Page 33 of Rounding Third

“Right now my favorite team is the Tigers and Creed Everson.”

“I don’t know that team.” Kevin tilts his head to the side and watches me carefully.

“It’s a high school team and Creed is taking everyone by storm. The kid will definitely be going pro if he wants to. I just hope he gets to play for Philadelphia. I know he wants to.”

“Ahh, so you’re a diehard Philly girl.” He nods his head. “Makes sense. Philly fans are intense and win or lose, they pretend their teams are the greatest teams in existence.”

“Because they are.” My smile widens.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” He rolls his eyes while nodding his head in agreement.

“I'm not sure this is going to work out.” I pretend to slide out of the booth and Kevin throws his head back and laughs.

“Ok, ok! No bashing Philadelphia sports teams. I got it. I’ll keep my opinions to myself.” He holds his hands up in surrender.

“I'm almost afraid to ask this, but who are your favorite teams?” I wince, waiting for the blow to happen.

“Pit Bulls with Everson being my favorite player for baseball. Pythons with Huxley being my favorite for hockey. And the Philadelphia Tigers with Taylor being my favorite for football.”

“Oh! So, all Philadelphia teams! Why are you giving me a hard time then?”

“Just to see that beautiful smile on your face.”

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Cici stops at the edge of our table and smiles at me.

“Hey! I'm here with Kevin on a date. How have you been?”

I don’t get to see Cici a lot, but she’s always gone out of her way to be kind to me. She’s genuinely nice and I love to spend time with her.

“I'm great! It’s ironic to see you here though.”

“Why?”

“I'm here with Smithy. I asked him to dinner so we could discuss some business.”

“Smithy’s here?” I glance over her shoulder to where Smithy’s sitting alone. His attention is on his phone, completely unaware of the world around him.

“Travis Smithy?” Kevin perks up at that. “Didn’t you just say he’s your favorite player? You should go say hi!”

“Oh, no. It’s fine.” I wave him off as heat creeps up my cheeks.

“When will you get another chance like this?” Kevin pushes.

“Probably more often than you’d think.” Cici chuckles and I glare at her, making her laugh even harder.

“Am I missing something?” Kevin looks between the two of us.

“Smithy’s her best friend.” Cici smirks as Kevin’s eyes widen.

“Why don’t you invite him over here? You two can join us… unless you don’t want to.” He peeks up at Cici.

“I'm sure Smithy would love that. We discussed most of our business while we were driving.”

Cici calls Smithy’s name and waves him over. I watch him carefully. He pretends to be confused as he rises from his seat and makes his way over here, but it’s fake. I know him way too well to believe this act.

As soon as his gaze lands on mine, his sexy smirk spreads across his lips. I want to fight it, but a smirk is spreading across my own mouth. He stopped this date. He didn’t want me to go on it, but he didn’t want to look like the bad guy.

“Hey, Sweets. I didn’t know you’d be here.” He leans down and presses a soft kiss to my cheek. “You look stunning, Lils,” he whispers in my ear.

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