Page 18 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats

Her eyes catch on Grayson, and she bounds toward him. “Grayson, Grayson, Grayson,” she yells, until he turns around to give her his undivided attention. “I met your sister yesterday. She’s so cool. And so pretty.”

The air suddenly feels too thin around me, and it has nothing to do with the altitude.

Hadley.

I thought my obsessive thoughts about her were bad before I discovered she was in the same town as me. Now, I’ve thought of little else since then.

It’s complicated with the way Austin clearly feels about her. I hate messes and avoid them with a ten-foot pole, but this seems like a mess I’m not going to be able to stay away from.

“I played with her dog at the dog park, then she went in the truck with Daddy and me,” Evelyn continues.

I scrunch my eyebrows together. Austin didn’t say anything about that.

“Sheisreally pretty,” Brooks speaks up, leaning his arm against my shoulder as Austin steps into the space.

“Why was my sister in your truck?” Grayson asks Austin.

Austin looks around, confused by the immediate question. “Uh… the dog she had with her was completely worn out, and I didn’t want her to have to drag him all the way back to the shelter.”

Grayson glances around the dugout. “All of you need to stay away from my sister,” he proclaims in his stern captain's voice.

“Now, why on earth would we want to do that?” Brooks says, like the instigator he is. His smile from earlier has only grown.

Grayson points a finger at him. “Especially you, Thompson. Stay away from her.”

Brooks holds up both of his hands but surprisingly keeps his mouth shut.

I need to tell him. I know I do.

Yeah, sure. Just tell him you fucked his sister in an airplane bathroom, and she made you come harder than you ever have in your life.

Now you can’t think of anything other than fucking her again. And maybe cuddling on the couch and watching a movie…

Nope. Not happening.

Evelyn peeks around Grayson, waving at Jackson before she runs toward me, jumping into my arms. I chuckle, hugging her tight.

Geez, she’s getting big. There used to be a whole lot less of her to pick up and swing around.

“Are you going to hit a home run tonight?” she asks, wriggling until I set her back down.

With the way my head’s a mess right now, probably not. All I’ve got going on up there right now is Hadley, Hadley, Hadley.

“For you, I’ll try,” I say, ruffling her hair.

She glares at me. “Don’t mess up my hair, Con. I’ll look all crazy.” Her eyes get comically wide.

“But crazy is the best way to be,” Brooks says, leaning down to tickle her sides.

She laughs, running to hide behind her dad.

I don’t know what kind of Wheaties Brooks ate this morning for breakfast, but he’s playing like he gets paid millions of dollars to do this for a living.

He’s single-handedly carrying the rest of our team on his back tonight.

With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, he steps up to bat with a smirk on his face like he already knows what’s going to happen. He connects with the first pitch, knocking it out of the park.

Our entire team erupts, running out onto the field like we just won the World Series.