Page 24

TWENTY-FOUR

PARKER

W hy did I agree to this again?

Oh yeah, I was high off cleaning products and totally distracted by kissing Scout—something I was getting used to. Both the high and the kissing.

On the plus side, I’d successfully convinced Tanner to wear the Lions mascot costume instead of me. There’s no way I was running around the bases wearing an extra fifty pounds. If I’d wanted to do that, I’d have joined the Army.

As I told Doctor Matthews on a weekly basis, I hated sprinting.

“It’s so itchy,” he griped, pulling down on the material around his groin area as he waddled along. “If I get a rash from this thing, you’re gonna owe me. I can’t be dating Millie with a rash.”

And that’s how I convinced Tanner to swap places with me, because I agreed to help him with Millie. According to him, now I’d finally moved things along with Scout, it was “ his turn .”

I held in my grin and handed over the giant Lions head I’d been holding for him. “You’re not dating her yet. Any rash will have gone by then.”

“It best be.” He nodded to the head. “And you can carry that until the last minute. Don’t know why you’re not wearing this too.”

“Told you, Scout wanted the mascot running, along with a couple of the guys. Plus the dog.”

“And we all agreed you look the cutest, which Millie will see when she watches it.” Ace laughed loudly, slapping Tanner on the shoulder.

It was enough to have Tanner lose his balance and fall into me.

There’s no way I wouldn’t have been completely squashed if Lux hadn’t rescued him in time by grabbing on the Lions shirt he was wearing. Maybe the costume was heavier than fifty pounds.

“Dude, watch what you’re doing,” I grumbled, straightening my tee.

“I have no control over what I’m doing,” Tanner snapped back, his little lion paws shooting up in frustration.

“Not you, Ace.” I nodded to where he was almost doubled over laughing. “It’s not that funny.”

“It really is.” He swiped a hand across his eyes to dry them. “Explain what’s happening again.”

“Scout is shooting content for TikTok. We’re running around the bases to see who’s quicker?—”

“Me, obviously,” interrupted Ace.

“We all know it’s not you, Watson. You don’t run bases,” shot out Lux, adding a punch to Ace’s shoulder, though he managed to duck away before Lux’s giant fist made contact.

“Can I finish?”

Lux swept his hand out. “Please do.”

“We’re running around the bases against the dog we have on Opening Day to collect the bats. It’s for the dog charity game next month.”

“We’re racing a dog?”

I nodded as Ace rolled his eyes. “What did I just say?”

“How am I supposed to race a dog in this?” Tanner flapped his arms about again. “It’s a thousand degrees, and I can only go one tiny step at a time. It’s taken forever to walk from the locker rooms.”

“We should have carried the costume out here so you could change in the dugout.” Added Ace unhelpfully, though it was clear from the smirk he aimed at Tanner it was only to rile him up.

I couldn’t tell if it was a purposeful retaliation from Tanner or simply because he now had zero spatial awareness, but when he bumped into Ace, the force was so great, Ace nearly fell over the boards.

“Now that was funny,” he muttered, turning to me. “So where’s the dog?”

“I dunno,” I replied, glancing around at the field. Beyond a couple of the groundskeepers who were always here tending to the diamond on game days, I couldn’t see a soul. It was eerily quiet. Out of habit, my eyes found the window by Scout’s desk but she wasn’t there, nor were any of her team. “They’ll be here soon. I was told eleven, and it’s just before.”

“Can you text Scout and tell her to hurry up before I die of heat exhaustion? Or is that against the rules of keeping things a secret?”

This time, I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

“I can message her, but I’m not going to. She’ll be here soon, she said eleven.”

I think Tanner harrumphed in response, but it might have just been him groaning as he tried to duck down into the dugout. There was a reason the Lions mascot never came into the dugout and it had everything to do with the width of the entryway, that he didn’t fit into.

After making several attempts, Tanner dropped down onto one of the steps before I could stop him because it was going to take all three of us to get him back to standing. The costume was so big that he barely had to look up to talk to me.

“There’d best not be anyone watching this. I don’t want witnesses.”

