Page 11 of The Trouble with Players

She smiled in agreement.

“I’m surprised you didn’t go to the game,” I said.

“I thought it might seem too desperate,” she admitted.

“He seemed into you,” I said, letting my hand drift over the cool grains of sand.

“We’ve been texting all day,” she admitted.

“He obviously realizes you’re gorgeous, sweet, funny, and you know baseball. You’re the total package.”

She glanced up. “You are too.”

I shrugged. “Not looking for a prince to sweep me away. Especially a ball player.”

She frowned.

I knew they weren’t all untrustworthy. But since the man I was supposed to trust implicitly proved to be a deceitful cheater, how would I ever trust some random guy who could crush me without another thought. Especially, when they were only passing through town for a few months. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go to the game tomorrow night, if I can leave the bonfire once the two of you take off to be alone.”

She stifled a smile. “Who said we’d take off to be alone?”

I cocked my head.

She smiled. “Deal.”

Gina got word that the game ended, so we knew the guys would be arriving to the bonfire site at the other end of the beach within the hour. We stayed where we were for a while then headed down the beach. I slipped off my flip-flops and walked along the surf while Gina walked barefoot, keeping her feet dry.

The bonfire was ablaze when we reached the far side of the beach. Ball players walked around with red cups and girls sat on blankets. I knew the fire would be short-lived. The Cape League instilled a midnight curfew for all players. They played almost every night, so it helped ensure that they didn’t go wild while they were here for the summer. That wasn’t only out of respect for their host families, but it ensured they wouldn’t hurt their performance on the field or their chance of being drafted into the big leagues—if that was in the cards for them.

“Hey!” Gina’s baseball player called as he approached us. His smile faded slightly when he noticed me with her. “Glad you came,” he said to Gina.

“I hope you don’t mind I brought Peyton,” Gina said, likely noticing his displeasure with seeing me there.

“Not at all,” he lied.

“I didn’t catch your name at the bar,” I said, not wanting it to look like Gina had been talking about him.

“Cody,” he said. “Can I get you guys a drink?”

Gina nodded. “Sure.”

He looked to me.

“Sure.”

He ticked his head. “Come on over while I get the drinks.”

We followed him to the coolers. I did a quick sweep of the other people there while he poured beer into red cups for us. I recognized some of the guys and girls from the bar. My nemesis was there in a beach chair with a girl on his lap. Because of the smoky haze of the fire, I couldn’t tell if she was the one from the bar or the one from my balcony.

“Here you go,” Cody said.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the red cup from him and staring into the foam of the beer.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t slip anything into it,” he said.

I lifted my eyes to his. “Oh, I didn’t think you did.”

He smiled. “Totally kidding.”

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