Page 47 of The Strike Zone

Like it was the beginning of something, a path I hadn’t yet walked down.

“Do they frown on candy houses upstairs?”

“It’s quiet down here.” I shrugged. “I needed to think.”

“With Twizzlers?”

“I like Twizzlers.”

“I see that, and playing with them requires a lot of brain strength,” he teased, leaning forward. The front legs of his chair thudded on the ground.

“It does, actually. You should try it sometime.”

“I might,” he replied, propping his arms on the table. It brought him closer to me, close enough that I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. But I could feel them on me, studying almost. “Scout, you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” I answered, but then my gaze flicked up to his deep green eyes, and a sigh escaped me before I could stop it. “Remember I told you about this job they’ve asked me to go for?”

“The one stopping you from dating me?” His lips rolled tight as he tried to hold his grin. “Sure, how could I forget?”

He was playing with me, but it I didn’t stop my shoulder dropping. “Oh—never mind.”

“Davison, I’m teasing.” He reached over and nudged my clenched fists. “Come on, tell me. I promise I’m a good listener.”

“I got the job description yesterday, and I’ve been reading up on it. It’s way bigger than I thought it was, more hours. More work. It’s doing things I’ve not done before.”

His head tilted left. I could see from the look on his face that he was having a hard time figuring out why I didn’t sound more excited, because it really was an awesome opportunity. “Is that not a good thing?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

Parker picked up a piece of Twizzler and stuck it into the roof, like a little chimney. “You don’t sound so sure.”

“It’s a big step up. I’ve only been here a year.”

“But can you do it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

He was silent for a minute, sticking down another piece of Twizzler, this time into a little path in front of the house. “Scout, if they didn’t think you could do it, they wouldn’t have asked you. I’ve been with the Lions since before Shepherd took over, and I speak from experience about what it was like before, and the difference it is now. I can tell you that Shepherd only hires the best. He has no weak links here.”

I glanced up as a couple of the team PTs wandered over to the coffee machines. I half expected them to tell Parker to get to practice, but neither of them seemed to notice he was in here.

“Shepherd didn’t hire me.”

“But he hired whoever hired you. Therefore, he hired you,” Parker shot back. “Scout, what’s got you worried about this? You’re awesome on social. We have so many more followers since you took over. Plus, you’re funny. You kill it with replies to our haters.”

My brows knitted together.

It was true, I did like to reply to the Lions haters, and a couple of times they’d been pulled out by bigger social channels like MLB.com or ESPN, but I was part of a team, and they could have come from anyone.

“Um, Parker? How do you know someone else didn’t write them?”

He shifted forward slightly,justslightly, but it was enough to make my heart rattle against my rib cage, especially when he pinned me with those bright green eyes of his. “Because I like you, and that qualifies me to know which ones are yours and which ones aren’t yours. I know.”

“Oh.”

---