Lux stared at him, his brow dropping as the left side of his mouth quirked up. “Tan, it’s going on TikTok.”

“Yeah, but it’ll have been edited by then. It won’t be live.”

“We’re all running.”

“You’re not running dressed as a lion.” Tanner doubled down on his scratching. “How does Billy wear this every day? My skin will be rubbed raw.”

“You’ll be fine, your clothes will protect you.”

“What clothes?”

“What are you wearing underneath?”

“Nothing.”

Lux inhaled sharply, which caused him to set off in a succession of choked coughing intermingled with hoarse laughter. “Please…no…are…you…com…mando…?”

“Yeah?”

“Dude! You have to wear something.”

“No one told me.” Tanner huffed, pulling at his groin again.

I didn’t know whether to join Lux in his fit of laughter or feel sorry for Tanner. Instead, I ducked into the dugout, dialed the locker room from the phone on the wall, and asked the attendant to bring Tanner clean underwear and a tee.

It arrived five minutes later, which wasn’t a minute too soon, given Tanner had already stripped off to change.

Ace and I were helping him step back into the costume when his eyes widened at something over my shoulder. “What’s he doing here? Don’t tell me he’s watching this shit show?”

Lux let out a low whistle. “We’d best not fuck this up.”

I spun around and lifted my sunglasses. Immediately my shoulders straightened, and my stomach dropped.

Even against the bright morning sun, walking toward us along the far edges of the field, was the clear and unmistakable outline of our boss, aka Penn Shepherd, accompanied by a couple of guys, and a black Labrador. I hadn’t expected us to have an audience of this magnitude.

I hadn’t expected us to have an audience at all.

I figured it would be the dog handler and the social team.

At thirty-four-ish, Penn Shepherd was the youngest owner in the MLB. Born into one of the wealthiest families in America, he was supposed to take over the family business a couple of years ago but instead bought or, depending on who you spoke to, rescued the Lions.

It was no secret that he lived and breathed baseball.

He never missed a game, and attended every single away series, nearly always traveling with us on the team plane. He was a good guy, unlike a lot of owners who were in it for the money and status, it was clear the New York Lions had quickly become his pride and joy.

His mission was to make the Lions a family club, and as such, he knew every single person by name—since he’d taken over, there hadn’t been a birthday, anniversary, or kid’s birth missed—from the cleaning crew up to Jupiter Reeves.

The flip side of this being he owned our jobs, and no matter how approachable he tried to make himself, it was hard to forget. Therefore, it was virtually impossible to relax in his presence, and this included running around the bases dressed as the mascot—in Tanner’s case.

“Who are the other two?” I asked, my eyes trained on the way these guys were walking toward us like they owned the place.

In Penn Shepherd’s case, it was true, but the two guys flanking him carried the same air of arrogance that anyone did when they knew they were top of their game, even in the jeans, tee, and sneakers they were all wearing.

I saw it every time I walked down the corridors to the locker rooms, or when I passed Jupiter Reeves—there was an imperceptible swagger quality, untouchable almost, but it set you apart.

There was no difference between businessmen, sportsmen, and whatever profession these guys were in—we all liked to win, and win big.

“The one with tattoos is Rafe Latham, the other is Murray Williams,” Ace replied, leaning against the boards. “Rafe’s a lawyer, Murray’s in finance. I don’t know Rafe well, but Murray’s married to Payton’s bestie.”

“He’s a lawyer ?”

I was expecting him to say the guy with the full sleeves of tattoos worked in security, or was, at a minimum, leader of a biker gang. He was the least lawyer-y looking lawyer I’d ever seen.

“Payton’s bestie?” Lux’s eyebrows shot up. “The one who’s Radley’s professor?”

“Yup.”

I turned to him. “ That’s the guy you’ve hung out with?”

“Yup. He’s cool.” His shoulder jerked up. “But…you know…it’s weird.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Like you’re hanging out with your dad.”

“Nah, I don’t always feel like I have to be on my best behavior with my dad. I just don’t want to be spending my free time with my boss.”

Nudging into his side, I chuckled. “That’s what happens when you date an older woman.”

