended her hand, and when Celeste’s hand met hers, Lisa paid close attention to how it felt in hers. Soft. The skin was soft against her own palm, and it looked dainty and elegant in Lisa’s larger hand. Warm. Celeste’s hand was warm but not sweaty, unlike Lisa’s. Damn sweaty palms.

  “I appreciate you coming by, Professor Bouchard. If you’re not busy tomorrow, come to our home opener. We play Claremont University at one tomorrow.”

  “I’ll see if I can make it, Coach Tobias. And call me Celeste.”

  “All right, Celeste, as long as you call me Lisa.”

  Celeste gave her a small smile. Wait. Did she just quickly check Lisa out? Maybe. Or maybe Lisa just wanted Celeste to be checking her out. She left Lisa’s office, and Lisa inhaled deeply to get one more whiff of Celeste’s perfume. Celeste. Lisa loved the way Celeste’s name rolled off her tongue.

  Chapter Seven

  Lisa stood with her arms crossed, closely scrutinizing the opposing team during warm-ups. She and Athena had gone over the game tape numerous times, and her team was prepared to guard the offense, break the full-court press, and make the proper cuts to the basket to hopefully score some easy layups. What Lisa was looking for now was to see who the hot shooter was for the opposing team. The player who was making most of her shots from the outside was who she put her best defensive player on to guard.

  The buzzer rang and the players jogged to their respective benches. A recorded rendition of the national anthem played, and Lisa sang the words softly while her right hand rested over her heart. As the daughter of a Marine and cousin of an Army Ranger, the words of the anthem, and what it represented, were important and never failed to choke her up a little. After the song ended, the announcer introduced the lineup for both teams. In Lisa’s first year as head coach at Glassell University, it took her a little by surprise when she first heard the introductions. All her adult life, as a player and a coach, she had played mostly in arenas with a state-of-the-art sound system. The sound system at GU sounded like a cheap karaoke machine, and most of the time, she couldn’t understand what the announcer was saying. As expensive as it was to attend the university, one would think they could spare some money to do an upgrade. She had mentioned it more than once to the athletic director, who said he’d look into it, and quite frankly, it was embarrassing. Many times, she’d seen the opposing team looking at each other, wondering what the heck was being said.

  Lisa’s team won the tip-off and immediately scored the first basket. Her team got off to a fast start, and the opposing coach had to quickly call a timeout. Three minutes had gone by and GU was up by eight points. That timeout apparently settled down the opposing team, and they quickly scored three baskets to get within two. Lisa felt it was way too early to start getting nervous, but she wanted to nip this streak in the bud. She quickly changed up the type of defense her team was playing in hopes it would throw the opposing team off. Instead, the opposing team set a perfect screen and their best shooter scored a three. Lisa stomped her foot and yelled to the referee that she wanted a timeout. When her players sat on the bench, she squatted in front of them and started yelling to be heard over the crowd noise.

  “You ladies need to start playing with some intensity. You’re just standing around while the other team has their way with you and they are scoring easy baskets.” She pointed at her players on the bench individually. “If you don’t start playing hard, I’ll put in other players who will. I want you to run the play, Panther, and after we score, I want you to full-court press.” The buzzer sounded and the players ran back out onto the court, ran the play, and scored their first basket in four minutes of play. For the rest of the game, her team played with a greater intensity, and they won by twelve points. Lisa and the rest of the team lined up to congratulate their opponents, and before she walked out of the gym, she looked up into the stands to see Celeste walking up the stairs. Lisa grinned and felt oddly pleased that Celeste came to the game.

  * * *

  Celeste arrived at the game a few minutes late and had trouble deciding where she would sit. This was the first game she had attended at Glassell University, and she was surprised to see the smattering of people in the stands. She’d guessed that there were about two hundred people in attendance, but she thought there would be more. Actually, she didn’t really know what to expect. She had never been athletic, never had gone to any games or matches when she was in high school or college, and all she had to go on was what she had seen on television. When she had seen games on T
V, the gym always seemed bigger, the bleachers always full. This would definitely be a new experience for her, seeing a live game. She walked down four rows of bleachers and squeezed past a few people, then took a seat on the hardwood plank. It didn’t take long to feel the energy from the players and spectators.

