“Josh?” I softly whispered, not sure if he would hear me.
The sound of my voice had his hands pausing. The bed shifted when he abruptly let go and rolled away from me. “Morning. Sorry about that.”
“No worries,” I mumbled, climbing out of the bed, not sure what to do next.
“Where you going?” His voice was gruff, full of sleep.
“Home. Nora is back. Gotta get ready for our flight.”
“Right.” A shadow of disappointment crossed his face. Hewas quiet and I found myself wondering what the hell I should do.
“Thanks for letting me crash here.”
“Anytime,” he mumbled, sitting up, showing off his abs.
My inner thoughts screamed, “Are yousure you have to go?” Yes!
I gathered my stuff and headed toward the door rather hastily. This was why I didn’t sleep over. It was always awkward as fuck the next day. Plus, it wasn’t like he and I were even a thing. He was simply helping me out. Josh scrambled out of bed, adjusting himself, which I didn’t miss, and damn did that make me want to stay. But he surprised me by walking me to the door.
“Hey, uh,” he started to say something, but shook his head. “See you later.”
“See you later,” I echoed back and ducked out of his apartment.See you later? What the fuck was that?
Relief washed over me when I got home and the door was unlocked. Nora was making coffee in the kitchen. She took one look and nodded at the clothes that weren’t mine. “Nice. Love the look.”
“It wasn’t like that.”I wished it was. No, you don’t.
“I was stood up.”
“What?” She whirled around so fast that her coffee splashed on the floor.
“Yup. The hot online guy bailed. Never even messaged me back.”
“Oh, hun. I am so sorry! What an asshole. Where did you say he lived? I’m going to drive up there and dick punch a dude!”
I snort-chuckled. “Not worth it.”
“Meh, but it could be a good time.” She winked. Then a grave look washed over her face. “Wait, if he no-showed, where the hell did you stay?”
“Josh’s,” I replied casually, trying to brush it off.
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Even better!”
“Wasn’t anything like you’re hoping for.”
She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Could be if you dated him or fake dated him.”
“Uh,” I groaned. “Don’t start with that again.”
“Just saying, time is a ticking…”
My eye caught the clock on the wall. “Yup, and I have a flight to catch.”
Away from Nora’s watchful gaze, I stripped out of Josh’s clothes and gently placed them on the bamboo stool. Images of the way he stared at me like he wanted to devour me had me conflicted, because in spite of everything, I wished he did. No one had ever looked at me with pure sex on their mind. The heat he had caused to pool between my legs probably could have set his sheets on fire. The memories of last night had me hot as a tea kettle, I flipped the water to cold.
I showered in record time since I’d already washed last night. Mostly, I wanted to rub Josh’s scent off me. Then I changed into comfortable leggings and an over-sized tee, and packed for the three-game stint in Boston. Banishing my complex feelings toward Josh and how Nora’s logic about asking him to be my date seemed more like a possibility. As a distraction, I began making my checklist: check into the hotel, head to practice, room service, then relax. The series started tomorrow and that would keep me busy.
Despite the ease of the flight, I was on edge. May had started a group chat for my Papi’s birthday and each message filled me with anxiety about not having my date. There was an undertone in the texts, like they knew I was solo, except it was all in my head. No one had even mentioned it as they divided tasks for the party. My stress level was through the roof. Needing to take off some of the pressure, I grabbed myworkout bag and decided to hit the hotel gym. It wasn’t as fancy as our stadium one but it would do.
