Bring The Heat: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Bad Boys of Summer Book 1) (8 page)

“Strike Three! You’re out!” the umpire behind the plate screamed over the roar of the crowd.

I kept my excitement in check, letting the crowd revel in it while the second batter came into the box. One down, two to go.

Then Chelsea was all mine. Suh-weet!

The second batter went down just like the first.

The third batter came to the plate and was shaking like a leaf on a tree in a tornado. I looked up to give Chelsea a wicked grin to make sure she was watching. The last pitch clocked in at 102 MPH and nearly knocked my catcher, Mike right off his feet. Once the crowd realized he had the ball safe in his glove the applause, cheers, and hollers reached deafening heights.

“Game over, folks! Cody Wright has recorded his first Major League win with a two to zero shutout, nice job Cody!”

The team started racing for me, the man single-handedly responsible for snapping a downer of a losing streak, Cody fuckin’ Wright! Robby was the first one to greet me, his smile as wide as ever. He clapped me on the back. “Welcome to Oklahoma City, my brother! Now let’s go party our fuckin’ asses off!”

“Only if you can rope those two into coming with us,” I said, throwing my chin in the direction of Chelsea and Paris.

“Done and done, my man!”

I cocked a grin and waved up at her. “Tonight, baby, you’re all mine.”

Chelsea

By the time the announcer called the game over, I was on my feet, cheering and hollering just like the rest of the fans in the stadium. The roar was deafening, which was impressive considering a third of the seats were vacant. Paris was screaming for Robby—though he couldn’t hear her—and although I didn’t dare let his name slip past my lips, my eyes were locked on only one player on the field.

“Hot damn! That was amazing. Your man did good, babe!” Paris yelled over the crowd.

I tore my eyes from Cody and threw them her way. “My man?”

She grinned and tossed a glance at Cody. “I can see the way you’ve been eye fucking him from up here.”

“Paris!” I whirled around, hoping the two boys in the seats behind us hadn’t heard. Judging by the sour look on their mother’s face, that hope was in vein. “Quit it.”

She cackled and tugged my arm. “Come on. Let’s go hit the bathroom for a touch up before we head to the locker room.”

“Sorry,” I mouthed to the parents of the small boys. The boys were still cheering their little hearts out and probably hadn’t heard, but I still felt guilty. Paris plowed through life without much thought to the sensitivities of others. A free spirit with a seriously unfiltered mouth.

Paris tugged at me again and I followed after her. We stopped at the stairs, waiting for the opportunity to merge into the crowd, and I glanced down at the field. Cody was still being piled on by his teammates.

“For fuck’s sake, it’s not like they won the World Series,” a disgruntled Pioneers fan mumbled to his friend. I snickered into my hand a little. “Calm it the fuck down!”

The cluster of people behind us—all Warriors fans—caught wind of the Pioneers fans words and started to fire barbs back. I ducked, as though under physical attack to not get caught in the middle of what was likely to turn into a fist fight.

Paris, on the other hand, joined in. “Go back to your cows!” she shouted, raising her middle finger at the two men in blue Pioneers t-shirts and ball caps.

I tugged on her arm. “Paris, let it go.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see you at the finals and see if your guy Wright can show up or if he’ll choke like he did the other night! You all saw that right? He pitched Delgado a grand-fuckin’-slam on his debut night!” The two men laughed loudly and the sound of their jeers made the hairs on the back of my arms stand up.

“Fuck you! You don’t know anything!” I shouted before my inner nice-girl could stop me.

Paris glanced back at me, her thin eyebrows raised halfway up her forehead. She grinned at me and then wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “That’s right! Fuck you guys!”

The larger of the two fans started towards us and we both shrieked. Luckily, the group of Warriors fans in the row in front of us jumped at him. A tall man in a Warriors shirt held him back and his buddy tossed the remnants of his beer on him.

“Security!” Paris bellowed over the noise and chaos.

I stood back in shock that I’d helped start a fist fight in the bleachers. Two days ago, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about baseball, and now, I was fighting and arguing with the opponents. What in the world…?

Security guards swooped in and broke up the fight. No one got in trouble but they ushered the Pioneers fans out of the stadium while Paris and the other Warriors fans, including the two guys who stepped in on our behalf, all shouted insults at them as they were taken away.

