Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (133 page)

She forgot how to swallow. He was in a black T-shirt that stretched across his broad chest and shoulders, and gray cotton athletic shorts that showed powerful muscles and tanned skin.

Her heart raced and she pressed her fingers over the pounding.

There was no way around that really. Simply seeing him caused that reaction, and she couldn’t very well duck and hide every time she saw him coming over the next forty-eight hours. But she could avoid kissing him. Probably.

“This is a really bad idea,” he said as he got close. He was frowning.

Yeah, well, she had a whole list of really bad ideas. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“This game. I don’t play softball, Adrianne.”

“Oh, this is for fun. No pressure. Not even that much exertion.”

“No, I really don’t play softball. Like I’ve never swung a bat.”

She frowned. “How is that possible? You never had to play Wiffle ball in PE class?”

“If I did, I’ve blocked out the memory because it was so awful.”

She chuckled. What a drama queen. “Okay, here.” She handed him a bat. “Show me.”

“Show you that I don’t know how to swing a bat?”

“Have you ever seen a baseball game? On TV? Anything?”

“Of course.”

“Then use that genius brain and try to imitate what you saw them do.”

He took a very awkward-looking batting stance, lifted the bat and swung.

She did not laugh. But looking into his face, she was sure he knew she wanted to. “Okay, you’re right, that’s not great.”

“Thanks so much for the confirmation.” He looked seriously pissed.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Look, Adrianne, I don’t really care what these people think of me. Honestly. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to make an ass of myself.”

“Okay, okay, hang on.”

Hailey wanted him to play, and she’d find a way of dragging him into the game. And possibly make an ass of him.

Adrianne didn’t want that to happen either. Whether or not he put her at risk for another heart attack with the way he made her feel, she liked him. Sincerely.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” she said, a plan coming to her. “We’ll get on opposite teams. I’m going to pitch. When you’re up to bat, I’ll walk you.”

He stood staring at her.

“Do you know what a walk is in baseball?” she asked.

“Adrianne, I know things like phenolic compounds are composed of one or more aromatic benzene rings with one or more hydroxyl groups.”

“Right. Okay. If a pitcher throws four balls before he throws three strikes, the batter gets a walk—to automatically go to first base. A ball is when the ball is thrown outside of the strike zone and the batter doesn’t swing.”

“I know what a ball is.”

“Thought I’d be sure.” She fought another smile. Not because he didn’t know much about baseball, but because he didn’t want to know, seemed exasperated by the idea of needing to know and would possibly never use the knowledge again. And he was okay with telling her he didn’t know anything about it. “So I’ll pitch four balls. You stand there and don’t swing. Then you’ll get on first and no one will know you don’t play.”

He looked skeptical.

“Do you know what happens after you’re on first?”

“I go to second.”

“You run to second. And not until the next batter gets a hit or gets walked.”

“Then to third?” he said dryly.

She grinned. “You’re catching on.”

“Which brings up another problem. I’ll have to play in the field too. And have no clue.”

“Hmm, I’ll make Matt be the other coach. Then he can put you in right field. Probably the lowest chance of having to do anything. Basically, if it gets hit out there, run after it, pick it up and throw it to the closest person.”

He sighed. “This is going to be so much fun.”

She patted his arm—his warm, strong, thick arm—and said, “It’s one game. It’ll be fine.”

Thirty minutes later, Adrianne wasn’t so sure it would be fine. Her blood pressure was definitely up anyway. Hailey had finally shown up, dressed in a tight tank top, short shorts and full hair and makeup. Adrianne rolled her eyes. At least she’d known better than to wear heels.

Hailey had successfully put herself on Mason’s team and was using that as an excuse to give him a pep talk while he was on deck waiting to bat. Adrianne was having a hard time concentrating on throwing the ball even near the plate while her peripheral vision was filled with Hailey pressing up against Mason, her hand stroking suggestively up and down the bat he held, stretching up on tiptoe to whisper something—surely quite instructional—in his ear. Adrianne ended up lobbing one to Stephanie Wilson who hit it to their short stop, landing her safely on first base.

Then Mason was up.