  It was hard to pay attention to the game when Celeste had difficulty taking her eyes off Coach Tobias. She was dressed similarly to what she had worn to the faculty mixer—black slacks, a cardinal button-down blouse, and black loafers. Her hair was down and she stood with a strong posture, looking like she was about to jump out of her skin. One moment, she had her arms crossed over her chest. The next, she was pointing toward a group of players and yelling something Celeste couldn’t understand.

  Throughout the game, Celeste had a different picture of who she thought Lisa was. The two interactions she’d had on campus with Lisa had given Celeste the impression that she was pretty laid-back. However, seeing the coach side of Lisa gave Celeste a little flutter deep in her belly. She found it extremely sexy to see the butch coach so riled up and animated. Celeste felt herself get warm and wondered if it was from the activity in the gym or the effects Lisa had on her. She used her program to fan herself but quickly put it down when she noticed nobody else was doing it. She was at the age where she could pass it off as a hot flash, but she didn’t want anyone to know about that either.

  Celeste managed to turn her focus back to the game and found herself clapping when Emily scored a basket. From that point on, it wasn’t too difficult to stay focused on the actual game except for the time when Lisa had called the timeout. Celeste finally got to see Lisa’s face when she was talking to her team sitting on the bench. She could see the fire in Lisa’s eyes and her eyebrows scrunched when she was emphasizing her point. Celeste felt the heat rise in her own body, and she unscrewed the cap off her water bottle and took a drink to try to cool down. There were so many things about Lisa that turned Celeste on—her intensity was off the charts—but she appeared to be in total control. Her strong jaw looked more angular when she clenched her teeth. The sleeves rolled up to her elbows showed off her muscular forearms. Her slacks showed the definition of Lisa’s behind. Her eyes were eagle-eyed sharp. Despite feeling warm, Celeste shivered.

  Celeste had to admit that she didn’t know all that much about basketball, but she was finding this game, and the coach, extremely exciting. The constant running up and down the court, passes swinging from one side to the other, and the all-out hustle of these ladies was impressive. She had already decided that this would not be her only game she would attend. The added bonus was being able to observe Lisa in a different environment and see a different personality. Lisa didn’t look half bad in her baggie basketball sweats, but she was off the charts hot wearing her nice coaching clothes. Oh yes, indeed, she would definitely be attending more games. The final buzzer rang indicating the game had ended, and she spotted Emily waving to her. Celeste waved back and gave her a thumbs-up before walking back up the bleachers to leave the gym. Celeste resisted the urge to turn around for one last look at Lisa because the last thing she needed was an image of Lisa in her mind before she went to sleep. Who was she kidding? She already knew the image of Lisa would be floating in her mind. Damn it.

  * * *

  Once the post-game meeting ended, Lisa dismissed the team so they could shower and get their treatment by their trainer. Lisa and Athena said good-bye to their two volunteer coaches and headed back to their office. Lisa felt really good about this win. There were times when the team got sloppy, but considering it was their first game of the season, she was pleased overall by her team’s hustle.

  “I think we need to do a few passing drills tomorrow in practice. The girls were getting pretty sloppy at one point with their ball handling. I know it’s early in the season, but we need to get that under control.”

  Athena nodded and wrote it down on her pad of paper. “I think we also need to work on some rebounding. The post players did a good job of blocking out, but our guards need to hit the boards as well.”

  The audio-video guy brought a copy of the game to their office. Athena thanked him and put the disc in the DVD player. A few minutes into analyzing the game, Athena nudged Lisa’s shoulder with her elbow. “So, did you see Professor Bouchard in the stands tonight?”

  Lisa feigned surprise. “No. Was she there?”

  “You are so full of shit. You saw her and you know it.”

  Lisa pointed at the screen. “Did you see Watson just standing around when the shot went up? She needs to get more aggressive on the boards.”

  “I see what you’re doing there. I’ll let it go for now, but just so you know, this conversation will be revisited.”

  Ugh, that dog with a bone. Yes, Lisa had definitely seen Celeste in the stands, but she actually felt her there before she even saw her, which was a new sensation for her. Fortunately, Lisa was able to keep Celeste in the far corners of her mind so she could concentrate on the team and the game. She hoped Celeste would come to more of the games, and she felt like a teenage girl when she hoped she’d impressed her with her coaching skills.

