The Locker Room(23)

“What do you think of the donut? Good?”

“I think it has the potential to be one of the best donuts I’ve ever had.”

“Big statement, are you sure you want to put that out there in the universe?” he asks, licking his finger. I carefully watch as his tongue peeks out and cleans the icing off his finger. Okay, that’s oddly nice to watch.

Peeling my eyes away, I study the cherry lemonade donut. “I’m pretty confident about it.”

He lifts up the blueberry streusel and says, “Then allow me to blow your mind.” He breaks the donut in half just like the other one but instead of handing it over, he carefully raises it to the sky, letting the sun pay it homage, and then hands it over using both hands. “The holy grail of donuts. Enjoy.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” I snag the donut from him and take a bite.

Oh.

Damn.

Blueberry yumminess, streusel perfection, fried doughy-ness. This is pure heaven.

I try to hide the look on my face but he catches it and points, knowing all too well that he was right and there’s no use hiding it.

Dropping my guard, I say, “Holy hell, this is so freaking good.”

He smacks his thigh like a doof and then fist-pumps the air. “Yes. Told you, Em. Stick with me, babe, and I’ll show you all the good things about Brentwood.”

I smile, liking the way babe so easily rolled off his tongue. The only thing Neil ever called me was Emory. Yes, that’s my name, but after six years of being together, you’d think he would have some sort of pet name for me.

Nope.

Knox is different though.

Do I find Knox Gentry attractive? Of course, there is no way any woman on this planet would consider him anything but good-looking, and his outgoing personality just adds to the appeal. But can I see myself with this man? Not really, at least not right now. He seems too good to be true—perfect actually—especially for a girl who was burned by her last relationship. There has to be a flaw somewhere when it comes to him, and I’m simply not seeing it yet.

“According to my roommates, you play shortstop, right?”

“Yup.” He shoves the rest of his donut in his mouth and reaches for another but doesn’t hand me the other half. Instead he rests it in the box, noticing that I already have my hands full with my partially eaten halves.

“Is it hard?”

“Is what hard? Playing shortstop?”

“Yeah. I mean, I haven’t watched many baseball games but the ones I’ve seen, the shortstop always seems to be running all over the place. How do you know where to go all the time?”

“Second nature by now. I’ve been playing the position ever since I was seven. Over time, your body just reacts and knows where to go and when.”

“Do you like it?”

“Love it,” he answers, his eyes lighting up. “I love being in control of the infield and outfield, letting everyone know where the ball needs to go in every situation. I love giving signs to my teammates, trying to fake out the other team. I love the unpredictability of the game, unsure if we’re going to turn a double play or if the pitcher is going to let a homerun fly. It’s a back-and-forth battle every game, and the only thing you can do in the battle is refer to your basic instincts and the training you’ve put your body through, hoping it’s been enough.”

“Has it been enough?”

“Most of the time, but we have our off days.”

“When does your season start?” I ask, taking another bite of my donut and then sipping on my coffee. I admit, this is a pretty perfect morning with the fresh donuts, beautiful scenery—including the man next to me. I’m glad I took the walk.

“We have some fall ball to test our freshmen and see where we have holes in our roster, but we won’t start our real season until February where we have pre-season games, and then we go balls to the wall after that until June. We’ll practice every day along with agility and weights and then individual practices with coaches.”

“On top of your school schedule?”

He nods and brushes his hands off on a napkin. “It’s intense, but you get used to it. We still have plenty of off time too, well, not plenty, but enough so we don’t go crazy.”

“And here I thought my new internship was going to take up a lot of my studying time.”

“New internship?” He gets excited and rests his arm on the back of the bench as he turns toward me. “What kind of internship?”

“Just working in the library. I was excited about getting it, though. It will be great experience when I start applying for jobs.”

“That’s awesome.” He leans over and tips my chin up with his finger. “Congrats, Em.”

“Thank you,” I answer, feeling my cheeks heat up. “It’s not that big of a deal, but still exciting.”

“Don’t downplay your accomplishment. It’s amazing, and you should be proud.”

“Well . . . thank you.” God, he makes me feel so . . . free inside, it’s insane. Just being around him for twenty minutes I feel rejuvenated. I glance at the box of donuts and then at my watch. “I should start walking back, and I’m sure I’ve taken enough time from your run. Thank you for the donuts.”

His face falls for a second, but he stands with me and picks up the box, handing it over to me. “Here, you take them. Running with donuts will be clumsy.”