Page 6 of Bliss

Dropping her hand at her side, Bliss narrowed her gaze on me. “Are you stalking me, Kavanaugh?”

Lifting one of the travel mugs, I took a slow sip of coffee. “Of course not. We just happened to leave our apartments at the same time.”

She glanced at the closed door behind me, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head for a moment. “No. This is not happening. You are not the new neighbor.”

I took another sip and casually lifted the second cup. “You still take almond milk in your latte?”

“You made me a latte?” she hissed, staring at the proffered travel mug like it might contain poison.

“As much as I would love to take credit for it, I’m still learning to work the new espresso machine. My housekeeper was kind enough to make it, though.” When she just stood there staring at the drink, I pushed it into her hand. Her fingers wrapped around it automatically. “Don’t waste good coffee, meleğim. The coffee did nothing wrong.”

Seeing her flinch when I called her “my angel” burned. Clenching my jaw, I gave her a small nod. “Nice meeting you, new neighbor.”

As I walked toward the elevator, I tried not to tense up, half expecting her to throw the coffee at my back. Thankfully, it was an iced latte, because that was her favorite, but also because I wasn’t a complete idiot. Bliss had a temper, and the odds were seventy-thirty that she would use the heavy, insulated cup like a missile. She had great aim, and I was a particularly large target.

To my surprise, I stepped onto the elevator without sustaining an injury. Glancing back, I saw that Bliss was still standing in front of her apartment door, savoring a drink of her latte.

Heart lifting at the sight, I nearly gave a fist pump at the small victory. It left me feeling lighter as I drove to the arena. I had a lot to get done, and I was prepared to put in the work to get my new team to where they needed to be.

My assistant was waiting when I walked into my office, two phones sitting on top of his iPad, along with a stack of physical files that I’d requested. I’d brought Grant with me when I took this job. He’d been my assistant for six of the last seven years, and I had a very short list of people I trusted more than I did Grant. Not only did he keep my day-to-day running like a well-oiled machine, he could recite any player’s stats from any team in the league. “Morning, Coach K. You have a meeting with six of the eight assistant coaches in thirty minutes, followed by a sit-down with Mr. Hawkins directly after.”

I nodded, already running through my mental checklist for the hell this meeting was going to be. Some of the ACs were part of the toxicity problem that had been rotting the team’s morale over the last few years. Not all of the six who had been invited to the meeting would remain on the payroll. The other two had been shown the door the same day I’d told the owner yes to his job offer. Replacing them before the season started would be a tall order, especially since I was going to handpick each of the new hires. I’d made steep stipulations when I’d signed my contract with Ted Hawkins.

Before I’d even agreed to consider the offer, I’d insisted Ted replace the previous general manager. He’d been irritated about it, but once he’d cut out that particular tumor within his hierarchy and brought in the GM I’d suggested, he’d begun to truly understand that it wasn’t just the previous coach that had been such a huge issue over the years.

“And lunch?” I asked Grant, taking the files from him.

“Reservations have already been made. Invites sent and accepted as of an hour ago, Coach. I also ordered a car service to pick up the players to ensure they actually show up.”

“Good. Thank you.” I flipped through the first pages of the files and grimaced. “It’s going to be a long morning, Grant. Let’s get this crap over with.”

Bliss

Every Wednesday, my sisters and I had a standing catch-up date. We usually met for coffee before doing some shopping or getting our nails done, and then we ended the day with a late lunch. In the past, when Arella was off on location for whichever movie she was filming, she’d sometimes video call one of us while we were eating.

It was a sisters-only day—no husbands, and definitely no little brothers. Heavenleigh was still breastfeeding Truly, though, so she’d brought my niece along today. Truly was only three months old, Heavenleigh and Jake’s second baby. Like all the other grandkids who weren’t in school, Daniel, Heavenleigh’s son, was with our parents. All the grandkids loved spending as much time with their G-Pop and G-Mom as possible. They would help our dad tinker with his newest car project or learn to play the guitar and pretend they were mini rock stars.

After my sister was done feeding her daughter, I took Truly from her so she could eat. Cradling my niece against me, I made silly faces at her until the other three women at the table turned the conversation to the one I’d been avoiding all day.

“Damien asked me the strangest question this morning,” Nevaeh commented, adjusting her glasses on her nose.

I huffed dramatically, causing Truly to coo happily. Her chubby hands clasped my nose until I made her favorite sound, a goose honking.

“He wanted to know if Bliss had ever mentioned Noah Kavanaugh.”

Arella paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, her brows pulling together in confusion. “Who is Noah Kavanaugh?”

“Oh, I know this one!” Heavenleigh said excitedly, holding up her hand like a student desperate to be called on by the teacher. “He’s the new head coach for the Titans. Jake gave me a crash course on the man’s entire career. Played four years in college, then was drafted to Boston. I forget how long he was there, but he won a championship with them before he retired from playing and moved straight into coaching. After working as an assistant coach for about five years, he was offered the head coach position in North Carolina. He was there for seven years and won five championships. Now he’s in LA coaching the Titans.”

“He’s Evan’s coach.” Arella’s frown only deepened, her blue-gray eyes focused on me. “Why does that concern Bliss, though? She hates sports, especially basketball.”

“That’s what I was wondering. But Damien said our dear sister had an odd reaction when she met the new coach last night,” Nevaeh said in that sweet voice that hid how dangerously smart she was. At least she wasn’t word-vomiting all over the place. Although I would have preferred that to this conversation.

“Okay, I have so many questions and no idea where to start.” Heavenleigh squeezed the bridge of her nose like all the information she didn’t have was giving her a headache.

“Well, the obvious first question should be why was Bliss at the same place with this coach and our baby brother?” Arella picked up her water goblet, the frown switching to raised brows.

I told them about the SOS text from Damien and how I’d had to rescue him from the party he’d gone to with Evan and Caprice. As expected, that got a chorus of groans and grumbled curses.