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“Sure, that’d be great.”
Peyton grabbed Ryan’s button-up shirt off the floor and slid it on.
“Looks good on you.”
She glanced back at him lying in her bed, and her stomach flipped again. She definitely needed a little space. It was just great sex. Okay, mind bending sex, but still just sex. Nothing else.
She quickly went to the bathroom, then padded into the kitchen and poured two glasses of water.
When she walked back into her bedroom minutes later, Ryan was asleep in the bed. She breathed a sigh of relief, probably for the best. The last thing she needed was to get to know him better and find out her first impressions had been completely wrong. Nope. Not doing that.
Chapter Eight
Peyton glanced down at her ticket, then slowly made her way down the stairs to her seat. She eyed the empty seat and the woman beside it. Taking a deep breath to fortify herself, she slid into the vacant seat.
“Hi Kendall.” She eyed Ryan’s sister, clad in her Saunders jersey and Hawks cap. Looking down at herself, she suddenly felt decidedly under-dressed. Should she have worn a Graves jersey for effect? Isn’t that what girlfriends did? Even fake ones?
“Hey Peyton, how you doing?”
“No complaints. Thanks for allowing me to sit with you.” Peyton scanned the surrounding area. A group of men middle-aged men lined the row in front of them. A family sat beside Kendall. “I would have thought you’d sit with the other wives and girlfriends.”
“Nah, too much drama and besides, I like to sit here, so I’m closer to Pete.”
“Right, close to shortstop.” Peyton glanced down to the field. “How come you don’t sit in the first row, then?”
Kendall wrinkled her nose. “Too many asses in your face down there. Everyone lines up along the railing before the game and during the stretch, trying to get closer to the players. I like to be up a few rows so Pete can see me when he comes on the field.”
Peyton looked down at the railing lined with fans. “I see what you mean.”
The crowd roared as the players began taking the field for warmup. Kendall jumped up so she was standing. The infield players took their positions, and Pete looked up into the stands. Kendall blew a kiss down to him, and the man’s face lit up like he’d won the lottery.
Peyton’s heart did a little flip in her chest. What would it be like to be loved like that? To know in a crowd of people that someone was looking for you and only you and the moment they found you, it was like they had everything they’d ever wanted.
Kendall continued standing, and Peyton glanced around. The odd person was standing, but overall, everyone else was in their seats.
Peyton spotted Ryan walking across the field and taking his place on the mound. And just like Pete had done, he scanned the crowd along the third baseline. He smiled and tipped his hat. Kendall dropped into the seat beside her, and Ryan continued to look their way.
She sucked in a breath when it felt like he was looking right at her. But unlike when Pete saw Kendall, Ryan gave no outward indication that seeing her influenced him at all. Her chest tightened painfully. It shouldn’t hurt that he didn’t particularly care she was there but it did. What was wrong with her? Of course, he didn’t care. She didn’t care either.
But she kind of did a little.
Had Kendall and Pete not had this lightning bolt kind of moment she wouldn’t have even known that kind of thing existed, but now that she’d been hit by the blowback of their look she knew, and had to admit she kind of wanted that for herself. Maybe not with Ryan, but with someone.
Kendall glanced over at her. “Sorry, just a little pre-game routine I have with both of them.”
“No problem, it’s sweet.”
Kendall laughed. “For my brother, it’s not about being sweet, it’s all about superstition. When he moved away to billet, he did it at the first game we attended and had the best game of his life. The next time I saw him play while we were there, we were fighting, so he didn’t look at me and they lost, so ever since then it’s been this whole thing.”
Peyton didn’t respond. She simply smiled at the other woman. But god, that little superstition kind of made it even cuter.
The person selling beer walked past and Kendall let out an ear-piercing whistle. The man turned around with the shelf of beer resting on his stomach and scanned the crowd.
“You want one?” Kendall asked.
“Absolutely.” Alcohol was a necessity to get through this day. What had she been thinking, agreeing to hang out with Ryan’s sister? She barely knew the guy.
Okay, so they’d had sex, but they’d barely spoken since. It had been completely physical, or at least that’s what she was telling herself. And they certainly weren’t friends. Gah, she didn’t have a clue how she was supposed to act in this situation.
