“Right.” I slip my heels off and toe them toward the rest of the discarded shoes. The number of matching white sneakers is a bit concerning. “If one of you could get a girlfriend sometime soon, that would be great. I’d like to eventually not be the only woman at one of these dinners.”
“Are you telling me you don’t enjoy being the only woman to have our attention?” he teases, shutting the door behind us.
“Was that a serious question?”
“Whatever, Aubrey. You love us.”
“I wouldn’t be able to deal with the lot of you if I didn’t.”
With a low chuckle, Kellan drapes his arm over my shoulders and pulls me down the wide hallway toward the hum of voices. The nine-foot ceilings make the house look even bigger than it is, which . . . shouldn’t even be possible, considering how massive it is in the first place. At a mere fifteen thousand square feet, hisplace has not only a pool in the backyard, but an indoor one as well. His kitchen is the same size as my entire condo, and the main bedroom connects to a deck with a clear view of the ocean and his private dock. I spent hours drooling over the custom, steel-grey-and-blue boat he purchased this off-season and still hasn’t taken us out on.
“You should reach out to someone about putting that on a birthday card,” he tells me, guiding me past the first living space and toward the dark-lit room the guys use to play their card games.
“I’ll leave that up to you.”
He squeezes my shoulder, eyeing me longer than necessary. “You seem stressed.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Eh, your eyebrow is pulsing.”
I swallow funny, coughing. “What?”
“The vein beneath your eyebrow spasms when you’re upset,” he says, as if it’s some obvious fact.
Reaching up, I poke my eyebrow. Sure as hell, it’s throbbing a bit. “It’s weird that you know that, Kell.”
“Blame Finn. He shares all your secrets with us.”
“Of course he does.”
“If you’re upset with Wes and Jett, may I suggest you brawl outside?”
“Do I look like I’m in the mood for a physical fight? Don’t worry, I’ll begentlewith them.”
I pull his arm from my shoulders and drop it at his side, straightening when we join the rest of the guys. The first clear sentence I hear comes from Beck at the same time Finn tosses his cards onto the table and flashes a cocky smile.
“You’re such a cheater, Avery.”
“Nice deflection,” Finn shoots back while pulling a pile of chips across the table.
Kellan reaches for the only empty chair at the table—his, apparently—and drops into it. His weight makes the legs creak as I hover behind Finn and hold his shoulders. Feeling me, he whips his head to the side and lifts his eyes. The quirk of his lip is instant.
“I was starting to get worried.”
Shaking my head, I let loose a weighted breath. “I’m here.”
“You’re okay?” he asks, worry sparking in his greyish-blue eyes.
“Can I say that I’m sorry so we can get it out there? I’ve been feeling guilty about Henry all week!” Wes says from the opposite side of the table.
I almost laugh at how stricken he looks as he stares at me. Honestly, I’m already over the date he set up for me. He’s texted me a dozen times since, apologizing, and I know he didn’t mean anything by it. MLB stars or not, all of these guys sitting at this table are members of my found family. That doesn’t mean I’m going to let him off already, though.
“Did you set me up with him because you think I need to start a fitness journey, Wes? Is that really what this was about?” I ask, my lips turning down into a steep frown.
His green eyes blow wide as his jaw hangs open, his tongue flopping around for a few beats. “What? No! No, that’s not it at all!”
“Are you sure? Considering how obsessed Henry was with cutting and bulking and making sure I was eating cleanly . . .” I trail off.
