“Hey Alex? Is that your boyfriend?”

Alex looked up, from handing out bottles of water, to find Lizzy Bishop, one of Jenna’s friends, pointing toward the field’s parking lot. All the girls looked, every teenage eye going wide.

Jenna snickered. “That’s him.”

Alex turned to see him sauntering in their direction, his car completely out of place amongst the minivans and pickup trucks that littered the parking lot.

And then there was Dylan himself, still in his full work getup, looking like he’d just stepped off the pages of a magazine. His hair was perfectly combed to the side, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. Even his hands stuffed in his pockets looked staged as if he were walking a runway.

“Why are there always hot guys coming to your games?” one of the girls asked Jenna. “There’s that other guy, the one with the dimples that comes and flirts with all the moms.”

“Cole,” Alex and Jenna answered at the same time, knowing they were talking about Logan’s cousin Cole Williams.

“And the one whose butt looks like it’s made of steel.”

Alex raised a brow at Cassy, the third baseman for Jenna’s team. “All you’ve noticed is his butt?”

The girl barely blinked. “He seems nice,” she said with a shrug.

“That’s Tucker,” Jenna supplied, strapping on her catcher’s gear. “Has to be. No one would ever say that Elliot seems nice.”

Alex thought about her friend Julia Hawkins and how kind and patient Elliot Williams was with her. She’d bet her life that Julia thought he was nice and that despite his demeanor, he was enough for someone just the way he was. He didn’t have to live up to anyone else’s expectations of what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Even Julia, who was hard to get to know, her outer shell nearly impenetrable and her conversation skills near zero. Alex still considered her a friend, Julia’s contribution to her life well above meaningful.

“He’s got this whole Christian—”

“Don’t!” Alex shouted, hand up, stopping Frankie, the right-fielder from going any further. “No more words. Not from any of you.”

The girls all giggled and trotted onto the field, still whispering and sending glances in Dylan’s direction.

“What’s so funny?” Dylan asked, sneaking his arms around her waist from behind and nuzzling her neck.

“A bunch of teenagers just informed me that they think you bear a striking resemblance to a certain famously fictitious billionaire with a penchant for bondage.”

He pressed himself closer, his erection hard against her butt. “How much bondage are we talking here?”

“None,” she tried to snap, but the kisses he was laying along her throat were bone-melting and instead, she just leaned into him. She snaked her hand up and around his head, holding him close. “You don’t have to tie me down. I’ll stay still.”

“You will not,” he accused, his words a hot whisper across her skin. She felt her nipples harden and wanted to be embarrassed but just couldn’t bring herself to care if people saw them. “Every time I tell you to stay still, you just move more. Your hips get all squirmy and the wetter you get, the more you move.”

She turned her head and he took her lips in a kiss that was far more than a greeting. It was a promise of what was to come. It was Friday and they had the entire weekend together. Weekends were Alex’s new favorite days of the week. At least, the ones she got to spend with Dylan.

“How wet are you right now?” he asked against her lips. “Wet enough that I could just slide right in?”

“Dylan,” Alex whispered.

He held her by the hips, his lips stretching into a smile.

It probably looked like they were just talking, greeting each other with a cute kiss as he held her in his arms.

“What?” he asked. “You can feel how hard you make me.”

“Stop putting on a show or I’ll never hear the end of it!” Alex’s father unfolded his chair and plopped himself into it right next to where she and Dylan were standing. There was laughter in Dylan’s eyes, and she liked that he could find the humor in things like being interrupted by family, because in her life, it happened daily.

He straightened away from her and held a hand out to Charlie. “Mr. Walker. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Stop canoodling my daughter in public. There’re children present.”

Alex looked back at the field to see some of the girls surreptitiously watching them out of the corner of their eyes. She sent them all hard looks and wagged a finger at them, warning them that they should never do what she just did.

They all reacted as expected, by ignoring her and giggling.

“You know, you’re not very intimidating,” Dylan informed her. “Something about the cute little baby belly wrapped in tiny flowers, probably.”

