Page 51 of Never Will I Ever

Is that supposed to be an offer?

Kaleb eyes me with piqued curiosity when I hand it to him, and I do my best not to look every bit as nervous as I feel. Because, now that I have the chance to actuallythinkabout the message I just wrote, I realize just how flirty it sounds.

Fucking hell. There really should be a rule book for this kinda thing.

Flirting With The Frienemy 101, sure to be an instant bestseller.

Tamping down my worry, I focus on getting three more outs, and more importantly, securing a victory for Elijah’s first time as a captain. Luck is on my side, it seems, because it only takes three kickers to get three outs, and the game ends with my team still on the field.

Despite winning, there are a few gripes from the kids who miss out on another chance to kick—Max being the loudest, as always—but the boys are all in good spirits. Winning and losing teams alike, they congratulate each other with high fives and handshakes, and Colton even asks if we can have a game once a week.

“We’ll see,” Kaleb says with a laugh before motioning toward the field. “But for now, I need a few of you to gather the bases. The rest of you, head back and clean up for dinner.”

The kids break off, nearly ten of them heading back onto the field while the rest make their way back into camp. I’m about to follow the latter group, if only to make sure they don’t get into any mischief unsupervised, when Kaleb calls out after me.

“Reynolds! Can you read these instructions about the activity list for tomorrow while I wait on these guys?”

I frown as he tosses me the clipboard, wondering why the hellhe’s wanting me to look at the activity list when tomorrow is our day off. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask, but the words die on my lips when, right there at the top, in his neat, all-caps handwriting, is a message.

Use that key again tonight, and you’ll find out.

I’m not sure when he had the chance to read or respond to it, but it’s right there, staring me in the face. Reading over the note two more times, I do my best to analyze the subtext of the nine words written there.

Is he…flirting back? Or is this just him accepting my offer to bury the hatchet and being friendly?

When I glance up, I find he’s already turned to let the kids stack the bases in his arms. He laughs animatedly at whatever the group of them are yammering on about, completely oblivious to me watching.

Another wave of vibrations hits me, spreading warmth from my chest all the way to my toes, and reviving the swarm in my stomach along the way.

Regardless of his intent, my body’s reaction is clear about one important thing: I’m in way over my fucking head.

And there’s a part of me—no matter how small—that’s enjoying every minute of it.

Fifteen

Avery

My anxiety spikes to an all-time high as I climb the steps to Kaleb’s cabin just past eleven.

The kids have been in bed for a while now, and I took my time decompressing and showering off the dirt and grime from the day’s activities. But all that time to myself has put me more in my head than I was earlier.

I’ve never been much of an overthinker, but something about Kaleb—about this unwarrantedattractionto him—is turning me upside down and inside out all at once.

Take right now, for example.

Did he actually mean it when he said I could use the key and just come in? Or was that his way of asking me to come over and drink the beers I’d left in his cabinusing that key?

Indecision wars within me for a solid minute as I stand at his door like an imbecile, hands shaking and palms damp with sweat. I’m barely able to make out his form lounging on the bed through the cracks in his blinds, but that brings up a whole new layer of indecision.

If I do use the key, should I at least knock to alert him of my presence—make sure he’s decent?

As if I haven’t seen him in various states of undress while sharing a locker room the past two years?

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Get a grip, Reynolds,” I mutter under my breath before raising my fist to the door and rapping on the wood. The ten-second wait for him to open the damn thing might as well be a millenia, my nerves are that shot.

“I told you you could’ve just come in,” he says in way of greeting before stepping back, allowing me to enter.

Painfully aware of just how quickly my heart is beating, I take a single step into the cabin and close the door behind me.

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