Page 35 of Hitting the Gap

“Oh, my god, you just got sex face.” Peyton snickered beside her.

“What is sex face?” Kendall asked.

“That face you make when you’re picturing having some kind of kinky sex with Pete.”

“It’s not always kinky.” Kendall winked. “But yeah, I was totally picturing his reaction to me having his jersey on my nails.”

“I knew it,” Peyton said. “I want you to do Ryan’s jersey on mine.”

“I kind of want to high-five you because I know what you’re talking about, but ew that’s my brother, so I’m not going to.” Kendall wrinkled her nose.

“That’s fair because, yep, I’m totally talking about that,” Peyton agreed.

Bailey looked down at her hands with Gonzo’s jersey all over them. He’d certainly never reacted to having his jersey on her nails. What would it feel like to have it affect him the same way the other women thought it would affect their men? And why did she care? They were friends. Friends weren’t supposed to want their friends to get all primal about them. A little zip raced through her belly. So why did she kind of hope he would?

The locker room door pushed open and players began wandering into the hallway. Bailey instantly scanned for Gonzo. He wasn’t in the first group of players to exit. Max spotted his dad and raced toward him. Jeff scooped him up and hitched him on his hip. He stopped at Kia, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. He kissed her, and Max groaned. “Gross.”

“Well buddy, you wanted to be up here and you know I always want to kiss your mom, so you’ve got no one but yourself to blame.”

Bailey giggled as Max rolled his eyes.

“Hey, you must be Bailey,” Jeff said as he untangled himself from Kia and stuck out his hand to shake.

“I am. It’s nice to meet you. You’ve got the best baseball fan ever right there.” She nodded toward Max. The little boy beamed back at her.

“I know it.” Jeff ruffled the top of Max’s head, then turned to Peyton. “Ryan is getting iced, so he’ll be a couple of minutes.”

“Getting iced?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah, his wing is a little tender, so they have him icing it down.”

“Oh, gotcha.”

“You ready?” he said to Kia.

“Yep.” Kia turned to Bailey. “It was really nice meeting you.”

“You aren’t coming for a drink?”

“No, we gotta get this one home to bed.” She pointed at Max. “You want to grab coffee one day this week?”

“I would love that.”

“Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in.” Kia held out her hand and Bailey dropped her phone into it. Kia quickly typed in her number, then handed it back to Bailey. “I texted myself too, so I’ve got yours. Let me look at my schedule and I’ll text you later.”

“Sounds good.” Bailey turned to Max, sitting on his dad’s hip. “Thanks for watching the game with me, Max. I had fun.”

“Yeah, good thing they won,” the little boy replied.

“Good thing,” Bailey agreed.

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Jeff said. “You all have a good night.”

“Bye girls,” Kia said. “Bailey, I’ll text you.”

“Great.”

The locker room door pushed open and another wave of players exited. When Bailey saw Gonzo, she sucked in a breath. Damn, he looked good. She had to admit there was something about a man fresh from a win that just really worked. She scanned the men on either side of him. They all looked good. Confidently strutting toward their adoring fans to celebrate their victory.

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