My eyebrows fly up. “Little League? For a first date?”
She shrugs. “He’s a family man, apparently.”
When I laugh, I sound like a villain. “How perfect. I guess he’s looking for a wife to make him pot roast on the weekends too?”
“I hope not. I don’t know how to make pot roast.”
I hate him. Whoever he is.
But you know what? Brandon isn’t here with Annie now. I am.
“So…do you think he’ll kiss you today?”
Her eyes fly wide open. “I don’t know. Maybe? Oh gosh. Do you think he’ll try?”
I cross my arms and shrug. “I would kiss you on a first date.”
Her eyes hold mine—and they glint. She’s reading my mind again. She knows exactly what I’m doing and approves. “Well…maybe we could practice a first date kiss? You know, just so I’m not caught off guard.”
“Sure. Right.” I nod thoughtfully. “As your dating coach, it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re prepared for that kind of thing.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
I edge closer. “So how do you want to do this? Like…role-play it?”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” I repeat while my heart pounds. “Time in,” I say, already pressing toward her.
She takes her fingers and presses them quickly to my lips to halt me. “Wait. I have a cold. I had a fever yesterday. I don’t want you to catch it.”
“Do you feel bad right now?”
“No, I feel a lot better today, but—”
“Then give me the damn cold, Annie,” I say quietly next to her ear. I feel her shiver lightly, but I know it’s not from a fever.
I slide my hands around her lower back, inching along the terrain I’m beginning to find familiar. I have this small divot memorized. The one right above her perfect ass. I know that if I splay my hand against it and press her to me, she’ll gasp lightly and then melt into my arms. I do it now, and after hearing the soft gasp that I’d like to capture in a jar and keep sealed away for eternity so no one else has the pleasure of hearing it, I begin. “Picture this: Your date is coming to an end. You’re sunburned from sitting for hours on the bleachers, and while standing next to your truck, he hands you a Capri Sun he snagged from Pam’s postgame snacks cooler…”
Annie laughs and shoves my chest playfully. “Stop it! That is not how it’s going to go!”
“Fine. I’ll be serious.” I make my face somber. “Annie…I had a great time with you watching children never hit a baseball for five and a half hours—”
“Useless! You’re useless!”
We’re both laughing and Annie is trying to tickle me, but instead, I scoop her up and carry her into her room to throw her on the bed. “Do you think there will be a bed at the baseball game?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thought so.” I hover over Annie and dip my head into her neck, running my lips across her skin. “Annie, thank you for the best first date of my life. Can we go out again?”
She sighs as I lightly lick the tender skin behind her ear. “I think that might be acceptable—yes.”
“Wonderful. How about next weekend? I know of a bouncy castle going up for an eight-year-old’s birthday.” I slant my mouth over hers before she has time to give me any sharp retorts, and she matches me kiss for kiss. Her tongue slides against mine, and her hands scale up my back. I’m shaking from how much I’m holding back. How much I want to peel her clothes from her body and consume her completely. It would be so good. We would be so good together.
But Annie’s not mine.
So I ease up and somehow manage to pull away from her—taking in her sad expression when I do. I kiss her cheek and her temple and her forehead. “I should go.”
Annie nods and sits up with me, following me out of her room and standing in the open front door as I walk out. Before I go, I can’t help but look back at her one more time. “Have fun on your date, Annie.” I pause. “Maybe he can take you out for some chicken nuggets afterward.”
She groans and rolls her eyes. “Shutting the door now!”
“Do you want to borrow a dollar for a soda in case he forgets his Velcro wallet?”
Bam!
CHAPTER THIRTY
Annie
“Thanks for agreeing to come with me to my nephew’s game,” says Brandon. He’s sitting beside me on one of the metal bleachers that （as predicted by Will） is so hot it’s burning through the denim of my overalls. “I know it’s not normal, but…” He laughs and shrugs good-naturedly. “Well, honestly, this will be very normal for me now that I’m back. I plan on being more involved with my family than I have been in the past.”