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“So anything you put out on their days off, they'll be happy with. Get it?” I grabbed a few more items off the shelf, wracking my brain. “The track guys hate anything Wedson brand. One of their big donors is the son of the guy who invented the company. They get free Wedson shit all the time.” I nodded. “And hockey players are garbage, so they eat garbage. Pure cannibalism.”
“What about you?”
This was a subject about me that I could handle. I mulled it over while those gray eyes pierced me. There was a simple answer. I stopped by the cookies and picked up the classic pack. “I’m easy. Chocolate chip cookies.”
Don’t tell her you prefer homemade.
“And, uh…” I shrugged, picking up another thing of cookies for the car.
Don’t tell her you prefer homemade because it sounds like you’re asking for her to make you some.
“I prefer homemade,” I said, as casually as I possibly could.
Goddammit.
“Me too,” Piper admitted. “My dad and I bake together. He travels a lot for work and the research teams and the grants but when he gets back home, it’s the big thing we do together. Baking cookies.” She smiled. “My parents send care packages all the time and there’s always chocolate chip cookies in there.”
Usually, when people talk about their parents, I swivel the conversation in another direction. It’s better that way. If I don’t find out about their parents, they don’t need to ask about mine.
But with Piper, it was different. There was this whole secret world she existed in that was hidden from me. I wanted to know more.
And that wasn’t going to happen. Not if the babysitting experiment was ending.
If.
I sidestepped Piper and easily blocked her way to the end of the aisle. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“That’s because you overthink, ice princess.”
Piper raised her eyebrows, but a laugh escaped her. “And you don’t think through anything. It evens out.”
“Exactly.”
Suspicion touched her gaze. “What do you mean?”
I took the items out of Piper’s arms, and even if she wanted to argue, we had a deal. She held onto them for a moment before I pried them away, my voice dropping low. “I think we work well together.”
“Us?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You and I?” Piper clarified, her voice dripping in disbelief. “The two people who ruined an RA conference? And…” Piper shook her head. “Is this an Adam joke? It’s not funny.”
“They’re going to hire someone to watch over me. And I want it to be you.”
Piper’s eyes went wide. “Why?”
Because you see me like other people don’t.
“Let’s be realistic for a second,” I said. “I wouldn’t last being on good behavior for two hours with anybody else.”
“You didn’t even last that long with me!”
“But I think I can,” I insisted. “I do. I want to give this a real shot.”
Piper raised her eyebrows, with her you-can’t-do-this stare. Honestly, that made it even better. A challenge. With the two of us together—and Piper calling me out on my bullshit—maybe I had a chance to land back on Coach Lawson’s good side through spring training.
