Chapter 9 Chelsea #3
Matching his posture, I lean forward, too.
“When we really got going in your room, when I reached a certain, I don’t know, fork in the road, I suppose you could say, a certain sensation between my legs made me want to rip off all my clothes and throw caution completely to the wind.
And that’s when I realized I’d almost certainly regret doing that for the first time ever with a Maguire.
So, good girl that I was, I forced my virginal, horny ass to leave your room before my body convinced my brain to say, ‘Fuck it.’” I snicker. “Or rather, ‘him.’ Literally.”
Luca looks like an armory full of fireworks is going off behind his eyes. “Are you telling me if my name hadn’t been Maguire, you would have lost your virginity to me that night?”
I look around the noisy cafeteria before responding.
“I mean, I’m saying it’s possible. I’d never done it before, and I was very na?ve and still thought sex was some massively big deal, so who knows if I would have gone through with it.
But, yes, I’m admitting that was my thought process at the time, which is the main reason I left, if I’m being honest.” I lean in a touch more.
“Luca, I left because I wanted you so badly, not because I didn’t. ”
“Holy shit.”
I take a deep breath, lean back, and clear my throat. “Okay, I hope that helps you turn the page on all that forever. Now, let’s move on to what I’ve figured out after watching film on you.”
He’s not listening to me. In fact, he looks lost in thought.
Stunned, like he could be blown over by the slightest puff of air.
“I can’t believe how badly I misread the situation,” he says, almost to himself.
He leans back. “All this time, I’ve thought you hated my guts—when in reality, you just wanted to bone me so badly, your inner good girl couldn’t handle it. ”
I roll my eyes. “Is your teenage ego sufficiently reinflated now, so we can we move on to all the ways I’m going to improve every aspect of your game?”
“My teenage ego is reinflated, yeah, but my adult dick is totally deflated. Damn, Chelsea. This information makes you leaving that room even more of a tragedy than Romeo and Juliet.”
I snort. “And yet, somehow, we’ve both survived the catastrophe. Now please, Luca, let me tell you about—”
“I won’t talk about any of that with you, unless you first tell me how desperately Juliet wanted Romeo to uncork her bottle back then.
” He winks. “I bet you we’d still have that same, off-the-charts chemistry again, even now.
Actually, how about I take ‘nay’ in that bet and let you win and prove me wrong? ”
“Would you stop it?” I look around the cafeteria again. “Yes, I fully admit we had great chemistry, but if you must know, it wasn’t necessarily all that personal to you.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, it’s true.” It’s not true, actually, as every fling and boyfriend afterward proved to me in spades.
I continue, “I’d been extremely eager to get that particular box checked off since arriving at college, and I thought doing it with a cute football player I’d never see again was an ideal strategy.
But then, in the moment, I suddenly realized the regret I’d feel for checking off the box with a Maguire—shudder—would far outweigh the immediate thrill of finally walking on the wild side for once.
So, I stopped myself in the nick of time.
Now, can we please move on before you have to go to your breakout session with Coach Martinez? ”
Grinning, Luca leans forward. “Tell me, Chelsea, did you ever check off that box, or are you still looking to do it?”
I scoff loudly. “Sorry if it destroys your egomaniacal fantasies, but yes, I checked off that box later that school year and emphatically didn’t spend the next seven years of my life saving myself for some random guy I’d hung out with for all of three hours at age eighteen in Bloomington, Indiana.”
He laughs and pounds a fist to his heart. “I’m crushed.”
“Why? Because you never had sex again after meeting me that one time?”
The look he flashes me answers the question well enough.
“And those experiences are none of my business, the same way mine are none of yours.” I’m thinking the idea of me having a sexual history will diminish the wolfish energy wafting off Luca in this moment.
But quickly, it’s clear from his body language this new information has only spurred him on even more.
I clear my throat under his heated gaze. “Can we please move on from this topic? Let me show you the training program I’ve got in mind for you, Luca. Please.”
Luca shakes his head. “I appreciate the spot you’re in, and I wish I could help you prove yourself to everyone here. I totally get you wanting to do that. But I really can’t volunteer as your guinea pig. I’ve got way too much at stake to put myself in that position.”
I press my fingernails into my palms, feeling like all hope is lost. “Will you at least listen to my sales pitch? I’ll talk while you eat. And if you’re still not interested in what I could offer you as a coach, I’ll babysit you like a good little nepo baby and otherwise leave you alone.”
His features soften. “Okay, killer. Say your piece. I’m listening.” To prove his point, he shovels a forkful of potatoes into his mouth, apparently giving me the floor.
I take a deep breath. “Okay, well, first off, I think you’d agree you’ve slowed down quite a bit since college, so—”
“No, not ‘quite a bit,’” he mumbles through the food in his mouth.