“My work?”
“Baseball. If you don’t go to practice, do you get hit with some kind of fine or—“ I shook my head.
“I will when I play for the pros.”
“When you play for the pros,” she repeated with a bigger smile on her face. “What’s it like to know exactly where your life is going to take you?”
“What makes you think I know that?” I frowned, and she tsked, playfully rolling her eyes.
“Please. You know.”
“I do.” I nodded, leaning down, dipping as low as I could because of our height differences until my lips hovered just above the shell of her ear. “You’re part of that life now, little bird.” I kissed her cheek before pulling away.
She blushed furiously as she stared up at me. “You’re crazy.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t make that any less true.” Her eyes softened.
“You really believe that.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Like you said, I know it.” I winked. “What did Fergie want?” I managed to ask casually.
“Oh, to apologize for cancelling the hike.”
“Did you tell him we still went?”
“I did.” She grinned, and fuck me, it felt like she glowed. “I showed him some of the pictures I took.” The pride shone through her.
I remembered the way she’d taken her phone out to snap pictures of the view, and then it hit me, the slight shyness thathad crept in, and now I realized it was because she’d wanted to take a picture together but for whatever reason hadn’t asked. Why hadn’t I thought about it?Because anytime you look at her, your brain goes haywire, you idiot,a deep voice in my head growled. How could I have not insisted on taking a goddamn picture together Saturday? Hell, the entire weekend, for that matter? That was something I could fix and start working on from here on out.
“Let me see your phone,” I requested. She handed it over without a second thought, trusting me completely.
I leaned in and shook my head because the angle wouldn’t be right. I dipped lower and picked her up, wrapping my arm around her waist as her feet lifted off the ground, forcing Sadie to wrap her arms around me. She squeaked and held on tight.
“What are you doing?” She laughed. I grinned at her, raising the phone and snapping a picture of us looking at one another.
“We didn’t take pictures of us at the hike,” I explained and saw it in her face. Yeah, she had wanted to capture the moment but had been too shy to ask. Fuck. I’d messed up.
“I didn’t know if you would want?—“
“I want,” I cut her off, dipping my head to kiss the tip of her nose. “I don’t want there to be a moment we share without some kind of proof.”
“Proof?” She laughed, and I kissed her cheek while snapping away. “You’re crazy.” She posed in the frame, tipping her head towards mine as I snapped another.
“Crazy about you.” She turned, and I snapped a pic as her eyes went warm and almost molten before she leaned in and kissed me.
And, of course, I took a picture of that, too.
Somehow just taking pictures with her had slowly helped soothe the green-eyed beast inside me.
“So, you’re heading to practice.”
“Yeah, once Jer and Ferg finish getting our drinks.”
“Good.” She smiled.
“Any plans? Maybe I can stop by later.”
“I wish,” she groaned as I begrudgingly put her back on the ground. “I really do wish, but I won’t be back until late, and if I’m honest, I need to do some reading and get some sleep because Tuesdays and Wednesdays are pretty busy for me.”