“Maybe, but the benefits outweigh who we hang with.” He quirked an eyebrow, which needed no interpretation, and I dropped my head with a shake.

The three of them were twenty yards out when the Labrador spotted Ace and came bounding up to the boards, his tail wagging so hard and fast it was barely visible. You could only hear the thud thud thud every time it hit the post.

Ace knelt down to stroke him. “Hi, Barclay, buddy.”

I turned around to Tanner, who was still on the step. “You want help getting up.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I’m not moving until absolutely necessary.”

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Penn greeted as he reached the dugout, his hand outstretched to shake each of us in turn, pinning us with his steely blue eyes.

“Morning, sir.” Lux nodded with one of those smiles where you’re trying to be polite but not too cheery.

“So you’re the poor, unwitting candidates who got roped into today’s task.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Ace, while Tanner grunted quietly behind me.

“How’d that happen, I thought it would be the rookies today?” He laughed, peering around me to Tanner still on the step. “You okay down there, Simpson?”

“Yes, sir. Just conserving my energy for the big race.” Tanner nodded, making Penn chuckle.

Ace being Ace, and the least unsubtle person ever, turned to me with the biggest shit-stirring grin he could muster, or that’s how I was taking it.

“Parker, do you want to tell Mr. Shepherd how we got roped into this?”

It took all my energy not to grit my jaw and punch him in the nose. Instead, I plastered on my best fake smile and said, “Wrong time, wrong place. The social team caught us at a weak moment yesterday.”

There. Not one part of my sentence was a lie.

I had been caught at a weak moment by the social team. It didn’t stop the bead of sweat appearing on my brow, however. Penn simply nodded, his mouth held together.

Thankfully the awkwardness was saved by Barclay trotting into the dugout as he spotted a lone baseball on the floor. A second later it was dropped at Murray’s feet, who immediately threw it across the grass for Barclay to sprint after.

“Murray, try not to carve up my field before the game today,” Penn drawled.

“Hey, you want to tell my dog he can’t play with a ball when he sees one? Be my guest.”

Penn’s response was to roll his eyes while the tattooed guy, whose name I already forgot and was yet to speak, turned to watch Barclay with a wry smile.

“What time does this thing start?”

“We were told eleven.” My eyes drifted up to the large clock in the corner of the scoreboard. Man, there were still seven minutes to go.

Before I did something stupid like talk about Scout, I turned and sat down next to Tanner. “You okay, dude?”

“No, I’m fucking hot.” He grumbled. “Please can you message Scout and tell her to hurry up. Pleeease.”

“She’ll be here soon.” Just as I spoke the words, her two interns jogged along the wide path behind the boards edging the field, along with a couple of other guys holding tripods.

A minute later Scout made an appearance, striding out purposefully in a pair of jeans, an overly large white tee with the Lions logo on the front, and a laptop was clasped to her chest.

Barclay was still lying on the ground, a ball by his feet, Murray and the tattooed guy were laughing with Ace. Penn had stepped away to the boards by the side and was on the phone, but I noticed the second she spotted him, and a split second of panic washed over her face.

I guess having him here was a surprise for everyone, though it could have just been her reaction to being in Penn Shepherd’s presence.

Biting down the smile I could feel forming, I resisted the urge to run to meet her and sent out a prayer she’d hear about this goddamn job before the week was up.

After a year of watching her from the sidelines, becoming virtually mute in her presence, and resigning myself to the fact I would never get a date with Scout, now that I had her, I didn’t want to be keeping it a secret.

I mean, I wasn’t about to be making out with her in front of our boss, but I’d at least like to smile at her without getting fired for it.

While I wasn’t totally hating the sneaking around or the surprising amount of times we’d managed a brief hookup in our closet, it was becoming harder to avoid Coach and his beady eye, not to mention his questions.

Truthfully, I didn’t think it would be quite this stressful, because ever since we’d gotten together, I’d been watching my behavior in a way I never had.

The ball of anxiety I’d been carrying around the last few days gurgled in agreement.

“Sorry we’re late, we had a problem with one of the cameras,” she announced, concentrating on the task in hand, while stopping as far away from me as she possibly could. “We’ll set up quick and then we can get going.”

