I swore as the training center doors slammed behind me. The security guard frowned in my direction, but I didn’t slow down to apologize. I’d told Nadia seven-thirty, but practice had run long. Mostly due to Coach riding my ass about my reads.

He’d pulled me aside after and warned me about letting college life distract me from my goals. He wasn’t wrong. My head wasn’t where it needed to be, and it hadn’t been all season. I’d missed seeing an open receiver twice during practice. I couldn’t let that happen in a game.

I pushed a hand through my wet hair and threw my duffel in my truck on the way past. Nadia wanted to walk, so I’d planned to leave my truck here and come back to get it later. Yesterday afternoon, I’d been able to compartmentalize during practice. Every time my mind wandered to Nadia, I’d been able to drag it back to the action in front of me.

Today, the anticipation of seeing her wouldn’t be denied. Though, she might change her mind if I didn’t get moving. It was heading toward eight, and I still had to walk the five blocks to the community center.

As I set off in a jog, I cursed the swim team. They had early morning practices, which meant they could make time to volunteer while the community center was open. The competition wasn’t exactly fair. I’d have to bring up that point with Nadia.

The Texas heat hadn’t quite let go of summer yet, so by the time I arrived, my shower was wasted by a layer of sweat. The air conditioning hit me as soon as I opened the door, and I took a second to enjoy the coolness while I oriented myself.

A teenage girl with short purple hair and an abundance of piercings slid up to the front desk—literally slid as if she were only wearing socks—then did a double take when she saw me. Her jaw dropped open for a second before she recovered, snapping her gum loudly.

“You must be here for Nadia.”

I raised a brow and moved forward to lean on the desk. “How do you know I’m not here for…” I looked at the list of activities pinned to the wall next to me and picked one at random. “Princess dance class.”

“No tights.” She blew a small bubble while she looked me over, clearly recovered, then popped it. “Plus, she said to be on the lookout for a guy who was hot beyond all reason. There can’t be two of you wandering around. Nadia is in the gym running All Sorts of Sports. She said to point you back when you got here.”

“Thanks…”

“You can call me Pantsy.”

I reared back a little. “Pantsy?”