Page 45 of Hitting the Gap

Gonzo’s chest tugged as he watched his friends cuddle at the table. He glanced at Bailey and felt an odd pull in his chest that he kind of wanted to do the same to her. Geez, he’d been spending too much time around couples lately, if that’s where his head went.

“So Sloane, how’s the daredevil business?” he asked.

Sloane rolled her eyes. “It’s good, busy, which I love.”

Bailey raised an eyebrow and looked at him, then turned to Sloane. “Daredevil business?”

“I run a skydiving company with my brother,” Sloane said.

“Wow.” Bailey’s eyes widened. “I don’t think I’ve even met someone who jumped out of a plane before, let alone someone who did that for a living. How did you get into that?”

Sloane chuckled. “I was upset after I got dumped and needed something to kick my ass into making some changes. I thought skydiving would do that. Little did I know what felt like a terrible decision after a crappy breakup turned out to be the best decision I could have made for myself.”

“So you went skydiving for the first time after getting dumped?”

Gonzo shifted so he could see Bailey’s face. Was she seriously thinking about jumping out of a plane because of Brad? “You aren’t thinking about doing that are you?” he asked.

“What?” Bailey flicked a look at him. “No, no, I like my feet firmly on the ground.”

“Well, if you change your mind, I’ve found nothing puts things in perspective quite like taking a leap.” Sloane dug into her purse and handed Bailey a business card.

“How come you’ve never tried to get me to jump?” Gonzo asked.

“Well, one because if your contract is anything like Aiden’s, skydiving is a no-no activity, and two, I think you’d be too scared to jump.”

“Ack, how dare you say I’d be scared?” He pretended to be offended by the suggestion, then chuckled. “But there’s zero chance I’d jump out of a plane even if it wasn’t in my contract. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.” Honestly, he thought it was insane to jump out of a plane, not that he’d say that to his teammate’s wife.

Sloane rolled her eyes. “It’s not about proving anything to anyone. Sometimes it’s about proving something to yourself, or at least it was to me.” Sloane glanced at Bailey as she spoke. Bailey flicked the business card between her fingers and nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind.” She stuck the card in a little pocket in her purse.

The TV screen above their table caught his eye and he shifted to watch the highlights from the league.

“Oh-ho, Gonz,” Pete called when a clip of Gonzo hitting a home run flashed on the screen. They posted his stats so far for the season and the feeling of pride he felt made him smile. The TV cut to the highlights for New York and he glanced away from the screen to find Pete and Kendall watching him with amused looks on their faces. What was that about?

Suddenly he noticed that he’d been absently playing with Bailey’s hair as he’d watched the TV. He pulled his fingers away from her hair and stuck his hands in his pockets. Bailey glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“For what?” she asked.

Had she not realized he’d been playing with her hair? He sure as hell wasn’t going to admit to it if she hadn’t known. It was kind of embarrassing. “Nothing, don’t worry about it,” he told her.

When he glanced back across the table, Pete raised an eyebrow at him. Gonzo pulled his hand out of his pocket and subtly flashed his friend the middle finger. Like the cocky bastard he was, Pete just smirked back at him. Gonzo grabbed his beer and took a sip. Despite what Pete thought, it didn’t mean anything. Bailey was just his friend. Except his fingers itched to play with her hair again. Now that he knew how soft it felt against his skin, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like elsewhere. Fuck. “Anyone want to play pool?”

“I will,” Aiden said.

“Cool.” He turned to Bailey. “You good here?”

“Absolutely.”

Thank god. He needed some space. Being around all these couples had clouded his brain for a minute, that’s all. “Great, let’s go, Aid,” he said, pushing away from the table.

Chapter 11

The next morning, Bailey stood outside Ananda Yoga & Wellness Center. Hopefully Peyton didn’t oversell how amazing this studio was.

She pushed open the door, the bright crisp smell of some magical aromatherapy mixture instantly hit her nose. Oranges and something else. Whatever it was smelled amazing. She kicked off her flip-flops and set them on the shoe rack at the door, then wandered over to the check-in counter.

“Welcome,” the woman behind the counter said as she flipped her braid behind her shoulder. “I’m Shyla. How can I help you?”

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