Page 38 of Endgame

King only grins, and I swear I want to punch his face in the dirt right now. “Don’t think I didn’t see you getting your lonely dick all up close and personal with Miss Thang at Delta last night.”

Thangjust came out of his mouth.

He must have a death wish today.

I make no attempt to stop him from thinking something happened between Dakota and I last night. I’m not ready to share her yet, if ever.

“That’s beside the point, King. What’s she doing here?”

Chuckling, he nods his head in her direction, making it obvious she’s the topic of our discussion. “How about you go find out, Ace?”

17

DAKOTA

I feel him everywhere.

It’s like the second my feet touched his home base—which makes up so much of Callaway—our bodies fell into this strange rhythm.

Why can’t I fight this? Usually, I’d have no issues with forgetting a guy who made it perfectly clear he wouldn’t touch me.

That's not exactly the way it went down, but still. Close enough.

Don’t make eye contact, Dakota. Let him notice you.

He seems to always notice you.

Jack gives me the rundown on what the season will look like moving forward and talks through his expectations for away games. The creative freedom he seems to be giving me has ideas flooding through my brain. I silently hope Jack sees I’m listening becauseI am, but my body is hyper-fixated on the man candy walking towards me.

Well, if I’m being technical, multiple man candies, but only one makes me want to crawl to him like a grown woman in heat.

“Ladies, nice of you to join us.” Jack eggs the approaching team on. I’m giggling before I realize it, causing a minimum of fifteen sets of eyes to focus on me. Lord have mercy on a broomstick, they’re pretty.

Maybe it’s the pants. The possibility is likely.

However, sweat rolls off their skin like it’s attempting to escape their natural body heat—hot, scorching, inferno-levelheat.

Douse me in it, baby.

Who knew stinky and sweaty could be so sexy?

Breaking me out of my fog of lust, a freakishly tall man with dark brown skin charges up to me before I have a chance to introduce myself. He throws an enormous arm around my shoulders, making himself at home in my presence.

“And who do we have here, princess? What brings you to the devil's lair?” He winks and shimmies his shoulders like he expects me to join him.

The devil’s lair? This guy is a nutcase, and I’m here for it. He gives off teddy bear vibes. I can already tell he’s a big softie.

I decide I like him already.

His confidence is charming, and he’s not terrible to look at.

Abort that mission.

I turn slightly in his direction, finding he’s already leaving very little space in our embrace, but I want to give him the eye contact he deserves. After all, he was the first one on the team to acknowledge me and introduce himself.

Glancing his way in a lighthearted gesture, I smile up at him. “I’m Kodi.” His light whistle startles me as he tightens our embrace to form more of a hug than we’re already in. He’s a giant. I feel like my insides are being squished together.

“Kingston Baylor. I’ll take a lucky guess and say you’re the new team photographer?” Kingston nods at the camera in my hands.

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