Page 19

Chapter nineteen

Evie

RHETT: How my good girl doing

My jaw drops at Rhett’s text. And not only because of the typo in the first word.

He left yesterday for another series of away games, and this is the first message he sends? Memories of him calling me a good girl in the bedroom flood me, making me feel hot all over.

RHETT: Just thought about how that sounds sorry to say I mean roofie

RHETT: Ruthie the dog

RHETT: But hope your doing good too

I frown at my phone for several minutes, trying to decipher his messages. Not that I can’t tell what he’s saying, but was he in a rush while typing? There’s no punctuation, and the misspelling of Ruthie’s name is kind of funny.

EVIE: Both girls are doing fine. I watched the game last night, that hit in the third inning was amazing.

His response takes a long time to come through, even though I see the three dots that tell me he’s replying.

RHETT: I like knowing you are watching the game. Got to go now

I set my phone back down, still a little confused by his messages.

Turning back to my computer, I sigh in frustration at the screen. Not that it’s the computer’s fault that I’m struggling with my job search, but still.

On a slightly hysterical whim, I open a new window and look up the website of the school board for the district where my family still lives. I click onto the open postings page, and just my luck, two great opportunities jump out at me almost immediately, and I slam the screen of my laptop down.

I slump back on the couch, jostling Ruthie who is sprawled out next to me. I can’t help but smile as I stroke her fur. In just a few weeks, she’s already grown so much. The vet I took her to gave her a clean bill of health, updated vaccinations, and agreed with my guess that there’s some Great Dane in her somewhere, along with who knows what else.

She’s a sweetheart, and so smart. I can’t imagine not having her, even though it hasn’t been all that long.

My phone alerts me to someone at the front door waiting to be let in. Assuming it’s Lina, who’s here to hang out before we go to the dojo for Aikido, I buzz her in and stand up to open the apartment door .

A few minutes later, we’re in the kitchen as I fill a water bottle, and I’m spilling my guts to her about everything that has happened with Rhett.

After she finishes celebrating winning the bet with Carlee, she sobers, hopefully recognizing the turmoil I’m experiencing.

“You had great sex and you’re bummed that you get to have great sex again.”

Okay, maybe she doesn’t fully understand the turmoil.

“I’m bummed because it’s only ever going to be great sex. Nothing more.”

“I thought you didn’t want a relationship?”

I frown. “Sometimes it sucks having friends who know you so well.”

“C’mon Evie, I’m just pointing out what you’ve been saying for the last few years. You don’t want to think about dating, or finding someone, until you’re settled into your career. Are you seriously going to give that up for a pretty dick?”

“You talk to your kids with that mouth?”

“Don’t change the subject, young lady.”

I give her a sad smile. “Fine. Sorry. And no, I’m not giving up on my goals, of course not. But it’s not just a pretty dick. It’s Rhett.”

“Yeah, and isn’t he still best friends with your brother? That was the other barrier, if I remember correctly.”

I bite back my retort of thanking her for pointing out the obvious. “Maybe he wouldn’t be that mad? I mean, this is Rhett we’re talking about. His best friend. Kai knows he’s a good guy, wouldn’t he want that for me?”

“Are you really willing to test that theory on a guy who’s only in it for casual sex?”

“No, I guess not.” I mumble miserably. “Why are men so freaking annoying?” I huff out an exasperated breath. Ruthie doesn’t answer, except to heave out her own sigh, rolling onto her back and presenting her belly to be rubbed.

I indulge her, of course. Only a heartless heathen would ignore a puppy wanting their belly rubbed.

“You made your bed when you got into Rhett’s bed,” Lina not so helpfully points out. “And you’re the one who set the parameters by saying it couldn’t be anything more than casual. You can’t call him annoying for agreeing with you that this should just be a sexuationship.”

An undignified snort escapes me at her description, but then again, it’s not wrong. And she’s right about another thing, too.

