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"Ahhh, so you have been following me. I knew it."

"Oh get over yourself, big shot. It’s my job to find stories to promote. And I still can’t believe you almost got caught up in a hot box today."

"That’s the fun of it baby, but since you brought it up, that wasn’t the only hot box I was hoping to get caught up in tonight."

Crickets.

Landon's gruff chuckle finally filled the silence, as if he could see her dumbfounded expression. She got the sexual innuendo, but the Mavericks had just flown from Denver to Los Angeles so there was no way he meant her "hot box." She’d said they should be friends to be polite, but was he seriously calling her to talk about the chicks he was banging?

"Oh ok, cool, so you’re going out then? Or not, staying in or whatever. I’m sure girls come to you, right? Or are already there more likely, huh? Oh geezus, why can’t I quit talking?"

Landon’s gravely laugh filtered through the phone while Katie looked for a hole to crawl into and die.

"What are you doing right now, Katie?" he finally asked.

"Uh, nothing, I’m just um, watching TV."

"Alone?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, I’m alone too..."

Katie froze, with the exception of her thighs which pressed together in need.

Landon continued on. "And since I’m alone and you’re alone, and there’s zero chance anybody could see us together, maybe we can have a little fun?"

A warm flush washed over her body, the juncture between her legs throbbing in a clear betrayal of her career, her future…her entire emotional well-being.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Dead serious."

And for the first time in their personal conversations, she actually believed he was.

"I can’t stop thinking about you, Katie. You’re fucking with my head all day long, but I can’t get you out of there, mostly because I don’t think I want to."

"Landon..."

"Hold on, just hear me out. So I was thinking, maybe if we could do something to sort of get you out of my system, I might be able to think about things other than you. Like baseball, for instance," he added with a wry laugh.

"Oh come on, your batting average is the highest it’s ever been and you’re on a nine game hitting streak. Your focus seems pretty spot on."

"I missed a pop up in warm ups," Landon said. "A straight fuckin’ up to short. Nothing special."

Katie cringed, but tried to be comforting. "It happens?"

"Ha!" Landon called her on her obvious bullshit. "I haven’t missed that catch since Little League—and Istillhear about it from my pops every Christmas. My head is spinning. Tell me you don’t feel this thing between us, Katie. This connection. I’ve been replaying the time we spent together over and over. You haven’t?"

"Maybe," she admitted, grudgingly.

"Maybe?Your enthusiasm is almost embarrassing."

As intrigued as she was about what he was proposing—and she was oddly intrigued—Katie also didn’t want to do anything stupid. The media was filled with stories of revenge porn and leaked nudes. She had always secretly chastised those girls for being so stupid, but maybe she wasn’t so high and mighty after all. Maybe she’d just never had the opportunity.

Besides, how harmful could talking—just talking—be? She one hundred percent understood his "get it out of my system" tactic. She’d do just about anything to take her fixation off him and put it back into her work.

"I don’t know...Are you sure you’re alone?" she asked.

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