“First thing, change the profile pic,” Nora directed.
“Agreed.” I filtered through some of my pics of me at baseball. None of those fit the bill. Then I found some of Nora and I out drinking, a few taken by my ex. He had the worst picture taking skills.
“What about this one?” Nora opened one of the boudoir photos I’d gathered enough courage to do when I first got back on the dating scene two years ago. I had just joined the team. I’d taken one of my jerseys, cropped it, and paired it with my tiny, red booty shorts. I paired that with cowboy boots and positioned myself so I was lying in bed with the game on. I was trying hard for the baseball-inspired Daisy Duke phase. Jesus, I’d needed someone to talk me out of that. Glaring at the picture, the one good thing was that I hid my face.
“No.”
“Oh, come on. You look fucking prime!”
“It was meant to be a private gift.”
Not that it had worked out. He’d decided to open it in front of his mother, despite my pleas not to. Things ended pretty quickly after that, as his mother thought I was corrupting her son. I hadn’t realized just how much of a mama’s boy he was until then.
“Now, it’s a gift to yourself, because you’ll land a hot guy who can’t resistthis.” She motioned her hand over me.
We had scrolled through some other sporty girls’ pics and there was a fair amount of sexy pics like mine. Hockey, baseball, and basketball were the top ones, and jerseys seemed to be the next biggest thing besides the almost-nudes.
“Fine, but crop it a bit more so nothing can be givenaway!” I caved, because if I didn’t, she would’ve probably stripped me down and made me wear something worse.
“Yes!” she cheered, hitting the upload button before I could change my mind.
“Should I pick a new name?”
“Fuck, yeah. How about…” Nora paused, typing a bunch of things on the keyboard. “Summer Loving? A play on your last name and the flirty vibes of the pic.”
It wasn’t bad. Better than the others we came up with. As I glanced one more time at the photo, doubt crossed my mind. “What if someone from the team recognizes me?”
Nora scoffed, “I doubt any of the guys are usingLove Life? I’m sure they troll the groupie sites instead.”
Fair point. I had heard enough locker-room talk to confirm very few of the single guys were searching for meaningful relationships, let alone being online. For one, they didn’t trust anyone. But they were more than willing to hook up, which was why I was getting slightly more comfortable with the idea.
We finished the profile, adding more casual flirty stuff instead of the typical long walks on the beach, reading under the covers, and enjoys a good night out with friends or tucked in for snuggle time.Ugh, no wonder I only had super creepy comments before. With any luck, I only had to talk to a couple of guys and vet whether or not I could bribe them into being my fake boyfriend. Because there was no way I was going to ask any of the Twisters.
CHAPTER 5
JOSH
Carlos swung the bat at the baseball that was launching at him. He missed. By a mile. He cursed under his breath before turning to glare at me. “Jesus… You’re not supposed to bang your way through every profile!”
I tucked my head down to my chest as I suppressed a laugh that wanted to bubble out.Seriously? Had he not considered the side-effects of his bet?
“I didn’t sleep with themall,” I tossed back casually. “Did you not just hear me? She fell a-sl-eeeep!” I elongated the words, making it clear I got no action.
These two clowns beside me broke out into a chorus of laughter as I told the unfortunate story of my “sleepy” date.
“Wait, she was likeasleep, asleep?” Kev stopped howling long enough to choke out the words.
“The snoring indicated that,” I replied dryly.
More laughter.
Jake was doubled over.Why had I told them?Oh, right, they knew I was on the date. We had a group chat. Carlos made me do that to make sure I wasn’t skipping out on the stupid wager and at this point, I was ready to. I’d neverhad so much bad luck with women as I had since this whole thing started. It was like the cosmic dating universe was on his side.
“Besides, aren’t you the one who made the bet? Not my fault all these ladies think we have aconnection.” I air quoted just to tick him off more.
Realistically, I hadn’t slept with any of them, since none of them could make it that far without being drunk, asleep, or psychotic. But I was not about to admit that to them. I’d rather let them think I was ahead of the game. After all, I had a playboy reputation to protect and me not closing the deal, wasn’t it.
Carlos’s forehead creased and his lips pressed together, forming a perfect white line. He aimed his bat at the ball and swung his hardest.Yikes, not good.The bat rattled as it connected with the ball, which popped straight back for a foul. He stepped away from the plate, tapping it a little more than necessary considering it was practice and not game day. When he turned back, there was a hint of frustration mixed with something else. Something mischievous? Shit.
