Page 34 of Wild Hit (Wild Baseball Romance #3)

“Up to me, huh?” she repeats, humming a little bit from her throat.

Glad that she can’t see how that little sound makes me break into goosebumps. Ironically, You Belong With Me starts playing and I have to just sit here, quiet and normal, unable to do pull ups or burpees to trick my body out of this state.

Rustling, and then Audrey’s voice is clearer. I turn to find her facing me. “Or we could do something else.”

My brain whirs. What else would she want to do while trapped in the rain in a McDonald’s parking lot?

“Dance in the rain?” I ask, my face scrunching in thought. “I think these seats are real leather, though. I’d rather that Logan doesn’t kill us.”

“Not that.” She waves a hand. “It’s just, I was thinking…”

I blink. Surprisingly, I’m unable to read her mind. “About what?”

“The kiss.”

I swallow hard.

Yeah, me too.

Non stop.

With every cell of my being.

I stay silent, though, unwilling to put my seventeen size foot in my mouth.

Audrey shifts a little. “It’s just—yes, I’m very sorry for how that came about. I know for a fact that it was very unfair to you, and I’ll be apologizing for it the rest of my life. But…”

Another roll of thunder. The wipers seem to make even more noise than normal.

“But?” I press.

Finally, she lifts her eyes to me and as serious as a doctor delivering bad news, she says, “I haven’t been kissed like that in a very long time.”

At first, I’m just a statue of Miguel Machado, father of one and All-Star slugger.

But then my eye twitches a little.

Wow, okay. So the kiss was not the best in her life. Maybe if I’d had time to prepare… No, the point is that I’m just one in the list of guys she’s played tonsil hockey with. Not the best, not the worst. My competitive spirit cannot freaking take it.

“Like what?” I prod for a hint that will let me rank myself in her roster.

The look on her face, as lit up by more lightning, is like she can’t believe I’m asking. “Like the guy knows what he’s doing, you know?”

Hmm. So better than her average, but not enough information to know if I was the best. And I want to be her best.

“The thing is…” She tucks her hair behind her ears, hands falling back down to clutch at my jacket. “It reminded me that it’s not too bad to kiss a guy.”

“Not too bad?” I blurt out, offended.

She catches on right away and bursts into chuckles. “What I mean is that I forgot how good it can feel to forget about the world in a kiss.”

Oh.

Yeah, I did that too. I forgot what year we were in the second her lips crashed on mine.

“So I was wondering…” Her amusement ebbs away and she no longer keeps eye contact with me. “Could we… do it again?”

Pretty sure this time the thunder is in my head alone.

“Do what?” I ask, unable to process whatever the hell is happening right now.

“Kiss,” she answers very calmly. “Without duress, that is. Like a good, proper kiss where we give it our best but it means nothing. Just out of curiosity, while we wait out the rain.”

I don’t think, therefore I don’t exist.

She turns back to me and studies my face. “Erm, you know what? Forget about it. That was way too unhinged even for my standards, especially after?—”

“Bueno.” I shake the glitch off my head and say, “Okay.”

“Okay?” She jolts a little.

“Sure.” I sound way calmer than I really feel on the inside, the normal life version of speaking into a glove so no one else can tell what you’re really saying. “That’s another way to pass the time.”

“You don’t think it’s weird?” Her eyes widen to the maximum possible.

“Weird how?” I shrug one shoulder. “We’re two single, consenting adults.”

“But, I mean. One thing is faking in front of Henry Vos, another is making out alone in a car like we’re in high school.”

I use all my willpower reserves to not point out how she changed a kiss into making out. The latter option would be even better.

I’m glad I didn’t wag my tail from the get go, because I’m not going to pressure her into doing something she’s now talking herself out of.

I reach for the volume dial. “Then we can just listen to some music and?—”

“No.”

Her hands grab my forearm. I look up at her. “No?”

Audrey’s mouth opens and closes, and my attention gets sucked in by her lips. Even in the dim lighting from outside, they look plump and glossy, and my mouth starts watering like the perv I am deep down.

Her hands cinch tighter around my forearm. “I—I want to try again. To feel feminine and careless and fun. And I know it’s going to be safe with you.”

I nearly mewl because if she knew how spicy my thoughts were getting, she may start to doubt that. Tearing my eyes away from her lips, I find earnest green eyes that skewer through me.

Gently, I pry her hands off my arm and lean away. Audrey wilts a little, but I keep watching her as I push my seat away from the steering wheel—which is slow enough to get a tad awkward—and then unfasten my seatbelt.

“Come here.”

It doesn’t matter that my voice is the thickest it’s ever been, or that maybe I should’ve added a please at the end of the sentence. The embarrassment in Audrey’s demeanor evaporates and next thing, she’s also unfastening her seatbelt and shoving my jacket off.

Somehow I’m not nervous as I watch her lift up her dress skirts to maneuver.

I feel just the same as if I was standing in the batter’s box, ready for a ball to fly at me.

Just the same, I reach for my crucifix, almost confused that I don’t find the wedding ring next to it until I remember that it’s proudly on my finger.

That’s right, none of this is real. But it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it.

I reach for Audrey’s waist and lift her carefully unto my lap. The height puts her neck at an uncomfortable angle, and I find the controls again to lean my seat back until she has to make no further effort.

Even better, it makes her collapse on my chest.

Our noses bump, but instead of meeting me halfway for a kiss, Audrey pulls slightly away. “Some ground rules.”

“Okay,” I say, swallowing hard.

“Hands above the waist,” is her first one.

“I kinda like your legs though,” I admit.

“You do?” Her eyebrows rise. “Okay, you can touch my legs, but that’s it.”

My lips stretch a little, and this time she’s the one staring at them. After running my tongue across them, I ask, “What else?”

“Um…” She focuses on my eyes again and shifts a little. “Right, kissing only. And Vegas rules?—”

I splay my hands more possessively around her waist. “What happens in this car stays in this car.”

“Exactly.” Audrey nods solemnly. “And also, only this once.”

I take in a deep breath.

She’s right, it can only be one more time. If we kiss again—and again—it’s going to be so much harder for me to contain how much I want her.

However, I’m not a complete fool. “Does that mean one kiss only or one make out session?”

The question catches her off guard, and she has to meditate it for a second. “Make out session. Just until the rain stops.”

That’s a good deal. In Central Florida it can last all night long. I don’t say that, though. Instead, I just say, “Then kiss me, woman.”