Playing For Keeps (3 page)

His brows nearly shot through his
hairline as his heart pounded. Shit, this was worse than he
thought. She hadn’t been avoiding him all these years because she
was shy. No, she was head over heels in love with him. Shit. This
was awkward, especially since he was stuck here until an
exterminator could come out here. Now he hoped it was
soon.

Really
soon.

He opened his mouth to say something
only to find himself gestured impatiently out of the way with a
dough covered wooden spoon. He stepped back frowning, afraid of
getting dough all over him, and wondering what was wrong with the
woman professing her love for him one moment and shooing him out of
the way the next.

“Never come between me and the man I
love,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Jason followed her gaze and chuckled.
“Derek Jeter?”

She frowned as if questioning her love
for the man was stupid. “Of course.”

He couldn’t help but grin. Damn. How
had he missed this? She had a huge television. Bigger than his even
and that was really saying something since his television was the
one thing he'd really splurged on.

“That’s a really big TV for such a
tiny woman,” he said teasingly.

“Well, how else am I supposed to watch
my games and feel like I’m there?” she countered back. “Plus, this
way I get to see my future husband better.”

“Does he know?” he asked, looking back
at her.

She scrunched her face up adorably.
“Not yet, but I can wait,” she said with a smile that made her face
go from utterly adorable and sweet to heartbreakingly beautiful in
less than ten seconds.

Damn.

He shifted his feet awkwardly for a
moment while she watched the game with rapt attention.

“Are you a Red Sox fan?” she suddenly
asked.

“Hell no!” he said, insulted by the
question. He may live knee deep in Red Sox territory, but that
didn’t mean he was a betraying bastard. Yankees were his first love
and would be his last.

She sighed with obvious relief. “Thank
god.” She sent the game one last look of longing before returning
to her kitchen counter where he noted with a chuckle that she had a
small flat screen with the game playing. This woman really loved
her Yankees, or at least one in particular.

What the hell was it with women and
Derek Jeter?

He took a moment to look around her
house. The damn bees were still covering all of her windows, but
his attention was elsewhere. Her walls were covered in Yankees
memorabilia. He wasn't too surprised when he spotted a signed photo
of Derek Jeter above the television.

“Looks like we’re stuck inside until
after dark,” she said, pulling his attention back to the kitchen.
“The exterminator said he has to wait for the nest to calm down.
That will happen when the sun goes down. He’ll come and spray them
and remove the nest if he can.”

He ran his fingers through his damp
hair and sighed. “I guess you’re stuck with me for a little
while.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. There’s a
good game on so it should help pass the time.”

“True,” he agreed.

“I’m making homemade pizza. I hope you
don’t mind. I was planning on ordering pizza today for the game,
but with the bees and all…..,” she trailed off,
shrugging.

“No, that sounds great. I’m sorry that
I’m intruding," he said, feeling like an ass. This woman spent the
last five years avoiding him and now he was being forced on her by
Mother Nature.

“Not a problem,” she said and he got
the feeling that she was lying. She never liked to be around him
before. Whenever he stood too close to her at work or went to sit
next to her she found an excuse to move. Now she was forced to have
him in her house. That couldn’t make her all that happy. His eyes
drifted off to the television when she sighed dreamily. Then again
her attention was elsewhere at the moment.

“Beer?”

"What?" he asked a little
confused.

“Beer,” she said, gesturing towards
the fridge without taking her eyes off the television.

“Oh,” he said with a chuckle as he
retrieved two bottles. He handed her one and she took it with a
mumbled thanks and then a few choice words for one of the
players.

Jason leaned back and watched the
show. Not really the game, but Haley as she cooked and ranted. Soon
it became obvious if the vegetables were going to get cut and not
mangled every time she didn’t agree with a call he’d have to do
it.

For the next six hours they cooked,
watched the game, laughed, swore and screamed at the television,
ate and got into an hour long fight with the exterminator over the
insane amount he wanted to charge them before the argument shifted
to the game. By the end of the night Haley seemed to have come
completely out of her shell around him and he counted himself
fortunate to have another buddy. One who actually knew the stats
without messing up or having to look them up. Not like several of
his friends he wouldn’t mention. It didn’t hurt that she was
incredibly hot. That was just a bonus.

A nice bonus, but a bonus nonetheless
for his newest buddy.

Chapter 3

"Is this 32 Long Point Road," the
short husky man who smelled like he bathed in a gallon of cheap
cologne and garlic asked as he climbed out of the beat up Taurus
parked across Haley's driveway.

Now, normally Jason would either just
ignore the asshole or give him a quick nod and continue minding his
own business as he pulled the keg of beer out of his backseat, but
not today. Today he was going to do his normally shy neighbor and
co-worker a favor. After yesterday he was pretty sure this wouldn't
piss her off and send her back into hiding.

Okay, maybe he wasn't a hundred
percent sure, but he just couldn't help himself especially when the
jerk actually shoved a condom in his pocket and gave Jason a
conspiratorial wink.

Fuck it.

At that moment he didn't care if this
sent her running for the hills and she slapped a restraining order
on him, he was getting rid of the asshole.

"You're not here for Haley, are you?"
he asked, pulling out the keg and setting it on the
ground.

The man frowned. "Yeah,
why?"

Jason made a show of cringing as he
looked quickly back at Haley's house as if he was making sure she
wasn't watching them.

"I really don't think that's such a
good idea," Jason mumbled.

"Why not?"

