Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel (11 page)

JP seemed to consider that and his eyelids lowered, shielding his eyes. “Not so different, Sonny.”

Her gaze lifted to his face, surprised. “You don’t think?” From where she was standing there was a whole world between them.

“Sometimes things look different on the outside that aren’t. But you have to peel back the layers to see the similarities.”

“Why aren’t you like the typical twenty-something guy, JP?” she demanded to know with equal parts exasperation and frustration. It’d been a question she’d chewed on for a few weeks now.

“Because I’m special.” He answered through a crooked grin.

She couldn’t help smiling back. “For real, though. Sometimes I worry that you’re just too young and naïve to know better than to go sniffing around a single mom my age.”

The look he was giving her went instantly dark and hot. “Do I look naïve, Sonny?”

Not in the least. “I just can’t wrap my head around why you’re interested in me.” She gestured with a hand at the other ballplayers. “You’re a young, hot, professional athlete.”

JP stared hard at her for a few moments. Instead of answering, he said, “I have a terrific family. I’m one of six kids. Did you know that?” She shook her head and he continued. “We’re all really close, even though I live here and they’re all still in Iowa. My youngest sister Sadie is sixteen and after she was born the doctors discovered my mom had cervical cancer. I was about Charlie’s age when she went through surgery and chemo. She almost died and it was scary as hell. But we stuck together with support and love and a lot of sacrifice to get her through.”

Compassion filled her. “That must have been tough.”

He nodded. “It was. But I saw the way my dad held steady like a rock for her and us kids. He did it because there was nothing more important or better out there than his family.”

“I get what you’re saying.” At least she thought she did. “But you don’t have a wife and kids. You’re good looking, smart, and you’ve got a whole career ahead of you. You can have whatever you want.”

JP straightened from the table and gave her a look full of unreadable emotions. “Peel the layers, Sonny.” And then he walked away, leaving her standing there in stunned silence.

Though she hadn’t meant to, she could tell that she’d upset him. What was it with the shortstop? Try as she might, she just couldn’t get a handle on him. She’d thought he would be glad that she was letting him off the hook so easily. A little flirting, a few kisses—but it didn’t have to be anything more. If she were a young single guy like him she wouldn’t choose somebody like her. It was too much work. Too much baggage and preexisting conditions.

Or maybe that’s what she was telling herself to keep a wall between them.

Thinking that she should apologize, Sonny set her beer bottle down and was about to set off in search of JP when she was stopped by her hostess, Lorelei Littleton. They’d met when she’d first arrived, but there’d been so much going on that there hadn’t been much opportunity to chat. It seemed that the pretty brunette had found some time.

The catcher’s fiancée settled beside her and gave her a friendly smile. “Sorry it’s taken so long to get a chance to talk. Team get-togethers like this can get hectic.” She pointed to where the pitcher had taken center stage in the living room. “As evidenced by what we are about to see here.”

Following Lorelei’s gaze, she bit back a laugh as Peter held his hands out at his sides and prepared to bust a move. He’d turned his ball cap backward and rolled up the sleeves of his plain white T-shirt. A tattoo showed briefly on the inside of his right bicep and he had on Vans or Skechers or something. They were some kind of skater shoe.

Sonny thought of something. “Is Peter from Philadelphia?”

Lorelei looked at her with curiosity, “What makes you ask that?”

She tilted her head to the side and studied the pitcher. “He kind of has that G. Love-East Coast-Philly vibe.”

Lorelei tipped her head to the side, too, and considered. “You know, I think you’re right.” Straightening, she called out to the player, “Hey, Kowalskin! Are you from Philly?”

Peter tossed her a lopsided grin full of a whole lot of naughty and broke out a breakdance move. “You know it, sweetness.”

At that moment a gorgeous woman stepped up beside Lorelei and gave her an air kiss on the cheek. The blonde was absolutely stunning with her sleek shoulder-length bob, floral-print halter sundress, and heeled espadrilles. Her nails were poppy red and her makeup was flawless. “Hey, y’all. Sorry I’m late.” Belatedly she noticed the rearranged furniture. “What do we have going on here?”

Lorelei made introductions. “Sonny, this is Mark’s sister, Leslie.” She turned to the other woman. “Sonny’s boy Charlie is filling in for one of the regular batboys.”

Leslie’s smile was all Southern charm and hospitality. “Nice to meet you.
Love
your hair.”

Happy for the compliment, Sonny replied, “I was just thinking the same about yours.” It was the perfect shade of cool blonde. Probably cost a small fortune to maintain, too.

Music cut through the noise and someone let out an ear-piercing whistle. That brought Leslie back around, asking, “What are the guys up to?”

