Page 26 of Lines We Cross
“A gym workout is so much easier,” Ryder huffed as he set down another box in the hallway.
Heath snorted and set down two boxes, one right on top of the other like it was nothing. “You’re such a pansy model.”
Ryder tossed his hair out of his face. “Hey. I’ll have you know holding a position for hours on end is not easy. But who cares how physically demanding it is? When you have a face like mine it brings in the paychecks and that’s all I care about.”
“If I see one more underwear ad in my fitness magazine with your ugly mug, I might have to cancel the subscription. We’re friends, but I don’t need to know you in a carnal kind of way.” Jase grimaced and put down his end of the table he and I were moving in to the kitchen of my new house.
I chuckled and couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday. Moving home and cracking jokes with my best friends was almost better than baseball. Almost.
“Whatever. That stuff’s so photoshopped, you wouldn’t recognize my bare chest in the flesh.”
Heath grabbed his chest. “What? You mean they airbrush out your third nipple?”
Ryder shoved him, a good-natured grin on his face. “Yep, that’s true. The ladies get a nice surprise when my shirt comes off.”
“Ew,” Jase deadpanned.
“Knock, knock!” a female voice called from the direction of my front door.
I left the guys in the kitchen, rounded the corner, and nearly tripped over my own feet when I saw Rae in the doorway, the door propped wide open with another cardboard box.
“What are you doing here?” I said with the biggest smile I could muster plastered on my face. As much as my heart raced seeing her there, her cutoff jean shorts and hair pinned to the top of her head in an intriguing disarray, I wasn’t prepared to have another emotional conversation that would turn me inside out. Turns out maybe she was right to keep things on a strictly surface level. Diving in too far was downright painful.
She leaned against the doorway, a casual stance that didn’t do anything for softening her words. “Coming to find out why you’ve ditched our therapy sessions all week.”
“Ah, I see.” I rubbed the back of my neck, a slither of unease running through me. I never ditched anything when it came to baseball. Even if a practice was optional, Max Duke would be there. That’s the way it had always been, so to be called out onto the carpet about missing PT felt a lot like sitting in the principal’s office in elementary school.
I shrugged and smiled, my signature one-two punch to look like I didn’t have a care in the world. “Been moving into my new house.” I gestured behind me, a pointless reminder considering she was standing on my wraparound porch at my new address. Pretty sure she already knew about my house purchase.
She straightened and pinned me with a glare Mom would be proud of. “You could have just hired some guys to do the moving for you.”
Frowning, I took a step closer, daring her to continue chastising me about something that wasn’t her business. “I wanted to do it myself. Besides, I had my friends here to help me.”
She folded her arms across her chest, her oversized sweater slipping off her shoulder. “So hanging out with your buddies is more important than the physical therapy you need in order to get back to playing baseball?”
I inched forward again, caught between wanting to run a finger down that soft skin on her shoulder and wanting to light into her about none of this being her concern. Before I could decide which path to take, Heath clapped me on the shoulder and pushed past me. Ryder and Jase followed, each giving Rae a quick hug before hitting the stairs on the porch and walking to their cars.
“See ya, Duke!” Ryder called over his shoulder.
“Where you guys going?” I yelled back, leaning past Rae, all too aware that bare shoulder was now brushing against my chest.
“Got things to do. Get Skylar to help you with that cabinet, huh?” Heath yelled back, slamming his door and firing up the engine of his Mercedes. The smooth purr drowned out any reply I might have had.
“What cabinet?” Rae asked softly.
I looked at her, standing just inches from me. Her eyes had softened to a whisky color I’d come to love. The sound of the three cars drifting down my driveway, getting quieter and quieter meant Rae and I were alone. Pure torture.
She wanted to be friends and I wanted so much more.
“It’s in a box still. Only a few hundred little pieces that have to be put together.” In my head I begged her to leave. I didn’t know how to just be friends with her. How to talk to her without flirting. How to look at her without wanting her.
She grinned and my stomach flip-flopped. “I’ve got time. Let’s put it together.”
Rae moved into the house, her head swiveling, taking in all the details of my four-bedroom, two-bathroom house. I shut the door and stayed there, not trusting myself to come closer.
She rubbed her hands together and looked back at me with her eyebrows raised. “Well, where is it?”
It had gotten hot in here. This close to the coast, most houses didn’t have air-conditioning, which meant strategic window ventilating and I’d clearly fallen down on the job already.
