Naomi’s voice came out not much louder than a whisper. “IknowI’m cute.”
She stared at the rise and fall of his chest. Her fingers ached to grab the front of his uniform and close the final few inches between them.
“You better get dressed, Ms. Grant,” Morey shouted from the sidelines. “You can’t play without regulation uniform.”
Ethan stepped away from her but lifted his hand and brushed it gently over her forearm. “Go ahead. I gotta rearrange the batting order anyway.”
Naomi nodded, not trusting herself to say words at the moment.
“See you out there,” he yelled, jogging backward to where a man in catcher’s gear waited. “Don’t let me down.”
She waited until she’d turned the corner to let out the breath she was holding.
The bathrooms off the side of the field were surprisingly clean, and full of people who were obviously changing from workwear into sweats for their game or one of the others on the surrounding fields.
Naomi pulled on her own uniform, deciding to leave the shirt open to frame her tank top. She couldn’t afford to completely surrender her identity in this quest to matchmake for Ethan. And if the idea of him admiring her cleavage when she bent over to bat flickered across her brain, well, it wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever thought about doing to entice him.
Even though she’d confirmed that Amelia Greene’s synagogue was playing Beth Elohim tonight, Naomi had expected to have to work harder to find her. When she practically ran into the blonde standing over the sink, she didn’t have the wherewithal to control her reaction.
“Fuck. You’re gorgeous.” Way hotter than Google Images suggested.
The woman, who was definitely Ethan’s camp girlfriend, blinked a few times. “Oh. Um... thanks?”
Amelia wore the kind of incredibly expensive workout gearSports Illustratedswimsuit models favored in their fitness posts on Instagram. Even using L.A.’s high standards, her hair was the perfect beach blond and tousled in loose waves that definitely required multiple curling irons. All this for a rec league softball game?
“Are you Amelia Greene?” If so, her eyes were the same color as her last name.
“Yeah, I am.” She shook her head and reached for a paper towel. “Sorry, have we met?”
Naomi was supposed to be smooth. Cold as ice. But she could not for the life of her think of a good excuse for recognizing this woman.
“Did you go to camp with Ethan Cohen? He was showing me old photos and I thought I recognized you.”Oh, nice. Real subtle.
At least the familiar name did seem to relax Amelia. Her shoulders fell away from her ears.
“Yeah, I did. We used to date, actually,” Amelia added with enough challenge in her voice that Naomi concluded Morey’s baseball uniform had not successfully canceled out her hotness.
“You’re a friend of his?”
“A business partner.” In order for this plan to actually work, Naomi needed to put as much distance between her and Ethan as she could manage. The last thing she wanted was to get into some possessive staring contest with this woman. “We’re running a seminar series for eligible Jews. Oh, and we’ve got singles mixers now too, I guess.”
Molly, bless her heart, had taken over the event-planning portion of the mixers after Ethan’s first clumsy attempt.
“Oh.” Clearly not the answer Amelia had been expecting.
Naomi grabbed one of the flyers Clara had designed for them from her bag and handed it over as proof. “You should stop by one of the lectures. If you’re interested, I mean.”
Amelia studied the form. “Ethan will be there?”
“Definitely.”
“I haven’t seen him in years. I heard he’s a rabbi now.” The blonde smiled. The kind of secret smile that said she knew exactly how hot Ethan still was. Amelia leaned in conspiratorially. “I don’t actually like softball, but I heard he pitches for Beth Elohim.”
That explained the three hundred dollars’ worth of spandex coating her lithe form. Fair play.
Naomi smoothed her hands down the front of her pants. “Right.Well, you might not get much time to catch up tonight. What with all the balls. Flying.”Kill me. Just kill me.“I’m sure he’d be glad to see you at one of our events.”
Grabbing the reins on her composure, Naomi made her voice light and confident. “If you’re interested in attending, just RSVP through the link on the flyer. We have a short screener for participants.”