Page 80 of The Strike Zone

Thick, light brown scruff coated his cheeks, the same as it always did, only right now a little shorter. I’d noticed over the past month or so that Parker’s beard varied in length; he’d let it grow, then take a pair of clippers to it and start again, the only constant was how soft it looked. I’d always wondered if it wouldfeelsoft, and last night I got my answer.

Yes, ma’am.

There was yet a day to pass where Parker didn’t get more good looking. I’d even been wondering recently whether a situation existed that would result in him looking normal, like us everyday folk. I wanted to see him wake up with a massive pimple, or hair sticking out at all angles. I’d even settle for a couple of face creases from how hard he’d been pressed into the pillow. Bit of sleep drool…but no.

Even now, one massive arm tucked under his pillow with the other curled into his side and a huge thigh wrapped around the sheets while his lips softly popped with each exhale, he could have fallen from the sky and hit every branch of the handsome tree to soften his landing.

Man,those lips.

I stifled a yawn; it had been a long night. I’d almost been counting down the hours until the sun made an appearance on the horizon so I could get out of bed and check I hadn’t been dreaming.

I hadn’t. And it almost made it worse.

That kiss really happened. I was living in a reality where Parker King and I kissed. Kissed while lying in bed together.

So you can see why I spent the next hour pondering on the most intense thirty seconds of my life before I needed to sit down.

I’d thought about it. A lot. More than a lot.

Never had I ever been kissed like that.

I couldn’t even tell you how it happened.

Not only had it been dark, we’d been lying in bed on either side of a pillow wall after the longest day in history, which included a standoff with a bird, and dressed in the world’s un-sexiest pajamas—or I had been. Either way, nothing super conducive to setting upthe best kiss in history.

Thank god I’d been lying down because I wouldn’t have been standing by the time he pulled away.

I smiled into the growing light as a memory popped into my head.

My nana once said Grandpa had knocked her socks off. I’d been young, and working off logic. It made no sense, even when she tried to explain it to me. But somewhere around two a.m. this morning, I finally got it. Everything clicked into place.

If I’d worn socks to bed, Parker would have knocked them off, like he’d been doing since the start of the season.

It wasn’t just that he was hot. It wasn’t that he was a professional athlete. It was almostdespitethose things.

Parker King made me laugh. He was kind and thoughtful. He helped his friends.

And he kept his promises.

It had been a couple of weeks since Mark had shown up, yet I’d not heard it mentioned by anyone, just like Parker had said—not even Pablo—which had to be some kind of record.

So yeah, I kissed Parker King. Or Parker King kissed me. And I’d been sitting here trying to figure out what to do about it, we were going on an hour and twenty minutes. It would have been longer if Parker hadn’t stirred and rolled over, prompting me to grab my bag and sprint out as fast as I could through the connecting doors into my formally bird shit–covered room, before I got caught for creeping.

Still catching my breath, I flicked on the coffee machine. Today would need to be powered by caffeine.

The weather on the West Coast was already 10 degrees warmer than the East, and I’d planned my outfits accordingly.

Usually when I worked I stuck to jeans and a tee with a Lions shirt thrown over the top, but when I’d been hurriedly packing things into my travel bag the night before we left, I’d found a dress at the back of my closet I’d never worn.

Pulling it out, I laid it on the bed. Short but not too short, with puff sleeves and a pie collar, totally plain and appropriately Lions black, but also super cute. It would do perfectly for today, paired with my usual Chucks.

Taking one sip of coffee and burning my tongue in the process, I hotfooted it into the shower. I stood there, letting the water blast away whatever was going on in my belly. Nerves churned as my thoughts picked up from where I’d left them, along with a whole barrage of new questions firing into my brain from all angles.

Too fast for me to make any sense of them, that’s for sure.

Parker and I had kissed. Onehotkiss.

Now what?

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