Page 62 of Rounding Third

“Nope, and I never will. It’s us against the world.” I lift our hands and press a soft kiss to her knuckles.

“You can't stay mad at Wheeler forever,” she whispers after a few minutes of silence. Her head is resting on my shoulder and we’re just enjoying being with each other.

“I can, Lils. The things he said about you… they were uncalled for. How many times has he texted you since we left the stadium?”

“The last time I checked, I think he was up to twenty-three. You?”

“Forty-seven.” I chuckle.

“That’s why you can't stay mad at him. Sure, he screwed up and said some hurtful things, but he’s Wheeler. He’s not exactly the smartest man in the world. Sometimes he’s flat out dumb. I think he was hurt and he voiced his gut reaction.”

“He needs to learn his words have consequences.”

“And I think he did tonight.” She places her hand on my chest and it slowly drifts lower. She skims over my stomach and keeps heading south. When she grazes my dick, I let out a low groan. “How long were you planning on staying in the hot tub, because I think I have a better way to release your frustration.”

I stand so quickly Liliana lets out a yelp of surprise. Then I'm tossing her over my shoulder and climbing out of the hot tub, careful I don’t slip and hurt both of us. Running through the house, she yells something about the floors getting soaked, but I couldn’t care less. All I care about is getting my girl to our bed so I can show her exactly how much I love her.

Chapter 30

Liliana

“Wheeler wants me to tell you he’s sorry… again,” Winnie groans as she reads another text Wheeler sent her.

Apparently when Smithy and I wouldn’t answer him, he called Winnie. Not only was Winnie completely unaware of what happened, but she gave Wheeler an earful. Now, she’s pissed at him too.

“Yeah, I'm wondering how practice is going today. Smithy was still pissed when he woke up today. I think between the three of us, there have been over five hundred texts sent from Wheeler in the last fifteen-ish hours.” I glance at my watch and guess what time we got home yesterday.

“You know he’s an idiot, Lils. You can't stay mad at him forever.”

“I know and to be honest, I'm not that mad. Sure, what he said was upsetting in the moment, but I understand where he was coming from. And, it does seem like too much of a coincidence for me to start dating Smithy after years of us being close, me hanging around the clubhouse, and then the article coming out.I get it. I just feel like I can't forgive him until Smithy’s ready to. I don’t want to upset him.”

“Why are boys so temperamental?” Winnie groans again. “I swear the two of them are worse than middle school girls right now.”

The alarm on the driveway beeps, letting me know someone is at the gate. I hop off the couch and go to see who’s here.

“Hold on, Winnie…” I press the button to speak through the gate. “Can I help you?”

“I have a delivery for Ms. Sweets.”

“You can come up and leave it at the door.” I push the button to open the gate and watch the delivery truck move up the driveway.

I know this seems like a little too much security, but I’ve heard so many stories about crazy fans peeping in people’s windows. I'm glad Smithy has a gated property, especially when I'm here alone or when we’re in the hot tub at night… naked.

“Oh, I wonder what you got.” Winnie sounds a little more interested.

“I’ll let you know after the delivery truck leaves,” I say quietly, not wanting the delivery man to hear me.

“Oh my gosh, Liliana! Are you seriously not going to open the door for the man? He could just hand you the delivery instead of you making it awkward. He knows you’re home since you opened the gate.”

“That’s not true! You can talk through doorbell cameras with your phone, so why can't I talk through this and let him through even if I'm not home?” I scowl through the peephole as the guy sets a large box on the porch and climbs back in his truck.

“I don’t know! I think you need to stop watching cold case shows. You think everyone is out to murder you.”

“At least I’ll stay alive,” I singsong as I watch the gate close behind the guy’s truck, then I open the door and eye the massivepackage. I don’t know if I’ll be able to lift this. I think I'm just going to push it through the door.

“Unless another man jumped out of the truck and hid in the bushes. They knew you’d wait until the truck left and while you’re not paying attention, he’ll sneak in the house and hide. He’ll wait until you least expect it, then he’ll jump out and stab you to death.”

“What the hell, Winnie!” I shriek as I glance around at the peaceful looking front yard.

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