Winning With Him (Men of Summer #2) by Lauren Blakely

“I know exactly what you mean, and I can’t wait for both the fuck-fest and the cuddle-fest. But the event sounds cool too—the type of thing I’d want to attend with you someday. Go together, hold your hand, kiss you on the cheek.” Those are my couple goals, and I want to reach them.

“We would be so cute. They’d love us,” Grant says.

I laugh. “Poster men for the Alliance, eh?”

“Well . . . if the shoe fits. Too bad you’re only in town one night. The silent auction kicks off a weekend-long carnival the Alliance is doing for teens and local high schoolers.” He tells me more about the carnival and his role, and it sounds like a blast.

“I wish I were there to go with you.”

“Going with you sounds as nice as a cuddle-fest.”

“It does.” I clear my throat and broach a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about for three months. “When I see you, do you want to try to figure out how to do this thing?”

“You mean like long-term?”

“I do mean long-term, Grant. I feel long-term for you. All kinds of long-term,” I say, my heart thrumming.

He hums like I’ve made him so damn happy. “I do want to figure it out. I want to be with you,” he says. He is as serious as I am, and that’s all that matters to me.

We’re on the same page.

If only our circumstances would align a little more.





The next morning, I go for a run in Central Park with Holden, who’s in town for our series with the Dragons. As we round the Reservoir, we catch up on things with his new coach, then life, then dating.

“Are you still all nose to the grindstone, focused only on baseball?” I ask.

“Pretty much. I haven’t seen anyone for the last two years.” Then, he adds like it’s a secret, “Well, except for this one woman.”

“Then, there is someone?”

“Sort of,” he says, as noncommittal as one can get.

Maybe it’s the session yesterday with Carla. Maybe it’s the end of years of uncertainty. But fuck noncommittal.

“Why ‘sort of’?” I demand. “You either know or you don’t know. What’s the story?”

“She was out of the country for a while. It sounds crazy, because I didn’t even know her that well, but now I do, and I think she’s why I didn’t date for two years. Pretty sure in some ways, I was waiting for her to come back.”

I shake my head. “Man, you’ve got a second chance with someone you waited two years for, and you’re only on the sort of path with her?”

“It’s not that simple,” he protests.

“Second chances never are, but if you’ve got one, don’t squander it. Do everything to make it happen,” I say, my tone way intense for a morning run.

Or maybe it’s exactly as intense as it should be.

Because Holden’s not the only one who needs to follow that advice.





May





35





Grant





Twenty-four hours.

I’m seeing Declan in twenty-four hours. I haven’t seen him since February and this sex-camel lifestyle sucks.

Though, boyfriend desert is more like it. I’m trudging through the sand, trying to reach the oasis of Declan. I miss all of my man. I want to curl up with him and kiss him. I want to fuck him and talk to him. Hell, I want to learn to cook with him.

But, between baseball and charity work, friends and family, the days go by quickly. On Wednesday morning, I can’t sleep, knowing Declan is landing in this city tomorrow night. After a morning run and a long gym workout, I swing by The Lazy Hammock before it opens.

“What does it take to get some service around here?” I say as I stride into the joint.

River’s hunched over the bar, working on his laptop. “It takes my co-owner dishing the details on his love life,” my inked business partner says.

As I get near, he swivels his laptop away from me and looks up. I arch a brow as I head to the counter in the empty establishment. “Dude, were you just watching porn at work? Is that why you hid your laptop?”

Flicking his blond hair off his forehead, River rolls his brown eyes. “Why is that your default? Pot, kettle, perhaps?”

Laughing, I grab a stool. “You can bust me on a lot of things, but it’s pretty safe to say I don’t watch porn while I’m catching a game.”

“And I don’t watch it when I am balancing the books at our business enterprise. If you must know, I was finishing this beautiful spreadsheet, but I can show you a preview. But fair warning—it’s so sexy you might come in your pants.”

River spins the laptop back around, clicks on the spreadsheet, and shows me all sorts of multiples and ROI and lots of yummy numbers stuff.

“That does, indeed, make me need to change my shorts. You did good on this place,” I tell him proudly.

“No. We did. We made this happen together.”

“You get the credit, my man. Ten cities. The bar is killing it,” I say, then sigh as I glance around, a little wistful. This place means a lot to me. “I can’t wait for Declan to check it out again.”

River’s eyes twinkle. “Now you’re talking—dish on your love life. I want to hear all about Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome.”