“Good. See, I told you softball wasn’t that hard.”
“Oh, no. That part was terrible.” She laughed. “Horrible. Not the game itself, I guess. Just my skill level. In fact, I’m pretty impressed with everybody for not just booting me right off of your team after my first attempt at batting.”
Troy chuckled. “I’m sure somebody’ll find that ball someday.”
“But what I liked—no, what I loved—was hanging out with your friends… during the game and especially afterward. They’re a really fun group.”
“Yeah, they are,” he said, pride and affection in his voice as he talked about his friends. “And I think it’s pretty safe to call them your friends, too, at this point. You were a big hit.”
“You think?” she asked hopefully.
“I know.”
His answer was so immediate and assured that she felt comfortable believing him. It made her happy, and it was just one more thing that made the place feel a bit more like home.
They climbed the steps to her porch, and she wondered if they were caught up in some kind of glitch in the space-time continuum. It had felt like just a few fleeting seconds since she and Troy had stepped out of Cupid’s Arrow. Yet, in another sense, it also felt like forever.
They stopped at her door and faced each other.
Should I invite him in? Is that what he expects? What’s the protocol, here?
She hadn’t been walked home by a date since she was sixteen years old. It was fair to say she was a little out of practice.
Just as she was about to get truly nervous, though, Troy took control of the situation. Like a true gentleman, he put his hand on her waist and leaned down to give her a kiss.
It was a perfect kiss in every way—sweet but not too sweet, passionate but not too passionate. It was her dream kiss, and if one of her playwright friends had written the scene for her, they couldn’t have crafted it with any more emotion or impact than it had.
When he pulled back, he brushed her hair from her face and gave her a heart-stopping smile. “See you tomorrow night.”
His voice was low and sexy, and his lips had been warm and sweet, and she’d never been more anxious for a twenty-four-hour period to hurry up and pass.