Page 42 of Well Played

“Yeah. So who’s out of line now?” He expelled a long breath. “Speaking ofJeremy, what’s the latest there?”

“He asked me out again. I’m supposed to be going to a concert with him next weekend.”

He nodded slowly. “How do you feel about him?”

“I don’t know. He’s really nice, but I’m on the fence.”

“You’re on the fence with him. And on thefacewith me. I think I win.”

I burst into laughter. “You’re bad.”

“But you’re laughing.”

“Yes, I am.”

“I have a confession,” he said, taking the empty beer bottle from me and placing it on the ground next to his feet.

I wiped my eyes. “What?”

“I didn’t really have anywhere to go the past few days. I just felt like I needed to get out of town to think. I basically put myself in a time out after my behavior with you. That night, when you were rubbing my knee… Well, that didn’t help.”

Batting my lashes, I asked, “Were you able to clear your head?”

“Any head-clearing I might have done went out the fucking window when I came back to that conversation.” He stood up. “Speaking of which, I’ll be right back.”

Uh-oh. What’s going on?

He returned a minute later with an aluminum tray and two forks.

My mouth dropped. “That’s not what I think it is…”

“My mother made it. I asked her to, and I went and picked it up this afternoon.”

I covered my face. “Oh no. I can’t believe you asked Shelby to do that.”

“Relax. It’s not like she knew the context.”

“I know, but it just seems wrong. What the hell did you tell her? The reason for your sudden craving for peach cobbler?”

He took the plastic top off the tray. “I told her you’d been dying for it.Dying.”

“You suck.”

“I do—and lick. And sometimes I do this thing where—”

“Stop!”

We both broke out into laughter again. And when it finally died down, we dug into the peach cobbler. It was delicious, but I couldn’t get my mind out of the gutter. I’d probably never be able to eat this dessert again without thinking about Levi.

***

The following morning, a loud knock woke me up.

I groggily answered the front door. “Can I help you?”

A portly man holding a clipboard stood across from me. “Yeah, Mr. Miller called me in to replace the AC system. I got my crew with me to do the installation.”

“Don’t you mean repair?”

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