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He shook his head. Of course she was naked. Half the time when he pictured her, she wasn’t wearing a thing. Well, maybe those red heels she’d worn at the Candy Shoppe Lounge.
Rafe was the first to notice Aiden wasn’t joining in on the conversation about Lily’s cooking.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like her food?”
Aiden shrugged and turned back to his locker, hanging his shirt up and grabbing his warm-up jersey.
“I haven’t tasted any of her food.”
He heard the laughter of the guys around him as they processed what he said, but it was Rafe who grilled him.
“Why didn’t you hire her? You got all of us to hire her.”
Aiden shrugged another shoulder but didn’t say anything. What could he say?I couldn’t stand the temptation of having her around?I didn’t want to risk getting caught in the curse so I’m avoiding the one woman I’ve met lately who draws me in like nobody’s business?He couldn’t tell any of them that.
He heard the guys slowly go back to getting into their warm-up uniforms, but Rafe stuck close to him. When the rest of the guys started to file out onto the field, Rafe leaned in.
“You like her. You had all of us hire her to help her out, but you didn’t hire her yourself. Only reason to do that would be to avoid her. And, the only reason to avoid her is because you like her.”
Aiden turned and leveled a look at Rafe.
“You’re making more out of this than it is. It’s not a big deal, Rafe. I just don’t think I need someone to cook for me.”
Rafe grinned.
“I dare ya.”
“What? Dare me to what?” Aiden asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like this answer. Rafe knew he wouldn’t back down from a dare.
“Hire her. Hire her to cook for you,” Rafe said, his grin wider than ever.
Aiden ground his teeth together and turned to grab his mitt from his locker.
“Sure,” he said, offering up yet another damned shrug to try to convince Rafe to back off. “I’ll hire her.”
But, as he walked from the locker room, Rafe’s laughter followed him, and he knew he’d just screwed himself. Screwed himself good.
Chapter Six
Aiden didn’t know if it was the dare from Rafe or the fact that the guys wouldn’t shut their damn mouths about her food, but he’d booked Lily’s services within the week. Now they sat side-by-side on his couch, going through her forms, talking about his schedule, his workout routine, and the recommendations for his diet made by his team doctor.
And, it was all he could do to focus on any of that.
She smelled freaking phenomenal. Like cinnamon and buttered sugar, and something he’d like to sink his teeth into. Aiden shifted on the couch, making sure his raging erection wasn’t blatantly obvious through his jeans.
“Last question,” she said, smiling up at him. She was all business, seeming utterly unaffected by him. “Any allergies to food that I need to know about?”
Damn, he was distracted. His allergy to shellfish had been drilled into him from a young age. He never forgot about it. Forgetting it could mean his life.
“Shellfish,” he said, sitting up and refocusing.
“Got it,” she said and whipped a roll of stickers out of the small organizer bag that sat by her feet. He watched as she stuck ashellfish allergylabel on each sheet of his form on the top and the bottom. No way those stickers could be missed.
“I’m impressed,” he said. “You seem to be really on top of everything.”
She grinned. “I love doing this. Getting everything exactly right for each client. It’s fun. I have to thank you, by the way. I have so many baseball players for clients, I’m able to devote two whole days to cooking just for you guys. You actually don’t have higher calorie needs than most people because you’re not in constant motion in your sport like some athletes, but you do have slightly different protein, fat, and carbohydrate balance requirements. I’ve also suggested some custom supplements for some of the guys, so if that’s something you’re interested in, we can work with your team doctor to come up with the right plan and tweak as we go along.”
She stopped and blushed. “I’m babbling. Anyway, thank you. For everything you’ve done.”
