I chuckle, picking up my fork. No surprise there.
“First off, get your head right on the mound. No fights. No arguing. No swearing at the umps.”
“That’s my whole persona on the mound.”
He lifts his gaze from his plate and stares at me with an expression that tells me my comment doesn’t deserve a response.
“Fine,” I grumble.
“And surprisingly, I don’t have to lecture you about the women. Did you go celibate? There’ve been no new pictures for quite a while.”
I bury my head in my plate. He can’t know that the only woman I want in my bed would demolish everything I’m trying to accomplish this year. Hayes has made it clear that Callie can date whomever she wants, but Easton and I aren’t the kind of guys he’d like to see his sister with. Truth is, I can’t really blame him.
I shrug and stab one of the hash browns on my plate. “Not into it.”
He laughs and places his fork on the plate. “That sounds like trouble.”
“What is?” I bring my fork to my mouth.
“What hot-blooded pro athlete who can score multiple women a day isn’t into sex? Are you sure you’re not pining over someone?”
I stab another forkful of hash browns. “That life isn’t for me.”
Jagger doesn’t bother trying to tell me I’m wrong like he probably did with Hayes.
He knows the truth—I’m not anyone’s dream of a happily ever after.
Chapter
Five
Callie
* * *
“Why am I struggling with this?” I try to attach the mic once again, but it gets stuck on my bra.
“I think it has something to do with you being very off lately.” Lex places the camera on the ground and walks over to me. “Take off the shirt.”
“No dinner first?” I strip off my shirt, leaving me in my bra.
“Well, aren’t you domesticated. No wonder you’ve been cranky. You’re not getting laid in a flesh-colored bra that’s squashing your tits like that.” She snakes the wire and mic through my cleavage, and my back arches from the ice blocks she calls hands.
“Jesus, do you have any circulation?”
She stops what she’s doing. “Do you want my help or not?”
“You threw the first dagger, making fun of my bra.” I haven’t told Lex I’m pregnant, so I can’t tell her that my boobs are so sore I need them to be squashed so my nipples don’t drag across anything.
“It’s just some friendly girl-to-girl advice. Doing my due diligence. I mean, you are with all those Chicago Colts guys all the time. I’d be showing off my assets if I were you.” She gets the wire secure, and with my help putting my shirt back on, we get it into place.
“One of them is my brother, and the others are his good friends.”
She scoffs. “You don’t really abide by the brother’s best-friend rule, do you? I think that goes out the window when your brother is a pro athlete.”
I grew up around Hayes and his baseball buddies, so I’m used to being around athletes. Them being professional athletes makes no difference to me. If anything, it just brings more drama to the situation. I wouldn’t mind a regular guy as long as he has an edge to him.
“Well then, I’ll go buy more appropriate undergarments after we film just for you.” I wink.
