Page 79 of The Baller

Lux rolled his eyes and muttered something I didn’t catch.

“Yes, she is.”

He looked at Lux. “Have you met her yet?”

“No, not yet.”

Tanner jumped off his stool, dragged it a couple of inches closer to mine, then hopped back on before slinging an arm around my shoulders. “We should have a meet-the-best-friends party.”

“A what?”

“Bring her with you next time, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” I smiled, trying to concentrate on breaking up the pieces of chocolate, but in reality, I was only focusing on two words and the way they made little swirly clouds puff around in my chest.

Next time.

I tossed the final two pieces into the bowl and Tanner took it. I watched silently as he, Parker, and Lux all fussed around while making the biggest mess I’d ever seen. Soon the kitchen was nothing but an explosion of chocolate, with big strapping baseball players bickering over who licked the spatula, or who got the caramel.

Holiday had made a quick exit as soon as the baking started up properly, on account of a costume fitting she had coming up, so I grabbed Pride and Prejudice from Lux’s room and dropped on the couch opposite her.

“What’s that?” I asked, nodding over at the stack of papers she was holding.

She zipped her thumb over the pages. “A script I need to learn.”

“That’s cool, how’s it going?” I shifted around, nearer the fireplace, and tucked my legs underneath me.

“It’s taking a while,” she scowled, “but I’ll get there.”

We both turned at a loud clatter from the kitchen, witnessing Tanner scramble to catch whatever else was about to drop.

“You wouldn’t know he was a professional athlete, would you?” she laughed with a shake of her head, and went back to her script.

Her mouth moved silently, while I opened up the book I’d read a dozen times and tried to remember when I’d last felt so content. Every so often there’d be another loud clatter, or one of the boys would get yelled at by Lux. At some point he came over and sat down, moving my head to his lap so he could read along with me, while Parker and Tanner fired up Minecraft.

Holiday soon moved to sit by the window, every so often asking Tanner to come and practice a scene, at which point Lux would get up to make more coffee, and check on the brownies until they were cool enough to eat. The plate he brought over lasted less than thirty seconds, but the sugar rush of gooey, sticky, chocolatey goodness was exactly what I needed to spur me on.

With each hour that passed, I became more and more certain in the decision I’d made this morning. More certain and way more pent up, until I was nothing but a squirming ball desperate for release.

The sun dipped below the horizon, setting the Hudson on fire. Pride and Prejudice closed with a soft slap, and I twisted enough thatI could look at Lux. It would be so easy to get lost in his eyes, in the hypnotic way the blue flecks seemed to always be moving.

He pushed a lone strand of hair away from my face, tugging on the end of my ponytail until my head tipped back enough to kiss me.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled into my lips.

I glanced around; everyone was far too engrossed in scripts or games or baked goods to be paying attention to me.

“I’d like to have sex.”

Lux shifted back an inch, looking at me. Any second now he would hear my words… and there was the forehead crease…three, two, one.“What?”

“I’d like to have sex. With you.”

He blinked. The line in his forehead deepened. He blinked again.

It never occurred to me he’d say no, but… I was trying to figure out how to take the words back when I got yanked off the couch, and found myself pulled so fast down the hallway I couldn’t be certain my feet touched the floor.

Lux kicked the door shut and stepped back, leaving me in the middle of his bedroom.

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