“Thanks, boys,” Paris said to the Warriors fans once the guards were gone. She popped a hip. “Nice move with the beer. Let me buy you another one.”

The tall man who had stepped in, shook his head. “Nah, we’re good. I can’t believe he was going at you like that.”

His buddy agreed with a nod. “Crazy shit, man!”

“People are crazy,” Paris said with a shrug. “At least come hang with us tonight. My fiancé is Robby Brown and we’re going to meet him and some of the other guys at the
Charcoal
, that new grill. It’s just a few blocks from here.”

The two men glanced at each other and then nodded in unison. “Sure! Thanks!”

“We’ll meet you there in about an hour. We gotta wait for the press stuff to be done.” She turned to me. “Unless you want to go with them now?”

I blinked hard. What was she up to now? “No, that’s all right. I’ll ride with you.”

“Okay. We’ll see you there!” The shorter of the two said and then they walked up the stairs to the nearest exit.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded, grabbing Paris’ elbow once they were gone.

“You don’t think we should have invited them?” she asked, creasing her brow.

“No, that part was fine. I’m talking about trying to send me to hang with them until you and Robby get there.”

Paris shrugged. “The tall one is kinda hot. I figured you might be interested in getting to know him a little before the team arrives and soaks up all the attention. He did just come to our defense. If I was single, I’d be taking him back to my place and riding him hard for the effort.”

I groaned and mentally swiped at the image to try and clear it from my mind. “Paris, you know that’s not my style.”

She fisted her hands and set them on her hips. “I don’t understand you sometimes, babe. You say that you don’t want Cody—even though you think he’s hot and clearly want to ride that horse—but then when another guy comes along, handsome, heroic, and yummy yum tall—you don’t freakin’ want him either!”

I sighed and cut my glance away from her. I licked my lips. “I don’t want a man right now. I’ve already told you that.”

“I’m not saying you have to shack up and start talking babies and diamond rings. But come on…” She narrowed her eyes at me. “When was the last time you were good and properly fucked?”

“Paris!” My cheeks warmed even though the stadium around us was nearly emptied.

“Answer the question and I’ll leave you alone.”

I sighed loudly. “It’s been…” I paused, thinking back. “Ten months.”

“Ten fuckin’ months!” her voice boomed throughout the section.

“Stop it.” I shook my head at her and then stomped past her. “I’m going home.”

Paris was hot on my heels but I kept walking, ignoring her yelling for me.

The inside of the stadium was wall-to-wall people and I quickly got disoriented as I searched for the exit. “Damn it!”

“Chels! Stop!”

I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for Paris to catch up to me. She grabbed my arm and I looked over at her. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to—”

“Yes, actually. Yes, you are!” I shouted back. “You’re going to ride my ass on this until I give in and fuck the next eligible guy to cross my path!”

A guy in a leather jacket and slicked back hair stopped in front of us like he’d been pulled back by a shepherd’s hook. “Hey, ladies…”

“Fuck off!” Paris yelled at him. He jolted and ambled off. “There, see, I didn’t want you to fuck
that guy
.”

Beside myself, a laugh broke free. “Well, I’d hope not. I’d hardly consider that eligible…” I said, watching him strutting down the corridor.

Paris laughed too, and the tension fell away. “I really am sorry, Chels. I know you do things your own way.”

“It’s fine. I’m just edgy because…” I stopped and bit back the next part of the statement.

“Because?” she grinned.

“Because of the game and this whole work thing,” I lied. In reality it was because Cody wouldn’t get out of my head—but if I told Paris that part—she’d become even more relentless than she already was. If that was even possible.

She quirked her lips as she considered me. “You sure that’s it?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Well, let’s go get some drinks and cheese fries and forget all about that for the rest of the night.” She glanced at her phone. “Come on. The guys will be leaving the lockers soon. We wasted too much time on those Pioneer losers.”

We went downstairs to the hallway we’d waited outside the other night and some members of the team were already filing out. Paris offered them all high fives and wide smiles as they passed. “There they are!”

