Page 37 of Rounding Third

As soon as I'm invited to join them, I waste no time taking a seat next to Liliana and placing my arm along the back of thebooth. I twist her long blonde hair between my fingers as I talk. I can't place a possessive hand around her, but I need to touch her in some way.

When Kevin asks about baseball and wants to know if I’ve always wanted to go pro, my mind drifts back to college. To the breathtaking blonde who showed up to every one of my games. I think she only missed a few and that was because she was sick.

If she missed a game, I made sure to take soup to her dorm afterwards. We’d lay on her bed and watch movies. Most of the time she’d fall asleep in my arms. I’d lay awake for hours trying to figure out how to make her mine. Even then, I knew she was all I wanted in life.

We chat throughout dinner and if I were being honest with myself, Kevin’s a nice guy. He’s exactly the type of guy Liliana deserves, but he can't have her. I'm not being honest with myself. I'm pretending he’s the evilest man to ever step foot on this planet. I'm not letting him have her no matter what.

When the check comes, I hand the waitress my credit card before she can even put the bill down and smile. I'm paying for everything. I don’t care about the money and I just want to get out of here so I can have Liliana to myself.

“Dinner is on me.” I smile, itching to leave and go home with Liliana, but I still need to convince her to come back to my place.

“You didn’t need to do that. I'm happy to pay for my meal and Liliana’s.” Kevin reaches for his wallet but I wave him off.

“It’s fine. We crashed your dinner.”

I quickly sign my name to the receipt when the waitress brings it back and stand. I smooth down my dress pants and smile when Liliana’s attention is drawn to me.

When her eyes return to mine, I hold out a hand and help her stand. She makes no move to take her hand back and I take that as an invite to make my move.

“Lils, I was actually going to call you when I got home. I need your help with something at the house. Would you want to come with me or are you guys doing something else?” I glance at Kevin and he shrugs his shoulders.

“I was going to take her out for ice cream, but since we had dessert here, I'm sure she doesn’t want more.”

I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. There’s a reason I ordered dessert as soon as the waitress asked. I knew he might be planning to take her somewhere else and I wanted to make that impossible.

The only person taking her home is me.

Chapter 16

Liliana

As he stands from the table, I notice what he’s wearing for the first time. A black dress shirt stretches across his chest. The top few buttons are open, letting his light dusting of chest hair peek out. It’s tight enough to show off his muscles and make any woman drool. The gray dress pants fit the same, showing off how much time he spends in the gym.

I have a hard time pulling my gaze away from his body and meeting his eyes again.

“Come home with me, Lils,” Smithy murmurs only loud enough for me to hear him. I nibble on my bottom lip, trying to decide what to do. I feel like a jerk if I leave my date with Kevin to go home with Smithy, but that’s exactly what I want to do. “I need you, Sweets.”

Without glancing away from Smithy, I speak to Kevin. I can't stop staring at my best friend. My mind can't stop whirling. He stopped this date. He crashed it and made sure he was in the middle of everything.

“Kevin, is it alright with you if I go with Smithy? I’ve been promising I’d help him for days and haven’t had a chance to.” As the lie falls from my lips, Smithy’s smile gets wider and wider.

I'm waiting for him to pound his chest and let out a noise of victory. He knows he’s won, but he’s not being smug about it.

When our food came and he couldn’t keep his arm along the back of the booth anymore, he rested his hand on my thigh and I didn’t stop him. My breath hitched at the initial contact and he chuckled under his breath.

It was wrong, especially when I was on a date with someone else, but I didn’t want him to stop. Hell, I wanted to take his hand and run away from the restaurant with him.

“Oh, yeah, sure. That’s not a problem at all.” Kevin runs a hand through his hair, looking more than a little disappointed.

He’s a nice guy and I hope he finds someone perfect for him, but I'm not the girl for him. Maybe if Smithy was just a friend I would be, but as long as I'm in love with him, I won't give Kevin the attention he deserves.

“I had a great time. Thank you for asking me to go out for dinner.” I smile at him, but make no move to hug him.

“I did too. I’ll text you later.” He aims a genuine smile my way.

“Cici, do you want me to drop you off at home?” Smithy asks as he places a hand on my lower back.

“It’s fine. I’ll order a ride.” She tugs her phone out of her pocket.

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