“Oh, for the love of Pete.”
“It’s Soren actually.” His lips twitched.Bastard.
What the hell was he doing here? In all of his bearded, smart-ass glory.
“Soren Sinclair, Dani Bernal,” Dani said, introducing herself. “Social media director.”
Soren held out his hand, but I knew better. A handshake wasn’t going to cut it.
“Do you hug?” she asked him.
He wrinkled his brow, studying her like she was some kind of riddle. “I might be a little sweaty, but okay.”
She wasted no time throwing her arms around his waist, nearly knocking him off his feet. That was the power of a Dani Bernal hug.
Soren’s eyes widened. Did I detect a hint of embarrassment from my annoyingly sexy neighbor? Interesting.
“Are we doing hugs? I want hugs.” A blonde man with a baby face and the number zero on his jersey sidled up to Dani. He didn’t look old enough to order alcohol, let alone play professional baseball. “I’m Jared.”
A smile split Dani’s face. “Jared Pink. 3.1 ERA. 125 strikeouts your rookie season at Baltimore.”
“Well damn, nowI’mgonna giveyoua hug.”
Jared tugged Dani into his arms. She didn’t seem to mind. Something told me the two of them were cut from the same cloth. When they unwound themselves, he turned toward me.
“And you are?” he said, arms still stretched wide, closing in on me.
I opened my mouth. Before I could say a word, the big lug beside him growled, “No.” And yes, I do meangrowled.Andyes, I’d be lying if I said that rasp of his didn’t make me—or my vagina—feel a certain way.
His eyes locked on mine. “Pink,” he said, gaze never wavering. “Why don’t you show Ms. Bernal your bear?”
“Your what?” Dani asked.
“My bear,” Jared explained. “My little sister gave me her favorite stuffed bear before the state championship my sophomore year at Penn. We won the title and ever since, I’ve carried it with me to every game, at every stadium.”
“Okay, that’s adorable. Show me the damn bear.”
Jared led Dani to the other side of the locker room. As soon as they were out of earshot—and she was already mid-hug with another player named Wu—Soren set his sights on me.
“What, no hug for me?” He smiled. The smug bastard probably thought the sun came up just to hear him crow.
“Did you do this?” I gestured wildly, nearly smacking him right on the number four across his chest. “Last night, did you know—”
“Know that my new shower buddy was also going to be working with me?"
“How dare—”
“If anything, I would sayyouknew.”
Outrage zipped through me. “I most certainly did not.”
“I don’t know. You show up there as my neighbor—”
“There's nowhere else to stay in town—"
“And then you hop into my shower—”
“I was there first!” My voice hitched as reality set in. We were in a locker room, surrounded byhisteam andmyboss. How dare this man get such a rise out of me. I lowered my voice. “I was there first. Besides, it’s a communal shower.”