I was the one to blurt out that it could never be anything more than casual sex. I was the one who acted like I was cool with that and with keeping it a secret. In the moment, it seemed like the right thing to say. I could tell Rhett was conflicted, and the last thing I wanted was to give him any reason to regret what we’d done.

That would’ve hurt worse than if he’d rejected me in the first place.

But despite what I said that morning, it wasn’t the complete truth, not by a long shot. I know Rhett thinks we can only be something casual, and maybe he’s right. The risk of destroying his friendship with my brother and upsetting things with the Tridents—I understand how that risk might be too great.

That doesn’t stop me from wishing it wasn’t.

“I need to stop thinking about Rhett and my brother. Let’s go to the dojo. You better be ready to wear the pads, I need to hit stuff.”

Lina wraps her hands around my shoulders, giving me a squeeze. “You’re on. Sparring practice it is.”

I wake up the next morning to another text message. One that sends my roller coaster emotions soaring high again.

RHETT: Morning hope pup didn’t keep up last night

I bury my face in my pillow and squeal, startling Ruthie, who barks as she pounces on my hand. “No! Off, Ruthie.” I scramble up, and she lowers her head into a play position, her tail wagging.

“We’re not playing. Not right now.” I snatch up my phone again and reread his message. It’s not flirty, not at all. And there’s those weird mistakes again. But still, he texted me first thing when he woke up if I’m calculating the time difference correctly.

The timing of his trip sucks. Not only because I’ve finally discovered just how good orgasms can really be, but to have the giver of said orgasms taken away from me so quickly is a mega bummer. I like being around him. We have fun together. And now that there’s a new physical layer to the fun we can have?

Well, I’m wishing baseball players didn’t have to travel quite so much right now. Or that I at least had something to occupy my time while he’s gone .

Like a job or something. But that’s a whole other source of frustration.

EVIE: She only woke up once! New record. Good luck today.

RHETT: Need to talk to you after the game I’ll call you

My breath catches. Why does he need to talk to me? My pulse quickens as a thousand reasons fly through my mind. Which I know is an entirely foolish overreaction.

The thing is, we’ve never spoken on the phone. There’s never been a reason to. I’m sure it’s nothing, maybe he needs me to add milk to the grocery list or something, but what if it’s more than that?

“What if he’s hurt? He said his knee was bothering him the other day,” I say aloud, my thoughts racing to all the worst-case scenarios. “Or Kai got hurt. Or Kai found out about us! Oh my God, after he saw us at the park, what if he figured out we had sex?”

Ruthie pounces on my hand again, this time her razor-sharp teeth graze the skin, making me wince. “Fine, I get it, I’m being crazy.”

She barks, as if in agreement, and it forces a small laugh out of me, breaking the spiral a little bit. The logical side of my brain recognizes it’s stupid to be overthinking this so much, but I guess I’m so tied up in knots between the stress of job hunting and the uncertainty of whatever Rhett and I are doing.

I throw off the covers and get out of bed.

“C’mon, girl, we’re going for a walk. They say exercise gives you good endorphins. Maybe that’ll help.” I pull on the first clothes I find, which happen to be some bike shorts and a big T-shirt. Throwing my hair up in a ponytail, I call for Ruthie as I walk out into the main living area. I hear her following me and head straight for the front door, grabbing her leash and my keys.

Half an hour later, Ruthie is panting and I’m dripping with sweat as I unlock the front door and we enter the blissfully cool apartment.

Vancouver is headed into an unseasonably early heat wave, and no matter how much I wanted to keep walking in hopes of draining my nervous energy, I knew it wasn’t fair to Ruthie to be out in the heat.

The problem is, I’m still antsy, and I’ve got hours to go until Rhett’s game is done, when I can find out why he wants to call.

Ruthie finishes slurping down her water and comes over to look at me, her tail wagging.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m allowed to be impatient.”

She cocks her head to the side, her expression clearly saying Stop talking and feed me .

I sigh and move over to her food bowl. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You don’t care about my craziness, you just want your breakfast. Dogs are so lucky, not having to worry about pesky things like relationships. Or sexuationships.”