Page 93 of I Wish He Would

I extricate my hand from her weird grip. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

“Of course not.” She turns back to Alyssa. “So, I met this guy at the grocery store right before the trip. I was grabbing some anti-nausea medicine for the flight and, lo and behold, this hunk of a man appeared in my aisle. I struck up a conversation, and he said he was there to get some vitamins. He did grab prenatal ones, which I thought was a little odd”—she waves her hand, brushing off the thought—“but he was attractive enough that you could totally look past it.”

“Me?” Alyssa balks at the same time as I say, “Her?”

“Yeah.” The wrinkles on Patrice’s forehead deepen.

I wrap my arm protectively around Alyssa. I’m not the kind of guy to get jealous or be possessive. She’s a grown woman. She’s smart and can hold her own. But the way her cousin just casually brushed me off like I was nothing more than lint on her dress has me wanting to rip off my shirt and beat my chest, pronouncing Alyssa as my girl.

Alyssa jumps in before I can start undressing. “I’m already taken, so no further blind dates are needed.” She interlocks our fingers, and I immediately feel my body begin to settle. “Ever.”

My safe place. My calm. My person.

Patrice shrugs. “Your loss.”

If the prenatal vitamins the guy was buying are any indication, I’d say it’s really a win.

“We’re going to grab some cake.” Alyssa starts walking toward the dessert table, pulling me with her. “Great seeing you, Patrice.”

She waves over her shoulder. When we’re far enough away from her, she shakes her head. “Sorry about that.”

“You can’t control your family members.” I squeeze her hand. “And look at you telling her to stop setting you up. Was it her attempting to set you up with a random stranger who bought himself prenatal vitamins that really sealed the deal?”

Alyssa laughs. “That and I just finally realized that I don’t owe her anything.”

“I’m proud of you.”

She beams up at me. “Plus, I’m already happily taken.”

“And in love?” I ask before I can think better of it. I shouldn’t have said that. Not when I still need to reach out to my agent and see if he’s heard anything else about me potentially being traded mid-season. I don’t want any more questions about the future dangling over my head before I tell her that I love her.

She ducks her head against my chest. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

I press a kiss to her temple, hoping she can sense the depth of my feelings even without me saying the words. “But I’m glad I did.”

When I don’t say anything else, Alyssa grabs a plate and starts loading it up with multiple sweets. When she realizes I’m not making a plate of my own, she shoots me a look. “You’re not getting anything?”

I rub my stomach. “I’m still stuffed from dinner.” Between the appetizers, salad, and surf and turf, I’m not sure I could fit anything else in without feeling sick, and I’ve got a game tomorrow. “You’re not coming to my game tomorrow night, right?”

She grimaces. “No, we have girls’ night. Normally, we’d all come cheer you on, but since I haven’t seen them all week, I thought we’d stay home. Is that okay?”

I nod, even though the thought of her not being there makes me feel like there will be a missing piece in the crowd. “Of course. You should catch up with your friends.” I run my hand along my scruff. “You could bring them on Saturday. You’ll have the box suite all to yourselves, and I could even get you on the field before the game if you want to come early and see the dugout.” I try to sound like I’m playing it cool, but I can hear the desperation in my voice. My desire to have her at the game is as clear as a cloudless day.

Alyssa’s quiet while she takes a bite of a sugared churro in chocolate sauce. I reach up and wipe a few sugar granules off her bottom lip. The motion instantly takes me back to the night we met, when I helped get some powdered sugar off her face. Her gaze finds mine, and I’d like to believe she’s thinking of the same memory.

“Saturday should work for us. I’ll talk to the girls tomorrow night,” she says once she’s finished her bite. “It would be fun to see how things look down on the field.”

My chest heaves a sigh of relief, knowing she’ll be there. “Great, I’ll let Henry know you’ll be there early. If you meet me by the locker room, I can escort you onto the field. Say, two hours before the game starts?”

“Sounds good.” She pops the rest of the churro into her mouth and moans. “You’re missing out.”

I could take a bite…but knowing I’ll get to taste it when kissing her later sounds even sweeter.

Looking out through the balcony window, I feel like I’m walking on literal sunshine. I’m filled with so much joy and lightness from the past few days with Austin. He fits into my life—into my family—so perfectly that I can’t imagine it without him.

My mind floods with images of him from last night. Holding one of my nephews in each arm on the dance floor, spinning them in circles until they were giggling with glee, so that my sister and brother-in-law could have the opportunity to dance together at the reception. That made him doubly hot. All the brownie points.

And clearly I’m addicted to sweets.