After forming a small huddle with the guys and handing out instructions, they all took off and found their positions around the diamond, along with the angles they needed. Two tripods were set up—one near Tanner’s position as shortstop and one by the mound. A third was holding a video camera.

“You think Shepherd knows about you two?” whispered Tanner, or he thought it was a whisper. I thought it was loud enough for the guy over in left outfield to hear, and therefore scowled at him.

“No. But you wanna say it any louder?”

In my opinion, Penn was far too busy to pay attention to any of the rumors circulating among his team.

Coach was a different issue, but thankfully we’d be safe from his watchful eyes this morning—his view on the content creation was that it took precious time away from practice, and he avoided it at all costs. He also wished the players would, but it wasn’t a fight he was going to win against Penn Shepherd’s brand-building juggernaut.

“What will you—” he started again, but I waved him off. My attention had been taken by something else.

“Shhh. I’m trying to listen.”

Scout was standing with Murray, her fingers stroking Barclay’s silky ears as they discussed what Barclay’s role was for the day. It was all perfectly innocent, totally professional, and absolutely nothing untoward.

Except every time she smiled at Murray, my fist clenched so tight, it could crush a baseball.

When she laughed, I thought my chest was going to explode from the tension. And when Tattoos joined in, making her laugh even harder, I was ready to start a fight.

“Dude, chill.” Tanner tugged on my shirt, breaking through the growing annoyance. “Sit back down, you’re being so weird. Stop staring at Scout, she’s just doing her job.”

I glanced around, taking one look at Tanner’s expression, and slumped back onto the step next to him. The anxiety ball that had exploded into jealousy raging through my blood simmered to a gentle wave, which I was now attempting to rub away.

It was official. I was losing it, something made even more pronounced when Scout turned away from them, her eyes locking onto mine long enough that when she smiled, I felt the full force of it hit me.

This time when Tanner spoke it was a barely audible whisper. “How much longer is this going to be secret?”

“Until the end of the week. They’re doing second interviews now.”

“Then you’re signing the form?”

I nodded right as Scout called out, “We’re almost ready. Tanner, we’ll shoot you first with Barclay and then you can get out of the costume. After that, we’ll follow with the other guys one at a time, is that good?”

For the first time all morning he let out a wide grin. “Hell, yeah.”

“Great, d’you want to get into position? The plan is to have Barclay follow the ball around the bases with you running too. We throw from one base to the next and he sprints to each, but you might need to give him a bit of encouragement. We’ll get a few shots of Ace pitching the ball, which we can cut and edit together so it looks like you’re all racing.”

“Cool,” he replied, holding his hands out so we could all help him up. “Let’s get this over with before anyone finds out it’s happening. I don’t need a bigger audience.”

“Don’t jinx it.” I groaned, just as I noticed a couple of figures in the entrance to the tunnel.

He spoke too soon, however, and by the time Tanner had waddled up to home plate to stand with Murray and Barclay, the audience had increased to several of the senior team, including Beulah Holmes, head of legal, Lowe Slater, and the good doctor, Marnie Matthews.

My sixth sense was working overtime because where Marnie went, Jupiter wasn’t far behind.

Thirty seconds later and there he was, along with Boomer Jones, Saint Velasquez, Stone Fields, and just to really round this morning out, Coach, followed by several of his assistant coaches. Everyone was in early today, it seemed.

At least Scout was now across the diamond, where I prayed she’d stay.

I kept my eyes trained on Tanner swinging his bat surprisingly well, considering, and moved to stand on the other side of Lux. He was giant enough to keep me out of Coach’s eyeline.

“This is quite the audience,” he muttered as Ace got into position on the mound.

“Ready?” called Scout. “On my count. Three, two, one.”

Ace pitched, but even from where I was standing against the boards, I could see he’d barely put any force behind it.

Tanner hadn’t had enough time to acclimate to the size of the costume, not to mention that now he was wearing the head, it was virtually impossible to see what he was doing. He swung and missed it, but the force of his swing had him spinning in the wrong direction, so instead of running to first base, he ran straight toward the mound, tripped, and fell over, only narrowly avoiding Ace.

