Page 17 of Rounding Third

“Sorry, ladies. I asked this beautiful woman to be my date for the evening. I’d like to get back to her.” He steps away from the women and wraps his arm around my waist.

I blink up at him, trying to figure out what just happened. This isn't normal for Smithy. I glance around, wondering what’s going on. The women he brushed off are glaring daggers are me. I'm sure they hate me and think they’re so much better. They’re thinking about me and what I did to deserve Smithy’s attention when they couldn’t hold it.

“What the heck was that?” I ask as Smithy leads me towards the booth again.

“What?”

“You brushed those women off.” I glance over my shoulder at them again, finding them still watching us.

“Yeah? So?”

“You don’t do that, Trav.” I stop walking and wait for him to face me.

“I want to spend time with you, Sweets. Not anyone else.”

“Since when?” I want to scream and shout. I want to know what changed between us and when it happened. More than anything, I want to know if this is real, or is he going to change his mind about me again.

I don’t want to feel like I have real hope for a romantic relationship with Smithy, to have it taken away from me a few days, weeks, or months later. I'm not sure I could handle that.

“I don’t know. I… Can we talk about this later on?” His eyes are begging with me to go along with his wishes. I swear I can't say no to him. I nod my head, but before I can say anything, I'm tugged away from Smithy and into someone’s arms.

“Liliana!” Winnie squeals in my ear like we haven’t seen each other in years.

“Hey, Win. How are you?” Smithy tucks one hand in the pocket of his jeans and lifts his other hand to take a sip of his beer.

“Hey, Smithy. What’s going on?” She eyes him carefully.

“Nothing. Just living the dream.” He tries to give her an easy-going smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes and it’s clear he’s not happy.

“I'm going to grab a drink, then I’ll meet up with you guys.” Winnie’s wide eyes turn to me and I shrug my shoulders. She caught onto the weird behavior too.

As she leaves, I turn my attention back to Smithy. I reach for his arm and tug his hand out of his pocket. Slipping my hand into his, I intertwine our fingers and peek up at him. I need to know everything is ok between us.

“Damn, did Smithy finally grow some balls and ask Liliana to be his girl?” Wheeler wiggles his brows and smirks at us as soon as he sees our joined hands.

My brows furrow for a moment before I hide my emotions. What is he talking about? Does Smithy have a thing for me and Wheeler knows it? Or is Wheeler just trying to start drama?

“Don’t be jealous because you don’t have a beautiful woman holding your hand.” Smithy rolls his eyes, playing off Wheeler’s comment.

“I’d be jealous if she were holding something else, but not for hand holding.” He grimaces.

“Oh please! You’d jump for joy if any woman gave you the time of day and held any part of your body.” Covey throws his head back and laughs.

“Like you wouldn’t?” Wheeler grumbles under his breath.

“Don’t you worry about my love life. I'm happy where my life is at this moment.” He glances up and his gaze meets Cici’s, Cord’s twin sister. I wonder if there’s something going on there, but I have enough to worry about in my own love life, I don’t need to poke my nose in anyone else’s.

Smithy motions for me to take a seat, then he slides into the booth after me. He drapes his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side. He places a soft kiss to the top of my head, then drops his lips towards my ear.

“You look beautiful tonight, Sweets. I love the cowgirl boots.”

“Thank you. I love these boots.”

“I'm glad I could get them for you. Anything else you want, you just let me know.”

“I'm not doing that. I can buy my own things.”

“I know you can, but what’s the point of making millions if I can't spoil my girl every once in a while.”

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