“So you’re going to smash it at me. That’s what you’re saying.”
He shrugs. “You have control over whether I do or not.”
I roll my eyes and take my place on the baseline. “You do remember I’ve been playing for a week.”
Calder’s eyes drop to my thigh where there’s still the remnants of a blotchy pattern on my skin from the hit I took on Friday. “I’m not going to hit you.”
His voice is soft, intense in that way that I’m realizing is uniquely him. It’s like he’s more tuned in than other people, but on a completely different frequency.
Calder taps his paddle to the net. “You only have to get seven points to win. I have to get to eleven.”
“And what do we get if we win?” I purposefully say “we” so it doesn’t sound flirty. But the fact that I have to think about it makes me realizeI wantto be a little flirty with him. Not because I’m into him, of course. He’s like Mr. Darcy or Han Solo. Someone who needs a woman to kick them in the pants and get them to loosen up. Maybe if I could crack that thick shell of his, he’d realize I’m not some flighty party girl after his friend. After the ice pack incident, I know he has a softer side, and that’s the side I need if I want an ally in Operation Garrett.
“You get the satisfaction of winning.” Calder’s expression is unimpressed.
“But I like prizes. Or treats.” Okay, so that wasn’t helping with my public image.
“She loves treats!” Sam plops on the bench between the courts.
Calder blows out a breath. “Fine. You can have a sucker.”
I scoff. “There are suckers in the bowl at the front. I can already have a sucker.”
He wets his lips. “Not if I tell them you can’t.”
The temperature ticks up a few degrees, and my head goes a little fuzzy. I swallow hard, then laugh off my sudden heat flash. “Fine. A sucker it is.”
Damn, Frederick.He needed to save that banter for his girlfriend. Wait, did he have a girlfriend? “Are you dating someone?”
Calder serves the ball, and I do my best to reset it. It goes too high, but he doesn’t take full advantage. Expecting a faster shot than what he sends me, I knock it into the net.
“This is a lesson.” He scoops the ball under the net with his paddle.
“We’ve already crossed your weird professional line,” I mouth more than say out loud. I wonder if he heard me over the music, but then he says, “No.”
“No?”
“I’m not dating anyone.” He sends the ball back.
I swallow my pride and try another reset, getting it a few inches lower. When I hit it into the net on the next shot, he calls out, “Two to zero.”
Perfect.
“Why aren’t you dating?” I ask.
“Too busy,” he shoots back, serving me the ball.
“But that’s in your control.” I get lower and successfully get a ball to drop into the kitchen. I make a new victory noise that I swear has never left my lips, and Calder misses the shot. “Ha! New strategy!”
Calder doesn’t look amused. “Why aren’t you dating someone?”
I grin. “Well, I’m notyet, but I’m putting forth effort.” I return the serve, sending the ball wide. Somehow he still gets it, sending it straight to my feet. I miss it and have to chase it back to the wall. “That’s the problem,” I call a little louder. “I don’t get to choose whether I date someone or not. They have to agree to it.”
“Preach!” Sam shouts.
“And we’re told that all men want endless women, and yet all we see are men sitting at home by themselves. I don’t even know what they’re doing.” I grunt as I hit the ball back to him, putting a little of my frustration into it. He has to jog back to grab it. “What are they doing, Calder?”
I was an attractive woman. Not like Megan attractive, but I had what Sam and I both agreed were good boobs. And that was the terrifying part. Maybe men were putting stock into personality, and they just didn’t like mine.