While everyone else was doubled over laughing as they cheered Tanner, Barclay, the consummate canine professional in his specially made doggie baseball uniform, chased his ball perfectly around each base and, after passing third, sat by Murray’s feet and waited for his biscuit.

The guys manning the tripods ran forward and helped Tanner to his feet when it was clear Ace was laughing too hard to be able to help.

“That is the best thing I’ve ever seen,” wheezed Lux, clearing the tears from his eyes.

“I hope Scout didn’t think she was going to get this in one take.”

The second take didn’t go much better, nor did the third. Tanner had tripped over his feet each time. The only one who’d managed to totally nail their performance time and again was Barclay, no doubt everything to do with the biscuits he was getting at the end of each run.

Lux was still trying to contain himself, along with nearly everyone else. Jupiter was making Boomerangs of Tanner falling over. Penn Shepherd was standing with his senior executive team, not one of whom was making any effort to disguise their amusement.

But it was Scout I couldn’t take my eyes off.

Her mouth wide open, head back as she belted her laughs to the heavens, her chest heaving with each jagged inhale. I was too far away to properly see her face, but I knew her nose had crinkled up and the line of freckles that had grown over the last few weeks would look almost like a smudge.

It was frightening how long I’d stared at her face while she’d slept next to me.

In the end, Tanner got to second base before Scout called time on the whole fiasco. Removing his lion head, he waddled back to the dugout, his bottom lip protruding in a sulk.

“Buddy, that was awesome,” Lux said, still wiping his eyes dry. “I haven’t laughed like that in ages.”

Tanner grunted in response. “I think I’ve broken a rib.”

“Parker, you’re up.”

Twisting around to the sound of my name, I found Scout gesturing me over to home plate. I’d been having so much fun watching Tanner that I jogged over with a wide smile trained directly on her, before I remembered where I was and who was watching. But it was too late, I couldn’t turn it down.

“Hey there.” I grinned, stepping in as close as I reasonably could. Close enough that I could catch her fresh cottony scent. Close enough to breathe her in until my chest flickered. But not being able to kiss her when I knew I could was a new kind of torture. Just an hour of barely acknowledging her while Tanner attempted to get around the bases was hard enough. “You look very pretty today.”

“Thank you,” she replied, her face almost blank.

She was certainly winning at this secret relationship acting thing. I, on the other hand, may as well have taken a Sharpie to my forehead.

“I like seeing you in a Lions shirt, but you know what would be even better?”

“Let me guess… your Lions shirt?”

“Got it in one.” I held her gaze, watching her pupils flare as she tried to hold in her smile.

There was something about Scout that made all the usual noise around me quieten, and I could have stayed here all day as she tried to hold in her smile.

“Ace will pitch, try to avoid the cameras when you’re running.”

“Shouldn’t they be trying to avoid me?” I winked.

“Barclay will outrun you, so don’t worry about him,” she continued, her tone full of tease. “But please try and get it in one take. Tanner took so long that we’re running out of time.”

“Anything for you, Davison.”

“Thank you.”

“I missed you this morning,” I whispered, taking the helmet she was holding out to me. A zap of static shocked between us as our fingers brushed. “But Monday’s a free day, I vote we make it our first date day. And also make up for lost time. Whaddya say?”

She popped a hip, crossing her arms over her chest, and her face filled with sass. “What time have we lost?”

“Well, you know…we could be making out in the closet right now, or I could have stayed over at yours last night.” I dropped my voice. “Any time I don’t get to spend naked with you is lost time. So…Monday, date?”

There was something about the way she looked up at me, bright blue eyes widening under the almond curve of her thick black lashes, that hit the dead center of my groin.

She took a step back, followed by another, before giving one single tiny nod, and then the smile she’d been holding in beamed out.

Fucking yes.

We filmed my segment in one take and finished the morning on schedule.

By the time we wrapped, even Tanner was enjoying himself, and with everyone else buzzing hard off all the chatter and laughing, there had been too much going on for me to notice Coach had spent most of the time scowling in my direction.