Page 47 of Cross-Checked

And yet you insisted on taking both my bags.

McCabe

What can I say? I’m a gentleman.

I’m pretty sure I hear her scoff from the front of the plane, where she sits twelve rows in front of me.

Sunshine

Sure you are.

McCabe

I was a PERFECT gentleman last night, wasn’t I?

Sunshine

That’s debatable. But you were helpful, so there’s that.

McCabe

I’ll take helpful.

For now.

Sunshine

What do you mean, FOR NOW???

Do I type out a message and delete it five times, simply because I like picturing her biting her lip as she watches those bubbles pop up while she waits for my response? Yes, I sure do.

I quite like the idea of making her squirm a bit...I just wish she was squirming right over the top of my?—

“Dude, who are you texting?” Hartmann’s voice cuts into my thoughts. Glancing up to where he stands looking down at me, I almost fumble my phone in the rush to put it in my pocket before he sees AJ’s name at the top of the screen. Then I remember that I already changed her name.

“Just the new nanny.”

He purposely presses his ass into my face as he steps over me to get to his seat, like an impatient teenager who can’t be bothered to wait two seconds for me to get up and let him pass.

“I can’t fucking wait for Renaud to get back next season,” I grumble. “You’re a shitty seat mate.”

Aidan Renaud has been my closest friend for the past few years, but an injury this past summer sidelined his whole season, and he’s spent most of this past year back in the beach town he grew up in.

Hartmann just laughs. “So, this new nanny. She hot?”

“Relax, Lover Boy,” I use the nickname Walshy gave him when he joined our team earlier this season. “She’s a he.”

“Your nanny is a guy?”

“Yep.”

“None of my nannies growing up were dudes,” he says, his face getting serious, like he’s really considering what it would be like to have a male nanny. “That’s so badass. I bet a guy would have been so much more fun.”

I roll my eyes. “You know Abby’s an infant, right? It’s not like they’re out playing baseball together.”

“Still, it’s cool for him. He can put her in the stroller and walk around the city, and I bet he pulls so many girls that way.”

I never feel older than when I spend time around some of these younger, single players. Was I like this before Abby came into my life? Hopefully, I’d long since grown out of that phase.

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