“Well, I—”
“Oh, he’s basically obsessed with you.”
My cheeks warmed. Nessa lifted her brows. “Is that right?”
“In fact, he told me about—”
“Okay!” I said, clapping my hands together. “Who wants breakfast? Let’s see what you got.”
The three of us ate together on the porch. Nessa petted my thigh, keeping me calm while Bella told us all about her plans to take the spring semester off, and I held onto her hand while she doled out book recommendations.
“Jared likes that one, too.”
“Jare-bear, you read romance?”
I buried my face in the crook of Nessa’s shoulder. Just as I’d suspected, these two were going to be the death of me, absolute chaos and destruction.
Later, after I’d packed my bags into the car and given Bella a spare key to come and go as she pleased, I pulled Nessa into my arms. “I feel bad leaving her alone like this,” I told her. “She just got here, but I have to go. I don’t know what else to do.”
“How about I stay here with her?”
“You would do that?”
Her eyes glowed with mischief. “Of course,Jare-bear.”
“Don’t go there, angel.”
“Or what?”
She squealed when I spanked her ass, then moaned when I rubbed over the same spot with my palm. “There’s an extra key in the kitchen,” I said between kisses. “Second drawer to the right of the fridge.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You gonna keep my bed warm while I’m gone?”
“Uh-huh.”
I smiled against her lips. “You gonna move in with me?”
“Uh—”
She bit her lip.It was worth a shot.
“I’m just kidding.” I tasted her once more, plundering her mouth long and deep enough to tide me over for the next few days. It would never be enough. “For now.”
“Good luck, baseball boy,” she said breathlessly when I piled into my car.
“Don’t forget Blue Beary,” Bella called out from the porch.
They both clapped when I peeled out of the driveway, holding the stuffed blue bear out the window as I went.
We were somewhere over Nebraska when I finally decided to get up and help myself to a slice of humble pie. We still had a few hours of flight time ahead of us, which left me plenty of time to have a couple of uncomfortable conversations. It was either that or yet another episode ofTed Lasso.
I bobbed and weaved through my sleeping teammates’ outstretched legs until I reached the last row on the plane. Dani suffered from terrible motion sickness and as such, she always chose a seat near the restroom.
“Is this seat taken?”
I dropped down into the empty seat beside her before she had a chance to respond. She kept her attention on the front of the plane, probably more focused on keeping her lunch down than anything else.
