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“Because you’re a flirt,” Ricci said flatly. I left them to their bickering as I signed the waivers and NDAs and other documents for this event. When I was done, the boys followed me inside without breaking their conversation. We followed the signs for volunteers to a back laundry room with boxes and boxes of clothes.

“Kodi!” Ricci shouted and Kodi’s head popped up from a large circle of people, most of whom were in shirts with the shelter’s logo. She said something to them before joining us.

“What’s up? You ready to get sorting?”

“After you settle this. Brooker is a flirt, yes?”

“Brooker!” she gasped and smacked the man.

“Fuck, why is everyone hitting me?”

“Were you flirting with one of the … beneficiaries?” she asked, making a face as she tried to pick a word for the women using the shelter.

“God no. As far as I know, we haven’t seen any. No, Ricci’s giving me shit for bringing Leah those ginger candies. Tell him I can be nice to women without flirting with them.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kodi’s shoulders relaxed. “Besides Christenson, Brooker’s the only one who’s gone to every volunteer event. He’s always going out of his way to help and brighten people’s day. It’s just as soon as he clocks the vibe that somebody’s into him, the flirt comes out.”

Ricci glared at Brooker for a second before rolling his eyes and muttering something in Italian. Then he took off to join the other group of volunteers.

“Did he just cuss me out?” Brooker asked, looking between Kodi and me.

“Given my limited knowledge of Latin-based languages … yes.”

“Fucker,” Brooker muttered before stomping over to Ricci.

“So,” Kodi said, turning her focus to me. “Did they give you the rundown up front?”

“Oh, no. But I was with those two, so they probably assumed I already knew what was going on.”

“Fair. So since we’re filming and shit, our volunteers will just be doing back of house work, specifically sorting donations, checking the clothes, and then doing the subsequent laundry. Our team photographers and videographers are in the yellow team shirts. I’ll probably take some short clips too, but we’re focused on getting content of the players, so don’t feel self conscious or anything. We’ll be doing an hour or so of candid shoots for B-roll before pulling Christenson aside for his solo shots.”

I nodded along as Kodi talked, scanning the crowd for Niall.

“He’s in the ‘dressing room’ getting a touch-up. Want me to show you the way?”

“Um, no,” I said and Kodi raised an eyebrow, clocking my uncertainty. But I was going to stand by what I said, because I had to be careful now that sex was a part of the equation. Plus seeking him out twice in a row was … new for me and it made me nervous. “No, I’ll see him eventually.”

“Uh-huh. Well, if you go join the boys, a staff member will guide you through the sorting criteria.” Since Kodi obviously wasn’t buying my nonchalance, I gave her a tight nod and sat over with the other players.

It turned out we were working in groups. And since Niall didn’t get out of "make up" until much later, he was in another group while I was stuck with his teammates.

Well, not stuck. Ricci, Brooker, and Carter were all cool dudes and I enjoyed their company as we sorted through clothing donations. But I was also all too aware of Niall on the other side of the room.

“She does have one college friend in the area, but their hobbies are very different,” Ricci said, talking about his girlfriend again. Since she moved down here for him, he was bound and determined to make her Florida life as good as possible. Which meant fulfilling her social needs by asking every woman he crossed paths with if they’re looking for a friend. It was sweet.

“What do you mean ‘different’? Like is your girl shopping and this girl nature hikes?”

“No, she likes those Japanese cartoons.”

“Which ones?” Carter asked, suddenly looking up from the shirt he was inspecting for holes. It was the first time he initiated any part of the conversation, so I assumed anime was his special interest.

“How would I know?” Ricci scoffed. Meanwhile, Brooker started bouncing in his seat.

“Bring her to the shower, man! Let’s hook Carter up.”

“Hook him up?” I laughed. “You know one thing about the girl and you already think they’d be a good match?”

“I’ve got a nose for these things.”