Someone had to yell at him to get his attention. Adrianne turned to watch as Mason removed his hand from Hailey’s hip, said something to her that caused her to smile and slap him on the butt as he headed for the plate.

When he stepped into the batter’s box and turned to face Adrianne with his clumsy batter’s stance, she narrowed her eyes. He was flirting with Hailey? Touching her? After what had happened between him and Adrianne at the farm not two hours ago?

She’d promised to help him get on first base without having to swing. And she would.

She threw the first pitch straight across the plate.

As instructed, he stood there and didn’t swing though it was a strike.

“It’s okay, Mason,” Hailey called, clapping her hands. “You can do it.”

Mason gave Adrianne a questioning look. She gave him a little shrug in return. Then she wound up again.

This time the ball also went exactly where she intended. It hit Mason directly in the shoulder.

He gave Adrianne a
seriously?
look. Adrianne gave him another shrug. Then Wade Hiser, who was acting as umpire, instructed Mason he could take his base. But before he could jog down the baseline, Hailey rushed to his side. She rubbed her hand over his shoulder, saying something Adrianne couldn’t hear from the mound. She turned away, catching Phoebe’s eye from third base. Adrianne ignored the knowing smile her friend gave her.

The game continued with Mason easily getting batted home, a score that was quite clearly Jason Stein’s accomplishment with his double into center field, but Hailey acted as if Mason was the star player, gushing over him. And rubbing him. Again.

Adrianne was tempted to hit Hailey with the ball when she was up, but instead settled for striking her out. At least that way she didn’t have the chance to run the bases—especially since it was obvious she hadn’t worn a bra under the spaghetti-strapped tank top.

The second time Mason was up, Adrianne avoided eye contact and walked him.

He didn’t get up to bat again.

After the game, he found her. Only because she had to load all the equipment back into Phoebe’s car—without any help from Hailey who was taking all the credit for a great event.

Strangely, she felt someone come up behind her and knew it was him even before he spoke.

“You hit me.”

She didn’t look at him. “It was another way to get you on base without making you swing the bat.”

“A more painful way, but I did get to first.”

“Hell, you got to first base standing in the on deck circle with Hailey,” she muttered, slamming the car door.

When she finally faced him, he gave her a little half-smile. “No need to be jealous. I got to second and was well on my way to third with you on the farm.”

She crossed her arms, not wanting to be affected but completely powerless to keep her body from reacting instantly to the memory his words conjured. “You got thrown out by Hailey before you even got a foot off of the bag.”

He chuckled as he reached for her, pulling her hips against his. “If my foot was still on the bag, how could I get thrown out?” He leaned in and kissed her neck. “I’m safely on second and have my eyes firmly on third.”

It was startling, but the silly baseball analogy—well, and his lips—made her melt. “You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“I looked some stuff up before the game.”

“Some stuff? Like what?”

“Terminology, rules, stuff like that.”

“The rules? To softball?”

“Yep.”

He read up on the rules before coming. “And you remember them all?”

“Genius, remember?”

“Right.” She couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.

“What?” he asked, with his own big grin.

“Seems that a genius would have thought to duck when a ball was coming at him.”

He opened his mouth but apparently had no answer. Which made her laugh harder.

“Hey, Adrianne!”

Dammit. Hailey. And dammit, Mason stepped back a little as Hailey came toward them.

“Yeah?” She couldn’t quite muster a smile, but she couldn’t blatantly ignore her boss.

“I need to talk to you.” Hailey arrived slightly out of breath. She had a big smile for Mason. And got way in his personal space. “Good game, Mason.”

“Thanks. It was fun.”

Adrianne gritted her teeth. “What do you need, Hailey?”

“Oh, I need to run something past you. Can I borrow her for a minute, Mason?”

“You bet. I’m going to head to the B&B and shower. I’ll see you ladies later.”

He gave Adrianne a little wink and she felt her tummy trip.

“That is so great,” Hailey said as he walked away.

The view of him from behind was definitely great. But Adrianne didn’t appreciate Hailey noticing.

“What is it, Hailey?” she asked, stepping in front of the other woman in an immature and ineffective attempt to block her view of Mason’s ass.

