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young man looked overly concerned. “I thought you were playing in the minors until everything is back to normal.”
    “This is pretty minor, isn’t it?” Nolan avoided looking at me as he quickly wound up and threw a fastball into the heart of the bottle pyramid. They flew apart in a loud crash.
    “Whoa,” I muttered lowly. He had the best arm I had ever seen. “I’m impressed.”
    Nolan finally turned to me. “Pick your prize, my lady.”
    “Hm.” I studied the various prizes carefully. “I’ll take the baseball.”
    The kid gave me a startled look. “The baseballs are part of the game, not prizes.”
    “This man just dropped twenty bucks on one throw and you won’t let me have a baseball?” I asked indignantly.
    He stuttered over his words before finally saying. “Okay. Which one?”
    “That one.” I pointed to the one on the ground, the one that Nolan had just thrown.
    Nolan waited until it was in my hand before he asked, “Why in the world do you want that ball?”
    “Can I borrow that pen?” I asked the kid, pointing to a ballpoint pen he had been using for his inventory check.
    When he handed it to me, I turned to Nolan. “I’m going to need your autograph. You’ve just thrown the most important pitch of your life, and this ball is going to be worth something someday.”
    Nolan stared at me for a long time before taking the pen. He penned his signature in one fluid swipe, clearly something he had done hundreds of times. “Just don’t sell that on EBay,” he said as he handed it to me.
    “Wouldn’t dream of it.” I took the ball carefully. “Thank you.”
    “Can we move on now?” he asked hopefully.
    I nodded. “Sure. You lead the way.”
    Nolan led us past the rest of the games, toward the center of the carnival. He strolled slowly and seemed perfectly content.
    “Let me know if you get bored,” I said. “We don’t have to stay.”
    “Bored?” The surprised look on his face said it hadn’t even occurred to him that hanging out at the town carnival might not be the ultimate adventure. “I’m from small-town Nebraska.”
    “Right.” I couldn’t actually picture Nolan on a farm in Nebraska. “Then I guess I’ll let you know if I get bored.”
    “You aren’t, are you? Bored?” he asked, taking us toward the far end of the festival. “Is this a successful date so far?”
    “Well, let’s see. You offered to pick me up. You opened the car door.” I ticked off the items on my fingers. “You were nice to my friends. You won me a prize. The only thing missing is the amazing first date sex.”
    “Well, it’s still early.” He looked at me oddly. “I enjoy your sense of humor, Jordyn Lewis.”
    “I’m enjoying this date.” I checked see if any of Nolan’s curious fans were still following us. “I’m having a lot of fun.”
    “You sound surprised by that.”
    I said, “Don’t be offended. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me being averse to fun.”
    “So does that mean if I asked you out again, you’d say yes?”
    “The odds would be in your favor.”
    It was one of those moments, like a scene in a movie where you know the characters are going to kiss. Nolan’s face was just a few inches away, his perfect lips curled into an expectant smile. I could feel my body being drawn toward him. It was all too perfect- the cutesy banter, the swoony guy and girl, and the unrealistic, adorable town setting. It was perfect, and it scared the crap out of me.
    “We should probably try to find Kennedy and Brian,” I said, effectively killing any romantic notions that had been circulating in our brains. “I’m betting they are still over by the beer tent.”
    “Yeah, we can try to track them down.” Nolan tucked his hands into his pockets. “They’ve been shirking their chaperone responsibilities.”
    “I wouldn’t use responsibility in a sentence describing Kennedy and Brian.” Especially not Brian. He was practically allergic to