“Nah. Jake’s going to spin it right. He’ll come through for us.”
I give her a cynical look.
“Oh, I don’t mean for you and me,” she clarifies. “He would never risk upsetting my parents.”
I believe thatshebelieves it, but I’m not so sure. I’ve watched Jake’s agent work a room, and I’ve watched Jake promise things and then not quite deliver them, and I’ve watched Scottie smooth every crack before anyone else sees it for a year. She’s so good at managing the situation that she can’t always see when the situation has started managing her.
I don’t say any of that.
“Okay,” I say instead.
She settles back against me, and I kiss the top of her head. Her soft blonde hair tickles my nose. “Your family is going to hate me.”
“My brothers might,” she says, her voice soft. “But my parents will love you. Eventually.”
I give a dark chuckle that she echoes. “Well, Bruce will love you. In fact, I guarantee he already likes you better than he likes me, and you haven’t even met. He’s going to kick me out of the family and keep you.”
“I’m not triplet material,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“You don’t need to be anyone but you,” I say.
She leans back far enough to kiss my cheek near my ear. Then she kisses a trail across my face until I close my eyes and catch her lips with mine. This one is slower than before. The hunger for each other is gone, replaced by a certainty that this is what we want. My thumb traces the line of her jaw, and when she sighs into my mouth, it’s hard to care about everything working against us.
Scottie’s phone buzzes, pulling us out of the moment.
“Time to head to the bus,” she says, smoothing my jersey flat and swiping her lip gloss off my lips. I tug her quarter-zip backinto place, my fingers skimming her waist in a way that gives her goosebumps. She grabs my shoulders like she’s having to brace herself. My hands grip her hips.
“This has to get easier eventually, right?”
“For sure,” I say, kissing her cheek. “In about ten or twelve years.”
She sniffs a laugh and has to gather herself in a way that makes me feel pretty good about how irresistible she finds me.
“Okay, let’s go over the reminders. I assume you watched video this morning like I told you to?” she asks, because she might be okay with making out with me in the video room, but only if I do my homework on my time.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She grins. “Good man. In that case, remember: water. Sunscreen. Lip balm. And don’t hold back. You’re applying for a job with the team. Every inning builds your résumé. And make the clubhouse love you. Doug’s coming toyourgame.”
Don’t hold back.
I nod, trying not to think about Logan. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I could get used to you saying that,” she says, her eyes falling to my lips for half a second. She’s turning away when I snag her arm, spin her toward me, and put my hands on her lower back.
“You’d better get used to it,” I say, pressing my lips to hers. I kiss her softly this time, slowly, like I’m memorizing her instead of stealing her. When I pull back, our lips hover only a fraction of an inch apart, our breath hot and shaky between us.
“Yes, sir,” she says, biting back a smile. She gives herself a shake, breathes in and out, and then grabs her bag. “Okay, you ready?”
“Ready.”
She opens the door, and the two of us exit like it’s any other routine film session.
Scottie’s just closing the door when I hear a voice that sounds just like mine.
“How’s the shoulder?” Logan asks. “I thought the trainers were checking you out?”
I turn as casually as I can, pretending my stomach hasn’t dropped out of my body.
