Staring at her cell phone, which she’d deliberately left sitting out as a silent reminder to call her dad, Kit nibbled on her bottom lip. She’d never been this nervous about talking to her dad before. But then, she’d never really done anything he remotely disapproved of before, and he’d made his feelings about her dating Austin crystal clear the last time she’d seen him. What if he still thought she wasn’t good enough for him?
“Oh, stop being ridiculous,” she snapped at the empty room, snatching her phone off the desk and hitting the button to call her dad.
“Hey, pumpkin! How’s my favorite girl? I thought you’d forgotten all about your dear old dad.”
Guilt nagged at the back of her mind. She hadn’t intentionally been avoiding him, she’d just been busy. At least, that was what she’d been telling herself. “Just swamped at work, dad. But I have something that might make it up to you.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Home plate tickets to the Hawks home game this weekend.”
She winced and pulled the phone away from her ear at his loud whoop of excitement. “Fucking A! You serious, pumpkin?”
“Yup.” Dragging in a breath, she fought through the tightness in her chest to drop the next bomb. “Austin got them for us.”
“Barrick? You still seeing him?”
“Yes, I’m still seeing him.” She winced at the defensiveness in her tone and forced herself to relax. “He’s a really good guy, dad. I think you’ll like him.”
A long silence met her declaration, and she was about to ask if he was still there when he spoke again. “He treat you good?”
“Yeah, dad. He’s amazing. And he makes me feel… beautiful.” Heat filled her cheeks at the admission, and in that moment, she missed her mom like her own arm. The way she felt about her body, and the way Austin made her feel, were all things she could have spent hours dissecting with her mom. But it wasn’t anything she’d ever really talked to her dad about.
“Well, you’re the prettiest girl in the whole damn world, so why wouldn’t he make you feel beautiful?”
She snorted out a laugh. “Not hardly, but thanks anyway. I know he could do a lot better than me, but he seems happy.”For now.But she wasn’t going to think about that. She was just going to enjoy the time she had with him.
“You listen to me, Katherine Marie. If that boy thinks he can do better than my little girl, then he’s a complete moron and he doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”
Shock robbed her of the ability to speak for a long moment. “Dad, we both know all he’d have to do is whistle and a dozen pretty little groupies would come running.”You said so yourself.
“Maybe so, but he’d be an idiot to so much as look at any of them when he’s got someone like you, who’s not just a pretty face, but smarter than that whole damn team put together. Is he an idiot?”
Her world, which she hadn’t even realized was a little off balance until that moment, righted itself again. “No, he’s not an idiot.”
“There you go, then. If he gets stupid, you let me know and I’ll take care of it. Just because he’s Austin Barrick doesn’t mean he gets to be an asshole.”
“Duly noted. So, I’ll pick you up about ten on Saturday?”
“It’s a date.”
* * *
The confidence boosther dad’s little pep talk gave her lasted right up until they were escorted to their seats a few days later. She hadn’t seen Austin since he’d barged into her apartment and given her the best sex of her life, and she’d spoken to him less than she had when he’d been on the road.
And when an adorable, tiny little blonde introduced herself as “Tony’s wife but you can call me Claudia”, all of her insecurities came rushing back to the surface. Maybe Claudia wasn’t a supermodel, but she definitely fit the idea of “baseball player’s wife” better than Kit.
“Your seats are next to me. Tony said it was your first time. You’re here with Austin?”
A distinctly feminine snicker had Kit glancing over her shoulder at a pair of brunette beauties with their heads together. Her gaze collided with one of them, who quickly looked away, but the smirk on her face told Kit she didn’t feel an ounce of guilt about being caught.
Turning back to Claudia, she forced a smile. “Yes. I’m Kit, and this is my dad, Charlie.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Torres.” Reaching around her, dad shook the little blonde’s hand, giving it a little squeeze that made Claudia giggle.
“It’s just Claudia. Are you two big baseball fans?”
“The biggest,” Dad confirmed with a grin, slinging his arm around her shoulder. The casually affectionate move calmed some of the anxiety churning in her stomach. “Kit’s first word was ‘OUT!’. I don’t think her mother ever really forgave me for it.”