  By the time they finished watching the first half it was already ten o’clock. “Come on, Lisa, let’s finish this up tomorrow. I just want to get in my comfortable clothes and chill out in front of the TV for a while.”

  Lisa agreed, grabbed her keys out of her desk, and turned out the lights before locking the door. Yes, she’d have plenty of time tomorrow to go over the game. Tonight, she’d think about Celeste sitting in the stands cheering on her team.

  Chapter Eight

  Celeste opened the door to her office early Monday morning and turned on her computer. She was going over her lesson plan for that day when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up and was happy to see Olivia standing there with her briefcase in her hand.

  “Well, this is a nice surprise. What are you doing here so early?”

  Olivia smiled as she walked farther into Celeste’s office. “I wanted to catch you before you got too busy. There’s something I wanted to run by you.” Olivia handed over a piece of paper that looked to be an ad of some kind. Celeste perused the information and looked up at Olivia with wide eyes.

  “What’s this about?”

  “There’s a pole dancing showcase in Las Vegas for all skill levels. I thought it would be fun for you to do.”

  “Me? Why me?”

  Olivia sat in the chair in front of Celeste’s desk and pointed at the paper that Celeste was still holding. “Because you’re so good at it, and it would push your comfort level. Isn’t that what you’ve been wanting to do? Try new things?”

  “Well, yes, but I think this might be too much. What if someone sees me?”

  “Like who? It’s in Vegas, baby.”

  Celeste laughed at Olivia’s childish play. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?”

  “Exactly. Tell you what, if you do it, I’ll do it. It will be fun. We can do a girls’ weekend.”

  Celeste took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Before she could change her mind, she agreed. She had promised herself when she turned forty that she was going to push her comfort level and try new things. Now that she was approaching fifty, she could look back and remember that she’d gone zip-lining, skydiving, and learned how to scuba just to name a few out of her comfort zone activities. But performing a pole routine in front of a large number of people was really pushing her boundaries. She felt a little sick to her stomach thinking about it, but also a little thrilled. The thought of choreographing her own routine and performing it in front of people she didn’t know gave her a little bit of a tingly feeling throughout her body. The competition was in three weeks, and today was the deadline to sign up.

  “Okay, we’re going to do this.” Celeste went to the competition’s website, and as Olivia stood behind her looking over her shoulder, Celeste completed the online registration while her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest.

 
; “Now it’s your turn.” Celeste stood and allowed Olivia to sit in her chair to complete her own registration. When she was done, Olivia looked at Celeste like a deer caught in headlights, then squealed as she stood, and they hugged while giggling like school girls.

  “This is going to be so much fun.” Olivia gathered her briefcase and slung the strap over her shoulder. “I’ll book us a room at the host hotel and email you the itinerary.”

  Once Celeste was alone in her office, she sat at her desk with her face in her hands, wondering if she had just completely lost her mind. She shook her head and smiled, thankful she had a friend like Olivia who would go on that ride with her. She was finally going to do a larger showcase, and in a town like Las Vegas. She wouldn’t say it was a dream come true, but it certainly ticked off another box on her bucket list.

  Celeste’s daydream was interrupted by another knock on her door. She felt nauseous when she saw Jackie standing in her doorway, acting like she was gifting Celeste with her mere presence.

  “Hi, beautiful. What’s happening?” Jackie stepped inside Celeste’s office uninvited and moved closer to her desk. Celeste slid the ad for the showcase into the top drawer before Jackie could see it.

  “What do you want, Jackie? I have papers to grade and I don’t have time to deal with you.”

  Jackie placed her hand over her chest like Celeste had hurt her feelings. “Come on, baby. Don’t act like that.”

  “I don’t have time for this, Jackie. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

  “We belong together, Celeste. Why can’t you see that?”

  “Why can’t you see that I want nothing to do with you? Get out of my office. I’m done trying to be nice.”

  Jackie’s face turned red and Celeste thought steam might come out her ears. There was another knock on the door, and Celeste’s further interaction with Jackie was saved by one of her students.