Page 32 of The Double Play

I hope Jason doesn’t have his hopes up. I read about what happened with Emmett’s ex-wife. I’m sure that’s made him extra careful about who he lets in his life. I know it would for me. His standards are likely way too high for me to even hope to meet. I’m only ever going to be his nanny. Willow, Jason, andmy heartneed to remember that.

Chapter sixteen

Emmett Foster

“Easeuponwhatevergame you’re playing, Kingsley,” I say as we walk to a pastry shop Willow said she wanted to go to after lunch. Hazel, June, and Willow are a few steps ahead of us, holding hands and giggling as they lead the way.

“There’s no game except the one you have tonight, E.T.,” Jason replies with a grin.

“I’m serious. You can say nonsense to me, but not to her.”

I keep my eyes on June, refusing to look over at Jason again. He spent all of lunch dropping stupid hints and asking Hazel leading questions. She laughed it off, but it had to have made her uncomfortable. If he weren’t my friend, I would have hit him on the back of the head. I might do it anyway.

“Why not?”

My jaw tenses. I should have seen the question coming. Unfortunately, his ridiculous question about whether she watches me practicing–and her lack of answer–has muddled my brain.Why would she respond that way? What would have happened if no one had interrupted?And more importantly…why do I care?

“She works for me. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable because I have meddling friends.”

“For an uncomfortable person she was laughing a lot.”

I glare at him. “You’re pushing it.”

“I’m pushing your buttons, sure.” He chuckles. “But I always do that, and you never seem to mind.”

Hazel glances back at us. She smiles at me, but it fades to a frown. Likely due to the Jason-induced scowl on my face.

“You okay?” she mouths.

I give her a stiff nod and try to soften my features so she doesn’t worry. This seems to reassure her, and I catch a flash of her smile returning as she turns back around.

Jason snorts. “You’re worse than Miles was about Ellie. If you were on a map, you’d be smack-dab in the middle of a river in Egypt.”

“I thought I made it clear to everyone in our group that talking about any kind of relationship was off-limits.”

“So this falls under the category of a relationship to you? Interesting.”

How have I gone from one-word responses to saying too much? Now he’s never going to leave this alone.

Up ahead, two guys approach Willow, Hazel, and June. They’re each wearing smarmy grins that make my skin crawl. I shouldn’t have fallen back with Jason. If I had been by Hazel’s side, they wouldn’t have come within a ten-foot radius.

“What are you pretty girls doing out all alone?” One of the guys loudly asks.

Without a word, Jason and I increase our stride to catch up to the girls and position ourselves in front of them.

“No,” I say simply, meeting the larger one’s gaze. I cross my arms. In my peripheral, I see Jason do the same.

They both back up, the one across from Jason lifting his hands in surrender.

“Our bad,” the shorter one says.

The taller one’s eyes linger a little too long, but before I’m tempted to remedy that, he turns around and stalks off.

I think I hear Willow sayhotin a low voice, and when I turn around, I catch Hazel nodding with rose-stained cheeks.

“Thanks for stepping in,” Hazel says when she notices me watching her. “I had a bad feeling about them.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t up here to deter them,” I reply.

---