Catch of a Lifetime: A Cricket Creek Novel (6 page)

“You can taste the subtle flavor of vanilla and oak from aging in the charred barrels,” Ty surprised her by commenting. “This could actually pass for an after-dinner drink,” he added with an appreciative nod

“I’ve thought the same thing.”

“Why are you looking at me with such wide eyes?” he asked with a tilt of his head. “You should know by now that I appreciate excellent food and drink.” When he lifted his snifter to his lips, Jessica marveled at his long, masculine fingers cradling the delicate glass, and for some reason found it incredibly sexy. She had the sudden urge to slide her hand up the corded muscle of his forearm to the biceps that strained against the short sleeve of his shirt, but then frowned, thinking that the ale must be going straight to her head.

“I suppose that’s why you eat at Wine and Diner several times a week,” she commented with a slight smile.

“Not the only reason,” he answered slowly, making her heart beat faster.

“You are one smooth operator,” she teased with Bourbon Barrel boldness, and would have put her hand on his arm, but his smile faltered and he glanced away.

“You think so, huh?”

“I know so. I’ve seen you in action.”

Jessica expected a comeback, but after a moment of silence, he took a sip of his drink and then said, “Hey, I think I’ll head over and talk some baseball with Noah. I shouldn’t keep you from your guests anyway.” He pushed away from the bar.

“Okay,” she said, and then swallowed another sip of her drink, thinking she truly sucked at the whole flirting thing. Had she offended him? “I should mingle,” she said with a nod that was more enthusiastic than she felt, and glanced down at her snifter.

“Save a dance for me later?” he asked.

Jessica looked up in confusion, but nodded and forced a smile. “I’m certain that Madison has a full playlist of dance music.” She lifted her snifter. “After I finish this, I’m sure I’ll be busting a move. Just don’t let me break-dance. Please?”

“I promise,” he said, and Jessica held her breath when he seemed about to say something else. But he picked up his drink and turned away.

Jessica wanted to grab his arm and demand to know what she’d said that bothered him, but maybe he had simply lost interest in her ramblings about beer and wanted to talk baseball instead. She sighed, thinking that she was pretty damned dull at the ripe old age of forty. Maybe she deserved some droopy-boob gifts and reading glasses, after all. She looked over at the dance floor, considering joining Madison and company, but just when she took a step away from the bar, a low, masculine voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Please don’t tell me you’re leaving.”

Jessica turned around and looked into amazing sky-blue eyes and one eyebrow raised in question. He tilted a beer bottle up to a full, sexy mouth made for sin and then gave Jessica a slow grin that made her swallow hard. With shaggy, blond, streaky hair and a tan you wanted to touch, Mr. Blue Eyes looked like he should have just walked off a Califor
nia beach with a surfboard tucked beneath his arm. She was about to answer him when she realized he couldn’t have been more than in his midtwenties if he was a day, and therefore had not been talking to
her
. She looked over her shoulder and expected to find some sweet young thing standing behind her, and was grateful not to have made a fool out of herself yet again.

“Will you stay if I get you another one of those?” He nodded his shaggy head at her snifter and looked at her in question. So he was talking to her!

Either the low lighting made her appear younger or Surfer Dude already had his beer goggles on. Or maybe he was a stripper hired by Aunt Myra to add to the birthday photo album? Dear God, Jessica hoped not. If so, she was going to need another snifter of Bourbon Barrel Ale and then some. “Sure,” she finally answered, and handed him her nearly empty glass. “It’s my party, so I have to stay.” She tapped her finger toward her chest so there would be no mistake that she was the over-the-hill birthday girl. If he
wasn’t
a stripper, she wanted him to know that she was the geezer that lordy, lordy, had just turned freaking forty. That should chase him away quicker than she bored Ty McKenna.

“Ahhh, you must be Jessica,” he said, and pointed to the table holding the huge cake that said her name in script. “Saw it when I came in, but I’m not above crashing a party.” He extended his hand. “I’m Logan Lannigan. I’m here to play with . . . the cougars.”

“Really? What position do you play?”

He leaned in close and said in her ear, “Any one you want. Because you are one sexy cougar.”

