Page 32 of Undeniably Perfect

Of course, Mothership is the first one by my side.

“Let me see,” she says, looking at her.

Tabitha lets her see as I rip the bottom of my shirt. My mom analyzes it and announces nothing is broken, but we should get ice on it and call it a night.

I hand Tabby the rag, and she holds it to her nose.

“That was quite a catch though,” I say with a wink.

She laughs and then groans.

“Come on, slugger, let’s get you home,” I say. I pause realizing that I just said home, but she doesn’t seem to notice, and I try to play it off as no big deal, but internally, I’m wondering why the hell did I say that?

Thirty minutes later and with an ice pack on Tabitha’s nose, I pull into my driveway. I turn to her.

“I have to be at practice at one tomorrow. You are more than welcome to stay here if you like or go back to the apartment. Just let me know.”

“OK,” she says.

“How’s the nose?”

She pulls away the ice pack. Mom had gotten it to stop bleeding before we left.

“It’s fine. I’ll live.”

I lean in and look at it with a grimace.

“You’re gonna have a nasty shiner in that right eye tomorrow.”

She shrugs. “And you wonder why I never played sports.”

I chuckle. “You did good, kitten. Real good.”

“Why kitten?”

I grin at her as I get out and she follows suit, her eyes never leaving me.

“Because you are small and you are always moving, going, doing something.”

“I like to stay busy. It keeps my mind from wandering.”

I want to ask what she means, but I see the tired look on her face, and I don’t feel right prying into her personal life.

“Do you need anything before I hit the sack?” I ask as I let us inside my house.

She shakes her head. “Nope. I’m good.”

“Cool. Good night, Kitten.”

“Night. And…thanks for today. It was…fun.”

I turn and smile at her. Even with a swollen nose and a bruised eye, she’s still gorgeous. “It was my pleasure. It…” I stop short of saying what I’m thinking.

“What?” she asks, her voice soft and encouraging.

I look into her blueish-green eyes. “I needed that.”

“Needed what, Kent?”

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