Page 18 of High Baller

“You’ve not been researching me?” he asks.

I look up as he walks over to the counter. “No. If I want to know something about you, I'll ask.” I really don’t want to read what the internet has to say about him. Who knows how much of that is true? "Calvin has told me a few things that have been mentioned, but—”

“If it’s not an interview that I did,” Trey says, cutting me off, “then it's mostly a lot of rubbish." I look at him as I place his coffee in front of him. "The press is going to say things about me—there’s nothing I can do to stop them, so I ignore them, and I need my girlfriend to do the same. Otherwise, it'll never work out between us.” His eyes seem to study me to see how I react to that.

“Well, when you meet her, do let her know," I reply.

“I just did. Come on shorty, how about we stop playing this game? You can see that I'm not giving up that easy. Give us a chance, you might even like me." Trey walks around the counter to me. I already like him—not that he's even given me the chance to forget him. He stands behind me and rests his hands on my hips. "I'm asking you to give me a chance—give us a chance. I have eight weeks until my season starts. I'll admit that it'll be hard with you going back and forth and my training starting soon, and then the season will start.” His lips brush the back of my neck. "You can call me crazy, but I know we can make this work. I believe we can get over all the hurdles that'll come our way." My body trembles as the small butterfly kisses flutter over my skin. When his lips move to the side of my neck, I close my eyes, my head falling back involuntarily. "What do you say, shorty?” he murmurs against me.

What can I say? My mouth isn’t functioning right now. I just want his lips to keep touching me like that.

“Calvin's calling," Trey whispers in my ear.

How did I not hear my phone ringing? I must’ve been away with the whatever cloud Trey took me away on.

“Hello?" I ask, answering the phone, "Why are you calling me this early?" Calvin isn't generally out of bed before noon.

“Just wanted to make sure that King didn’t stand you up,” he replies, and I don’t miss the humor in his voice.

“No, he’s here.” I begin taking things out of the oven. “Has the rota come through yet?” I ask as I've not had the chance to check my email yet.

"Yeah, you're going to be tired with this flight," he says.

“Come on, it’s Seattle—I love that place. I'll sleep on day one, then party afterwards. I'll see you tomorrow." I tell him, my voice a little more excited than it needs to be.

“See you tomorrow,” he says, then ends the call.

I put my phone on the counter as I begin to plate everything up.

“You back in the air already?” Trey asks.

“Yeah, we fly out tomorrow evening,” I reply. “I have a feeling that Calvin's booked my holidays for me and wants to surprise me with something.” As I walk over to the table, Trey pulls out the chair for me. “A gentlemen. Nice.”

He winks at me. “My Ma taught me well.” I usually hate when men wink at me, but there's something different about it when Trey does it. I'm not sure if it's the smile that he gives me at the same time or the way he looks at me when he does it.

“So, you play basketball.” I look up at him as we both start eating.

“I think I do. Do you watch it?”

“Never. I know nothing about the sport. I only watch football.” It's the only sport that I take time to watch. I don't really have time to watch TV that much. Besides, I have way too many shows to catch up on.

“I watched a match yesterday— I had no idea what was happening.” Trey tells me, and I can’t help but laugh. I always thought that if you know one sport you know them all.

“Do you watch any other sports?” I ask. I have no idea what to talk about with him. Sports seem like a safe option.

“Do you really want to spend our time talking about sports?” Trey asks.

He takes another helping of jam to spread on the scone. “Thank you for making breakfast. This is really good of you to make all of this.”

“You’re welcome. I wanted to cook for you,” I reply as heat floods my face. “ I take a sip of my tea, and smile when I taste delicious because sweet tea that he brought. "What would you like to talk about?" I ask.

“Tell me about you. Other than football, what do you like?” Trey asks as he looks over at me.

“I love to travel,” I say. “I’m a TV show whore, shopping is my exercise, tea is my life, I love music, and I like to enjoy life. I want to find a man that won’t cheat on me, won’t raise his hand to me, doesn’t take drugs, and that one day I can have a family with. How about you?”

“I love basketball, my family is the most important thing in my life, and enjoy my life as much as I can. Shopping isn’t my exercise, but I do enjoy it. I won’t ever cheat on you, raise my hand, take drugs, and I want a big family.”

Finishing the last of my breakfast, I lean back in my chair. Trey’s watching me, his eyes roaming over my face.