Pennwasthe live wire; dangerous and tempting and begging to be touched, even though you knew it was a terrible idea. How was I going to get through an entire day without making it obvious what we’d been doing, and what I still wanted to do right here and now? Audience be damned, I was seconds away from letting him rip my clothes off and spread me across the table.
Yet as I blinked my sight back to focus, not one of our friends noticed how my brow had become slightly damp, or that I was trying to contain the heaving in my chest as I struggled to take a full breath, or that my pupils were undoubtedly shot with arousal. And it was made all the more obvious by Penn’s leer, because he was fully aware of what he’d just done to me. He knew my panties were no longer dry. He knew my heart was pounding like a prisoner desperate to be freed.
He knew.
By the time I’d regained as much composure as possible, the waitress had disappeared, Barclay was in his usual position under the table, a bottle of champagne was being poured, and Lauren was tucking into a large English muffin.
On the plus side, I wasn’t sitting next to Penn, because that would have been a disaster.
On the downside, he’d taken a seat opposite me, which was worse, because now I had to force myself to actively not look at him. Something made harder by the fact he was always looking at me whenever I happened to glance his way. And instead of just turning to continue whatever conversation he was in, the corner of his lip would slant ever so slightly as he held my gaze for a beat longer than he should have done, and in a way that made it so obvious to anyone paying attention that he’d left my bed at first light.
“Muffin?”
I looked at Beulah, holding a plate of English muffins in front of me and took one just for something to do with my hands. “Thank you.”
“Are you okay? You seem distracted.”
I debated for a second whether to confess my sins, but this was neither the time nor the place. Beulah, however, would make a good listener I decided. And if I was going to tell anyone what I’d done, I’d probably tell her. She didn’t strike me as the judgmental type.
“I’m fine, thank you. Just hungry.” I demonstrated this by taking a huge bite of the muffin, then realized it was almost too big to swallow. I really needed to go back to bed and start over, catch up on the sleep I’d missed the past two nights. “Anyway, tell me about yesterday. How did the meeting go?”
I’d heard a lot of it from an excitable and mostly slurring Penn at two a.m. but I wanted to hear it from a sober party.
She scooched her chair nearer. “God, it was so awkward, and I’ve been in my fair share of awkward situations, but Franklin Maypole takes the gold. None of the executives seemed to know what was going on, but they also didn’t seem to like Maypole too much either. There weren’t any tears shed when he walked out. Penn was great, though. I think he’s going to make an excellent owner. I was watching a couple of the faces of the guys in thereand they were genuinely surprised he seemed to care as much as he did, and that he was so passionate about it. Not sure it’s going to be easy. Plus, there are no women there!” Her eyes widened at the admission. “Please say you’re staying! I don’t want to go back to working in a men only environment, especially as I probably know the least about baseball of anyone else there, so I need someone in my corner.”
I laughed at the panic on her face because it was hard to tell if she was being serious or not. Beulah could fight in her corner better than anyone, I imagined. “I dunno. I was supposed to be starting my own company not working for another, but I’ll probably be around for a while, least until next season anyway.”
“Thank God! So that’ll be three of us if Penn can get Marnie.”
“Who?”
“She’s Jupiter Reeves’ girlfriend or something. He said he’ll only come to The Lions if Penn manages to get her to agree to a job.” She picked up another muffin, adding a dollop of strawberry jam on top, then bit into it.
“Oh yes, he mentioned it actually. Think he’ll get her? It’s pretty romantic, isn’t it?”
Beulah looked over to Rafe who was holding Bell while deep in conversation with Murray about something. She turned back to me and lowered her voice.
“Have you ever met Jupiter Reeves?”
I shook my head with a pitiful, slightly embarrassing, sigh. “No, unfortunately. But I did see him at The Dodgers this week. Why? Tell me.”
I swear I saw her shudder.
“I thought Rafe was intense with all his tattoos and broodiness and constant need to have his own way, and he is more than enough man for me. He always will be. But put him next to Jupiter Reeves…” she shuddered again. “Jupiter Reeves brings new meaning to the wordintense, and I can’t conceiveof anyone saying no to him. Imagine being the woman on the receiving end of that level of attention, to the point where he’s bargained his career against tracking you down and asking you to move to a new city just so he can see you again, because he’s pined over you since high school.” She picked up her champagne and toasted the air. “I really want to know what happened there, and can’t wait to meet her. She sounds like our kind of girl.”
I let out a loud snort followed by a bark of laughter which garnered the attention of everyone else at the table.
“Who’s our kind of girl?” asked Lauren from her seat next to Penn.
“Marnie, the one Penn is on the hunt for to make the new Director of Baseball Science,” Beulah replied.
“Is this the Jupiter Reeves’ girl?”
“Lauren, keep your goddamn voice down! His name is not to be mentioned in public!” hissed Penn sharply.
Lauren’s eyes rolled deeply, but she paid little attention to his snapping. “Jeez, Penny, paranoid much?”
“I am now everyone knows I’m shaking The Lions up, so zip it.”
