Page 18 of Nailed at Home Plate

“What, you don’t likeMean Girls?” Now it was my turn to be surprised.

“Oh no, I loveMean Girls. It's just…I don't know. It’s weird you can reference it and thenaccuratelyquote it.”

“Well, now I feel like you’re judging me.” The conversation became so easy all of a sudden. I felt dizzy from the sheer thrill of it. Maybe she didn’t hate me after all? There’d been little to no animosity since we started talking. I was eager to continue this back and forth but then I heard the chatter of the guys coming onto the field for dance rehearsal.

“No. Just…impressed.” She pulled my attention straight back to her so suddenly that I was afraid I had whiplash. As she turned away from me, I managed to catch her little smile. My heart knocked against my ribcage like a locked damsel in distress.

“Quoting movie lines is my superpower,” I mumbled out. Anything to keep her from escaping so quickly. We had some good banter going on.

“I thought catching was.” She quipped back with a snort. My ego surged at her response. Was…was that a flirt? There was a swirl of emotions inside of me. I didn’t know what to do until words exploded out of me all at once.

“Depends on what I catch.” I shot back, suave as fuck, with a wink to boot, as I caught her shocked gaze as she glanced at me from over her shoulder.

What in the actual fuck were you thinking, Jamie?Winking? Really? Next, you’ll be asking the woman to dance with you.

In all honesty, I wasn’t thinking. All thinking left my brain. It was only actions when I found myself alone around Cadence Andrews. Like I was a dumbass freshman swooning over the senior captain of the dance team.

No woman had ever left me this tongue-tied and completely unarmed. It was the first time she didn’t look at me with hidden disdain. Or…whatever it was she looked at me with. I didn’t know what to fucking do with myself.

I was still inwardly cringing over how our interaction ended as choreography practice started. During practice, I channeled all of my utter confusion and frustration into doing whatever I could to follow along. I felt the guys’ eyes on me, so either I was doing something right or flailing like a fish out of water. But there were no snickers or snide remarks. Hopefully, they were glances of approval or encouragement. Or, perhaps, it was pity.

I was still trying to gauge Cady’s reaction. She hadn’t said anything about the nickname, only smiled at it. It suited her.

The thought of her smiling made me smile. Or it could have been the fact that the routines werefinallyfalling into a place in my brain where they made sense.

Holy shit, maybe I really could do this.

Cady made her way over to me as the guys did a run-through without her at the head of the pack. My spine immediately straightened as I found myself suddenly slipping back into her gravitational pull. This time her face wasn’t some mix of horror and disgust as she looked at me. It resembled something of what looked like the lighthearted Cady from that day in the locker room.

“You…almost have it.” She sheepishly interrupted. Timidly, she lifted her hands in offering. “Can I…show you?” Wait, did her voice just crack?

I couldn’t dwell on that fact for very long. With a nod of my head, I agreed to something that I wasn’t at all expecting. My eyes darted between her hands as they made their way to my arms.

I could feel the heat rise at the back of my neck as I stood incredibly still, waiting to see what she would do. Soft fingers gently adjusted the angle of my arms to something that more closely resembled how the rest of the Sillys moved in the routine. That was all I could think about at the moment. Because if I focused on how her touch felt, I’d have a hard-on in a hot second.

The touch was innocent, but my brain was thinking about anything but. Especially with her facing me while wearing one of her coordinating workout outfits. It was a front-row seat to her treacherous curves. Curves that needed a gigantic warning sign and flashing lights.

“Uh…see? There you go. Just…just some minor adjustments.” Her breathless smile was inches from my face. The woman could have told me I was a second-time Gold Glove award winner but all I’d be able to focus on was the glorious way her skin felt against mine.

“Oh, right. T-Thanks, Cady.” I breathed out. The continued use of the nickname brought a quirk to the corner of her mouth. She unexpectedly lingered, her hands still on my body. Oh, what fucking delicious hell was this?

“Psst. You’re doing it again, Jamie.” Benson chipped in with a teasing voice. I shot him a look. Schmidt joined with a low whistle. If anyone else was going to put their snide two cents in, I was going to have some bloody knuckles before it was over.

“Alright boys, cool it.” Cady snapped out of whatever spell that was between us and abruptly pulled her hands away from my body. “You’re supposed to be encouraging Jamie. He’s doing good work today...” My body inflated quickly and then deflated just as fast as I watched her wander back up to the front of the team.

What the fuck was going on with me? My skin was covered in goosebumps. Meanwhile, it was easily creeping into the usual Philadelphia summer heat and humidity. I was half tempted to fuck up even worse to tempt fate just to have her touch me again.

“Besides, I invited the rookie here out to line dancing with us tomorrow.”

There was a rumble of laughter and murmurs before Martin playfully punched me on the shoulder.

“Oh really?” I bristled at the excited tone of his voice. “It's about fucking time! I never thought we’d see your tight-ass dance. And I meanreallydance.” Martin followed with a suave grin. My eyes looked up to Cady who’d gone back to avoiding looking at me square on.

“I…uh, yeah. I figured I should um, give it a shot.” I gave the group of Sillys around me an uneasy smile. Well, there was no going back now.

“Alright alright, you all had better show Jamie how it's done.” My cheeks went hot at her word choice. “Dancing can be…fun.”

“Yo, Jamie should I get you some lube to get that rod out of your ass before we go?” Truitt could barely keep in his laughter. Once he got the jab at me, the other guys joined in. I rolled my eyes before they caught the same heated look on Cady’s face that shehad at the last mention of my ass. It made me wonder just what she thought of my hindquarters.

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