Page 132 of The Strike Zone

“I’m that obvious?”

“No.” She bit down on her cheek, sucking it in, as she moved to perch on the end of the bed again. “I just know how loveable I am. Plus, the surgeon said you were blabbing about how much you loved me.”

I let out another groan. “Oh man. How am I so uncool with you?”

“It’s okay, I think I’m falling in love with you, too, Parker King.”

My eyes flicked to hers, bright blue and sparkling bright. Her entire face was lit with happiness, reminding me of the first time I’d laid eyes on her waiting outside the stadium with the box of apples. I could still feel how strong I’d jolted, and the memory of it hit me square in the chest and began moving lower.

I pointed to the couch. This was going to be a long eight weeks. “Scout, I love you, but please go and sit over there. And tell me why you met Holiday.”

“She offered me a job.” She grinned.

EPILOGUE

PARKER

SEVEN WEEKS LATER

“Babe, hurry up.”

My eyes scanned over my closet shelves until I found the sneakers I was looking for, sat down, and pulled them on. Scout walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her with a toothbrush in one hand and a mouth full of paste.

“What?”

“We need to hurry up.”

Her brows dropped, and she turned and left without another word, only to return thirty seconds later, this time holding a hairbrush. “Your appointment isn’t for two hours. It’s not going to take me two hours to get dressed.”

Tugging her hand until she had no choice but to sit on my lap, I wrapped my arms around her, reveling in the heat of her damp body, fresh from the shower.

“I know, but this appointment is a big deal. And you never know, we might get there early and they see us being punctual and bump us up.”

Scout twisted herself until we were face to face and I took the moment to soak her in. I’d never get enough of looking at her. We’d entered the height of summer, and in the last few weeks, freckles had erupted all over her forehead, down her nose, and across her cheeks like tiny little sprinkles of happiness.

That’s what she was to me, happiness.

Her hair was now almost long enough that she could tie it back without any of it escaping, but I took the opportunity to tuck a lone strand behind her ear.

Her mouth rolled as she tried to hold in the smirk, but I could see it twitching on her lips. “Bump us up?”

“Yes,” I replied, nudging her nose with mine. “Bump us up. Which I, for one, am all for. The sooner we get to the docs, the sooner she can give me the all clear and sign me off, and the sooner we can get back here so I can show you exactly how much I’ve been missing you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Two months, Davison. It’s been two months.”

“It’s beenseven weeks,” she shot back, with an eye roll. “Barely a month and a half. And we can’t come back here, we have to be at work, remember?”

I groaned; work had temporarily slipped my mind.

It was true, we did have to be at work. It was the Lions for Dogs game today, something Scout had been working hard on, and in my temporary position as bench warmer, I’d been given the responsibility of posing with all the rescue puppies looking for homes, and signing autographs. Scout was super excited about it, too, because since she’d made the decision to pull out of the interview, she’d thrown herself into her current job and was once more loving it. Today was her day as much as mine.

Holiday was still begging Scout to come and work for her, but for the moment, Scout was happy, therefore I was.

“Okay, but then after work we’re coming back here. Because that seven weeks has felt like a lifetime, and I’m not waiting a second longer.” My lips ghosted along her jaw, tasting her skin. “Don’t pretend it’s not been a lifetime for you too.”

Out of habit, her neck tilted, allowing me to breathe her in; the clean scent of the soap she loved, the toothpaste lingering on her breath, the earthy tones of her shampoo—all of it sending me into a tailspin. I wasn’t lying, the last seven weeks really had felt like a lifetime. A torturously long lifetime of having Scout next to me, and this, right now with her sitting in my lap, was the closest I’d gotten to being able to touch her without the worry of causing myself some real permanent damage.

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