I tell her what happened in the hall after she hightailed it from the party, wishing I didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news. “He asked me for an interview too. I held him off, but he called Jennica and is trying to weasel his way in.”

“That’s why he said I stole his scoop. Which is ridiculous. But are you going to do one with him?”

“He’s determined, and Jennica convinced me since he’s becoming quite a playmaker in this space. But I won’t be talking to him until we’re done.”

She fidgets with her earring, twisting a daisy-petal stud back and forth. “What if he knows Bob Galloway? What if he says something to him about what he thinks happened with us at the party?”

“Why would he do that?”

Fear seems to flash across her eyes. “He’s Evil Kermit.”

“That was just a part he played,” I say, trying to reassure her, though I’m not entirely sure there’s nothing to worry about.

“I don’t trust him. I don’t trust anyone.”

And that—that I understand. “We’ll deny it. He has no evidence. All he knows is I had your halo, and that doesn’t prove anything. I don’t want you to lose this chance with the article and Up Next. I know how much it means to you.”

Her lips quiver, then she presses them together. Her voice is a feather when she speaks again. “Stop it. Stop being so sweet and thoughtful.”

“I’m not being sweet and thoughtful. It’s just how I feel.”

“And how you feel is because you’re good and generous, and I wish I didn’t have a job on the line.”

“Me too.” As I glance at the field where Carson tosses the softball to Jennica as they warm up, I know we all have something on the line.

I do my best at Haven to take away my employees’ worries by treating them well, treating them like family. I wish I could take away Sabrina’s worries. I wish I could do something to make her life easier. I don’t know what it would be though.

Grabbing my glove, I vow to try and figure it out as I play the game today.

“Wait.” She reaches for my shirtsleeve, her voice dropping to that low, sultry tone that absolutely obliterates my resolve. “Do you want to know how I could tell you and your brother apart?”

“How?”

She zeroes in on my face, her voice barely audible. “Your lips. I’d recognize them anywhere.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because they drew me to you. They’re the reason I talked to you that night. I wanted to kiss you as soon as I saw you.”

I ache with desire. It fills every cell in my body. “I wanted to kiss you. I wanted it so fucking much.”

And God, I want it again.

I want it again so badly that I strike out all three times I’m at the plate, because my mind is on what I can’t have.