Accidentally in Love (4 page)

“Of course.” Ellie pulled back far enough so that she could see Gail’s face. “On one condition.”

When Gail raised an eyebrow in question, Ellie raised one right back. “Leave my deck furniture alone.”

A small smile passed between them before Gail tightened her arms around Ellie, then kissed the top of her head and grinned down at her.

“Go get your stuff or you’ll be late for practice.”

“Mom,” Ellie groaned, dragging the word out. “Will you forget about practice—it’s the first one; no one cares if I’m there or not.”

“I care.” When Ellie made no move to stand up, Gail nudged her off her lap, then pushed out of the chair and lifted her suitcase, a feat that took both hands and involved a soft grunt. “Tell me where I can sleep tonight and point me toward the shower so I can scrub some of the airplane and bus stink off. We’ll talk some more when you get home.”

With a lift of her brow, she motioned toward the clock on the wall. Ten till six.

“Better get a wiggle on,” Gail said, smiling softly. “If memory serves, last one in buys the beer.”

“It only takes an extra second to be courteous.”

—Constable Benton Fraser,
Due South

Brett got to the field early and pulled his truck in beside Nick’s, barely closing the door before Nick tossed one of the bases at him. After catching it in midstride, Brett left his glove inside the dugout and followed Nick to the baseline.

“Heard you were making friends with Ellie again today.” Nick snorted out a laugh and shook his head as he walked the measuring tape down the line. “If I were you, I’d keep an eye out for a ball to the back of the head tonight.”

Brett just shrugged. What happened while he was on shift was nobody’s business. He wouldn’t talk about Ellie and her driving record any more than he’d talk about the domestic call he’d been coming from when he pulled her over.

After Nick measured out the distance from first, Brett dropped second base into place, took the hammer from Nick, and pounded the stake through the loop.

“You don’t think this’ll cause problems with the team, do you?”

“Nah, it’ll be fine.” Nick was already heading over to third, chuckling as he walked. “She’s— Hey, look who’s here.”

Nick’s cousin, Carter, came strolling onto the diamond, his arm wrapped around Regan’s shoulders, a deep blush covering her face, a huge grin covering his, and both looking a little disheveled.

“God’s sake, you two.” Ellie’s friend Maya pushed through the gate behind them, shaking her blond head. “Can’t you even go five minutes without groping each other?”

“Red just can’t seem to keep her hands off me.” Pulling Regan in closer, Carter kissed the side of her head and laughed. “Not that I’m complaining.”

The rest of the team wandered onto the field, but there was no sign of Ellie. Maybe she’d decided not to—

There she was.

Dressed in tight black baseball pants and a gray T-shirt with navy sleeves, she raced up to the field on a black mountain bike. While it was still in motion, she jumped off and left it standing against the bleachers, her helmet dangling from the handlebar.

It amazed him, as it did every time he saw her, how good she looked in everything she wore. Hell, she could make a burlap sack look like something out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog.

He didn’t let his gaze linger very long. He never did, never needed to, because he already had the image memorized. And besides, Jayne broke the spell the second she saw Ellie arrive and ran in her direction.

Their voices followed him out to the field, but thankfully not a single word was mentioned about her license mishap. Instead, if what he was hearing was right, it sounded like Ellie had unexpected company. Male company or female company? Not that it was any of his business.

A “she.” Hmmm. Her sister, maybe? Wait…no…her mother.

Unexpected visits from parents usually meant one of two things: something was wrong or something was
about to be
wrong.

“Okay,” Nick called out, lifting his gloved hand toward the darkening clouds. “Let’s get going before the rain starts again. Quick warm-up, then let’s have Carter pitching, Jayne catching, Ellie first, Leon second, Brett short, Delmar third, Maya right, Martin center, Kyle roving, and I’ll take left. The rest can bat. Oh, and Ellie—you’re down for the first case of beer.”

Brett jogged over to his position, pulled his cap down a little, and took stock of the players around him. Leon and Delmar looked relaxed on their bases, no question they’d played before, but there was no way Ellie was going to be able to play first properly with that stiff new glove and those shiny new cleats.

He knew she’d played a little before, and she might look the part, especially after she tucked her long hair through the back of that faded blue ball cap. Looking the part, however, was a whole lot different from actually being able to play the position, and first base was crucial for a winning team, beer league or not.

Carter took the mound and tossed a slow looping pitch a good six inches outside.

