Page 32 of Curveball
Palmer lets out a deep sigh and there’s a pause in our conversation.
“Look, can we walk this back a bit. Please? Did you call to unload on me because you had a bad game?”
“I am not unloading,” I grind out.
“If you say so.” And damn it, I can picture her quirked lips as she teases.
“Look, I fucked up. I’ve been messaging you all week and getting pissed because you weren’t messaging back.”
“But I didn’t get any?—”
“Iknow!Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. But you’ve been fucking with my head and messing with my game, and today I found out I wasn’t even calling the right phone number.”
She giggles, and I’m glad one of us finds this fucking funny. “I blew tonight’s game because I couldn’t concentrate.”
“Not such a bad boy after all, huh?”
“Oh, Jesus.”
“So, what did you message that I didn’t respond to? Was it your updated ERA? Because, Mighty Max, I don’t lose sleep over that.”
I snort out a laugh, so relieved that our signals weren’t crossed, only our communication.
“Do you want me to tell you something that’ll make you lose sleep?”
She pauses before continuing our banter, and I swear the air around me thickens when she asks, “So, it was dirty?”
It was now, with her question out there, making my dick jump.
“You want it to be?”
“Maybe. It’s been awhile, though. I might be out of practice. Would you want me to answer with words or emojis?”
“How about live pics?”
Silence.
“Palmer Girl? If you don’t answer, I’m going to hang up.”
I throw her own words out at her, but I’m lying. There’s no way I’m leaving this conversation.
“It’s not too late, you know,” she says, and my thoughts slow, centered on this single moment in time. Is this leading to?—?
“To do what?” I interrupt my own damn thought, because a guy can hope, but . . .
“The thing you’re imagining.”
Oh, honey, you have no idea.
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Mmm. You do that.”
She’s coy but confident, and now my brain is scrambled and my tongue is fucking paralyzed. This woman is not off her game. And I want in on her play.
“Hey, you still there? Do you need to go? You probably have a curfew.”
Yeah, that came and went a while ago.
