Page 7 of Caught Looking

“I can be your arm candy at one of your events.” I didn’t like the idea of not returning the favor.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to do something.”

He twisted his lips off to the side. “Fine.Ifan event comes up, you will be my date. Besides, that just looks better to Owen.”

Shit. “Well then that doesn’t work. It has to be something you need help with.” It was only fair.

He stared at our hands, his jaw working, until he huffed. “Fine. It will help me to be seen dating you, too.”

“Help you how?” As far as I knew Seth didn’t need help in the dating department.

But he kept working that jaw. If he wasn’t careful he’d break a tooth. “Let’s just say I’ve had some things going on. Dating you would be helpful. I’d rather not explain it now. But I will.”

Oh, there was a story there. The storm in his soft brown eyes told me that much. If fake dating me provided some sort of relief on his end, then maybe this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement. It would keep Owen at bay, at least for a time, and being seen at my side helped Seth with whatever problem he had.

There were worse ways to handle Owen. Alone being the worst of all. I twisted our handhold into a handshake. “Deal.” This might be the worst decision of my life, but it felt oddly right.

Seth’s rough palm slid against mine. The contact took my breath away and for a second I wasn’t sure which way was up and which was down.

Whoa.This might be a fake arrangement, but we had chemistry. Loads of it if this simple handshake was any indication.

“Deal. Annalise Ryan, I am now officially your fake boyfriend.” He pulled me closer and grinned. The panty-dropping kind. “Be gentle with me. It’s my first time.”

2

SETH

Iwasn’t sure when I decided I couldn’t let Annalise go, but it was somewhere between Owen telling me they’d dated and seeing the fear in her eyes. Suggesting we keep up the act? Well, that was simply a stroke of pure genius.

“Butler!” Rhett Ryan’s voice rang through the locker room. Everyone froze, then swung their gazes my way.

“That was faster than I expected,” I grumbled as I finished tying up my laces.

“What did you do?” Wes Allen, our primary catcher, leaned over from his locker with a grin. “Fuck his cousin?”

That was entirely too close to the mark. “Of course not.”

Wes’s eyebrows slowly rose. “Holy shit, you fucked his cousin?”

Anger boiled inside me. I wasn’t sure why. I liked Annalise, but the way Wes insinuated that Ifuckedher pissed me off. “I just said I didn’t,” I gritted out, standing up.

Wes rose. “Okay, but there’s something.” He folded his arms over his chest.

“Not your business.” I grabbed the sleeveless shirt I always wore for batting practice and yanked it on. Rhett was busy storming through the locker room and I had about five seconds. “Keep your mouth shut, Wes, or I’ll shut it for you.”

Wes jerked back in surprise, putting up his hands as he turned silently back to his locker.

Rhett marched past. “With me.Now.”

I couldn’t think of either of them as Ryan after that joint practice. Rhett was Rhett and Annalise was Annalise. Ryan was a last name I dismissed from my mind otherwise I wouldn’t be able to work day-in-and-day-out with Rhett. The outfield was ours. He had my back and I had his. It wouldn’t work if he was busy trying to rip my throat out between plays.

I fell into step behind him, following him out of the locker room, down the hall, and into a storage closet. He slammed the door closed and turned. Rhett was a grump. A man of few words and almost all of them were the word fuck. So I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t say a word. He just seethed, his bare chest rising and falling, hands on his hips, drilling lasers through me with his eyes.

“So she told you.” No sense in delaying the obvious.

His lip curled and a growl came out. “I don’t know whether to thank you or murder you.”