“What’s the problem, Sparky?” Regan taunted. “Did I wear you out back there behind the dugout?”

Catcalls followed, from both the field and the rest of the players waiting to bat, until Carter laughed and tossed another pitch, this one a perfect shot over the top corner of the plate. Stepping into it, Regan cracked a hard fast grounder between Brett and second base. Diving left, and with more luck than he cared to admit, he managed to get his glove on it, but had to spin before he could fire it to first.

His throw was off, too low and too short, yet somehow Ellie managed to stretch impossibly far and snapped it up just before Regan’s foot hit the base.

While the rest of the team cheered, Brett waited for Ellie to look at him so he could give her a nod of both appreciation and apology, only she never even glanced his way. In fact, she didn’t acknowledge any of the cheering, just laughed at whatever Regan said on her way back to the dugout.

They rotated positions until everyone got time at the plate and as Nick cranked a liner to left field, the rain finally started and sent everyone running for the dugout. Everyone except Brett and Ellie, who remained at their positions, watching the rest of the team take cover.

“Oh, come on,” Ellie cried from out in right field. “It’s just a little rain!”

With a sigh Brett could hear across the diamond, she shook her head and started off the field, heading straight past where he stood near the on-deck circle.

“Ellie?”

She took another couple of steps before stopping and turning to face him.

A thick smudge of dirt ran from the side of her nose down her cheek, and it only got worse when she scraped her forearm across her mouth. Brett punched his free hand in the pocket of his glove and cleared his throat.

“Since we’re going to be playing together, I hope we can keep what happened today off the field so it doesn’t make things difficult for the rest of the team.”

“What happened…” A moment’s confusion made her frown before she released some kind of guttural sound that was part choke, part chuckle. “Right.
That
. Least of my problems right now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, forget it.” She started to turn away, until Brett spoke again.

“That was a hell of a catch you made earlier,” he said. “Too bad the dumbass playing short didn’t have his shit together.”

Ugh—he’d meant it as a joke, but as usual, he probably sounded clipped or cranky. He started to say as much until Ellie spoke over him.

“Whoa,” she mocked, her left eyebrow lifted in surprise. “I’d heard rumors that the cop had a sense of humor, but who knew it was true?”

Her response caught him so off guard he didn’t know how to respond, and thankfully he didn’t have to, because she kept talking.

“Look,
Ponch,
to hear Jayne talk, you’re like the Derek Jeter of slo-pitch, so hopefully you’ll understand this. Beer league or not, when I play, I play to win, because I don’t know how to play any other way. I also believe in the idea that we win as a team and we lose as a team, so no matter what happens off the field…”

She hesitated long enough to give him a pointed look, then continued: “When we’re here, we need to work together, not against each other. We’re all going to make mistakes, but dogging each other isn’t going to do anyone any good. Now, if that’s going to be some kind of problem for you—”

“What? No!” A problem? Was she crazy? She’d just voiced his exact philosophy, and if it had been any other woman standing there, looking
that
good and saying those things to him, he might have fallen a little bit in love right there in the on-deck circle. Shaking the crazy thought from his mind, Brett forced a swallow. “Not a problem. That’s, uh…good. Yeah.”

“Okay. Next time, though, get your arm behind the throw; I can’t save your ass on every play.” She started for the dugout again, then glanced back over her shoulder and smiled.

At him.

If the rest of the team weren’t already in the dugout, he’d have looked behind himself to see who the smile was really aimed at; since he was the only idiot left out there in the rain, it must have been for him.

Ellie smiled
at him
.

Not a smirk, sneer, or jeer—a real honest-to-God smile. Warm, easy, and natural, like a small burst of sunlight through the raindrops, like the spark of a lit match in a dark cave, like a flash of…

Holy shit, man, get a grip
.

Brett stayed right where he was, watching her weave her way through the crowded dugout and out the other side to her bike. It wasn’t until Nick gave him a soft shove that he actually blinked, and by that time she was already riding away.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“What?” Even looking straight back at Nick, it took a second for Brett to see him. “Nothing. I’m, um, I’m good.”

“Then don’t just stand there—help me grab the bases.”

Another blink, this one a little longer, then Brett blew out a breath, shook his head, and hustled over to grab third, which he tossed into the back of Nick’s truck with the rest of the equipment.

“Thought you said most of the team had never played before.”

