Page 45 of The Future Play

Super sexy, but it’s better than me losing my shit or fainting because my blood sugar is dropping to the bad place.

One of the catering crew sets a bottle of water in front of me and gives me an understanding smile.

“Thanks,” I murmur as I reach for it, then glug down half at once.

The event wraps up in a little under an hour, so this is the last lull.

Once I’ve finished eating and drinking, I take a few deep breaths, use the nearby bathroom, and touch up my makeup, but when I walk out of the bathroom, I collide with a hard body, and when hands land on my arm, I don’t have to look to know who it is.

I jump back, shield firmly in place, and glare up at Jamie. “What are you doing here?”

I get his charming boyish grin in return. “I was invited.”

“Your parents were invited.” I know because I checked the list, so I could prepare myself if his name was on it.

“Well, I borrowed their invitation and came in their place. Penny had a dance recital tonight, so they couldn’t make it.”

“That’s nice for Penny. I’m sure she’d rather you were there too.”

I go to move past him, but he shifts slightly so he’s in my path again.

“Actually, she wanted me to be here.”

I snort at that. “Really?”

“She wants me to make up with you.”

“Uh huh. Look, I need to get back?—”

“She does. Because she knows how much it means to me. How much you mean to me.”

“Well, I’m glad your sister knows. Does she also know you’re a liar? Because how you acted doesn’t say I mean anything to you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for kissing me? Or sorry for leading me on and making me feel like you wanted me when you didn’t?”

“Both.”

“Great. We’re done now. Bye.”

I shove past him, but he grabs my arm and spins me back around.

“I’m sorry I hurt you. I didn’t mean to lead you on. I’m sorry for kissing you the way I did—without thinking it through first. Without realizing how much you mean to me.”

I bite back a bitter laugh as I clench my hand into a fist. “So now that you don’t have me anymore, you suddenly realize how much you want me? You know Passenger wrote a pretty great song about that. I’m pretty sure they still play it on the radio about a billion times a day.Let Her Go. Give it a listen, cry your feelings out, then move on. Because we’re done.”

“You don’t understand.” He shoves his hand through his hair. “Fuck. I thought we were having fun. Until I kissed you, and realized the feelings I have for you could never just be about fun. So I stopped it because I didn’t want to lead you on. Baseball has been my focus for most of my life. I didn’t think it was fair to you to offer any part of me if I couldn’t give you all of me. I thought it had to be either or.”

“And you chose baseball.”

“Yes, but… baseball is a part of me. But every day I go without talking to you, I realize how much you became a part of my life. How much I looked forward to every conversation with you. Every glance from you. Every touch.” He takes my hand, and for some stupid reason, I let him. “I thought I had to choose, but I realized I don’t want to. I can’t promise you it’ll be easy, but I want to try. Let me take you on a date. Please.”

I stare at him for a moment, then yank my hand away. “So, let me get this straight. You had to kiss me to figure out you wanted me. Then you had to miss me to realize you wanted to date me enough to make room for me in your life. Now you’re crashing the event where I’mworking, begging me to go out on a date with you becausenowyou know what you want?”

“And to apologize,” he says quickly.

“I don’t need your apologies. You cannot just come here in the middle of an event that I’m running and bring in all this personal shit. How would you feel if I stormed the mound in the middle of a game? Would that be okay?”

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