Page 22 of Rounding Third

His hand slips under the hem of the t-shirt and his fingers brush up and down my spine. He gets up to where my bra strap should be, and halts his movements for a second. I peek up at him without moving my head and find his brows drawn together. He moves his fingers a little higher and swallows hard before trailing his touch back down my back.

He doesn’t stop for the next hour. He’s constantly touching me and whispering things in my ear.

“Can we sleep like this every night?” He murmurs against my neck. This feels so intimate. Like so much more than friends.

I don’t respond. Not because I don’t want to, but I'm not exactly sure how to respond. I couldn’t do this nightly unless he was mine. My heart couldn’t take it. But how do I tell him that? How do I convince him we should be together?

Chapter 10

Smithy

“What are you doing?” I chuckle as I walk into the living room and find Liliana with her head under the couch and her ass up in the air.

It’s been four days since she slept in bed with me. Every time I see her, I wish we could go back to that night and I’d do things differently. I’d somehow make her mine.

“I dropped my earring and I think it went under the couch, but I can't find it.” I don’t need to be able to see her face to know she has her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. I can hear it in her voice.

“Lil, move.” I gently nudge her aside and get down on my hands and knees to look for it. I’d happily buy her new earrings if this one isn't found.

“I didn’t need your help,” she mumbles under her breath as she folds her arms across her chest.

“Yeah, but Leo, Holden, Covey and Wheeler are on their way over. Your ass was in the air and in that position, your skirt isa lot shorter than you think it is. I'm trying to preserve your innocence.”

“Why isn't Schmidt, Wyatt, or Cord coming?” She settles on the floor next to me with her back against the couch.

I peek up at her and find her brows pinched together. She’s so beautiful and she doesn’t even realize it. Sometimes I wish I could tell her exactly how I feel. That I’ve been in love with her since the moment we met, but I’m not sure she wants a guy like me.

Liliana wants someone soft and gentle. Someone who will watch romance movies and cuddle on the couch, not someone who wants to go out and hang out with friends all the time.

She doesn’t want to get swept into the limelight either. She’s happy living peacefully without most of the world knowing she exists. She can't do that if she dates a professional baseball player.

“Well, Wyatt and Cord found their happily ever afters and now they’re pussy whipped. Schmidt? I don’t know. He’s a man of mystery. No one really knows why he doesn’t hang out much, but he doesn’t. Sometimes I swear he has a secret life we don’t know about.”

“Maybe he’s like Clark Kent,” Liliana sighs like she’s swooning over the idea. I don’t like that one bit. If she’s going to swoon over anyone, I want it to be me.

“Or maybe he’s a serial killer who’s leading a double life to keep people off his scent.”

“Travis!” She swats at my chest, making me grin.

“I swear you’re the only person in the entire world who calls me Travis, babe.” I point my flashlight on my phone towards the back of the couch and see a glint of metal. I quickly grab her earring and hold it out to her.

“And you’re the only person I know who calls anyone with tits babe.” She rolls her eyes as she puts her earring back in.

“What would you rather I call you?” I sit back on my heels and stare at her. Does she not like it when I call her babe?

I started calling women babe because of her. I slipped up and used the term of endearment one night when we were hanging out. She got spooked and I didn’t want her to run. I insisted I call all women babe, and I’ve had to keep up the charade for years now.

“You could call me Liliana or Lil.” She lifts her shoulder in a shrug.

“How about I call you pookie?”

“No!” She throws her head back against the cushion and lets out a loud giggle. I love when she laughs like this.

“Boo-Boo-Bear?” I arch a brow, making her laugh even harder. “Sweet Cheeks?”

“Oh my gosh!”

“What? Your cheeks were practically showing when you were looking for your earring,” I tease her. “And they were definitely sweet to stare at.” I wiggle my brows.

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