Page 26 of Pitcher Perfect
More sweating. His waistband tuck job wasn’t going to last. But his own suffering became an afterthought in the face of Skylar’s growing embarrassment. “Bad?What?That washot.”Just please don’t say that ever again to anyone but me. Please.“Don’t quote me on this, but I think you might be a natural.”
She rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”
“I won’t shut up. That was advanced.”
“Well...” She shrugged, a little cockier now. “I was raised around a lot of boys.”
“Believe me, you do them proud. I almost choked on my tongue.” Completely forgetting himself, Robbie reached up and brushed a speck of glaze from the corner of Skylar’s mouth. “Now, say it again, but give me body language at the same time.”
“What kind?”
Never having explained flirting out loud before, Robbie took a moment to think. About what he’d die to have Skylar do to him. What would make him hot. Or hotter, as it were. “Look at my mouth when you say it. Touch me in some way.”
She nodded for a few seconds, then stopped. “Touch you how? Give me an example.”
Gladly.
Looking her in the eye, he moved closer, smoothing back some wayward hair that curled near her right temple. Then he let his fingers skim down, down to her neck, right behind her ear, just the barest hint of his fingertips connecting with her smooth skin, gratified when he left goose bumps in his wake. “No one should ever touch you like this, unless you asked, okay?”
“I know,” she half whispered, studying him with a small wrinkle in her brow.
“If someone ever does that, you come find me. I’ll go find them.”
“Not if I kill them first.”
Lips twitching reluctantly, he let his hand drop away, all five digits continuing to tingle. “Good.”
After a beat, Skylar raised her hand and repeated the action identically, which Robbie found so endearing it was almost painful, because he didn’t have those little flyaway hairs at his temple, but who cared? Who gave two shits when her touch was trailing down the cords of his neck and her gaze was locked on his mouth. God, it was a struggle not to breathe like he’d just played a full period of hockey without substitutions.
“If you were this donut I’m eating, you’d already be inside me,” she murmured, surprising him by dipping her fingertips past the collar of his hoodie, tugging lightly on one of the strings playfully, before letting her hand fall to her side once again. “How was that?”
“Really good,” he rasped, abdomen flexed tighter than a drum.
A voice was shouting in the back of his head, probably some kind of warning that he was already getting in too deep with Skylar, feelings-wise. And the voice only got louder—
“Robbie, they’re calling your number.” She waved a hand in front of his eyes. “Your pile of sandwiches is ready.”
“Oh. Yeah.” He turned on a heel and stumbled to the counter, wincing when the man behind the counter gave him a knowing smirk.
This trip was off to a fine start.
Chapter Nine
As Skylar took the exit off 95 that would take them to Cumberland and her family home, a familiar knot started to form in the dead middle of her stomach. It wasn’t the kind of knot that tied itself around her intestines before she pitched a game. Nor was it the type of low, confusing knot she’d experienced back in the roadside Dunkin’ Donuts during her first official flirting lesson.
Right up until now, she’d been thinking almost exclusively about the latter knot. How tight it had cinched when Robbie said,No one should ever touch you like this, unless you asked, okay?And then proceeded to hype her up over that cringey pickup line.
This guy... surprised her?
A lot of things about today were surprising her. Like how comfortable the occasional silence was between them as they drove. How she felt ever so slightly more confident in herself as a potential romantic partner for someone since he showed up—a very different kind of confidence than the type she’d developed as an athlete. The kind she’d pretended not to want for a really long time, usually while sitting on her couch Friday nights wondering if she was missing out on an important part of being young. Or if she was too uptight to relax and allow herself to be in a mood for flirting. Romance.
And as she put her Honda in park in the driveway of her parents’giant, log-cabin-style home, nestled among the trees, the third type of knot started to harden and fossilize in her midsection—and Skylar was glad not to be alone.
When she made no move to exit the car, Robbie looked at her. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? You’ve been holding my hand for the last mile. I’m not complaining,” he rushed to add. “They might have to amputate due to an extended loss of circulation, but at least it’s my left hand. I can probably still play hockey with some minor adjustments—”
