Play Along(54)

“Well, you need to eat.”

“I don’t have time.”

He rolls his eyes and takes another sip of his drink, but now that he’s closer to my height, I can tell it’s a smoothie of some kind. Berry, if I had to guess.

“Go ahead and admit that you’ve been avoiding me since we got home because you can’t stop thinking about that kiss and in turn, you can’t stop thinking about me.”

I scoff a laugh. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Welcome to the club, Ken. It’s distracting when all I can think about is you. Now you get it.”

I place the back of my hand on his forehead. “Are you feeling okay? You seem to have a bad case of delusion, and I would know. I’m a doctor, after all.”

“Mm-hmm,” he hums, nodding towards my feet where I’m wearing the shoes we got married in. “Nice shoes.”

I motion to his bare chest. “Nice shirt.”

“Nice ass.”

I don’t have a retort for him, and Isaiah’s sneaky smile screams how proud of himself he is for taking the win. “Where are you working today?”

“I’m covering the clubhouse.”

Isaiah whips his head around, glaring through the glass windows of Dr. Fredrick’s office, but he doesn’t notice.

“It’s fine.” I step away from him, taking the opportunity of a rarely quiet training room to reorganize my equipment.

“It’s not fine, Ken. The guy treats you like you’re incapable of doing your job when the entire team agrees you’re the best member on the medical staff. You should be on the bench with us.”

“Isaiah, it’s fine. I might not be here much longer anyway.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can take them back.

I was going to tell Isaiah, but for some reason, it felt like a conversation that should’ve been planned in private, not a public declaration.

He knows this is the plan. It’s always been the plan, but still, he should hear it first and maybe not in the middle of the training room right before he’s about to play a game.

I can feel his gaze boring into the side of my face, but I continue to clean, trying to ignore his attention.

“Kennedy . . .”

My eyes cautiously move to his direction.

“What does that mean, ‘not much longer’?”

Looking around, I keep my voice quiet as I step back into his space. My smile nervously blooms. “I got called for a final interview in San Francisco.”

Isaiah’s brows shoot up in surprise.

“They called me a couple of days ago. I’m flying out there next month. If I get the job, they want me to finish the season shadowing their current lead doctor.”

“But . . .” Isaiah shakes his head. “You’re in a contract until the end of the year.”

I can’t quite figure out if he’s referring to my actual contract with the Warriors or the metaphorical one we have between us. Either way, he seems entirely not okay with the prospect of my contract getting cut from six months to three.

“I think we both know that Fredrick would have no problem letting me out of it early.”

“But . . .”

“Isaiah, this is a good thing! This is everything I want.”

“Yeah.” He finds a genuine smile at the same time his hand finds the small of my waist, pulling me into him. “You’re right. That’s great news, Ken. Congratulations.”

My cheeks burn. “Thank you.”

The door to the training room swings open. Monty holds it for Reese to enter first, but it’s fairly obvious that him holding the door open is the only cordial part of their interaction.

Their voices are quiet so no one else can overhear what they have to say, but judging by their facial expressions and body language, they’re getting into it about something.

Monty’s hands go wide as he argues his case, and Reese does nothing to back down from the giant man covered in tattoos. The blonde bombshell holds her ground, with a single hand resting on her popped hip and an unimpressed expression on her pretty face.

She says something in return, keeping complete composure before Monty’s head falls back to gather his frustration. He inhales through his nose, his nostrils flaring, before giving her a single nod in agreement and ending their conversation.

Reese turns in my direction, wearing a body-hugging pencil skirt that shows off every one of her curves. “Kennedy, where are you working today?”

I open my mouth to answer, but Dr. Fredrick bolts out of his office before I have the chance to. “The clubhouse, Miss Remington.” He gestures to me. “Kennedy is covering the clubhouse. I have the intern on hydration as you asked.”

Kiss ass.

“Reese,” she corrects. “As I’ve told you before, you can call me Reese. And I want Kennedy working the dugout today.”

“But Will and I are covering the dugout.”

“As I said, I want Kennedy out there today. You can cover the clubhouse for once, Dr. Fredrick.”

His mouth opens to protest, then closes just as quickly, words evading the doctor who typically has too much to say.

“Of course, Reese.”

She finds me across the room and shoots me a wink before she turns back to the door, but stops just in front of Monty on the way.