Beyond the Bases

“Can’t. Thank you though.” I pull my hand from his and walk away, rushing back to the lounge, as we like to call it. It’s really just a place for the staff to wait so we’re not seen lurking around. We have screens on the walls that show us our customers, making it so we don’t have to hover: the perks of an upscale restaurant. Leaning my back against the wall, I take a deep breath and slowly exhale.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks.

“You need to take over my table,” I tell her. He’s too sexy, too charming, and I can’t afford that kind of distraction.

“Can’t. I have a party of eight. You know how confusing that gets, switching in the middle. Why, what happened?”

“Easton happened. He’s determined to keep asking me out. He slipped me his number then stopped me as I was walking by, asking me if I wanted to go out for coffee when I get off tonight.” Hell yes, I want to go. There’s not a female on the planet who wouldn’t want to go. I, however, can’t get caught up in him. Not now. I have too much going on in my life to fall for some famous athlete just to have my heart broken in the end. I don’t have time for heartbreak, or games for that matter. My life is way too complicated for that.

“And you said yes, right?” she asks, hopeful, but I can see it in her eyes that she already knows my answer.

“You know I can’t.”

“I know you can, but you refuse to. You have to live life, Larissa. My fear is one day you’re going to wake up and wonder what might have been.”

“Sure, what might have been heartache from letting a famous athlete fool me into thinking I could be enough for him,” I scoff.

“Do you know him?” she challenges me.

“You know I don’t.”

“Then you don’t know what his intentions are. You don’t know what kind of guy he is. You know what you’ve heard about athletes like him, but I know you’re smart enough to understand that the tabloids print complete shit. Listen, I need to get to my table, but you need to think about this. Give him a chance and feel out the situation before you jump to the conclusion that he’s some player on and off the field.” I watch as she turns and walks away.

Sucking in a deep breath, I compose myself. I have to serve them until they’re gone, so I’m just going to have to deal. He’ll be gone once they’re finished, and then everything will be right in my world. Although, right now it feels like my world is tilted on its axis and one wrong move could send me tumbling into an abyss.“She shot you down, Monroe,” Carr says, before biting down on his fist to keep from laughing.

“Yeah, you assholes didn’t help matters much,” I grumble. I should have known better than to bring them here.

“She the one you met that night?” Fisher asks.

I nod. They know I met a girl and was shot down, no thanks to Drew. He, of course, has been bragging all week that he took her friend Chloe home with him and that I struck out. I’ve had to listen to his replay all damn week when all I wanted to do was come here to see if she was working. Just wanting a chance to see her again. A chance to change her mind.

“Here you go,” Larissa says, appearing beside us. So lost in my thoughts of her, I didn’t realize she was here. She serves each of us and steps back from the table. “Can I get you anything else?”

“Yeah,” Fisher speaks up. “Can you please put our boy here out of his misery and go out with him? Or at least give him your number?”

A soft smile pulls at her lips. She opens her mouth to answer him, and her eyes find mine. She looks at me like she’s trying to put together a puzzle but doesn’t quite have all the pieces. “Trust me, Easton.” Her voice is soft, almost fragile, as if one wrong word could break her. “I have more going on in my life than you want to take on. You should count this one as a loss and focus on someone else.” That last part is whispered so low I can barely hear her.

“What if I don’t want anyone else?” I’m fully aware we’re in a crowded restaurant and people are watching. I’m aware that nine chances out of ten this will more than likely end up in the tabloids tomorrow. I also know I don’t give a fuck about any of that. All I care about is letting her know I’m serious when I say I want to take her out and get to know her. I’m drawn to her. The need to know more about her is just that—a need. The want is there too.