I shook my head as I placed the empty glass back down. “I’m just getting used to the way my life is gonna be. Always alone.”

  She walked over and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Stop it. You’re gonna meet someone. It just won’t be a baseball player since we all know how you feel about them. Come on. Dinner’s about to be served. We’re sitting with the Delaney’s, and we’re far away from your father and Crew.”

  We ate pasta dinner and the conversation flowed freely between Cody, his host family, and Gina. I was seated next to the Delaney’s eight-year-old son Rory who kept talking to me, which was a blessing since I didn’t have to make small talk with the adults while reeling from my interaction with Crew.

  Cody’s arm was draped around the back of Gina’s chair, and she lit up whenever he leaned in and whispered into her ear. I hoped he didn’t break her heart. I hoped he was who he seemed to be.

  After the ice cream dessert was served, the dinner music turned off and the coaching staff took to the stage to show their appreciation for the team sponsors. They finished their portion of the night by giving out team awards. Cody won for best sportsmanship. Our table stood and applauded as he made his way up to the stage to accept his award.

  We sat down when he stepped up to the podium and stared down at the sportsmanship plaque in his hand.

  “Thanks so much for this amazing award,” he began. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a baseball player. I never take my job lightly, but I also want to lift up the other players around me. Being a good teammate is something I always strive to be, and I appreciate that Coach Mike and his entire staff recognize that. It’s been an honor playing in the Cape League for the Sharks. Thanks to the coaches, my teammates, and to all the fans, especially my awesome host family the Delaney’s, and my biggest fan Gina. I’m so glad I met you.”

  Gina’s smile couldn’t get any wider while she clapped for Cody as he stepped down from the stage. When he reached our table, he showed off his plaque before sitting back down. He turned to Gina who unexpectedly grabbed his cheeks and planted a long kiss to his lips.

  “Our final award of the night is for this year’s MVP,” Coach Mike announced from the podium. “This player shows a combination of quiet intensity and relentless determination when he plays. He may not be the loudest player on the bench, but he’s also not one to celebrate his own successes with bat flips and elaborate trots around the bases. He shows what it means to lead by example. This year’s MVP is Crew Burke.”

  The room broke into applause. I turned in my seat to see Crew stand from his table. He fist-bumped my father before he walked to the stage. I couldn’t help notice the wet spot on his jacket from the drink I’d thrown in his face. I guess he should’ve considered himself fortunate that I hadn’t thrown a bowl pasta.

  On the stage, Crew accepted the MVP award from his coach. He stepped up to the podium as he stared at the award in his hands. “Thank you to Coach Mike and the rest of the Sharks coaching staff for this honor.” His eyes lifted and he scanned the room. “But it feels wrong to accept an award that says I’m the most valuable player because I feel like every player on the field contributes and is essential to the team’s success. So, I’ll just accept this award on behalf of the rest of my team. Let’s go bring home the championship, boys.”

  His teammates all stood from their spots at their respective tables and cheered. The rest of the room followed, applauding Crew as he made his way back to his table.

  Was he the selfless guy he claimed to be in his speech? Did I have him all wrong?

  With the speeches over, the DJ began playing dance music. Cody stood and held out his hand to Gina who took it eagerly. They walked out to the dance floor and began to sway to the music, despite it being a fast song. I’d never seen her this happy. Maybe she had manifested her happily ever after.

  Rory looked over at me. “Wanna dance?”

  I laughed. “Dance?”

  He nodded.

  “Sure.” I pushed myself to my feet and followed him to the dance floor. He weaved us around couples dancing until he stopped in a spot in the very center. I grabbed his small hands and moved us from side to side.

  “Spin me!” he said.

  I lifted one of our joined hands and twirled him around and around.

  “I’m getting dizzy!” he cried.

  “Then slow down,” I laughed as he tried to stand still, but his dizziness made him walk sideways.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as the song changed to a slow one.

  “Yesssss,” he said, sidestepping and trying to keep his balance.

  “Hey, buddy.”

  Rory and I both turned to find Crew standing near us on the dance floor. He had taken off his suit jacket and the sleeves of his white button-down shirt were rolled up and his blue tie was loosened.

  “Mind if I dance with Peyton?” he asked him.

  My heartrate hastened. Why did he want to dance with me? Hadn’t we said all that needed to be said outside?

  “Sure,” Rory said. “She was making me too dizzy anyways.”

  “Hey,” I admonished. “You wanted me to spin you.”

  He shrugged before running off and leaving Crew and me in the center of the dance floor.

  Crew reached for my hips, but I stepped back. He cocked his head. “Are you really gonna do this right now?”

  “Do what?”

  He glanced around the room, probably worried that people were watching our interaction.

  “Feel free to find one of your adoring fans to dance with,” I said.

  “I don’t want a fan.” He stepped forward and slipped his hands around my hips. “I want you.”

