Page 14 of Pitcher Perfect

“Me neither. I kicked myself for not getting your number.” His cheeks tinged pink.

“Seriously?” I gaped at him. “You wanted my number?”

CHAPTER4

CALEB

I froze.He stared at me, mouth open wide enough to trigger some deliciously dirty thoughts. I shook those away.Not the time or place to pop wood over cute paper store guy.

Joy radiated from him.It’s joy, right? Shit. What if I misread it?We’d connected over notebooks and a bunch of other small things we’d crammed into that conversation, and I’d walked away assuming there wasa thingthere. Surely the way he’d looked at me hadn’t been purely friendly.While I was mentally undressing him, what if he thought it was a simple friendly conversation?

“Sorry. I’m being unprofessional,” I said as calmly as I could manage, though inside I cringed hard enough to twist my intestines. “So, the competition. Have you entered before?”

Austin looked momentarily panicked. He reached out and grabbed my forearm. “No. I mean, I was kicking myself for the same thing.”

I released a harsh breath.Thank fuck for that.Feeling bold and foolish, I put my hand over his and briefly squeezed. “Good.”

“Things worked out with your neighbor?” He pulled his hand back.

I grimaced. “I intended to write a funny little note with barely a hint of passive-aggression, but one morning my foot connected with one of the dog’sgiftswhen I was in a hurry to open my truck. My note was, uh, a bit harsher than planned. We didn’t have an issue after that.”

Austin’s face lit up when he laughed, and the sound comforted me like a weighted blanket. I was such a sucker for a guy with a sexy laugh. He was a deadly combination of gorgeous and adorable—my kryptonite.I bet he looks all cute and rumply in the mornings.His dark-brown hair contrasted with his pale skin, making his piercing-blue eyes stand out even more. They reminded me of the alpine lakes around Banff. His well-maintained short beard and mustache looked almost preppy, but the full forearm tattoos peeking out of his rolled-up green-and-blue flannel were anything but. He wasn’t a big guy, but he wasn’t a waif either. Lean, but he filled out his clothes. I imagined it took a lot of strength to do his kind of work.

“That’s a nice notebook.” Austin reached out and traced his finger along the spine.

I shivered as though he were gently touching myownspine. “Thanks,” I said hoarsely.

“It reminds me of a notebook I lost a few years ago. I haven’t been able to find another one like it.”

I handed it to him.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yeah. Go ahead and check it out. Is it like the one you had before?” I found mine at a small gift shop filled with handmade wares from a variety of local vendors at the coast.

“Nice paper. Very little ghosting,” he said reverently.

“I hate when you find a seemingly perfect notebook or pen, but it seeps through. Why even make a notebook if the paper is going to ghost?”

He smiled absently as he rubbed a finger over a food stain. Sriracha, if I remembered correctly.

Austin handed back the notebook. “Totally. I couldn’t help but notice you jot down recipes and ideas.” His eyes widened for a moment. “I wasn’t creeping or anything. It just jumped out at me when I flipped through.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry about it. They aren’t state secrets or anything, but yeah. This notebook is a brain-dump space for me. I have another with finished recipes.”

Austin flashed a wide smile. “I do the same thing for beer recipes. The guys tease me for leaving notebooks all over the place for various purposes, but the process works.” He shrugged.

Finally. Someone who gets it.Getsme.“I’m glad we’ll be working together,” I said.

Austin’s smile grew impossibly wider. “Me too. Of all the small towns in the state, I can’t believe you’re here.”

Flirty words were on the tip of my tongue begging to be let free, but I held them back. I wanted to ask him out while I had the chance, but I didn’t need to rush. We would be spending a lot of time together getting things ready for the Portland Pairing.

If I made a move, statistically, we would fizzle out, or a big blowup would put the competition in jeopardy. More than short-term fun, I needed a new friend. I glanced over at the bar and saw Ethan and Tyler laughing with who I assumed was Dom, the fourth co-owner I hadn’t met yet.

I’d always wanted a tight friend group like theirs. I had friends, but no one I would feel comfortable asking to pick me up from the airport in the middle of the night. The food truck pod that closed had been full of great people, but we weren’t tight like Austin and his friends. I wanted that. I wasn’t delusional enough to think I could worm my way in as the fifth member of their boy band, but having friends would help stave off the loneliness I feared in the small town.

“How come I haven’t seen you around town before?”

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