Page 39 of Relief Pitcher

“Softball is a fun game.” He gave me a once-over.

The back of my neck heated. It’d been a while since I’d been so blatantly flirted with. Well, other than Ty. I preferred Ty’s less intense approach to flirting.

“In honor of seeing friends and possibly making new ones, I’m going to bring you guys something special to try. We just pulled the first batch of our seasonal Saison.” He knocked his knuckles on the table, winked at me, and strode away.

“Wow,” was all I could manage.

“Yeah. We’re getting thespecialtreatment.” Ty barely held back a laugh.

“I should visit breweries with you more often.”

“Pretty sure it’s not because of me. Darrell would happily take you to the storage room and bend you over a keg if you asked him to.”

Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything because it would’ve ended up on Ty’s face after a spit-take.

“That’s quite the picture you’ve painted.” I glanced over at the door that said employees only. The only person I wanted to imagine bending me over a keg of beer was Ty.

He looked at the same door, and a deep wrinkle creased his forehead. After a few moments, he looked back at me, and his entire demeanor shifted. The teasing, casual guy returned, but there was something false about it.

“I can be your wingperson.”

I blinked. “My wingperson?”

He sat up straighter in his chair. “Finish the job I started last month to help you re-enter the dating scene. I’m the perfect person to do it because I know you’re great in bed, and I won’t get in the way of you meeting someone. Frankly, I’m the ideal candidate.”

Help me start dating? That wasn’t the direction I imagined grabbing a drink with Ty would go. Not that I’d pictured anything specific, but him setting me up with someone else definitely wasn’t it. I wasn’t delusional enough to think he would want to date me. He’d made that clear from the day we’d met, but something about the idea twisted my insides.

I didn’t love the idea, but how bad could it be? Surely, he wouldn’t be as aggressive as Danita if I’d let her do that. I wasn’t ready to rush into a relationship, and maybe if Ty thought he was helping me get back out there, it might keep him from putting distance as wide as the Columbia Gorge between us. I needed to figure out how to seem open to setups withoutactuallybeing set up.

“How would you go about doing that?”

“I know tons of queer guys. I could set you up on dates. Oh! Or someone on the team mentioned everyone usually goes out after the games. I’m great at being a bar wingperson.” An animated and excited Ty was an adorable Ty.

Ty glanced back at the staff door. “But not Darrell. He’s not a good choice for you.” He firmly shook his head once.

I bit back a smile and looked back down at the menu to hide it. Maybe Ty wasn’t as indifferent as he claimed. A small part of me hoped he might be interested in me but not ready to admit it. I could be patient. I wasn’t in any hurry to do anything else.

“Let’s ease into it, yeah?”

Ty’s expression grew serious. “Of course. I would never want to make you uncomfortable. We’ll figure out hand signals. Pitcher-catcher bonding, you know?”

I laughed.

“Actually, on that topic.” Ty blew out a breath. “I was rough today.”

“You need to learn how to handle big balls. There’s nothing wrong with lacking certain skills.”

“Excuse me, sir, I know how to handle balls of all sizes.”

“Practice would suggest otherwise.” I grinned, eating up how easy the banter came with him.

“Fuck you,” he said, laughing. “Anyway, what do you think about getting together a time or two this week to practice? We gotta sort our chemistry on the field. And, okay, itcouldn’t hurtif I recalibrated my baseball skills to softball.”

“Ty, there’s nothing wrong with our chemistry.” The words fell out of my mouth, and he jerked like he’d been electrocuted. Good. I wanted to know that I affected him even a fraction of the amount he affected me. God, it was so damn confusing. Hopefully, the tension between us would ease as we moved into our new dynamic as teammates.

Keep telling yourself that, bud.

CHAPTER19

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