Page 23 of The Strike Zone

Parker’s shoulders dropped, the tension in his jaw immediately relaxed and a smile lifted his mouth. “Good, I’m happy to hear it. But if you got hurt in the process, I’m also sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“Now”—he brought the shake to his lips, and paused—“can I take you for a drink?”

My brain said screw everything. I was on the verge of saying yes. Iwantedto say yes. It was right there on the tip of my tongue.Y E S.

Three letters, one tiny word. But instead I said,

“It’s just not a good time.”

“Okay—”

“My boss asked me to apply for a new job, and I really should concentrate on that,” I blurted, making his eyes bug.

“You’re not leaving?”

“No.” I reached out to touch his arm but pulled it back before I did. What did I do that for? Weird. That was weird.

I had no business touching him. Even though I kind of wanted to. Kind of wanted to give his biceps a little squeeze, maybe see if those abs of his—still on show through his shirt—were hard or soft. Probably both.

He puffed out a deep breath. “Thank god, although if you were leaving, it would have solved a minor hurdle I have.”

“What d’you mean?”

“Some dumb form we have to sign.” He shrugged.

“Oh yeah, the one Coach mentioned.”

“Right.” He huffed a laugh. “Yeah. I forgot for a second you were there. Probably should apologize for that too.” This time when he stared at me, a flush crept over my cheeks. “So, what’s your new job? You won’t be doing social anymore?”

“I will, but they want to expand the Lions brand and give me more responsibility.”

“Wow,” he said, his eyes momentarily following one of the PTs who walked in and over to the coffee machines, before coming back to me. “That sounds cool. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

“I love your work on the socials. I love the Tiktok.TikTok. Fuck. The TikToks you make. They’re funny.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. “I literally just found out about it, so I don’t have the details. It might not be what I want, but I should probably concentrate on that for the moment. Plus…” I glanced down to where my fingers were running along the edges of the laptop. Why was I suddenly so nervous? “I’m kinda staying single for the moment.”

My eyes flicked up to see his mouth roll together and all I could focus on were his lips. Big, full lips. Soft looking lips. I wondered what they’d be like to kiss.

Argh. Scout.Con-cen-trate.

Relationship choices.Work.

“Sensible.”

“Yup,” I replied much too loudly and definitely like I was trying to convince myself. I was. I needed convincing. “But maybe we could be friends?”

Parker leaned forward again. The tip of his tongue peeked out and slowly licked along his top lip, and his eyes never left mine.

Either the air thinned or the AC shut off, and out of nowhere my heart thudded erratically the same way it did when I was looking at his picture, only this time I could feel it through my entire body.

This was the dangerous Parker. The sexy-but-shouldn’t-be-sexy Parker.

Man, was he ever sexy.

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