“No,” Nick laughed. “I said most hadn’t played
together
before. Everyone’s played some kind of ball before. Hell, Ellie played…”

He paused, then called over to Jayne. “Babe, what level ball did you tell me Ellie played?”

Before answering, Jayne reached inside the front seat of the truck and came back with a covered dish, which she held out to Brett. Then she tucked herself up next to Nick, who opened the side of his jacket and wrapped it around her.

“She was on the women’s national team for a couple years.”

Wow
. Well, that explained not only her ability but her attitude toward the team.

“What?” Nick closed the glass door of the truck cap and grinned at Brett. “D’you really think I’d be stupid enough to ask you to play on a team that had no chance at winning?”

Honestly, Brett hadn’t thought about it at all. Nick was his friend; he’d told Brett he needed him on the team, so he’d agreed. Simple as that. Not including the other cops at the detachment, Nick was the first person Brett had met when he’d moved here, and he liked to think he’d helped get Nick and Jayne together. Okay, “help” might be a bit of a stretch, since his actions almost blew their relationship apart, but to look at them now you’d never know it.

Had Brett ever been that happy? He thought he’d been happy with Kerri, but that happy? No. And ever since she’d left, it was like he’d been walking around on automatic pilot.

Until today. Until that exact moment when Ellie looked back and smiled at him.

Ellie smiled at him
.

An odd sensation started in his gut, a little like a tingle, and wound its way up and around every part of him until it tugged at the corners of his mouth, first one side, then the other.

Suddenly Nick’s hand was in front of his face, waving back and forth, bringing Brett’s gaze back from the empty bleachers where a few minutes ago he’d watched from the corner of his eye as Ellie climbed on her bike and rode off in the rain.

“Wow.” Nick looked down at Jayne before both of them turned their grins to Brett. “Was that a…no. Really?”

“What?” Licking his parched lips, Brett frowned from Nick to Jayne.

“Well, call me crazy,” Nick chuckled. “For a second there, it almost looked like you were actually going to smile. It’s just been so long since I’ve seen you do it, though, I wasn’t sure if it was a smile or if you just had a little gas.”

“Very funny,” Brett grunted. “I smile.”

The other two laughed as though he’d made some kind of joke. He smiled sometimes; maybe not as often as they did, but he didn’t think anyone smiled as often as they did. Okay, maybe Carter and Regan.

“Sure you do.” With a friendly slap on Brett’s shoulder, Nick opened his truck door and waited until Jayne was settled before he climbed in behind the wheel and called back to Brett. “Next time it happens, maybe let your face know so the rest of us can see it, too. Just sayin’.”

Brett was smiling right now—or was he? Well, he sure as shit wasn’t frowning, so that counted as a smile in his book.

He got into his truck and followed them out of the parking lot, then waved as they turned north and he headed south, down the back road toward home. A couple hundred meters on, someone was hunched over on the shoulder of the road in the rain.

Was it…Yup, it was.

If the situation had been reversed, Brett couldn’t honestly say for sure if she would’ve stopped for him, but his foot was already on the brake. Flicking on his hazards, he pulled up, stopping his truck so it was half on the shoulder, half on the road, acting as a buffer between her and what little bits of traffic used this route. Before he got within two feet of her, Ellie held up her hand to stop him.

“It’s just the chain; I got it.”

Thick rivulets of rain slipped down her helmet, dangling in heavy drops from the front peak. Both of her hands were covered in grease and a dirty mud line of wheel spatter ran up her butt and the back of her soaked T-shirt. If any of these things bothered her, she didn’t let on; she just kept working.

“Want me to give it a try?” he asked, squatting down on the other side of the bike.

“I got it.” Still crouched on the balls of her feet, she wrapped her left fist around the free loop of the chain and wedged the greasy fingers of her right between the gears to try to wiggle the chain free. A second later she stopped, both hands frozen in place, and pressed her face against her forearm.

“You okay?”

“Ya…I…I…” She scrubbed her nose against her arm, and when she finally looked up again, her face was scrunched tight while she wiggled her nose back and forth. “I have to…
Achoo!
”

The force of her sneeze—which startled even Brett—rocked her off-balance, sending her sprawling backward into a shallow puddle, the end of the now-broken chain still firmly clutched in her fist.

“Damn it!”

He started to reach a hand out to help her up, but she waved him off. Still squatting, Brett let his gaze linger on her for a second before pointing down at the length of chain still jammed in the gears.