Free Lexington and 42nd (The Off Field Series #1) by Kim Carmody

her?”
    Frank leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest with the confidence of someone far older than his twenty-one years. “Never you mind, Jimmy boy. As if I’d share my trade secrets with you.”
    My eyes met Carrie’s over the table and I had to cover my mouth to stifle a laugh.
    “Ha! I’ve been out with you the last three weekends in a row and already I could write a fucking book about all your pick-up attempts and call it How To Never Get Laid . I bet you said her legs were the stairway to heaven or something lame-ass like that.”
    Flustered, Frank glared at James. Clearly he’d landed fairly close to the truth. “As if man…only you would say something as ridiculous as that. Besides why are we even talking about my hook-ups when the big story of the night was Jensen and Emma’s little dance-off?”
    My head snapped straight to Frank who had the decency to look slightly sheepish at having used me as a deflection.
    “Yeah Emma, what gives? That was some random-ass behaviour from Jensen.” James’ attention was now clearly focused on me.
    I stared pointedly at him, silently begging him to back off. “Nothing gives, James. He just asked me to dance. There’s no more to it.”
    James laughed. “Ha! Yeah right. Because I know soooo many guys who just feel like slow dancing in a room full of people watching.”
    Well, when he said it like that, it did sound kind of lame, but telling everyone his real motivation definitely wasn’t an option. “I have no idea what he was thinking, but it’s beside the point since I’m not interested anyway.”
    Frank rolled his eyes. “Oh please, every women is interested in Jensen. Hell, even I’d dance with him if he asked me.”
    “Well I hate to break it to you, but not everyone is falling at his feet. Besides, I’m seeing someone at the moment.”
    Before the lie had even finished coming out of my mouth, I was wondering where it had come from. Dana’s voice attracted my gaze to the other end of the table, unfortunately in my boss’ direction. Could this be any more humiliating?
    “You are? You never said anything before.”
    “Well I’m not technically seeing someone…I just have a date this week is all.” My face fell to the relative safety of my notepad as I felt the color rise in my cheeks. Please, please let this conversation hurry up and end. How I’d wound up doing a massive personal life over-share in the middle of a team meeting was beyond me.
    Carrie clapped her hands. “Really? That’s so exciting! Where are you going?”
    I shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’re just having a drink on Thursday after work.”
    Mark interrupted my personal inquisition. “Okay, okay, enough with the weekend shenanigans. Let’s get some actual work done.” The relief on my face must have shown as he gave me a quick smile before he went on.
    “Let’s start with the kids’ event this week.” He looked at Dana. “Is everything under control for it?”
    “Yep, all in order. I’ve got Jensen, Buck and Randall locked in and coach has cleared us to use the stadium right after practice. Em and I have both been working with the client and James is managing getting all the kids there, so we’re looking pretty good.”
    I waited for someone to crack a joke about Jensen and me again, but nothing came. I had to hand it to the team—they liked to mess around but when it came to work, they were fully focused.
    “Great.” Mark moved on, working his way through everything that was happening this week. The intense workload gradually sank in for everyone, and by the time we left the meeting, all jokes were gone.
    #
    Even in the shade I could still feel the heat of the sun searing my skin. The empty stadium was eerily quiet—the calm before the storm. Dana and I waited for the busloads of kids to turn up, which would no doubt be followed by a few hours of mayhem.
    Dana had the forethought to stop at a deli and grab some food on the way out, and exhausted