“Are you going to pitch that ball or what?” I call to Levi.
“I’m suddenly worried you’re not the one in danger,” he replies with a grin.
He’s not wrong to worry.
Not wrong at all.
“C’mon. Pitch it,” I taunt.
“Cameras are rolling,” Stu reminds us.
Levi squeezes his eyes shut, mutters something to himself that’s most likelyI’m going to regret this, and then he lobs a soft pitch my way.
I swing the bat and almost smack Cooper in the head with it.
“Ball one!” Diego yells.
“She swung,” Levi says.
“You’ve clearly never played off-hours Fireballs baseball,” a blonde in the dugout responds.
Cooper waves at her while he retrieves the ball from its spot against the wall. “Mac! Get out here and play umpire.”
“No way. My dads willkillme if they see me in this video and realize I didn’t invite them too.”
“C’mon, babe,” Brooks Elliott calls. “I’ll protect you, and we need someone who knows the off-hours rules behind home plate.”
Three other women in the dugout shove Mac, and she finally trots out to cheers from the entire team and Levi and his family too.
I smile at her. “You’re very popular.”
“Biggest Fireballs fanever.” She pumps a fist to her chest. “They have to love me or I’ll hex them. Cooper, if you don’t show Waverly how to swing a bat, I’ll have to have Brooks do it, and that could end poorly for my marriage, and you don’t want that, do you?”
“You know I’d fix it all for you,” Cooper replies.
“Yeah, I’ve seen how youhelp. C’mon. Show Waverly how to swing the bat.”
He meets my eyes again, and could the man for one minutenotbe this damn handsome?
“I have to help you now.” He shrugs. “Sorry. Can’t be helped. Everyone thinks Tripp and Lila and the coaches run the Fireballs, but it’s really Mackenzie.”
“Oh!” I drop my bat and spin to face her. “You’re the one who led the protests over Fiery being retired and the new mascot options all being terrible.”
Her baby blues blink twice and then go wide. “Oh my god, you know who I am?”
“I wasriveted. And also, that meatball mascot contender?”
“I stole it,” she whispers.
“You are myhero. I would’ve given up the Fireballs forever if it’d won.”
“Oh my god, you love the Fireballs?”
Dammit. My face gets hot, but I quickly hook a thumb toward the pitcher’s mound. “When your adopted brother is a fan…”
Total lie.
Total and complete lie.