Alex sent him a scowl, though she was starting to believe him. The baby had made her soft, or at least look soft. No one treaded lightly around her anymore or seemed to care that she was scowling.

Mrs. Ross, the crotchety old teacher’s aide, even walked up to her in the grocery store and pressed her hands to Alex’s stomach without so much as a please or thank you. Just hobbled up and put her old gnarled fingers on someone else’s body as if that was something people did. When Alex glared at her, the old woman, who was notoriously cranky, smiled up at her and Alex had just let her do it.

She was soft. She turned to blast Dylan for bringing it to her attention and found him and her father hiding smiles.

“Oh sure,” she huffed. “Laugh at the pregnant lady’s expense. Very nice of you both. You!” She pointed at Charlie. “After everything I’ve done for you?”

“What have you done for me? All you ever do is try to distract me with cake when something big is going on and make trouble.”

“I do not make trouble!”

“It was never Andrea or Bethany sneaking out the windows or lighting sheds on fire.”

“One shed,” she corrected. “And you love cake.”

“I do not,” he argued, waving his hand so he could see the game. “I can’t see the game. You always were a pain to take to games. Playing ring-a-round-the-rosy in the outfield like there wasn’t a game going on around you. Spending the whole time talking, distracting everyone like you were bored.”

“I was bored,” she argued. “I only went because at first you made me and later because there were boys there. Now I only go because Jenna’s here and they let me be team mom, even though I’m not a mom.”

Dylan glanced at her belly and then to her face, his expression carefully blank. It was a hard line to draw some days, but at the same time, not. There was this thing between them, this baby growing inside of her and it was easy to get lost in the magic of that, to see her grow bigger and feel the baby moving and live inside that experience together.

But the baby wasn’t hers and she didn’t for a second want it to be hers. She liked doing something for Beth, helping her have a child, but liked the prospect of not having that responsibility when all was said and done.

There was a very clear line.

But still, there was baby magic there and Dylan sometimes got hypnotized by that.

“And you love cake,” she added quietly to her father, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dylan chuckled, pulling her to his side and whispering in her ear. “Have I told you how utterly edible you look right now? All flushed and angry.”

She screwed her lips up to the side, thawing at his words. “No. And I’m not angry.”

“Edible,” he whispered again, his voice no more than a breath against her skin. “And I plan on tasting every inch of you.”

“I have to go, Dad,” Alex said, grabbing Dylan’s hand and pulling him away before her father could say a word.

She pulled him along for a few steps before he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her toward his car, laughing.

The last thing she heard of the game were the cheers and wolf whistles of a gaggle of high school girls, all of whom were probably burning the moment into their memories.

Hoping for their own Dylan James to sweep them off their feet someday.

Later that night, Dylan held her as they laid on the couch in her temporary apartment. The television was on low, neither of them paying much attention to it, more enjoying the quiet of being together. They’d left all their clothes and the rest of the world at the door when they’d come in, hurriedly making their way to the bedroom.

Alex’s phone dinged with an incoming text and she spared it no more than a glance.

“Nothing important?” Dylan murmured, using his fingers to spread her hair across his chest.

“It’s Andy,” she told him.

“How can you tell?”

“Beth’s notification sings Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.”

“And no one else could be texting you?” he asked skeptically.

“They could be, but they probably aren’t.” She looked at the clock on the cable box. “And at nine on a Friday night? Spencer’s working and if he wanted me he’d just come up. Jenna is out with her friends; you’re with me. Doesn’t leave a whole lot of options.”

Curious now, he sat up a little. “Okay. So, guess what she might want. If you get it right, you win a prize.”

She considered him for a moment. “What’s the prize?”

Dylan chuckled. “It’ll be a surprise. You guess and I’ll check to see if you’re right.”

Alex was game so she took a second to think. “I’d say she’s texting to make sure I don’t need anything and to see how I’m feeling.”

“That’s it?”

She blindly reached for her phone and handed it to him.