He gave the man an "Are you kidding?"
look and had to stop from laughing as the man shifted
nervously.

"Surely you know....," he said,
purposely letting his words drift off.

"No, my friend set me up with her," he
said, shooting a nervous glance towards Haley's house. Did the
curtain just move?

Jason rubbed the back of his neck,
sighing wearily. "It's really not my place, but I'm not sure this
is such a good idea."

"What?" the man practically
whined.

After a pause he shook his
head. "I'm sorry, but I really don't like talking about it. All I
can tell you is that you really need to be careful." He gave the
man a pointed look as he stressed,
"Really
careful."

The man's eyes widened as his mouth
dropped open. He took several steps back, shooting nervous glances
towards Haley's house. When he reached his car he said, "I, uh,
just suddenly remembered I have somewhere I'm supposed to be." With
that he practically jumped into his car and sped away.

Jason chuckled as he made his way to
Haley's front door. He knocked on the door and wasn't too surprised
a moment later when there was no answer. He pushed aside his
disappointment and knocked again.

Just great.

It seemed last night had been a fluke
and his shy neighbor was here to stay. He really liked spending
time with Haley last night, more than he thought possible. Feeling
like an idiot he headed back to his house and keg.

A loud wet hacking cough had him
pausing halfway down her small walkway. The front door slowly
opened as Haley said, "I'm sorry I took so long," another hacking
cough, "to answer," another cough, "the," cough, "door. But, the
doctor said I was still," several loud and disturbing coughs later,
"contagious, so I--Oh, it's only you," Haley said with a relieved
sigh.

His lips twitched as he took in her
outfit. On her head was one of the ugliest puke green knitted hats
he'd ever seen. Her oversized ratty bathrobe was worse, but the
large wadded up ball of tissues in her hand was a nice touch. There
was no doubt in his mind that she was faking it. Considering that
he'd hung out with her last night and she'd been the picture of
health. Right now she looked well enough, just frumpy in those
oversized ratty clothes.

"Love the hat," he said, smiling as he
walked over to her.

Laughing, she pulled the offending hat
off and chucked it at him. He caught it before it hit him in the
face. "What's this all about?" he gestured towards her getup with
the hat.

"Nothing," she said
quickly.

"Looks like date repellant to
me."

With an innocent doe-like expression
she said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm sick,"
cough, "really sick." And just to backup her story she
sniffled.

It was sad, adorable, but
sad.

He couldn't stop himself from rolling
his eyes and chuckling. "It's just sad that you can't just admit
that you were ditching the love of your life. But, as much as I'd
love to listen to your sad little denial I'm afraid I have to go
since you're sick and all."

"I
am
," she stressed. "Really sick. I
might very well be dying as we speak," she said as she pushed her
cute little glasses back up her nose.

With a shrug he took a step back
towards his house. "That's a damn shame because I was hoping you'd
come to my party today, but since you're sick......."

She pressed the back of her hand
against her forehead. "Hmmm, what do you know? I'm all better. What
time is the party?" she asked with the cutest little shy smile he'd
ever seen.

"Eight o'clock, you little faker," he
said, chuckling when she let out an excited little squeal as she
ran back into her house.

***********

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,
Haley thought as she stood on Jason's doorstep with a plate of
brownies. With an inward groan she berated herself for being an
idiot. What kind of geek brought brownies to a kegger? Okay, she
was assuming that this was a kegger since she'd witnessed some
rather scary behavior over the years during his little gatherings
and never witnessed that type of behavior at any party or
get-together she'd ever been at.

Some of the things she'd heard and
seen had scared her, but some of it had intrigued her. Not that
she'd ever admit it, but on more than one occasion she'd wondered
what it would be like to go to one of Jason's parties, which is why
she'd jumped at the chance today. Jason's parties had to be the
equivalent of the parties the popular kids in high school used to
throw and somehow forgot to invite Haley, but now she was about to
rectify all that.

Maybe not, she thought, worrying her
bottom lip as she looked down at the overflowing plate of brownies.
She was going to look so stupid bringing brownies to a kegger.
Figuring that probably no one heard her knocking over the loud
music, she decided a quick stop at a package store was in order.
She was just about to make her escape when the door
opened.

"What do you want?" the woman glaring
at her demanded. Haley frowned as she quickly took in the woman's
sleek black hair, perfect features touched up by flawless make-up
and the killer short dress and decided that she was severely
underdressed for this party in her jeans and baby pink Yankees long
sleeve tee-shirt.

Haley opened her mouth to make an
excuse so she could leave, knowing she was in way over her head
here when the woman snorted.

"You're the next door neighbor," the
woman said, sounding amused. "What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed
on the plate in Haley's hands.

"I just-"

"Amy, who is it?" Jason's voice came
from somewhere behind the woman apparently named Amy.

Amy rolled her eyes. "It's just your
neighbor dropping off brownies." She reached forward to take the
plate from Haley. "I'll just take them so she can g-"

"Brownies?" Jason said, suddenly
filling the door, causing Amy to stumble back and out of the
way.

"Hey!" Amy snapped, but Jason didn't
seem to hear her. His eyes were glued to the plate.

"Are those," he noticeably swallowed,
"brownies covered in peanut butter frosting?"

Did he just whimper?

"They're chocolate chunk fudge brownies
with peanut butter frosting," she clarified automatically as her
eyes caught the murderous glare Amy was sending her way. She was
just about to hand the plate over to Jason and leave when
everything in her stilled.