Page 15 of Steamy Dunk
"We're really ridiculous, aren't we?"
"Maybe," he replied. "But you still haven't explained why you're wearing my warm-up jacket in Kansas City."
She gave him a knowing smile, then slipped her arms out of the jacket and handed it over to him. He immediately regretted saying anything to her about it but reluctantly took it from her hand. It didn't look the same in his hand compared to being on her body.
"So," she said matter of factly.
"So."
She leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice. "I'm going to be back in town on Friday. How about you?"
He smiled. "Saturday."
"So would you like to go to dinner on Saturday?"
"I would like that very much."
Violet smiled and hopped off her stool, grabbing a bag at her feet that Parker hadn't noticed until now. Then she put it on the seat she left behind and started packing up her computer and papers.
"You don't want to talk about my warm-up jacket some more?"
She laughed. "I do, but I have a meeting with my client. They're opening a string of smoothie stores in Kansas City and want something bright."
"So nothing sexy like The Cheshire Cat?"
Violet cocked her head to the side. "You think it's sexy?" He just shrugged. "Interesting."
How was that interesting? Parker really wanted to dig into that comment some more, but Violet was zipping her bag up so he would have to wait until Saturday.
She stopped and waited for Parker to get up and walk out next to her without a word. When they got to the lobby, he started to go right towards the elevators while she was heading left out the doors.
"So different directions again?"
Violet smiled. "For now," she said. "See you Saturday?"
Parker nodded and leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek. He could've sworn she let out a small sigh, but he didn't feel like calling her out on it and instead decided to just carry that memory with him until he got back to Chicago. Plus, it was nice to quietly watch her walk away from him and out the door. Who knew that it wasn't such a bad thing to have a woman walk out on him after all?
When she rounded the corner, Parker took his warm up coat and slid it on. The sleeves were ridiculously short and he spent the walk back to the elevator unrolling and unrolling and unrolling them to get them to where they were supposed to be.
Tyler was standing at the elevator when he got there with a huge pile of towels in his hands. He always needed extra when they were on the road. Tyler nodded when he saw his teammate approaching and then a huge smile spread across his face.
"Oh, hey. You found your warm-up jacket. Where was it?"
"Long story," Parker said.
"Whatever."
The elevator doors opened and the teammates got on with Parker leaning over to press the button for their floor. And when he stepped back and the collar of his warm-up jacket slid close to his face, he totally noticed that it smelled like Violet now.
