Page 24 of Stalked By the Third Baseman

“Holy shit,” I whispered, even though it was only the two of us in the apartment.

“What?” He opened his eyes, and when he looked at me, everything inside of me went all warm and mushy. How had I missed it? It was like now that he had told me how he felt, I could see it clearly in his brown eyes.

“We both like each other.” I kept the hushed tone. My hands stroked his shoulders.

“We do,” he rasped. “But to be clear, I was ready to sweep you off your feet.”

“I mean, you still could.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. The deep vibration was something I felt all through my body.

I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted him to kiss me and take me to my room and show me just how deep those feelings went. But I could tell by the way his eyes stayed on me, the gentle way of his touch, that wasn’t going to happen. I knew Adam well enough to know that he wasn’t kidding.

The moment he kissed me, it would be game over.

I wanted that. I needed that. I just hoped that when we did kiss, this thing between us, our friendship and the intense pull we felt towards one another, wouldn’t blow up in our faces.

“Want to watch a movie?” I asked.

His eyes skirted towards my room and then connected with mine. I watched as his Adam’s apple, prominent and heavy, rose and fell. Everything inside me was yelling at me to lean forward and lick him. To taste his skin and get lost in his body.

But I didn’t.

I held on to my self-control. As much as I didn’t like it, Adam was set on me going on that stupid date with Trevor.

“Here?” he asked, and I nodded.

We’d done movie nights in my bedroom, both of us sprawled on my bed, but now that things were changing, it didn’t feel like a good idea. I mean, it would be, but something told me that Adam wanted to move slow.

“Sounds good.” He cleared his throat. “Get comfy,” he ordered.

“So bossy,” I teased, and he laughed roughly.

“You have no idea.” Those little words made my head spin with what they promised. But before I could suggest we go to my room, almost like he knew exactly what I was thinking, Adam patted my thigh. “Come on, take your shoes off and get comfy.”

“My turn to pick a movie?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

“It’s always your turn to pick the movie, ladybug.” Maybe there had been hints about how he felt that I’d never realized.

I got off his lap and sat next to him on the couch. He threw his arm over my shoulder, pulling me in close. I rested my head on his and felt more at home than I had in over a year.

And it had nothing to do with being back at my apartment and everything to do with the man who held me not only all through the movie, but all through the night when the exhaustion of the day got the better of me and I fell soundly asleep.

SEVEN

ADAM

“You’re the biggest idiot in the world,” my cousin said the moment Callie stepped into her room to change

I had only left their apartment for a couple of hours for mandatory practice and to shower and change at my place. My fingers tapped the top of the breakfast counter as my knee bounced.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?” Roxie had popped back around about an hour after I came back with lunch. I glanced at her only to catch her glaring at me.

“Are you really okay with this?”

“With…” I said slowly, pretending not to know what she was talking about. The this Roxie was alluding to was Callie’s date with Trevor fucking Grant.