He read the screen aloud. “Just checking to see how you’re feeling. Love you. Let me know if you need anything.” He almost looked disappointed, like he’d expected some salacious gossip. “Well that was a let down.”

“Sorry to bore you. Andy’s a creature of habit. She sends me the same text at least twice a week. If you want the good stuff, you have to pry it out of her; she’s not just going to give it up. It’s Beth who’s the over-sharer.”

“And your brother?”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s locked up tighter than a drum. If I went by what he offered up for information, I’d say he’s a virgin that isn’t interested in any human, be it man or woman. I had to break into his apartment and go through his stuff to find out the good stuff. Plus, I know the passcode to his phone, so when he isn’t looking, sometimes I take a peek and see what or who he’s doing at the moment.”

Dylan looked suitably appalled.

“You don’t have siblings,” she said, defending herself before he could say anything. “You don’t get to say anything.”

“When I was thirteen, I went through every drawer in my parent’s room, when they were out of town, and found a huge bottle of lube and a bunch of sex toys.”

The funniest part was that his admission was still tinged with horror, as if he could still picture it in his mind. Alex laughed, a deep, rolling belly laugh that made everything in her world seem lighter. She laughed until he started laughing, his cheeks pinking as their eyes met, filled with mirth.

“I’d almost blocked it out,” he admitted. “I was hoping it was gone forever.”

“I’ve seen Owen naked. Like naked, naked. That image isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either.”

“Do I want to know how you ended up seeing your sister’s husband naked?”

“I climbed into bed with them,” she told him with a careless shrug, though she knew good and well that wasn’t something he would expect her to say.

Walked in on Owen while he was changing maybe, or stumbled into their house unannounced, would have been acceptable.

Sliding between the sheets with her twin and her boyfriend at the time, not so much.

“You…” He couldn’t even finish the statement which only made it funnier.

“Let’s talk about you,” she said, waving her hand as if she were done with the subject. “What have you been up to?” Oh, he wanted to argue. His mouth opened and closed, his eyes serious and assessing. “How’s the party planning coming?” she asked, charging the silence with a sort of chagrinned surprise. “Not sure who gets the final say out of the four of you on what Peter and I have been suggesting.”

“You knew,” he said softly after a moment of stunned silence.

“Not at first,” she said mildly, sitting up and propping herself on the arm of the couch. He sat opposite her, wrist slung casually over his bent knee, his foot on the couch. One flick of her eyes told her his junk was proudly on display, Dylan not trying to cover himself in any way. He smirked at her when she met his eyes again. “But once Peter started explaining some of the details, it had your fingerprints all over it. Fancy party, big investing firm, lots of old Boston money looking to be impressed.” She shrugged. “Still, it’s good experience for me and free publicity. As long as it goes well, there’s no downside. Not thrilled you went behind my back.”

“We weren’t even on speaking terms,” he reminded her. “I did the best with what I had.”

“I appreciate it. If I was a total amateur, Peter wouldn’t have taken me on, no matter how hard of a sell you gave him. And Bill is so impressed with Jenna, I’m not sure he would have let her walk away after that first dinner, even if I didn’t take the job. Your plan may have backfired on you, hotshot. Bill’s trying to poach your summer intern. Hard. He even offered to put in a good word for her if she applied at Boston College.”

“I went to Harvard,” he reminded her. “I can help her get into a better school.”

“And Andy already signed a waiver and letter of intent with you,” she supplied, knowing that Jenna wouldn’t back out on Dylan when she’d already committed. “But really, how’s the planning coming along? Must be a lot of work.”

“I hired a party planner, Lex. I get the final say, but everything you and Peter suggest goes through her before it gets to me. I just say yes, yes, no, and carry on.”

Her eyebrows raised and she poked him with her toe. “So, you’re on your own with this party thing.”

He gave a quick lift of his shoulder.

“You planned this whole thing, didn’t you? This wasn’t some party you were having and worked me into, this is something you cooked up completely,” she said quietly.

