Practice Makes Perfect (When in Rome, #2)

After a painful silence, I finally ask, “So where are you going on your date?”

She narrows her eyes. “Why are you asking?”

I pull an offended look. “What do you mean, why? I’m your dating coach. It’s my job to know everything about your dating life. This has nothing to do with the”—I lean in and lower my voice like I’m sharing a huge secret—“feelings we talked about earlier. Those are officially going back in the box where they belong from here on out.”

She laughs quietly. “Well, if you must know, we’re going to his nephew’s Little League game.”

My eyebrows fly up. “Little League? For a first date?”

She shrugs. “He’s a family man, apparently.”

When I laugh, I sound like a villain. “How perfect. I guess he’s looking for a wife to make him pot roast on the weekends too?”

“I hope not. I don’t know how to make pot roast.”

I hate him. Whoever he is.

But you know what? Brandon isn’t here with Annie now. I am.

“So…do you think he’ll kiss you today?”

Her eyes fly wide open. “I don’t know. Maybe? Oh gosh. Do you think he’ll try?”

I cross my arms and shrug. “I would kiss you on a first date.”

Her eyes hold mine—and they glint. She’s reading my mind again. She knows exactly what I’m doing and approves. “Well…maybe we could practice a first date kiss? You know, just so I’m not caught off guard.”

“Sure. Right.” I nod thoughtfully. “As your dating coach, it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re prepared for that kind of thing.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

I edge closer. “So how do you want to do this? Like…role-play it?”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeat while my heart pounds. “Time in,” I say, already pressing toward her.

She takes her fingers and presses them quickly to my lips to halt me. “Wait. I have a cold. I had a fever yesterday. I don’t want you to catch it.”

“Do you feel bad right now?”

“No, I feel a lot better today, but—”

“Then give me the damn cold, Annie,” I say quietly next to her ear. I feel her shiver lightly, but I know it’s not from a fever.

I slide my hands around her lower back, inching along the terrain I’m beginning to find familiar. I have this small divot memorized. The one right above her perfect ass. I know that if I splay my hand against it and press her to me, she’ll gasp lightly and then melt into my arms. I do it now, and after hearing the soft gasp that I’d like to capture in a jar and keep sealed away for eternity so no one else has the pleasure of hearing it, I begin. “Picture this: Your date is coming to an end. You’re sunburned from sitting for hours on the bleachers, and while standing next to your truck, he hands you a Capri Sun he snagged from Pam’s postgame snacks cooler…”

Annie laughs and shoves my chest playfully. “Stop it! That is not how it’s going to go!”

“Fine. I’ll be serious.” I make my face somber. “Annie…I had a great time with you watching children never hit a baseball for five and a half hours—”

“Useless! You’re useless!”

We’re both laughing and Annie is trying to tickle me, but instead, I scoop her up and carry her into her room to throw her on the bed. “Do you think there will be a bed at the baseball game?”

“Absolutely.”

“Thought so.” I hover over Annie and dip my head into her neck, running my lips across her skin. “Annie, thank you for the best first date of my life. Can we go out again?”

She sighs as I lightly lick the tender skin behind her ear. “I think that might be acceptable—yes.”

“Wonderful. How about next weekend? I know of a bouncy castle going up for an eight-year-old’s birthday.” I slant my mouth over hers before she has time to give me any sharp retorts, and she matches me kiss for kiss. Her tongue slides against mine, and her hands scale up my back. I’m shaking from how much I’m holding back. How much I want to peel her clothes from her body and consume her completely. It would be so good. We would be so good together.

But Annie’s not mine.

So I ease up and somehow manage to pull away from her—taking in her sad expression when I do. I kiss her cheek and her temple and her forehead. “I should go.”

Annie nods and sits up with me, following me out of her room and standing in the open front door as I walk out. Before I go, I can’t help but look back at her one more time. “Have fun on your date, Annie.” I pause. “Maybe he can take you out for some chicken nuggets afterward.”

She groans and rolls her eyes. “Shutting the door now!”

“Do you want to borrow a dollar for a soda in case he forgets his Velcro wallet?”

Bam!





CHAPTER THIRTY


    Annie


“Thanks for agreeing to come with me to my nephew’s game,” says Brandon. He’s sitting beside me on one of the metal bleachers that (as predicted by Will) is so hot it’s burning through the denim of my overalls. “I know it’s not normal, but…” He laughs and shrugs good-naturedly. “Well, honestly, this will be very normal for me now that I’m back. I plan on being more involved with my family than I have been in the past.”

Ten points in the family-man box.

“I think it’s great. Are any of your other family members coming?” I ask, thankful my cold medicine is working and my nose doesn’t sound like Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street anymore.

“No one other than my brother, Rob,” he says, pointing toward the middle-aged man standing on the field with his hands on his hips. “He coaches the team. And then my sister-in-law would normally be here, too, but she just had their baby two weeks ago, so she’s staying home today.”

Right. The one he bought flowers for. It seems like this guy is thoughtful in a big way. All the points for that.

“Do you have any other siblings in town?” I ask, while discreetly admiring his well-groomed beard and dark brown eyes. He’s also wearing a team T-shirt, Little Grizzlies, and I find it incredibly endearing.

Brandon has comfy vibes written all over him. Potential dad vibes. Just like Emily and Madison told me I needed.

“Nah—it’s just me and my brother. But our parents live in town too.”

Wow. Another check mark. He has parents in his life. Which means I could have parents in my life, too, if we work out.

“I bet they are excited to have another grandchild,” I say, feeling super proud of my small talk abilities today. This date is already proving completely different from my last one. I guess all the time I’ve been spending with Will has paid off. It’s not even that we practiced specific things about dating all that much. It’s more that I’ve learned over the last few weeks with him to trust myself and what I have to offer. He’s been a safe place for me to…

Ugh! No, Annie, stop thinking about Will!

Brandon laughs a nice low laugh. “Oh, they are. And they’re very eager for me to start adding some to the list as well. Which, I don’t mind because I’m eager to start a family too,” he says with an easy smile while looking out over the field. Not at all embarrassed that he just implied we’d get right to baby making if we work out. Funny how men can get away with saying things like that on a date and it’s endearing, but when I did, I got left ten minutes into the date.

I suddenly jump when Brandon claps and yells, “Let’s go, Hunter!”

He turns his face to me, and his smile only widens. It’s such a nice smile I wait for my stomach to flip. Go on, stomach, flip. Fine, a little roll then? Can I at least get a flutter? Listen…I’d settle for a twitch.

Nothing. Dang it.

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