Page 44 of Imperfect Player

“They died when I was eight.”

Her hand flies to her mouth. “Oh my God, Ethan, I am so sorry. Here I am complaining about my dad being a little controlling and—”

“Don’t. It’s fine. I barely remember them. What your dad did—”

“We’re talking about you.”

“I don’t like talking about me.”

“I’ve gathered as much.”

“Then why don’t we change the subject entirely.”

“Okay, so what do you want to talk about?”

“Baseball. Lucky charms. You, not the cereal.”

Her head falls back, and the most beautiful laughter fills the room.

This. I could get used to this.

We order pizza, keep talking. We spend the whole evening doing things that I’ve never done with a woman—just hanging out.

No sex.

In fact, there wasn’t anything sexual at all about our evening. Very strange concept for a man like me.

Everything with Everly is.

It’s late when I leave.

She walks me to the door. I step through and turn around to give her one final goodbye. With her head tilted to the side and a soft, relaxed smile on her lips, I can’t resist the urge to touch her anymore.

I lean in, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Good night, sunshine.”

Chapter 12

Everly

“First he shows up at your house and now he invited you to a baseball game?”

The more Chelle talks, the faster I run on the treadmill to avoid further conversation with her. She’s making a mountain out of a molehill. Ethan showing up at my house the other night was no big deal. Nothing happened. Not even close.

We talked, we laughed. Just like friends do. Just like Chelle and I do.

The invitation to the baseball game . . .

Well, that’s because for some reason Ethan has deemed me his lucky charm. Something about us texting while he was away being the reason for why he played so well and, therefore, the reason they won.

Besides, we’re friends. Friends invite people places. Even Maddox has offered me tickets to games before. Not that I’ve ever accepted them. Information Chelle does not need to know because she will only read into things further. Things that aren’t possible for so many reasons. His and mine.

Since the other night, Ethan and I have been texting. A lot. So the phone call today really didn’t surprise me. Neither did the invitation.

Best seats in the house, he told me. Nothing but the best for his lucky charm.

If I tell Chelle these things, she’ll just read into it. See things that aren’t there. We’re friends. We’re happy. Nothing wrong with that.

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