The touch of his palm on my thigh brought me right back, and when I looked at him, the green of his eyes gave him away.
He couldn’t wait to bolt. He—we—were only here because I’d asked him to stay a little longer. Josie had thrown a good luck dinner for everyone on the team who wanted to join, and most of the parents had turned up.
“Why so serious, Coach?” I asked, the corners of my lips bending upward. “This is for good luck. I didn’t peg you for someone who would disrespect a nice rite like this.”
The smirk that he gave me sent the blood rushing to my head. He leaned forward and spoke right against the shell of my ear. “I can think of a couple of things we could implement for good luck.” His lips brushed my skin, sending a wave of shivers down my spine. “If we leave right now.”
My heart throttled in my chest. “I think…” I swallowed, wondering how strange it would be for me to jump into his lap right now with half the town sitting at the table. “I think that’s something we can discuss. But we’re not leaving just yet. Boss’s orders.”
He hummed against my skin, and when he withdrew his mouth, his head didn’t go too far.
God. Maybe I wasn’t doing myself any favors. How long were good luck dinners supposed to last?
My phone pinged from the table, so I picked it up and checked the notifications. My mother.
“Did she make it all right?” the man beside me asked with what I knew was genuine concern.
“？‘Drive was okay,’？” I read out loud for him.
He sighed. “I could have driven her myself. Asheville is only a couple of hours away.”
I melted against his side at the reminder of him offering, I wasn’t going to lie. “？‘I gave Vincent my handle,’？” I continued reading. “？‘He’s young but I could teach him a few things.’？” A pause. “Oh boy.”
“Who was Vincent again?”
I looked up at him. “Josie’s friend’s cousin, I think? He had come to town to talk some business with Josie and was returning to Asheville today.” Cameron muttered something, and I placed my hand against his cheek. “Stop being so sweet. I… I’m struggling to keep my hands off you as it is, Cam.”
He leaned against my touch with a sigh. “Call me Cam again.”
I lowered my voice. “Cam.”
Cameron let out a little grumble. “Okay, now tell me, how am I being sweet and why should I stop?”
“Worrying over my mother,” I answered, barely able to ignore the roaring in my chest. “It’s making it really hard for me to resist you.”
His head turned, lips grazing the skin of my palm, then trailed down to my wrist. “Why would you ever want to resist me?” He nipped at my skin, wickedly fast. “It’s frowned upon. Experts recommend not resisting things that are good for you.”
I giggled. Giggled.
Cameron’s eyes shifted to mine, and when he said against my skin, “I could spend a lifetime hearing that sound.” I didn’t even question his words. I knew they were true.
My chest expanded. “I—”
Someone cleared a throat next to me, and we both turned.
“Hi,” Mr. Vasquez—Robbie—said, a careful expression on his face. María was by his side, and she nudged his leg before smiling at me. He rushed out, “I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“That’s okay,” I assured him. And I meant it. “You’re not interrupting anything.”
The man by my side grunted a soft complaint.
Robbie’s eyes shot to Cameron before returning to my face. “I just wanted to say thank you. For what you’ve done for Tony and María, and for… everything. Ever since Tony started spending time with the team, he… he sounds and looks more like himself. It has made me realize that he was spending too much time on the farm. Working too much when he’s just a kid. I—” His throat worked. “Thanks for giving him a job doing something he loves.” Robbie looked down at his daughter with a smile. “Happy?”
She lowered her voice to a loud whisper. “Ask her for the tickets.”
The man cursed under his breath. “María—”
“Do it,” she repeated. “You told me you were a j-word to her, so apologize. You make me apologize all the time when I’m rude, then it’ll be okay to ask. Tony will love it. You know he wants to try out for that team in Charlotte. He’ll lose his mind.”