Chapter 26
Connor
I knew many faces of Teddy Sloane.
When she was pissed off, her nostrils flared and she spewed venom at me during a class debate.
When she was happy that she’d won something, she used to blush the brightest shade of pink into her cheeks.
When she was frustrated or being a sad loser, she’d bite the inside of her lip and became quiet.
But right now, I didn’t know if I’d ever seen this look before. It was unguarded and devastating in its simplicity.
And yet Teddy Sloane was anything but simple.
Her blue eyes held layers I didn’t have language for—darker at the edges, lighter in the center, steady and searching all at once.
They didn’t dart or retreat. They stayed on me, clear and present, and it was like standing too close to sunshine.
Did she know she had the ability to warm someone from the inside out?
She might not have let many people see her like this, but she’s letting me, and I knew with unsettling certainty that I wouldn’t forget this moment.
Her shoulders shifted, just enough to tell me she was aware of the pause stretching between us, and if I don’t say something now, she’d armor back up on instinct alone.
“Come on, sunshine,” I said, pulling into the parking lot, then leaning closer. “Let’s go see those future captains in there and show you off.”
She exhaled through her nose, the smallest shake of her head mixed with a smile. Then she opened the door and stepped out, heat rushing around us the second our feet hit the pavement.
The school was alive. Girls in navy-and-white uniforms crossed the courtyard in clusters, bags slung over shoulders, voices overlapping. Heads turned because of her. Teddy Sloane walked like she belonged anywhere she put her feet.
Inside, the air cooled instantly from the AC. The scent of polished floors and sunscreen hung low, echoes of sneakers squeaking somewhere deeper in the building. A woman in a blazer was waiting just inside the foyer, hand outstretched, smile wide and practiced.
“Miss Sloane, Mr. O’Riley,” she said, eyes flicking between us with interest. “We’re so glad you’re here. I’m Headmistress Caldwell.”
Teddy slipped seamlessly into professional mode, voice steady, posture relaxed but commanding. I stayed back half a step, watching the way she held the space without effort, and how easily people fell into rhythm around her. “Good to meet you, Headmistress.”
We were guided through a corridor lined with trophy cases and framed team photos from all the teams within the school, then into the gym. It was cavernous and bright, team support banners tied from the rafters, the floor freshly waxed.
“The girls are getting changed,” Caldwell explained. “Mr. Perez will be here before to meet you. He’s the sports coach for this team.”
“Thank you.” Teddy nodded. “I’m looking forward to meeting everyone.”
We waited near the sideline as Caldwell left. Teddy rolled her shoulders once, loosening them, then dropped her bag beside the bleachers. She looked over at me, expression composed again, but there was something warmer lingering underneath now.
“You ready?” I asked quietly.
She nodded. “Always.”
A man in his late fifties walked into the gym a moment later, grey at the temples but dark-haired on top, a five-o’clock shadow lining his jaw.
He was a couple of inches shorter than me, but still well over six foot, broad through the shoulders in a way that told me he’d spent a lifetime around sports rather than behind a desk.
“Teddy Sloane,” he said without question, already smiling as he crossed the floor.
“That’s me.” She stepped forward, hand outstretched.
“Carlos Perez,” he replied, shaking it firmly, but he didn’t let go right away. His attention lingered, eyes sweeping her with open appreciation. He probably thought he was being subtle. “I’ve followed your career,” he added. “You’re a very impressive player.”
The lilt in his voice prickled along the back of my neck. Teddy brushed a loose strand of hair from her face, and the shy smile that followed did nothing to help my mood.
“This is Connor O’Riley,” Teddy said easily, motioning to me without missing a beat.
Perez turned, recalibrated, and offered his hand. “Of course. Captain of the Knights.” His grip was solid, but his attention flicked back to Teddy a second too quickly for my liking. “You two are quite the duo.”
I smiled politely as I shifted just enough to be closer than necessary. Totally mature behavior, I told myself. Not trying to puff out my chest or stand taller, because I was way too mature for that.
“I can’t tell you how excited the girls are.” Perez continued, refocusing on Teddy. “They’ve been talking about this all week. A professional captain walking their floor…” He blew out a breath and shook his head in awe.
Teddy smiled at him, practically beamed, in fact, and my blood pressure spiked. What did he do that earned that from her? Irritation prickled over my skin, and I couldn’t help but glare at the coach.
“I remember being their age,” she said. “It’s a great feeling having people inspire you.”
“Yeah, me too,” Perez said, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Didn’t have many chances like this when I was coming up. Would’ve made a difference to see others picking the road less wandered, you know?”
“I get it,” Teddy replied, easy and carefree. “My coach had faith in me during college, and without her, I wouldn’t be here today.”