  I don’t know if it was the way he said he wanted me, or because I was causing a slight scene resisting a dance with the MVP, but I slipped my arms over his shoulders and he pulled me against his chest. Since I was wearing heels, I was just up to his shoulder, so it made it easy for me to not look into his eyes as he swayed us slowly to the music.

  “You look beautiful,” he whispered in my ear, his breath tickling my lobe.

  I said nothing, angry that I’d given in so easily.

  “I would’ve told you that before if you weren’t so hell bent on being mad at me.”

  I was silent as the music echoed through the room.

  “This is the longest you’ve gone without talking,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

  “I hate you.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  We danced in silence. I tried not to focus on the gentle way his hands rested on my lower back or the scent of his cologne working its way into my senses. And forget his rock-hard chest pressed to mine. I would not focus on that.

  The song ended and another slow one began. I tried to step back, but he held onto me tightly, stopping me from leaving. “I have a proposition for you,” he finally said.

  I didn’t respond.

  “Let’s start over. I think we need a clean slate.”

  I pulled back so I could see his eyes. “Is this part of the bet?”

  “There’s no bet,” he assured me.

  I shrugged, not sure if I completely believed that.

  “I’m Crew and I play baseball.”

  “I hate baseball players.”

  He chuckled. “O-kay…so…I’m Crew and I sleep next to the prettiest girl in the banquet hall.”

  I rolled my eyes, unsusceptible to his lines.

  “Your turn,” he said.

  “This is stupid.”

  “You’re the one who threw a drink in my face, but here I am. So, humor me.”

  Was I really gonna play along with his ridiculous game?

  I exhaled. “I’m Peyton and I…” Strangely, I didn’t know what else to say. Who was I? I was certainly angry. And heartbroken. And a baseball player hater. But this year had been a blur of emotions—especially sadness. I didn’t even know what made me happy anymore.

  “I have beautiful green eyes,” Crew finished for me.

  “I’m more than pretty green eyes.”

  He laughed.

  “I love the beach,” I said, pleased with myself for coming up with something.

  A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “It’s good to meet you, Peyton who loves the beach. I think we’re gonna be great friends.”

  I rolled my eyes again. “You’re so stupid.”

  “Oh, you don’t want to be my friend?”

  “Girls and guys can never just be friends,” I said.

  “Definitely not if they’re sleeping in the same bed.”

  “Then stop sleeping in my bed.”

  “You first.”

  “Why must you challenge me?” I asked.

  “Is that what I do?”

  “Oh, no. You mainly piss me off.”

  He laughed, and his whole face lit up.

  The song ended and a fast song began. Crew released his hold on me, so I dropped my arms from his shoulders and stepped back. He ticked his head toward the door. “Walk with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, like I told you last night, I wanted to see you here tonight.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I pulled in a breath, trying not to be so contrary, and followed Crew off the dance floor and out the back door. A few people lingered on the patio as he led me out onto the beach. I stopped, slipping off my heels and kicking them to the side where no one would step on them. Crew did the same before we walked down toward the water. “Wanna sit or keep walking?”

  “It’s up to you,” I said. “You’re the one who wanted to leave.”

  “Didn’t you?” he challenged.

  “Obviously. I hate this stuff.”

  “Then why’d you come?”

  I walked on the wet sand along the shoreline trying to avoid the water. “Gina asked me to.”

  “So, let me get this straight. If Gina asks you for something, you do it?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I trust her wholeheartedly.”

  “Must be nice to have someone like that,” he said. “Is she the only one?”

  I considered his question as the waves crashed at our feet. “Besides my mom, yes.”

  “I’m here too,” he offered.

  I balked. “Not for long.”

  “We go to the same school.”

  I stopped and looked at him. “You said it yourself. We don’t run in the same circles.”

  “We could,” he said.

  “Right.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you more of a football groupie?”

  I groaned and continued walking.

  “What?” he asked, keeping pace with me.

  “Don’t ever call me a groupie. I’m a football fan,” I said with the emphasis on fan.

  “Football players suck.”

  “Seren Grayson’s one of my friends.”

  “Oh, so you’re crushing on the quarterback,” he said.

  “We’re just friends,” I assured him.

  “You said it yourself. Guys and girls can’t just be friends.”

  “Well, we are. He has a girlfriend. And I respect that.”

  “Well, maybe when we get back, you can hang with me and some of my friends. You might like them.”

  “Why would you want me around? We can’t get along for more than a few minutes at a time.”

  He stepped in front of me, his blue eyes settling on mine. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you to fucking trust me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think I’ve earned it.”

  I stayed silent, unsure why it was so important to him.

  “I get that your trust issues have something to do with your dad,” he prompted.

  I gnawed on my bottom lip, reluctant to admit it.

  “I’m thinking he did something unforgivable.” He stared into my eyes, looking for confirmation. “Did he cheat?”

  I nodded.

  He winced. “Recently?”

  “I found out last summer when the woman showed up at our beach house with his daughter.”

  Crew’s eyes widened. “Je-sus. I didn’t see that one coming.”

  “You’re not the only one. It was like a punch to the gut.”

  “I’d say.”

