He’d thought he was insular, not antisocial, yet he’d been fooling himself.
“I’m thinking of asking her out.”
“What? Who?” Nash shot his brother a look.
“Charlotte Howard. She’s nice, and we get on.”
“You should. She may even say yes.”
“She’ll say yes. No woman can resist me, unlike you.”
Nash pulled into a parking space outside the Ryker Falls rec center.
“So about Luna.”
Nash turned and leveled his brother his best “you speak about it again and I’m hurting you” look.
“Fine. But she’s nice.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“I know people.” Ford banged a fist on his chest.
“You don’t know shit.” Nash got out of his pickup.
“You don’t know shit. I know shit.”
“They talk like us,” Luke Trainer said to Joe as they wandered into the rec center before the Winter brothers.
“No one talks like us,” Joe said, slapping hands with Ford, then Nash. “And where did you disappear to last night?”
“I had a headache,” Nash lied. “Didn’t want to spoil your fun, so I left without hugging you.”
Joe studied him with a smile. “Man, that’s no good. I hope Luna had some aspirin.”
Luke and Ford laughed. Nash scowled.
“She’s good people, bud.” Joe punched his shoulder. “Just messing with you. Your secret is safe with us.”
Inside it was bustling with people gathered in clusters. He saw a few different uniforms.
“How many teams are here today?” Ford asked.
“Meant to be three, but we got the Pissants to come,” Luke said.
“Pilker Peasants,” Ford said.
“Them.” Joe nodded.
“So us, you, and the Pissants. Who’s the fourth team,” Ford asked, looking around.
Nash saw who the fourth team was. They wore black and had the words “We Got Game” in white on them. His eyes found Piper, Rory, Charlotte Howard, and a few other locals. He found Luna last and acknowledged his immediate accelerated heartbeat for what it was. He was seriously gone for that woman.
She wore shorts that shaped her perfectly formed ass. The ass that last night he’d had his hands on when he’d— Nash made himself look away from her as his body stirred. When he looked back, she was doing a layup. The black shirt rose, showing him some skin. Nothing different from what those around her wore, but he wanted to walk over there and pick her up, wrap those legs around his waist, and make a run for it.
“Well now, this is interesting,” Ford said, shooting Nash a grin.
Nash did what he did best and ignored him.