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“That’s adorable!” Claudia gushed, pressing a hand over her heart. “Tony Jr., he’s just learning to talk, and I keep telling Tony he’s gotta be careful about what he says ‘cause once they start, babies pick up every word you say. And the only ones they want to repeat are the naughty ones.”
“That’s the god’s honest truth there, Claudia. This one time, Kit was with me at the store and…”
“I don’t think Claudia really wants to hear all about me, dad,” Kit rushed to cut him off. She’d heard that opening enough to know it wasn’t a story she wanted repeated in public, especially with the stares she swore she could feel boring a hole in her back.
“Oh, I want to hearallabout you,” Claudia insisted, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “But there’s time for that at the cookout later.”
Kit could have sworn she deliberately raised her voice, a suspicion that was confirmed when Claudia jerked her head towards the bimbo twins and rolled her eyes.
“How old is Tony Jr.?” Kit asked, more out of a desperation to turn the conversation away from her than any real desire to know. But thirty seconds into Claudia gushing over her sons—Tony Jr. had a younger brother named Gabriel—Kit found herself forgetting all about the snickers and stares for awhile.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she grinned when she saw Austin’s name on the screen. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready, Mr. Barrick?”
“I was born ready, baby. And don’t think I didn’t catch that. You think I won’t punish you just because we have some people coming over?”
Suddenly keenly aware of the fact that she was seated between her dad and an almost complete stranger, she quickly made her way over to the stairs for a little privacy. “You wouldn’t,” she shot back, with more certainty than she felt.
“I could teach you a very painful lesson without making a sound, kitten. You really want to risk that?”
“Ah,” a quick glance around confirmed nobody was close enough to hear her. “No, sir. I’m sorry.”
“There’s my good girl. God, I miss you. I changed my mind, cookout is canceled.”
“It’s at your house, Austin,” she reminded him, doing her best to ignore the sudden aching need in her pussy. “You can’t skip your own dinner party.”
“Sure I can. I’ll give Torres a key and we can go to your place, instead.”
While that sounded infinitely better than making small talk over burgers, she shook her head. “No can do. You promised my dad dinner with not one, but two professional shortstops. He’ll be devastated.”
“Fine. But I’m having you for dessert.”
“Austin!”
“What? You’re my favorite sweet treat.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I dare you to say that to me when I’ve got you tied to my bed and you’re not allowed to come until I let you.”
“I’m hanging up now, Austin.”
“I gotta get going, anyway. Enjoy the show, kitten.”
“Yes, sir.”
Was her face as bright red as it felt? She hoped not, or her dad was going to have questions.
When she returned to her seat, Claudia handed her a bottle of water. “Looks like you could use this,” she whispered, her lips twitching with obvious amusement.
Oh, god. “That obvious?” Kit whispered back.
“Only because I was paying attention. Looked like that was some phone call.”
It might have been fun to share if her dad hadn’t been sitting right beside her, his eyes locked on the empty field in front of them. Twisting the cap off the bottle, she took a long pull just as the players started to file onto the field. Austin took his place beside his teammates for the anthem, but he turned to scan the crown behind him.
Her heart stuttered in her chest when his gaze slammed into hers. There was heat there, even from a distance, but even more than the heat was the joy. His entire face lit with pleasure when he found her, and he gave her a little wave.
Lifting her hand, she waved back, even stepping out of her comfort zone enough to blow him a kiss. The goofball pretended to catch it and stuff it in his pocket before turning back around.
