Page 155 of Just for the Plot

“Manners don’t exist when the girl you’re talking to looks like you.”

My cheeks flame from the compliment. “Well, that was very…flattering.”

“Wasn’t looking to flatter you, was looking to tell the truth.”

“I see.” I glance away, his honesty so refreshing from anyone else I’ve ever dated—eh, are we dating? I don’t think so, we’re just…seeing what happens, right?

“Why the frown?” he asks, not letting me get away with anything.Quit being so observant, you punk.

“Nothing,” I answer.

“Do you really think the ‘nothing’ answer is going to work on me? You should know me better than that.”

He’s right. He’d never let me get away with that.

“Ugh, you’re right. So annoying.” I wet my lips and then say, “This thing between us, is it dating?”

“I’d prefer for it to be, but I don’t want to freak you out because we haven’t really established any ground rules. But if I had it my way, yes, we would be dating. And I’d take you out to dinner, worship you, and fucking kiss you whenever I want.” He drags his hand down his face. “It’s fucking killing me that I haven’t kissed you yet.”

“You’ve kissed me in other places.”

“Don’t fucking remind me. I swear to you there are times when I feel like I can still taste you and I wind up going hard because of it. Fuck, Bower, I was hard at BP this morning.”

“What’s BP? Is that a social engagement or something?”

He chuckles. “Batting practice, babe. You know, if you’re going to consider dating me, you should really get to know some baseball terms.”

“I know enough,” I say. “I know that you play third and that you hit the ball hard and far, and that the thing on your hand is a baseball glove.”

“Wow, who says you need an education in the sport? You could be teaching the course.”

I huff on my nails and then buff them off on my shirt. “You don’t need to tell me twice. Sign me up. I’ll get all the lemons ready to go for the season, which… Is the season almost over?”

“Yeah, heading into the playoffs in a week and a half.”

“Oh wow, is your team in it?”

“So far, yup.”

“Really? Well, that’s exciting. And you’re going to play third in those games?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, beautiful, I’ll play third.”

“Aww, look at you go. Playing third in the playoffs. You are quite the accomplished man.”

“Yeah, if only I could get my sister’s best friend to fall for me, then I’d truly be accomplished.”

CHAPTER 27

BENNETT

“Chorizo has to be themost underrated meat,” Nolan says. His mouth is full of breakfast burrito. “No one gives it enough credit.”

“That’s not true,” I say as I suck down a protein drink. “Almost every breakfast burrito has chorizo in it. It’s not underrated at all, rather it’s used very—”

“Okay, dweeb, enough with the stats,” he says before taking another large bite and moaning while exaggerating an eye roll of pleasure.

Why do I hang out with him? It’s a solid question that I’m uncertain I could answer.