  “He claimed not to know she had a kid, but how can we believe anything he says now?”

  “Have you met the kid?” he asked.

  “Just that day, but I assure you, it wasn’t a pleasant meeting,” I said, the recollections of that day never far from my mind.

  “Does he have anything to do with her now?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “As far as I know, he pretends she doesn’t exist. But then again, he’s like a stranger to me. So I have no idea what he does when no one’s around.”

  “Seems like the kid’s as innocent as you in this mess,” Crew observed, though he couldn’t possibly understand what it felt like to learn your perfect life wasn’t perfect at all.

  I shrugged.

  “Your hate toward baseball players finally makes sense,” he said. “But we’re not all like that.”

  “Are you forgetting I’ve seen you in action?” I asked.

  “I’m single. I can have fun,” he countered.

  “And have fun you do.”

  He cocked his head, unamused by my commentary. “If I had a girlfriend, I’d be faithful.”

  “Have you ever had a serious girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Well, just having a girlfriend doesn’t mean the temptation isn’t there. You could easily stray. Groupies can be persuasive.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not that guy.”

  “I didn’t think my dad was that guy either. He was the man I trusted most in this world. And look how that turned out. I won’t let that happen to me.” I looked out at the crashing waves, suddenly feeling way too vulnerable.

  “Did your panic attacks start after you found out about your dad?”

  “That day.”

  “Is that why you went away this summer? So you didn’t have to come back here?” he asked.

  I glanced to him. “Am I that transparent?”

  He shook his head. “I think you’re that smart.”

  “You’re such a liar.”

  He smiled, knowing I thought everything out of his mouth was a line. “Seriously though, why don’t you go with your mom? She’s in Alabama, right?”

  I nodded. “She wanted me and my father to work things out.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Hell no.”

  “Then why not go now?”

  Did I tell him that I was beginning to believe that him sleeping in my bed was one of the only things keeping the nightmares at bay? “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

  “Who would I sleep with at night if you’re gone?”

  I cocked my head. “I’m sure you’d find plenty of girls who’d like the spot.”

  “Too bad the one who’s got it doesn’t want it,” he said.

  He was good. I could totally see how girls would eat up his lines. “Hey, I haven’t congratulated you on your award yet.”

  He shrugged.

  “You should feel honored. A lot of MVP winners have gone onto the majors,” I explained.

  “That’s the plan…But, I almost didn’t even play here this summer,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “I kind of wanted the summer off seeing as though if I get drafted, I won’t have one off again until I retire.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “My mom pushed me to play. She always says a missed opportunity is a missed journey.”

  “She sounds like a smart woman.”

  He shrugged. “It’s been just me and her my whole life. So, she always wants me to be my best and reach for the unattainable.”

  Sam and I had spoken about guys with sisters being good guys, but we hadn’t discussed those raised by single moms. They tended to be equally good. “I already like her.”

  “She’s sort of a badass like you. She takes no shit from anyone.”

  I winced. “Not sure if I should be flattered or insulted that you’re comparing me to your mom.”

  “Sorry,” he laughed. “I totally meant the badass thing.”

  “Come on, MVP,” I urged as I turned to head back. “I’ve put in enough time at this event.”

  Most people had already cleared out when we returned to the banquet hall. Gina and Cody were the only two people dancing on the dance floor. I stopped at our empty table to grab my clutch, and I caught Gina’s eyes and smiled. There was no way I’d make her leave with me, so I pointed to myself then hitched my thumb toward the door, letting her know I was leaving. She nodded.

  I turned to see where Crew went, figuring I’d head home with him. He was at his table. He slipped on his suit jacket, picked up his award, and smiled. He should feel proud. That was the biggest honor of the night.

  A girl I remember from the bonfire stepped up to him. He smiled as she pressed herself to his chest. She said something to him as she placed her hands against his chest. Her hands drifted up, and it was like watching a train wreck that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. Her hands slipped behind his head. Then, as if in slow motion, she urged his mouth down to hers.

  I quickly spun away. The scene from the first day on my balcony materialized in my mind’s eye. That’s who Crew was. He had one-night stands. He used girls who threw themselves at him. I’d almost started to believe he wasn’t that guy. But I’d witnessed it firsthand. I hurried toward the exit, hating that I’d forgotten who he truly was.

  “Peyton!” Crew called across the room.

  I stupidly glanced over my shoulder to find him maneuvering around tables to get to me with the girl following closely behind him. I shook my head. There was no way in hell I was gonna give him a chance to tell me he was leaving with her. “I’m gonna head out,” I said, beating him to it. “See ya later.”

  “Wait!” he pleaded.

  I took off for the door and didn’t look back. When I found Sam by the exit with some of his teammates, I felt immediate relief. “Take me home,” I said, linking my arm through his and pulling him outside with me.

  “Normally, this would excite me,” Sam said, keeping pace with me as I sought his car in the nearly empty parking lot. “Sadly, I know I’m not getting any action tonight. Why is that again?”

 

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