“Could be,” he hedged. “Worked out well for you either way, so a win is a win.”

“You don’t have to make opportunities for me, Dylan. I appreciate what I get; I’m not about to look a gift horse like Peter Fitch in the mouth, but I want to make it on my own. If I can’t do that, then I’m doing something wrong.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong, Lex, and your skills are impressive in their own right. Sometimes, though, especially in Boston, it’s not about how good you are—”

“It’s about who you know,” she finished for him. “I get it. Like I said, I appreciate it. But you can’t do that.”

He grabbed her hand in his and pulled her toward him, laying her across his chest again and holding her there.

“My parents are going to be there,” he said quietly. “I thought I’d leave the decision up to you as to whether you meet them before the party or at the party. We could always have brunch with them the next day. Dinners tend to be stuffy and formal, not exactly like they are with your family. Brunch tends to be more laid-back.”

“You don’t think they’ll like me,” she surmised. “Or approve. Which one?”

He rubbed a hot palm down her back, his fingers brushing the top of her butt. “I just think they’re a different vibe than you’re used to,” he admitted. “And I’m not about to throw you to the wolves without preparing you. My parents want me to marry someone they choose, someone they know will follow in my mother’s footsteps of heading up charities and being a professional arm-holder. To them, it’s all about appearances and the family name.” He slid down, his hands coming to hold her cheeks as his eyes met hers, the seriousness there absolute. “I want you, Lexi, and you know that. They’re my parents and I love them, but they might not like you and I together. We’re going to have to go in knowing that and just dealing with however that shakes out. As long as we do it hand in hand, I don’t care what they have to say.”

That wasn’t what she’d been hoping to hear. Not knowing how to proceed, she deferred to him. “Whatever you think is best,” she said quietly. “But please don’t spring the baby on them. I don’t want them to accuse me the way Grant did. That really hurt, Dylan.”

“I know it did, babe.” He kissed her, full and sweet. “Let me see if I can set up a brunch with them. I’ll warn them about the baby so she’s not a surprise.”

She shook her head and tried to pull away from him. Suddenly, everything felt wrong again, the topic of his parents like a bucket of ice water splashed over her warm and fuzzy libido.

“You know,” she started. “Maybe it’s better if we just forget it. Beth’s baby shower is the next day anyway, and I’ll have a lot to do to help get ready for that too.”

“Don’t do that,” he said quietly, grabbing her forearm and holding her still. “Don’t pull away from me again. Don’t let them get in our way.”

“They’re your parents.”

“I don’t see you letting Charlie run your life,” Dylan countered. “They’re my parents, so yes, I love them but they don’t make my decisions for me. Never have, never will.”

It still felt wrong. Alex liked when she and Dylan were alone, their personalities complimenting each other and making for a promising relationship. But when the outside world poked its head in the door, a whirlwind came in, throwing everything out of whack, the puzzle pieces scattering in the harsh breeze of real life.

Backing out of meeting his parents seemed like the best choice. It was what she really wanted to do. But her pride wouldn’t let her walk away that easily, her spine stiffening at the thought of someone not liking her because she wasn’t good enough for their precious, rich baby.

She scowled, annoyed with her own thoughts because Dylan was far better than that stereotype. He wasn’t some arrogant prick that needed his money to make him interesting or lovable, he just was.

“What’s with the face?” he asked gently.

“You’re not an arrogant prick,” she growled, unable to shake her annoyance, and the absolute discomfort their conversation had brought her.

Dylan let out a sudden laugh, clearly not expecting her answer. “And this makes you mad?”

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t make sense if I tried to explain it. I…I don’t know what to say about meeting your parents.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said, his lips turned down at her expression. “We’ll do the party and then Beth’s shower. My parents will fit in where they fit it. Or they won’t.”

Yeah. That didn’t do anything to make her feel better, sandwiched somewhere between being his dirty secret and the person he knew his parents would hate before he even introduced them. Was one option better than the other?

No. They both pretty much sucked.