“Hey, bud, thanks for filling in,” Jake said.
“I hadn’t realized there was a choice.” He sounded like the old Ryan: grumpy and pissed off most of the time.
He wore the Lakers cap pulled low, an old T-shirt, shorts, and trainers, and looked like any one of the guys she called friend. Why, then, did he just have that extra edge for her? That extra something that made her feel alive.
“How is it you have millions of people fooled into liking you?” Jake asked him. “I mean, you and Buster used to fight for the grumpiest asshole when we were growing up. Now you have adoring fans.”
“I took acting lessons,” Ryan said.
“For real? I did wonder when you were interviewed on that entertainment show. You were a regular Chatty Cathy.”
“No, he wasn’t; that lead singer had to talk for him most of the time,” Newman said.
“Warms my heart that you saw that interview,” Ryan said.
“Wanted to know what you were like now, seeing as I was joining the family.”
Faith watched her brother throw a shirt at Ryan.
“It’s my spare, so it may be a bit big on a wiener like you. And take that dirty cap off; it’s offensive.”
“Now, we all know who’s the big boy here,” Ryan said, stripping off his T-shirt.
She had glimpses of a hard-muscled stomach and a full arm of amazing artwork before he pulled on the team shirt.
“I have a Longhorns one,” Brad said.
“Here.” Buster thrust him one he’d got out of his bag. “What’s left of his hair will fall out if you make him wear that.”
“You all good on first base, Ryan?” Jake asked.
“It’s been a while, but I think I still remember.”
They started chucking the ball around and doing some batting practice while the other team did the same.
They threw in some hard fastballs for Ryan, and he caught them.
“Your reflexes are a bit slow,” Newman called.
“Hardly surprising, when you consider his lifestyle,” Brad added.
“Is that tambourine heavy?” Buster jeered.
“Jealousy is a real ugly trait,” Ryan drawled, throwing the ball to Tex in the outfield. “Hey, Mikey.”
Faith watched the boy wave back. It seemed he’d got over his shyness.
“Mikey’s the water boy,” Faith said.
“Important job,” Ryan added, throwing him a wink. He then moved closer to where Faith stood. “You doing okay today?” he asked her.
“Great, and thanks for checking on me. But you didn’t need to punch Blair.”
“Sure I did. Plus, I got to kiss you, and it was pretty damn good, right?”
Heat sizzled between them.
“It was okay, but we won’t be repeating that, Ryan.”