Page 49 of Love in Pieces

“Dude, it’s almost noon. Did you just wake up?” She laughs on the other end.

Dallas walks out of the bedroom, still shirtless, scratching the back of his head. A river of warmth runs the length of my body as I watch him approach me. I turn on my heels before my cheeks glow pink. He kisses the top of my head, the river now pooling at my core, before he moves to the kitchen. I can’t hide my smile when he holds the half-full pot of coffee up to ask if I want any. I nod and move to the couch.

“We watched a couple of movies last night and went to bed late. I guess it’s only fitting that we sleep in.” I accept the warm mug with a smile. Dallas scrunches his brows together to ask who I’m talking to. I mouth Meredith’s name, and he sits back content with the answer to drink his coffee.

“I’m sorry, we? Who’s we? Like you and Dallas? Ooooh!” she cheers.

“Not like that,” I try to defend though, secretly, I think I do wish it were like that. I quiet my voice a little as I start to explain. “We were just having a relaxing night in bed.” As soon as that final word comes out of my mouth, I know I messed up.

Her next words are quick. “Bed? Abby, are you sleeping with him?” She squeals on the other end, a clear indication of her excitement.

“Mer, no. Absolutely not. We watched a couple of movies, then went to bed. That’s it.”

Dallas shoots me a confused look though I think I catch a hint of ache flash in his eyes. I wave a hand loosely in the air, trying desperately to dismiss the comment. He takes another sip of coffee before disappearing into his room to dress for practice.

I watch his door close before replying. “Hey, I’m going to go.”

“Oh, come on. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just joking,” Meredith whines.

“I know. You’re good. We’re good. I’ve just got some things to do.” As Meredith and I say our goodbyes, I get dressed and prepare to leave, hoping for the usual invitation to tag along. After the last few days, I’ve been itching to spend as much time with him as possible.

I hear Dallas’ door open and busy myself with my phone, pretending I’m just hanging out as if the blatant change of clothes wasn’t a dead giveaway. “You ready to go?” he asks.

“You want me to come with?” I ask, trying to play it cool even though on the inside, I feel like a giddy schoolgirl.

“Of course. I need my good luck charm if I’m going to get anything done today or Coach might bench me,” he snickers.

I’ve been labeled a lot of things in my life, but never that. I’ll gladly take “good luck charm” as a label any day.

?CHAPTER 18

Dallas

Afly ball flings overmy head into the tall net behind me before landing with a thud on the ground. Dante grabs another ball from the pitching mound and readies his stance. A few hand signals and pitches later, strike three takes our scrimmage team to the dugout leaving the score 2-3; the other team has the upper hand.

“Nicely done. Dante, try moving toward first on the rubber next time, see how that feels,” Coach Charlie yells from the sidelines.

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