Page 13 of Nailing Heat

I turn around to her and smile. “Yeah, I’m great.” I slam my locker door shut and head out to the field. I make a beeline for Mac and Cassie, who are stretching.

“Hello, ladies, are we ready for this?” I ask, the excitement building in my tone as I reach them.

“We sure are,” Cassie says, nodding.

“Yeah, I think so.” Mac is nervous, I can tell. She’s biting her lip and looking around the stadium.

“It’s going to be great, you’ll see. We’re going to kick some Gotham ass!”

“Yeah, we are!” Cassie chimes in.

Mac nods. “Talk to me about something else. How is it going living with Dex? Are you two getting along okay?”

I shrug. “I guess so. I mean, he’s neat, he picks up after himself for the most part. He can’t figure out my espresso machine, which makes me laugh.”

“I can’t either,” Cassie reminds me.

I wave her off. “It’s twelve easy steps! I’ll show you next time you’re over. He asked me to show him too, so maybe I should teach a class on my coffee machine.” I purposefully fail to mention my new nickname.

Mac chuckles. “Have you two bonded and shared your secret pain with each other?”

I laugh and shake my head, thinking about the conversationthat we had last night about August, but decide not to spill it. “No, we haven’t, but he made me dinner last night, so that was nice.”

“Oh, he can cook?” Cassie says, trying to sound positive. “That’s good to know. Maybe he’ll be the one to make dinners and all that for you.”

I roll my eyes. “I guess. I mean, it was nice, and the tacos were good. It’s just weird how we have to decide which shelves in the fridge are his. How much pantry space is his? Will he eat my yogurt? Stuff I shouldn’t have to worry about because I was supposed to be living alone. Not with him.”

“Yeah, I know. But maybe let all that stuff happen organically. Take up whatever space you can but leave him some too. Don’t overthink it,” Mac suggests.

“Yeah, that’s true. I could do that. I liked the idea of living alone, you know? I mean, you girls come over, but it’s nice to have my own space.” My voice trails off, as I contemplate whether sharing is really such a bad thing.

“I get it. But remember, this is only temporary. August is going to find him a new place. And I bet if you whine about it a lot he’ll find him something quicker,” Cassie says, bumping her shoulder into mine.

“True. I could be annoying like that,” I agree.

“Is that him?” I hear Mac ask, and I turn to see who she is looking at.

I see Dex standing there in form-fitting athletic joggers. You can see that he has muscular legs and, based on the side view I have, it looks like he has a nice butt. Dex turns towards the field. Lucas comes up and begins talking to him. While Dex and Lucas might be the same height, they are night and day in the looks department. Lucas is lanky, where Dex has more muscle on him. Lucas has blonde hair that is short and doesn’t move. While Dex’s brown hair is blowing a bit in the wind, and I see that he has sunglasses covering this pretty green eyes. I’ve never described aman’s eyes as pretty before, but they are. They almost remind me of sea glass. It looks like he has on a Blaze polo that is tight-fitting and accentuates his broad shoulders.

“Yep, that would be Dexter,” I say, continuing to watch him.

“Holy shit, don’t tell Danny, but that man is hot,” Mac says, giggling.

Cassie nods. “Yeah, he is. Was he an NFL player or trainer? Because, good god, that man is fucking built.”

I shake my head. “He played college ball, I think. But in the NFL, he was just a trainer.”

“What woman in their right mind would let him go? I mean, I wouldn’t,” Mac adds.

“Great, I’ll let Danny know that he has some competition,” I tease her.

We watch as the other team is arriving at the field. The Blaze is usually the first team to arrive; we’re through our stretches, and soon it’ll be time for ball work and splitting up by position to prepare for the game. “Don’t you dare do that. With him on the road and Dex on the road with us, he’ll be so jealous.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” I promise her.

“Well, on the other hand, it could lead to some good sex. Like ‘claim me sex’ or something.” Mac wiggles her eyebrows at Cassie and me, and we both laugh.

“I don’t think I’m going to tell Danny anything,” I say. “But Cas, you might want to stop staring. Your man is literally right over there, warming up Hendrix.”