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His brows slide up as his lip quirks. “The horns? We’re playing the Founders.”

“The Flounders?” My head tilts to the side. “Like the fish?”

Shane chuckles as he brushes a lock of hair behind my ear. “No, as in the Founding Fathers. The team is from D.C.”

“Ah.” I nod, pretending Shane’s casual touch didn’t send sparks shooting down my bare legs. “Then take ‘em by their powdered wigs.”

When he laughs, rich and unguarded, my heart gives a heavy thump.

And as Shane heads downstairs, glancing back at me every few steps with a boyish grin, I force myself to mentally hum the lyrics of my new favorite song.

Chapter 24

Willow

“Iwant you to teach me everything about baseball,” I tell Delilah after two and a half switchy things, which my best friend informs me are called innings.

“Really?” Delilah sends me a sly grin, adjusting her new Waves hat. “I wonder why.”

I know she’s teasing me, but I’m too focused on Shane’s practice swings to care. Even though I don’t fully understand the game, I can tell you with ten-thousand percent accuracy that I love watching Shane bat.

The measured way his muscles bunch as he focuses on the guy throwing the ball is nothing short of revelatory. Before each swing, there’s a slight shoulder roll, a shift of his back foot, and his jaw tightens like he’s going to crack a diamond with his teeth. Then he uncoils, swift and fluid, like he’s made of pure energy.

The first time he hit the ball deep into the outfield, an appreciative ‘Oh’ left my mouth wide open.

Delilah had simply patted my knee.

I might be a little late to the game—quite literally—but where has baseball been my whole life?

Not only is it fun to watch, but the players on both teams seem to like each other. No one is trying to tackle each other or beat anyone up. The Waves’ first baseman keeps joking with every player that comes through his position. It’s genuinely wholesome.

And when they don’t hit the ball correctly—it’s called a foul, by the way—the ball zips into the stands like a free souvenir. Who doesn’t love a freebie? No wonder so many fans are wearing baseball gloves.

But my favorite part is how everyone on the field does a cute little hop whenever the guy on the hill throws the ball. Shane’s hop is by far the cutest—not that I’m biased or anything.

“Why don’t you ask your husband?” Delilah bounces her blonde eyebrows. “He knows a lot about baseball.”

“He’s a bit busy right now,” I mumble, mesmerized by the way Shane’s thighs bunch before he rotates into his swing. “And you won’t mind if I ask the same question a hundred times.”

Delilah laughs, probably remembering how I had dozens of questions about different animal breeds when I started at the vet clinic.

“Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons blares over the speakers, and I perk up. That song means it’s Shane’s turn.

Or, wait, not his turn…his at-bat.

“Plus, I want to keep calling it ‘sportsball’ at home to mess with him.”

Delilah chuckles as we watch Shane foul two into the net that separates us from the field before it slices toward third. The third baseman snags the ball and fires it to the player on first before Shane can make it there.

“Darn,” I grumble.

“It’s okay. They’re still up by two.”

Four innings of intensive baseball instruction later, and I’m getting a little restless in the Waves family section. Don’t get me wrong, meeting the rest of the WAGS—or Wives and Girlfriends—has been better than I expected. I figured being an outsider would earn me a stiletto attack or, at the very least, some light mean-girling, but nope, everyone has been incredibly nice. They’re regular people, not anything like you’ve seen on the reality shows.

Mallory, Kai Sato’s wife, made sure that Delilah, Adam, Piper, and I were completely taken care of. Popcorn, hot dogs, and cotton candy abounded. Since Shane sent me an e-file with the carbohydrates for every item in the ballpark while I’d been catching up with Indy earlier, it made calculating my insulin easy.

Then Kenzie, Trevor Chapman’s wife, and I bonded over the fact that we’ve both been unintentionally detained by security. Apparently, there had been a mishap last season where she’d fallen off the top of the dugout and then had to dress as a grandpa in order to get back into the stadium.