Jessica opened her mouth, but nothing came out. So he wasn’t a stripper—thank you, God—and he knew she was the birthday girl.

Well . . . should she be offended that he thought of her as a cougar, or flattered? Did he deserve a slap or a hug?

“Not that I would have ever guessed that you were anywhere close to forty,” he commented, as if reading her mind.

“Thank you.”
Okay,
Jessica decided,
he deserves the hug.
Could everyone read her doggone mind? Was she that transparent? But anyway, it was a good response, so he got instant brownie points for that. Still, she shouldn’t be flirting with someone as young as him. Should she?

God, no! Step away from the Bourbon Barrel Ale. . . .

She was about to send cutie-pie Logan on his way, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Triple Threat watching with apparent interest.
Hmm
, no longer bored,
she thought to herself, and tried to muster up a flirty smile. Surely she could pull off a smile, couldn’t she?

“Come on, Jessica,” Logan pleaded in her ear. “What do you say?”

Jessica was going to give his chest a shove, regardless of who was watching, when John Fogerty’s voice came over the speakers singing, “Put me in, Coach. I’m ready to play . . . today.”

“You ready to play, sweet, sexy cougar?”

Jessica laughed and suddenly felt carefree again. “Sure!” she answered, and let him lead her onto the dance floor. What could a little dancing hurt anyway?

Madison squealed with delight when Jessica wiggled her way onto the dance floor. Her daughter’s eyes widened when she saw Logan, Aunt Myra gave her a high five, and Olivia shook her head but laughed. Jessica blushed, but decided to just have some fun.

“This is Logan Lannigan. He plays with—I mean
for
the Cougars.”
Dear God . . .

Logan gave her a wink but then nodded. “Pitcher,” he announced.

“Welcome to Cricket Creek,” they all shouted over the music, and then started singing along to the John Fogarty baseball classic. “Look at me! I can be . . .
center field
!”

A couple of other young guys whom Jessica didn’t recognize joined them, and she surmised they must also be potential players when they pointed at their chests while singing along. Jessica knew that this week was going to bring decisions for the final roster, and she would hate to be in their cleats. This league was meant to give them another shot, and if they didn’t make the team here, their futures in this profession would most likely come to an end. And so she put her arms around them and started singing along to the timeless song of the boys of summer.

When the song ended, Madison leaned over and said, “Mom, don’t go too far away. I have a really fun surprise for you.”

“I hope it’s a stripper!” Aunt Myra announced.

“Aunt Myra!” Jessica chided, but her aunt just shrugged.

“What? I want a stripper for my sixtieth birthday. Y’all can make a note of it.” She pointed at Logan. “And I want it to look like him.”

“Myra!” Olivia shook her head. “What would my father think?”

“
Pfft
. Your daddy already knows I’m plumb crazy,” she answered with a wave of her hand. “Part of my charm, don’t ya think?”

“I sure think so,” Logan chimed in, and got a nod from Aunt Myra.

“Well, now, aren’t you as cute as Christmas. I like you.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and turned to Madison. “So, just what is this surprise you’re talking about?”

“
Duh
. I’m not going to tell you. Just don’t venture too far away.”

“Am I going to like this surprise of yours?”

“I guarantee it.”

Jessica didn’t point out to Madison that her guarantees weren’t always money, but the light shining in her daughter’s eyes told Jessica that this was going to be something good. At least she hoped so.

“Can I refresh your drink?” Logan asked, and nodded toward the bar.

“No, thanks,” Jessica replied with a smile. “I’m going to go over to the buffet table. I need some food.” When she started to walk that way, she fully expected the young hottie to head on to younger pastures, but he fell in step beside her.

“Mind if I join you?”

She kind of did mind, but going to the buffet table required passing by Ty McKenna, and so she shook her head. “Of course not.” She went as far as to link her arm through his and then felt sort of silly, but the deed was done so she had to, as Madison would say, just roll with it.