“And that would be a shame.” Perez gave her a megawatt smile, and I was absolutely certain that the two of them had forgotten I existed—which was rude, considering I was standing right here, watching them flirt.
I realized with sudden clarity that I didn’t like being on the outside of her attention, and I knew that kind of alpha male shit wasn’t what I did with women.
Except it was taking all my restraint to not beat my chest and growl “back off” to the man in front of her.
His eyes dragged up and down her body once more. Teddy didn’t notice. Or if she did, she didn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting.
Something inside me crackled to life, like a fire catching alight.
My jaw tightened, my stance shifting instinctively closer to her.
I was a second away from opening my mouth when Teddy glanced back at me and one eyebrow lifted higher than the other as she tracked my face, my posture, the way my hand had curled at my side.
A pinch of her brow was all it took for that silent question of you okay? to thread between us.
And no, I wasn’t okay, because Perez’s focus was now roaming over Teddy’s ass, and I was close to seeing red as I flicked my gaze between them both.
I wanted to shout, no, I’m not alright with him flirting with you.
He doesn’t get to look at you like that.
I wanted to say a lot of things I had no right to say.
Teddy took half a step closer to me, and her pinky grazed mine. The contact immediately settled my racing thoughts, and I exhaled quietly. I didn’t know if she meant to do that, and somehow that made it matter more.
If Perez made any moves, I’d be ready, but this wasn’t about asshole men; this was about Teddy and the girls in the locker rooms.
I gave a loose shrug, smoothing my expression back to neutral as the locker room doors opened and the first wave of girls filtered in at the far end of the gym, and my body deflated as laughter trailed with them.
They slowed when they spotted us, whispers starting immediately, heads turned with quick, curious bursts.
Perez clapped his hands in a thundering boom. “Alright, team. We’ve got a different kind of training today. Do you know who these people are?”
A ripple of excitement moved through the group. A few hands shot up immediately. “That’s Teddy Sloane,” a girl near the front blurted out. “She plays for the Valkyries.”
“And that’s Connor O’Riley,” another added, pointing confidently in my direction. “My brother has your jersey.”
Perez smiled. “Correct. They’re here to talk to you about leadership, discipline, and what it actually takes to keep showing up when things get hard.”
Teddy stepped forward then. The chatter faded. Even I straightened without meaning to. “Hi,” she said, waving her hand at the group. “You can relax. We’re not here to yell at you or make you run laps.”
A few girls laughed, tension easing instantly.
“We’re here because someone once did this for us.” She continued. “And it mattered more than we knew at the time.”
A hand lifted near the back, and the girl attached to it couldn’t have been more than fourteen. Her boots were scuffed to hell, laces mismatched, her shoulders drawn in.
“How do you deal with it?” she asked. “When people don’t think you’re good enough?”
Teddy paused because, wow, we were really diving into the hard stuff straight away. Her shoulders rose slightly with a deep breath.
“You keep turning up,” she said with a decisive nod.
“You work. You learn. And you don’t let anyone else decide where you belong.
” Teddy paced a few steps left, then stopped.
“Being a woman in a male-dominated field means we are the rule setters because very few came before us. When the world talks about you it’s because you raise the standard.
You are all here to earn a seat at the table by redefining the game being played. ”
This was the part I’d never been able to articulate, probably because I was a man. But there was something niggling at the back of my mind as I took it all in.
Teddy was the epitome of earned leadership.
I was the embodiment of inherited privilege.
We were polar opposites in a lot of ways yet watching her all there was a pull that went beyond my attraction to her.
It was rerouting itself, away from surface-level heat and into something deeper.
Something that didn’t feel like a spark so much as it was anchoring inside me, bursting into more.
I wasn’t going to scare her off by admitting that, so I’d keep it to myself for now.
Someone closer to the back spoke up next, arms folded tight across her chest. “What if you love it,” she asked, “but you’re not the best one?”
Teddy’s mouth tilted, not quite a smile. “Then you decide whether you’re willing to work harder than the ones who are,” she said. “Talent gets you noticed. Effort keeps you here.”
A girl with her hair braided tight spoke next. “Did you ever want to quit?”
Teddy nodded. “More than once.” She huffed a laugh.
“Usually on days when quitting would’ve been easier than staying.
But the thing about quitting is that it’s a temporary freedom.
You have to choose your hard. Is it harder to lose something you love, or is it harder to work every day to keep it? That’s up to you.”
A girl at the back straightened, chin lifting. Teddy answered every question without rushing, without dressing it up, meeting each girl where she was. And seeing her like this, in her element, speaking out on something she was living, it was a high I had no idea I craved.