Page 51 of Relief Pitcher

The fact I wanted to share that part of my life with him scared the hell out of me. Despite trying to keep my feelings in check, they’d gotten away from me. If I didn’t sort my shit out, I’d be in trouble because Ty hadn’t given any indication that he’d changed his mind on his no-dating rule, and the last thing I wanted to do was pressure him into something he didn’t want. No matter how much I wanted him.

CHAPTER24

TYLER

Team Tap That Group Text

Dom: Who left a bottle of lube in the office?

Ty: Not it. I don’t fuck at work. [GIF of someone touching their nose]

Ty: But pretty sure half of the members of this group chat can’t say the same. [GIF of someone narrowing their eyes suspiciously]

Austin: Not me! I keep my brewery shenanigans to lube-free activities.

Dom: Jesus Christ, Ethan. Again?

Ethan: Ethan is not available to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep.

* * *

“Haveyou tried Gigantic’s new seasonal?” River pulled out a weed along the third base line.

“I haven’t. Is it good?” I asked as I scanned a section of the infield for debris.

As they described the beer, my attention wandered to Cooper again, who was raking the first base line. I refused to count how many times it had happened at practice.

River chuckled, and I snapped my head back in their direction.

“What?”

They looked pointedly toward Coop, who looked delicious in his gray sweats, by the way, then back to me. “Cooper’s been extra happy this season. It’s nice to see.”

Their insinuation wasn’t lost on me, and I waited for the panic to come. I’d never been accused of having anything to do with a man’s happiness before. That waded too deep into relationship territory. The panic didn’t come. I was glad Coop had been happier because he damn well deserved to be after everything he’d been through. If I contributed to that, even in a small way, I was proud of it.

Before I could think of a response, Coach came over and asked River to help with something in the outfield.

After finishing my part of field maintenance, I slowly made my way toward my car. While walking, I caught up on the texting thread with the guys. As usual, we had about three conversations going simultaneously. One about whether we wanted to participate in a Halloween beer festival, another with an update on construction at the brewery where Dom was frustratingly quiet on the topic, and a third where Ethan was giving Austin shit for catching him and Caleb making out in the storage room. Again.

Familiar steps soon followed.

“Good practice tonight. You’re starting to throw like an actual softball player.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Fuck you. Softballs are a lot bigger than baseballs. Takes a while to adjust my grip after years of muscle memory.”

Coop smirked. “From what I hear, you’ve had plenty of practice in gripping things of various sizes.”

I laughed. His combination of flirting and teasing was exactly why I wanted to wait for him. Well, that and the prospect of getting off somewhere before heading back to our respective homes.

Coop glanced around before leaning in. “What color today?”

I gave a quick tug at my waistband to show him the strap of the yellow jock. Wearing them for an audience gave me a thrill I’d never expected because my panties had always been for me, no one else. Certainly not something I wanted to share with a twenty-minute hookup. Thirty if things went well.

“Still want to go somewhere?” Coop hooked a tooth over his bottom lip and released it slowly.

“Hell yeah.” It surprised me how easily I agreed. For whatever reason, I hadn’t gotten my fill of Cooper yet. I kept waiting for the interest in his dick to fade into platonic friendship. Where was that familiar buzz pulsing under my skin at the prospect of meeting someone new and getting off? Instead, I was buzzing over getting to hear the sounds Coop made when he came since the loud music at the bar had taken that from me the other day. And I wanted to hear his happy laughter as he came down. Plus, getting off in a car? Public enough to be thrilling, but not enough to actually risk getting caught? Yes, please.

We reached my car, and I shifted on my feet as I remembered there was something I wanted to ask him. Something I should’ve asked already.

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