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“These are great ideas,” Joanie says in our Monday afternoon meeting. Gabby’s here—we waited to hold this meeting until she was done with class for the day, and I spent the morning working out with Danny and Nick. “I’ll get my team on it to start drafting some models, and we’ll get your approval before moving it to the ballpark operations department.”

“Thanks, Joanie.” I nod my thanks. “I’m going to walk the Spade Level again and see if it sparks up any other ideas.” The first floor everyone enters the stadium on is the Heart Level, the second level is the Diamond Level with the Club Boxes, and the third level is the Spade Level, all catchy little titles that reflect the city we’re in. They picked hearts for the first level since we’re playing with our fans’ hearts or some silly jingle that makes me want to roll my eyes every time I hear it, but the Spade Level is where the kids’ area is planned.

“Great,” Troy says. “Gabriella, why don’t you go with him? I think if the two of you put your heads together, you’ll be unstoppable.”

Gabby clears her throat uncomfortably as a vision of us putting our heads together pops uninvited into my mind. Or, you know, not so much heads as her pussy and my cock.

I purse my lips and offer a short nod. “Sure.”

“You know, Mr. Bodine,” Joanie says. “I was thinking it would be a good idea for Gabby to shadow Cooper for all things SFK to take a deeper look at the marketing angle, and maybe Justin could shadow me to get a look at the business operations side of things. Thoughts on that?”

“Perfect,” Troy says with a sharp nod. “I think it’s an excellent idea. When Cooper isn’t working on SFK, what would you like Gabby working on that’s still related to marketing?”

“We need social footage. This TikTok thing is all the rage, but to be honest I’m lost. I’m seeing all sorts of insiders post things at ballparks and they’re going viral. Imagine the clout we’d get with this brand-new stadium,” Joanie says.

“Can you handle that?” Troy asks Gabby.

She nods a little weakly. “Socials are part of my area of study.”

“Great. Then shadow Coop everywhere when you aren’t working on anything else for Joanie,” Troy says, and my heart drops somewhere near my nuts. “He can introduce you to the other players, show you the clubhouse, the weight room. Just run everything by Joanie before you post anything anywhere.”

Fuck. My. Life.

Is he fucking serious right now? Shadow Coop everywhere . Not your best idea, Mr. Bodine.

As if she wasn’t already ruining this experience for me, now I can’t even come here to the stadium to avoid her.

“Right. And I’ll be sure to check the clubhouse for any nudity before I allow your young daughter in there,” I say a little more snidely than I mean to.

Troy misses my tone, and I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s been playing footsie with Sapphire under the table for the last forty-five minutes. More and more I’m getting the image of him being a dominant over her on the third floor over at his nightclub that decidedly isn’t a sex club. “Excellent,” he says, and I scrape my chair against the floor more aggressively than is necessary, stand, and thank everyone for their time before stalking out, my shadow following close behind me.

“I don’t like this any more than you do,” she grits out once we’re out of earshot of anyone in there.

“Really?” I ask snidely. “Because it sure as fuck feels like you put him up to this.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” she practically screeches as we enter the Heart Level concourse.

“I’m not kidding you. Did you ask him to shadow me?” I hiss.

She’s so taken aback by my accusation that she sputters out a laugh. “Hell no! I haven’t said a damn word to him about any of this! I can’t believe you think so little of me.”

I blow out a breath. “Sorry,” I mutter. “I don’t think little of you.” And that’s the whole goddamn problem, isn’t it?

We walk silently side-by-side toward the escalator that will take us up to the third level, and the entire way, I fight every natural instinct to grab her hand in mine.

I also fight every natural instinct telling me to ask her what the hell is going on with that punk-ass kid she’s seeing.

Once we get up to the empty area that will soon be filled with structures and kids and their parents, I walk around a few beats while Gabby watches me carefully.

“What are you thinking?” she finally asks.

I don’t know how to answer that. I’m sure as fuck not focused on my purpose for being here, but telling her that feels out of left field.

“I think a large contained structure over here,” I say, pointing. “One of the ones where kids climb up all the levels and there are huge slides up at the top. Maybe a ball pit they can slide down into and play.”

She follows my finger to where I’m pointing. “Are ball pits a good idea? Won’t someone just have to constantly pick them up? And if they’re at the bottom of the slide, won’t kids just stay there and not move and then the next kid coming down the slide will crash into them?”

I refuse to admit I hadn’t thought about that. “They’ll be fine. Over here I was thinking a batting cage kids can play in, one of the kinds with an automatic pitch. And over there, a catching station.” I walk around the area until I’m standing near the wall, and she follows me, standing far enough away that I can’t reach out and touch her. A safe distance. “Then a circuit with different stations for activity around it. Jumping jacks at one, squats at another, you get the idea. And in between each exercise platform will be a spot to march in place.”

“What about trampolines instead of marching?” she asks.

I lean back against the wall and harden my gaze at her.

I don’t want her to be so goddamn beautiful and smart on top of it.

My nephews go bananas for those trampoline parks, and in my thoughts about the circuit, I was thinking about how adults would navigate it, not how kids would. But this is for kids. Kids don’t want to fucking march in place. They want to bounce. They want to get their energy out.

They want trampolines.

I blow out a breath. “Yeah. Trampolines might work.”

She flattens her lips. “It’s not against the rules to tell me it’s a good idea, you know. A compliment wouldn’t hurt you.”

“You don’t think so?” I ask. I shake my head, and then I mutter a curse under my breath as I stare down at the floor.

“It would hurt me more than you, but that’s sort of the theme of our relationship, isn’t it?”

I lift my gaze to hers, and she’s studying me. The way she’s staring so intently at me, like she can see right through me…it’s unnerving.

“You think it’s hurting you more than it’s hurting me?” I ask quietly.

She lifts a shoulder and gives me a pointed gaze.

I harden my gaze on her, and then I push off the wall and stalk toward her. She backs up until she hits the wall behind her, and I pin her there with my hips. I grab her wrists between my hands, and I yank them up above her head, locking them in one of my hands while I use my other arm to haul her closer to me.

I have to lock her hands up there.

I can’t allow her to touch me. I won’t be able to resist her if she does.

Our bodies are pressed close, and I can feel the pounding of her heart against my chest, hers hammering as loudly and as rapidly as mine.

I drop my lips to her neck because I can’t go another second without tasting her skin. I breathe her in, memorizing every scent that’s not mine to have any longer.

It sure as fuck doesn’t belong to Spongebob, either, but that’s her choice to make.

“I don’t want to fight against this, Gabby. Believe me. But I have to,” I murmur against her skin.

She lets out a soft cry, and then she twists out of my hold. I let her go even though I have the strength to easily hold her there if I wanted to.

“I can’t do this,” she rasps, looking wildly around before she bolts away from me.