Page 134 of Vegas Heat

He points his fork at me. “My guess is she knows you’re hotter than her and she’s jealous.” He winks, and I laugh.

“I’m certain that’s it. Or, you know…the fact that Joanie put me on shadowing you and not her.”

“I like having you as my shadow. I don’t even know which one Mackenzie is.”

I hold up a hand. “See? My point exactly. She’s jealous I get to spend time with you, and you don’t even know who she is.”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “She’d bereallyjealous if she knew exactlyhow muchtime you get to spend with me.”

I giggle, and I’m about to lean in to kiss him when we both hear the front door open. My dad walks into the kitchen a few beats later.

“You two together again,” he says. “What’s going on here?”

My eyes widen as I feel very caught, but Cooper jumps in.

“We both got back from the stadium at the same time, so I ordered in.”

He studies us a beat as if he’s piecing things together, and then he grins. “What are we having?”

Relief rushes up my spine.

“Lemon chicken and veggies from Desmonds,” Cooper says.

“My favorite,” he says, and he grabs a plate and a fork without asking whether there’s enough for him. It’s a tiny bit of insight into how close Cooper and my dad actually are. You don’t do that with people who are nothing more than houseguests.

“It is pretty delicious,” I say as I take another bite. I moan a little at the taste as I close my eyes and lean my head back, and then I feel Cooper’s foot as it connects lightly with my shin.

I open my eyes and Cooper shoots me a look before he shifts in his chair.

I can’t help my small giggle, which thankfully goes unnoticed by my father.

“Coop, Mike and I are heading to Boston to talk with management there about AJ Winters and I’d like you to come along. We leave next Monday morning.”

I’m pretty sure the Mike he’s referring to is the team’s general manager.

He nods. “Of course. Let me know how many nights to pack for.”

“I’ll have Joanie send you the details,” he says.

“Joanie?” I ask, interjecting myself into their conversation.

My dad nods. “She’s not just the head of marketing, you know. She started out as my assistant and earned her newer title all on her own, but I wasn’t about to give her up as the best assistant I ever had. She still helps out, but she splits the title with Heather.”

Is he banging Heather, too?

I feel like that question would be grosser even in my own head if he’d raised me from birth rather than coming into my life when I was already an adult.

“Anyway, we’ll be gone two nights, maybe three,” he says.

My chest tightens a little as I think about three nights away from Cooper. We just got back together, and he’s already leaving.

I suppose that’s a feeling I’m going to have to get used to. My dad wasn’t lying when he said he doesn’t want me to be with a baseball player since they’re gone so much. The travel must be insane, and I’d imagine most guys don’t bring their girlfriends along for every single away game.

All the more reason to win the competition so I can interview for the social media manager job. Then I’d get to travel with the team because of my job in what I can only describe as the best-case scenario.

I can’t imagine an entire season of being away from him, but that could very well be our reality.

They chatter about AJ Winters and I’m clueless as to who he is, but I decide then and there to get to know more about the game.

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