“I wanted to touch base with you. It seems that you and Mason are getting along great.”

Adrianne peered closely at her pseudo-friend and boss. Was she being sarcastic? Fishing? Catty? “Yes, we’re getting along fine.”

“That is so great.” Hailey’s attention finally bounced back to Adrianne’s face.

“It is?”

“Definitely. I love that he has a friend here. And the guys seem to be getting along with him too. They really accepted him during the game. It’s one final nail in the coffin.”

“We have a coffin for Mason?” Adrianne asked.

“It’s a figure of speech,” Hailey told her.

“We have a figurative coffin for Mason?”

“What we have is the perfect situation for Mason to feel completely welcome and accepted here. Which will make him happy. Which will make him more apt to donate to the project.” Hailey looked quite pleased with herself.

“You were worried he’d be unhappy?”

“Ad, I told you he was a geek. He was really not…in. Like really. He didn’t have a ton of friends, never had a girlfriend.”

“And now?” She was feeling way too defensive here. She wasn’t Mason’s champion, or his BFF, or his girlfriend. They’d just met. She didn’t know the history. For all she knew, he’d been a jerk in high school.

“Look at him.” Hailey gestured in the direction Mason had gone. “He can give any of the guys here a run for their money.”

“He was always a genius, right?”

“Sure. But he wasn’t…”

Adrianne cocked an eyebrow waiting for what she knew was about to come.

“…hot or rich.”

Right. She wanted to slap Hailey. Seriously. This was Shallow Bitch 101. How could Hailey not hear what she was saying and how could she not be embarrassed?

“Do you realize how that sounds?” Adrianne asked.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Hailey sighed. “We were in high school, Ad. We were not very nice to him.”

“You kissed him at one point.” Adrianne wanted to know that story for sure.

“And I wasn’t very nice to him before or after that.”

Adrianne waited. Then she realized that Hailey wasn’t saying more about it. Okay, so it was going to take a couple of margaritas. But she was going to hear how this went down.

“So now your plan is to be sure he feels accepted, liked and generous?” she summarized.

“Exactly. Mason obviously likes you. So you’ll be in charge of making sure he’s included in all the events and get-togethers. I’ll tell Drew and Mike and all the guys to be really nice. And I’ll make sure that he feels fully appreciated from a female perspective.”

That got Adrianne’s full attention. “What does that mean?”

“Mason always had a crush on me. I’ll flirt with him, make out a little, all that stuff. That will be the icing on the cake.”

“Make out a little? All that stuff?” Adrianne repeated, hoping her voice sounded funny only to her.

“Or whatever. It’s not like it will be a hardship.” Hailey grinned. “I’m a big enough person to admit that I was wrong to overlook Mason Riley.”

Adrianne’s stomach hurt. First, how had Hailey seen her with Mason and not gotten the vibe that maybe Mason was already feeling appreciated? And second, how come Adrianne got to be Mason’s social director but Hailey got to be his playboy bunny? That wasn’t fair.

And Hailey was going to hurt him. It wasn’t like she was looking for even a long-term affair. Phoebe had hinted that Hailey had really messed with Mason at one time. This could not be a repeat.

For one thing, if Mason found out Hailey’s attention was only a ploy to get a donation, there was no way in hell they’d see any of his money. For another, Adrianne liked him. It wasn’t only jealousy that made her want to keep Hailey away from him—though that was one definite reason for wanting Hailey as far from Mason as possible—it was also that she liked him, as a person. He didn’t deserve to be used. And if Hailey had told Drew and Mike to
be nice
so that he’d write a check, then they’d be in on it too. All behind Mason’s back, faking it, or at least having ulterior motives. Really not good.

She couldn’t tell Mason what was going on though. What was she going to say, “Hey, Mason, by the way, Hailey’s only paying attention to you because you have money now.” That would definitely not help their cause.

She was going to have to make sure he didn’t find out. And that Hailey didn’t have a chance to make things worse.

“Make sure he’s at the poker game tonight,” Hailey said.

“No problem.” The poker game was happening at Drew’s house but obviously Mason was now on the guest list. And Adrianne would be there to be sure that no one did or said anything that might hurt him. Or their cause. In that order.