“Because I’m with you,” I say.
Tyler nods once, turns to the field, stares at it for a few minutes in silence, and then out of nowhere he slips his arm over my shoulders and gently draws me closer to him. He lingers for a moment, and I wait, holding my breath while I try to figure out what he’s playing at. And then slowly he breathes a laugh and moves his lips to my ear. “I want you more than that kid down there wants to catch a foul ball,” he murmurs. His breath is hot, voice seductive. “I want you more than Snake wants the Red Sox to win.” Carefully, he brushes his lower lip over the soft spot just below my ear, and my entire body shivers. I’m frozen in position, though, and my eyes are set on the field below as I listen to his words. “You know what Derek Jeter is great at?” I can feel him smiling against my skin as he pauses for a moment. “Home runs,” he says. I sense him shift his free hand to my leg as he gently squeezes my thigh. “But I’m starting to wonder if tonight he wants a home run as much as I want you.”
Everything inside of me, every single inch of my body, ignites.
My stomach flutters and backflips and plummets and twists. My pulse pumps erratically beneath my skin so fast I can feel it. My heart is either contracting or exploding. Either way, my chest hurts with how hard it’s pounding. Goosebumps appear along my arms. My breathing slows until I think it’s stopped, until I think I’m suffocating. I can even feel myself breaking out into a sweat, but I try to convince myself it’s because of the heat and not the fact that I really, really want to kiss my stepbrother right now.
“How about we make a deal?” Tyler whispers, voice as lustful as ever. I grip the edge of my seat to stop myself from making a move toward him. Right now is most definitely not the time for me to be all over him.
“A deal?” I echo, but it sounds much more like a squeak than anything else. I’m still staring at the field, at the grass, at the home plate. Anything but Tyler. If I look at him right now, if I even so much as steal a glance at his smoldering green eyes, then there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to hold myself back.
“How about,” Tyler murmurs quietly, softly, “we play baseball?” His grip on my thigh tightens.
My voice catches in my throat when I realize he’s not talking about the sport. He’s talking about something entirely different, something so terrifying yet exciting at the exact same time. A thousand and one thoughts are consuming me as I try to process his words, and I’m so taken aback that there’s no way I can even attempt to reply. I feel sick with exhilaration and my chest rises and falls as I focus on my breathing.
Tyler doesn’t wait for me to say anything. Instead, he starts to rub soft circles on my thigh with his thumb as he leans even closer to me. He buries his face into my hair, all while he presses his lips to the edge of my jaw. I feel him smile again. “If Jeter hits a home run tonight,” he whispers against my skin, “how about we get our own too?”
He must feel my body shaking beneath him. He must surely feel the way I’m trembling at his touch. He must definitely notice, because when he pulls back slightly, out of the corner of my eye I can see him smirking at me. He knows the effect he has on me. He likes the effect he has on me. And admittedly, I like it, too. I like his proposition even more. I know I shouldn’t agree to it, though. I shouldn’t agree to it because of Dean, because I have a boyfriend back home, but it’s so, so tempting. How can I say no to Tyler? How can I say no to the person I’m in love with?
Finally, I look at Tyler. He’s smiling back at me, eyebrows raised and eyes sparkling, emerald as ever. “Deal,” I whisper.
13
Snake returns shortly after with a plastic cup of beer in each hand and a wide grin on his face. He’s so pleased that I don’t think he even registers how on edge Tyler and I must seem. Tyler has scooted back over to the other side of his seat, as far away from me as he can possibly position himself, and I’m gnawing at my lip hoping that no one around us will somehow figure out that we’re stepsiblings. It’s impossible for them to know, but it still makes me paranoid knowing that they’ve most likely witnessed Tyler whispering in my ear and touching my body.