Page 23 of Rounding Third

Her cheeks were covered. If they weren’t, I don’t think this conversation would still be platonic. I would’ve thrown her over my shoulder and tossed her onto the center of my bed. I would’ve crawled up her body and begged her to let me touch her the way I’ve been dreaming of.

“If you call me Sweet Cheeks, I'll call you Travis all the time!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” I lunge for her and slip my hands under the hem of her shirt. Tickling her, she squirms in my arms, but I'm not letting her go. “Promise you won't call me Travis all the time!”

“I hate calling you Smithy though,” she shrieks with laughter as she falls to the side so she’s lying on the floor.

I hover over her and stare down at the beautiful woman I’m head over heels for, yet know I have no shot with. My hands areplanted on either side of her head with her blonde hair fanned out around her.

“Why do you hate calling me Smithy, Sweets?” I ask in a low murmur.

“I don’t know, everyone calls you that. It doesn’t feel special when you have entire stadiums cheering Smithy.” She blinks up at me with sparkling green eyes. I’ve gotten lost in these eyes more times than I can count and today is no different.

I open my mouth to respond when the front door opens and the guys enter my house without knocking.

“What have we here?” Covey stops next to me and smirks down at us.

“I was torturing Liliana,” I mumble as I sit back on my heels. I know I'm going to get so much shit for this. They’re never going to let me live this down.

No matter how many times I deny it, the guys know I'm in love with my best friend. According to Cord, I suck at hiding it. Wyatt says it’s written all over my face.

“Oh, I'm sure that’s all you were doing.” Covey rolls his eyes as Wheeler comes into the living room. As soon as he sees us, his lips lift into a grin.

“Dang, we came too early. If we had given them a few more minutes, this would’ve been a much better show.” Wheeler shakes his head.

“Nothing was going to happen, Wheeler.” Liliana rolls her eyes as she tugs her shirt back into place. “Smithy and I are just friends. I don’t know how many times we need to tell you this.”

She sits up and shoves me backwards so I'm no longer straddling her legs. She stands to her full height and brushes off her skirt like there’s dirt on her.

I know Liliana. She’s doing this to avoid looking at the guys. As long as she doesn’t make eye contact with them, she won't blush.If she does, her whole face will turn bright red and the guys will tease her relentlessly.

“I think you’re gonna have to keep telling me if I keep walking in on you in compromising positions.” He tilts his head to the side and arches a brow.

“Well, maybe you should stop walking in Smithy’s house without knocking. Then you wouldn’t need to worry about finding us potentially looking like we’re in compromising positions.” She rolls her eyes.

“Hey, Lil. I really liked that article you wrote about Wyatt and Charlie. You did a great job keeping the focus on them and off of Stubbs.” Leo gives Liliana a quick hug before dropping onto the couch.

“Thanks, Leo. My editor wasn’t thrilled with the story, but our readers seemed to really like it.”

“Why wouldn’t he like it? It was really good.” Holden takes a seat next to Leo and shoves a chip in his mouth.

I don’t think I even have chips. Where’d he get that from? It’s after spring training. We typically all watch what we eat and are trying to stay in good shape.

“He wanted dirt no other reporters could find. He thinks Stubbs is the good guy in all of this.” She sighs like it’s ridiculous to see Stubbs as anything except the villain in this situation, and she’d be right.

Stubbs is one of the worst players I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with. He went out of his way to injure Wyatt on purpose, all because he didn’t like how Charlie gave Wyatt attention and not him.

Wyatt has spent all of spring training trying to rehab his knee and our first game is next week. Danny has him scheduled to play during the opening game, but I'm a little worried his knee might not hold out. As catcher, Wyatt will be doing a lot ofsquatting and that’s going to be tough on his ligaments. I don’t want to see him get hurt and cause any permanent damage.

“I hope no other teams pick that prick up,” Covey grumbles.

“I heard there’s some interest in him. Has Owen filled Stubbs’ position?” Liliana runs her fingers through her hair before splitting the long strands into three sections. She takes her time slowly twisting the pieces until there’s a braid hanging over one shoulder.

“Yeah, I think he starts tomorrow. His name is Jackson McLaren. He’s a friend of mine and Wyatt’s. We’ve been playing ball with him for years.” Leo tugs his phone out of his pocket and begins typing away.

“Isn't his dad friends with Jesse?” I frown as I try to remember how I know the name McLaren.

“Step-dad, but yes. They’re best friends and they’re both surgeons.”

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