As I drove back to Dottie’s apartment afterward, I thought about how misunderstood Walker is, how the media portrays him as the monster behind the plate when in fact, he’s a genuinely respectable guy. He might be short-tempered and have a lot of anger, but he’s still a decent man. I see his heart, and I hope I can help others see it too.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I boom, turning around to see a wooden spoon in Dottie’s hand, hovering over my tortellini soup that I’ve been nursing to perfection since I got home.
“It was bubbling, I was going to stir it.”
Hands held out to stop her, I say, “Don’t. Touch. It.”
She props her hand on her hip and points the spoon at me. “You know, I don’t appreciate your yelling. I’m being helpful.”
“Like you were helpful two nights ago where you burned the garlic bread to an unrecognizable state?”
“Who knew a broil setting could fry it?” She shrugs.
I point to my chest. “I knew. I KNEW. But you insisted upon taking care of it and then guess what happened? We had lasagna with no garlic bread.” I press my hand to my forehead, trying to calm myself. “No garlic bread.”
“Oh my God, get over it. I sucked you off as an apology.”
“And that apology was accepted, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt to think about it.”
“Why am I with you?” Dottie asks, setting down the spoon, causing me to relax.
She tries to walk past me but I snag her by the waist and press her against the counter. “Because you really like me, despite my neurosis. I honestly think you really like them. You live for them. If you don’t roll your eyes at least five times a day, you feel uneasy, dizzy, like you might not be able to get up the next morning.”
“How did you know?” she asks deadpanned, but with a tip of her lips, letting me know she’s just as humored as me.
Do you know what I live for right now? Seeing my girl try to hold back her laughter when I’m teasing her. She’s so guarded and uptight most of the time that I love seeing peeks of her beautiful personality.
“I just know you, babe.” I press a kiss to her nose and keep her held tight against me. I’ve been wanting to ask her something for a while now but I’ve been holding off, wanting to make sure we were pretty solid before I asked. I couldn’t ask for a more solid foundation at this point. “Hey, can I talk to you about something serious?”
“Serious? Do you even know that word?”
“On occasion.” I smile.
“Okay, should I be sitting down?”
“Nah, just stay here in my arms.” I reach up and push her hair behind her ear and then cup her cheek. I place a gentle kiss across her lips and when I pull away, I see the edge in her eyes disappear as they soften. I’m pretty sure they only soften for me, which makes me feel really goddamn special.
“You have my attention; what do you want to talk about?”
I entwine our fingers together and say, “So you know I’ve been working on that charity game, right?”
“Oh no, do you want me to play in it?”
“No.” I laugh. “Unless, are you good?”
“Not even a little. You would ask me to leave the minute I stepped onto the field.”
“Good to know. Glad you’re honest, but no, that’s not what I was going to ask. We’re going to have a celebration dinner after. Walker and I are funding the whole thing and we’ll announce the amount raised as well as present the checks to some of the local high schools.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her knuckles. “It’s about a month away, but things feel pretty solid between us so I was wondering if you wanted to be my date to the dinner? I’m telling you now so you can check your schedule. If you can’t make it, that’s—”
“Jason,” she says, her voice compassionate and sweet. “I’ll be there. No matter what, I’ll be there.”
“Yeah?” I ask, excitement blooming in my chest. “You’ll be my date, even a month out?”
She nods while linking her fingers around my neck. “I might be annoyed by you on a day-to-day basis and there are moments I want to strangle you, but you make me happy, Jason. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”
“God, that just made my dick hard.” It made my heart burst too, but I won’t be sharing that tidbit. I do know when to shut up. Sometimes.
She reaches down between us and cups me, causing my eyes to roll back. “Looks like we need to do something about that then.” She presses a quick kiss against my mouth and then drops to her knees, pulling my shorts with her.
God, this woman . . .
Chapter Ninety-One
DOTTIE
Ms. Domico,
We hope you’re fairing well. We’re sorry about the delay in our plans, but we wanted a few more weeks in peace and quiet before we made such a significant decision.
We talked it over and we’re hoping to have dinner with you, your dad, and hopefully, Jason. We understand Jason is a celebrity and we respect his privacy, but we’re not looking to have dinner with him because of his status on the baseball field, but because he’s the man who’s stolen your heart.
We understand this is a big ask, but we’re hoping you’ll say yes.
We’d love to set up dinner this Friday night? Let us know if that works for you.
Thank you and hope to see you soon.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Carlton
Friday. They chose Friday. They couldn’t have picked another day to give me more time to prepare? No, they chose Friday. Two days from now.
When I got the email, I panicked, because the subject line read dinner date, and then I read it and panicked even more. They want Jason there, and I know he’ll do it, but at this point, I can’t remember a damn thing I said to the Carltons about Jason. Will they remember every detail? I sure hope not, because that could be a disaster.
All I know is that I’m standing outside Jason’s apartment, trying to work up the courage to ask him to a business dinner. I know he asked me to be his date to his fundraiser, but this feels different. It feels like I’m using him to show the Carltons that I’m the right person for the job. And maybe that’s what propelled me to give in to the temptation of seeing what Jason and I could be, but it isn’t what’s kept me around.
I’m falling for the man and hard . . . that’s if I haven’t fallen already. Every day, every minute, I can feel myself growing closer and closer to him to the point that it feels like a piece of me is missing when he’s not around.
Which means this dinner should be easy, because there’s no faking the feelings I have for him.
Feeling like I gained some confidence back, I raise my hand to knock on the door when Knox and Emory’s apartment door opens.
“Oh,” Emory says, bringing her hand to her chest while nervously chuckling. “I wasn’t expecting to see you there.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “Going to visit with Jason?”
“Nope, I just like standing outside his door.”