While dipping a carrot stick in ranch dressing, she wondered what the big surprise was going to be and glanced in Madison’s direction. She was chatting on the phone, nodding and smiling, giving Jessica hope that something exciting was about to happen. She tried to sneak a peek at Ty, but as luck would have it, he looked in her direction at the same moment. He arched one eyebrow and gave her a smoldering look that made her heart pound, but Jessica lifted her chin a notch and then turned her attention back to Logan. Although she nodded and responded to the young ballplayer’s flirty questions, all she could think about was Ty McKenna seated behind her. She tried to keep her focus on Logan, but she kept wondering if Ty was still looking her way. And it took everything in her power not to turn around and find out.

“O
uch!” Ty grumbled when Noah kicked his shin beneath the table. “What the hell was that for?”

“You gonna let Logan Lannigan put the moves on Jessica? You know that boy is after one thing.” Noah took a long pull from his beer and thumped the bottle down onto the round table.

Ty shrugged. “Not my business.” He tilted his own beer up to his lips and took a casual, I-don’t-care swig, when in truth he was both pissed and worried, and then even more pissed that he was worried.

“Ty, Jessica is no match for his slick moves. And she’s been drinking. Something I know she doesn’t do much. You need to keep an eye on her, bro. Kick Lannigan’s hotshot ass, if need be. Well, at least pose that threat.”

Ty tilted his head to the side and was glad that Owen and Jason had gone over to get some cake. “Why, again, is this my problem?”

“It’s obvious that you’re into Jessica. Come on, you haven’t been able to take your eyes off her, so why are you sittin’ over here while she’s over there? What gives?”

“She pissed me off,” he admitted, even though
hurt my
feelings
was probably closer to the truth. But he wanted to keep his man card intact.

“How? I know she puts on a tough-cookie act, but in reality Jessica is a sweetheart.”

“Except when it comes to me.” Ty stared at the label on his beer bottle and then leaned closer, so that no one but Noah could hear. “Noah, when I put it out there that I can’t get her out of my mind, she basically blew me off by responding that I was a smooth operator. That she’s seen me in action.”

“Has she?”

“Well, yeah. Back in Chicago. So what? Those days are done. I know I had a big rep, but most of it was blown up and the rest of it wasn’t even true.” Ty inhaled a deep breath. “Look, I wanted to play baseball and not have any baggage ruin my career, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to screw over some trusting woman the way my jackass father did to my mom. I saw way too much of that crap. So I played around and never got serious. Nobody got hurt.” He shrugged and picked up his beer. “It was better that way. End of story.”

“I hear ya. I pretty much had the same reaction from Olivia. She thought I wasn’t anything more than beefcake and baseball.”

“So what did you do to convince her that you’re for real?”

“Starred in a play with her.” Noah grinned. “Built the stadium and saved the town she loves from going under.”

“Great.” Ty scrubbed a hand down his face. “Just what am I supposed to do?”

Noah lifted his shoulders. “You’re the manager. Bring some excitement to Cricket Creek by giving us a championship season. That will impress Jessica for sure.”

“No pressure there,” Ty answered with a long sigh. “You know this is all your damned fault. Bringing me here to this cute-ass little town. Being so gag-me happy with Olivia.
I’m starting to want the very things I avoided all my life. Thanks, Noah. Thanks a whole hell of a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” Noah replied, but instead of grinning, he seemed serious. “Now go keep that young shit from pawing all over your girl.”

“She’s not my girl. It’s not my business,” Ty stated flatly, but his heart was thumping double time.

“Then change that fact and make it your business.”

When Ty looked over and saw Logan pop a strawberry into Jessica’s mouth, he muttered a low expletive.

“She’s no match for him,” Noah warned.

“Really?” Ty drained his beer. “She had no problem shutting my sorry ass down.”

“Ty, she didn’t shut you down. She stated a fact.”

“It wasn’t a fact. It was a perception.”

“Yeah, one that you admit you created. Can you blame her?”

Ty lifted one shoulder and then took a silent swallow of his beer. “Why the hell am I going after a woman who has made it clear that she wants no part of me?”

“For exactly that reason. Ty, you were used to women throwing themselves at you. It comes with being a celebrity. Jessica isn’t like that and you know it. She doesn’t have an agenda. Olivia was the same way, and it’s one of the reasons I love her so much. But you’re dead wrong about her not wanting any part of you.”

“You think so?” he asked, and then shook his head. “God, I sound like such a girl.”

“Then man up.” Noah leaned forward on his elbows and sighed.