I glanced down the hall and my heart stopped as Cody emerged from the locker room doors. He had changed into a pair of black slacks, a button down shirt in a shade of forest green that made his eyes pop electric from twenty feet away, and his hair was dark and tousled, damp against his forehead. As he walked down the hall, he popped the buttons at his wrists and cuffed up his sleeves to his elbows, revealing his powerful forearms.

Damn him.

He cocked a half smile at me as our eyes met, and my heart plummeted into the bottom of my stomach. Did he know the things he did to me? His smile widened and I had my answer.

Damn him twice!

“Chelsea, what a nice surprise,” he drawled. “Glad you could make it tonight.”

His eyes dragged down my body in slow motion and stole away any hope of coming up with a detached, cool reply. He lingered at the low cut neckline and his eyes swept from my cleavage over my collarbones and then back up to meet my eyes.

I blinked slowly and nodded, my throat too dry to get out words if my mind even latched onto a few.

Paris snorted beside me.

“Hey, Cody. Nice game tonight,” she added.

“Thanks, Paris.”

Robby jogged over and swept Paris up into his arms. “Hey, baby! Damn you look smokin’ hot!”

She giggled as he went to work nibbling down her neck. I dropped my gaze to the floor.

“Twenty bucks they spend most of dinner off fuckin’ in the bathroom,” Cody said to me.

I shot my eyes to his and found them alight with amusement. I couldn’t help but grin. “Bathroom? No, that’s too demure for them. They’ll get it on right there at the table.”

Cody cocked another sideways grin and my heart fluttered back to life. “You’re on.”

Paris and Robby rolled their eyes at us. “Come on,” Paris said, taking Robby by the hand. “We have two special fans to introduce you to tonight at dinner.”

“Really?” Robby asked.

“Chelsea and I got ourselves tangled up in a little…altercation…with a couple of nasty Pioneers fans after the game. One of them started to dive at Chels and this guy and his buddy stepped in to defend us. I invited them to kick it with us tonight.”

Robby’s eyes shot up and Cody’s hand went to my arm. I jolted at the unexpected touch and my eyes flew from Robby’s over to Cody’s. His expression was crumpled with concern. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

I shook my head, unable to find words at first. All I could think about was the way his warm hand felt on my bare skin, and the way he smelled. Damn him for smelling so good. “I’m—um, I’m fine. They were just trash talking for the most part.”

He held my eyes for a moment longer and the rest of the noise and buzz around us faded to the background. In that moment, looking into his soft eyes, all I could think about was the way it would feel to have those eyes sweeping over all of me and what his hands would feel like caressing me—my legs, my thighs my—.

“You sure you’re okay?”

I nodded and damn near choked. I needed to stay focused on him fully dressed and his hands to himself. “Uhm, yes. Thank you.”

“They were just assholes with too many beers running through their fat heads,” Paris said, shrugging the whole thing off.

“Well, I’m glad you’re both okay,” Robby said, glancing from Paris to me and then back again. “Let’s not keep our new friends waiting then!”

We all headed off to
Charcoal
, which despite its name, was actually incredibly posh and swanky. After meeting the heroes of the hour at the bar, we all made the introductions and made our way to a table in a private room to accommodate the large group as several other Warriors joined us over the course of the evening. I ended up seated next to Cody and spent most of the night trying to keep myself from staring at him for too long.

A task made far more difficult because of how much he was staring at me.

Cody

Paris entertained everyone at the table with the story of the near fist fight in the stands after the game when she introduced Porter and Thad to everyone at the restaurant. I listened to her exciting recap but couldn’t tear my eyes from the gorgeous woman that I’d roped into sitting beside me at the table.

“So you really came to our defense like that?” I asked Chelsea, dropping my voice so only she could hear me. “I gotta admit, that’s pretty fuckin’ hot.”

She rolled those beautiful eyes. “I know guys have a one track mind, but you really take that to a whole new level, huh? It’s a wonder to me how you manage to get anything done.”

I laughed away her would-be insult. Mostly because she couldn’t keep her picture perfect smile from playing across those candy sweet lips of hers. “I’m just sayin’, you’re wearing team colors tonight, lipstick included. Came to the team’s defense. If I didn’t know better—I’d say I was growing on you.”