Page 6 of Offsides Attraction

“And Cal?”

“He’s fine.”

“Really? You’re not having to pick up his stinky socks in random places, make him an emergency sandwich, or deal with wet towels on the bathroom floor?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “We have our own bathrooms, so towels aren’t an issue, and I haven’t seen any socks lying around. He did trick me into making him a sandwich, but I was making one for myself, so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Well, watch yourself. Sandwiches are the gateway to full-meal requests.”

“Lucas cooks and we clean. Cal’s a good person.”

Penny’s insides warmed. As the baby of the family, and the only boy, they pampered and spoiled him. Nanna joked Cal was the family’s prized pig, but Cal was one of Penny’s favorite people. He was easygoing and kind and quick to smile. People were drawn to her and her sisters by their magics’ low magnetic frequency, but Cal wasn’t a witch. If someone liked Cal, it was genuine. The dunderhead next to Penny didn’t impress her, but if they both liked Cal, maybe he wasn’t as bad as she thought he was. She shouldn’t give up on him.

“Where did you grow up?”

“New York.”

“City?” she asked, wondering if they knew similar haunts.

“Of course.” Arrogance oozed out of him, as if growing up on a tiny island made him superior. She’d bumped into that attitude a lot when she’d lived there that brief summer. Living in the greatest city on the planet did not inherently make its citizens great. There were lots of great cities with lots of great people, but great people were everywhere, even in Cascade City. “Get Lost is an odd name for a bookstore.”

“How so?” she asked, playing dumb.

He shrugged. “It’s not very welcoming.”

“The store’s real name is Get Lost in a Book Store, but over the years, customers shortened it to Get Lost. If you can read the sign, you’ll see the word In stacked above the A.” Penny knew the answer by rote, and it never bothered her to explain it until now. Most people were curious. He was judgmental.

“It must be nice working for your aunt.” His tone suggested she was a charity case. For Cal’s sake, she’d tried to be nice, but this guy pushed all her buttons, reminding her of her questionable life choices.

“You know—”

Bash yanked her against him as a biker sped around the corner yelling, “Sorry,” as he zoomed past, sounding far away. Or maybe she was far away and having an out-of-body experience, because right now, tucked firmly against Bash’s body, was the best place on earth. He was warm and solid against her cheek and his large hand pressed against her lower back.

Penny forced herself from the cocoon of his body. “We should probably catch up.” She didn’t wait for him to follow, assuming he would, but not caring if he didn’t. Bash Vetter needs to come with a warning label. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he had the gift, too, but his energy was wrong for that. He was nervous, with a hint of desperation, which was nonsensical. People were rarely nervous around her. Besides, he was too arrogant to be nervous.

He was a good-looking, good-smelling puzzle. Knowing what people wanted was her primary gift, but his pieces didn’t fit together. Ignorant, arrogant, irksome man. She scowled.

“Bad day at work?” Cal asked, walking backward facing them. Maggie had a false smile plastered on her face, so Penny assumed Cal was asking her.

“Pretty good, actually,” Penny said. “We got another shipment of Gloria Sebastian’s latest thriller, which we weren’t supposed to get, and it was perfect timing since we were down to our last two, and five teens showed up for the teen book club.” She didn’t mention the rejection letter from Sebastian’s team. It was too raw.

“Did any of them read the book?”

“Yes.” Penny stuck her tongue out at Cal. Her love and support of book clubs was a running joke in the family. Penny considered herself to be a book club matchmaker. She knew the right group for people to join and she knew the perfect books for them to read.

“Did you hear back from her publicist?” Maggie asked. Penny winced, wishing she could lie, but Maggie would find out the truth, eventually.

“We got a nicely written rejection email. So sincere and heartfelt I actually taped it to the wall.” Taped? Stabbed? Almost the same, right?

“Maybe that’s why you got the extra books,” Bash said.

“That’s not how this usually works.” Penny sounded as if she was talking to a five-year-old. Cal’s eyebrows raised. She’d embarrassed him and she didn’t enjoy the feeling. Luckily, the oaf next to her hadn’t caught her patronizing tone.

Maggie asked Lucas about practice, and Penny could have kissed her for changing the topic to something that focused on the men. If Lucas and Bash were like most of the men she’d dated, they’d carry the conversation for the rest of the afternoon, and she wouldn’t need to say much other than a few ahas and reallys?

“Good. Hard. The coaches are pushing us more since opening day is getting closer,” Lucas said.

“And they keep adding plays to the playbook, which doesn’t help,” Bash added.