Page 76 of Double Play

“Ugh. Arizona was with me. Pick on her.”

Cheetah shakes his head. “Nope, she was two steps ahead of you. Probably always has been. Let’s hear one.”

Quincy smiles. He usually has at least twenty random facts on hand at any time. “The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body.”

As if on cue, we all start to fiddle with our tongues.

Cheetah blows a kiss to Kam. “Speaking of strong tongues, I’d like to tongue-punch your tuna taco tonight.” He flicks his tongue suggestively at her.

She smiles, wryly. “Did you learn that line in one of your romance novels?”

His eyes widen and he turns his head to me. I shrug. “Wasit supposed to be a secret? Doesn’t everyone know you like romance novels and porn?”

Kam interrupts, “Porn? Now you’re talking my language. By the way,kitten, women tongue-punch my tuna taco way better than any man ever has.”

Cheetah shakes his head. “That’s because you haven’t had my tongue, Kam bam.”

Trey sighs. “I wish you two would just do it and get it over with.” He then raises his glass and shouts, “To Layton, for another career night. It’s great to see you playing this way again, brother.”

Layton smiles as we all raise our glasses to him. He turns his head to me and announces, “It’s all thanks to my beautiful muse.”

He rubs his thumb over my lower lip and looks at me with pure heat in his eyes. Before I know what’s happening, he brings his lips to mine.

What happened to our fake fake relationship? Or is it regular fake? I’m so confused. All I know is that there’s nothing fake about my feelings for him or the fact that his tongue just entered my mouth in front of all our friends.

He’s so outwardly affectionate. I wasn’t expecting this side of him, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. I love it.

We’re greeted by a sea of catcalls before a chair screeching breaks our kiss. I look up in time to see my brother’s angry face turning and him stomping toward the front door.

I start to stand to go after him, but Ripley grabs my arm. “I’ve got it. I’ll talk to him. You stay and have fun with your man.”

“Fine by me. I’m sick of him treating me like a child when he’s therealchild. He just had a temper tantrum.”

“I know, sweetie. He worries about you. I’ll talk to him.”She stands and quickly walks out the door, hot on my brother’s heels.

Layton squeezes my leg. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it. Maybe I should go talk to him too.”

“No. Let her deal with his immaturity. She was always better with him than me. I think you were right weeks ago. We should have told him we’re not faking it anymore. I’m a goddamn adult, and I’m sick of him not treating me like one. He just made a spectacle of himself in front of our friends for no reason at all.”

I’m getting mad. I know we’re supposed to be fake, but so what if we’re not? He can’t act like this when I date someone.

Layton discreetly adjusts his pants.

I look at him in shock. “This turns you on?”

“I love when you’re assertive. It’s sexy as hell. It’s like watching you play. When you take command behind the plate, I get hard. I have to bring a sweatshirt or a jacket to your games to hide the wood that inevitably comes when you’re all badass.”

I like that he’s turned on by that side of me.Reallylike it. Fuck it. I decide to give him a not so discreet rub of encouragement.

He grabs my wrist. “Don’t do that unless you’re prepared to follow through.”

“Who says I won’t follow through? Don’t you know me at all by now? I’ve already had sex in front of Cheetah. What’s a few more people?” I stare at him in challenge.

He stares back, his eyes darkening. I love when he gets like this, looking like he’s going to snap and bend me over the table. He’s so hot.

Cheetah clears his throat, breaking us out of our mutual trance. “Hey, Kam, what’s your story? Are you riding the pole or picking flowers in the lady garden tonight? I need to know where to spend my time.”

She takes a long, slow sip of her drink. With her mischievous grin, she says, “I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for. Maybe both. What do you have in mind? You can’t possibly want to lose another bet.”

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