Page 127 of Fielder's Choice

“And you’re still not sleeping together?” Josh raises his eyebrow curiously.

“No. We’re not sleeping together.”

“I don’t know how you do it, man,” Ari says. “Not getting any type of action at all.”

“I never said I wasn’t gettinganyaction,” I shrug. “I just said we weren’t sleeping together.”

Lucia smiles deviously. “Yeah, we’ve heard Lane here has some nice fingers.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “She’s got no complaints. And believe me, I have no complaints either.”

“No complaints about taking care of her, or no complaints about her taking care of you?” Knox asks.

“Both,” I smile. “We’re letting things progress slowly, but we’re having some fun in the meantime. We still spend far more time hanging out on the couch than we do in my bed.”

“I like this side of you,” Josh says. “The guy that wants to settle down. You seem really damn happy.”

I can’t hide my grin. “I am. God, she’s fucking incredible, guys.”

“Brooks is getting his own love story,” Knox laughs.

“You’re still playing out the tropes wrong,” Ari adds. “Single dad is supposed to end up with the nanny.”

Cole levels him with a stern look. “Yeah, well, his nanny is mywife,so I’m fine with him picking his daughter’s dance teacher instead.”

“Only one left to couple up now is Ari,” I tease.

Lucia chokes on her beer. “That’ll be the fucking day.”

“You think I can’t find love?” Ari asks, clearly pissed off. “Why?”

“Because you don’twantto. You’ve said it for over a year. You also stick your dick inside any woman with a pulse. You don’t exactly scream ‘boyfriend material.’”

“What does Matt actually see in you? Everyone talks about how great you are, but the only side of you I’ve ever seen is irritating and cold.”

“I’m nice to the people I like,” Lucia shrugs. “You didn’t make the cut.”

“Fine by me,” he says under his breath before turning his attention to the hockey game on the TV.

After a few awkward moments of silence, we move the conversation along, talking instead about what we hope to achieve this upcoming season. Ari pipes in occasionally, but he’s mostly just acting like we’re not here.

Well, he’s acting likeLuciaisn’t here, and since she’s talking with us, we might as well be invisible to him, too.

I need them to figure out their shit.

I don’t know what kind of tension they have between them, but if any of it is sexual, I hope to God Lucia leaves Matt so she and Ari can fuck it out of their systems.

We all fucking need that.

After an awkward evening at the bar, Cole and I decide on what our nightly routine will be. By that, I mean we’ve decided we’re each going to take long showers each night so the other can talk to their partner uninterrupted.

And we won’t be able to hear the dirty things the other is getting up to.

With Cole in the shower now, I grab my MacBook again and FaceTime one of my favorite people.

It only rings once before Olive picks up the call, and her gorgeous face comes into view. “Hi, Lane.”

“Hello, beautiful.”

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