Lorelei leaned toward Sonny to give Leslie a better view through the crowd. “Peter’s about to entertain us all with some breakdancing.”

Leslie gave them a slightly exasperated look. “Did he lose a bet, y’all?”

Both Sonny and Lorelei nodded and said simultaneously, “Yep.”

The toned and curvy blonde sighed and rolled her eyes. “It never ends with that man, does it?”

Lorelei laughed and put her hand on the table for support. “Nope, and that’s what makes him fun.”

“Y’all know that he probably lost the bet on purpose just so that he could show off, right?” Though Mark’s sister shook her head disapprovingly, there was something in the way her eyes watched the pitcher that didn’t square with the verbalized annoyance. It was noticeable enough to catch Sonny’s attention, but then Peter started dancing and it streaked right out of her head like it’d never been there in the first place.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Instead of being some sort of comedy routine like she’d expected, the lean and lanky ballplayer was good. Really, really good. He moved like he was born doing it.

The crowd cheered him on and when he dropped to the floor and curled into a spin, the noise level rose even louder. It was like
Dance Party USA
up in there.

Peter ended the routine by kicking his feet out and flipping up onto them. The guy barely seemed out of breath by the vigorous dancing. It brought home to Sonny just how incredibly fit professional ballplayers had to be. And by the nimble way that the pitcher moved, she wondered if he wasn’t one of those players who’d taken ballet lessons for balance too.

Everyone clapped and shouted their approval as Peter melted back into the masses, straightening his hat as he went. Some player’s kid held out a hand and he high-fived him on his way to the balcony.

Lorelei spoke up, and Sonny tuned back in to the women next to her. “Am I the only one who noticed Peter’s shirt rode up a lot while he did that?”

Leslie shook her head. “No. We all saw it too.”

Lorelei looked from Sonny to Leslie and back. Then she grinned like she was sharing a deliciously wicked secret. “His abs weren’t bad.”

Not bad at all. If one liked them ripped and tight and flat as a pancake with a jet-black happy trail.

The blonde made a noncommittal sound in her throat. “They’re all right.”

Obviously she had eyesight problems.

Mark appeared in front of them, his hands loaded with plates of food. While Peter had been giving them a show, the pizza had arrived. The catcher had made up a plate for his fiancée and offered it to her. “Is this enough, baby?”

Sonny watched Lorelei place a hand on his cheek as she greeted him with a kiss, her huge diamond ring sparkling under the lights. “Thanks, hon. If I want more I know where to find it.”

Cutter grinned at her, his gray eyes full of love for his woman. “Anything for you.” He stole another kiss and then headed off to join the rest of his boys.

Watching the interplay between the two of them made Sonny intensely aware that she’d never had that before. That kind of love and adoration and caring. And she didn’t mean just in the past ten years. She meant
ever
.

It made her more than just a bit uncomfortable to realize that not once in her whole life had she been loved like that by anyone. Other than Charlie. But no one else. Not her mother or her father or her grandmother. Most especially not Charlie’s dad.

How sad was that?

Catching sight of JP across the room, Sonny let her gaze roam over the shortstop. What was he doing with her? Did he really want to see if they had that connection between them? The way he’d talked earlier made it sound like he wasn’t just after her for sex or some casual fling.

Just the opposite, in fact. He had sounded like he wanted something more along the lines of what Mark and Lorelei had. If that was so, how did she feel about it? Maybe more importantly, was she willing to do anything about it? Even knowing that it most probably—well, most definitely, given her history—would end in the worst kind of train wreck? Should she risk it just on the tiniest, slightest fraction of a chance that maybe it actually wouldn’t end in disaster? Because even if it did there was still her need for privacy.

Three weeks ago she would have said, “No way.” One week ago she would have said, “Fat chance.”

But now? Now she wasn’t completely certain.

Chapter Ten

JP
LEANED AGAINST
the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. Across the room he could see Sonny. She was talking to Mark’s lady and laughing easily, the slender line of her throat exposed when she tilted her head back. He had a big urge to kiss the milky skin and took another swig of beer.

It wasn’t going to happen, though, because the next move was up to her. He’d said his part. It had to be her that took the next step. That way she knew she was in control of her own decision.

It might just kill him waiting, but his gut told him that Sonny was worth it.

After he’d walked away from her, he’d watched her from a distance to gauge how she felt around his crew. Ball teams were tight knit and he wanted to see her reaction to it. By the way she was laughing and had her head together with Lorelei it seemed a fair guess to say that she liked it fine.

Cutter showed up beside him, a pile of pizza and beer in hand. “The fiancée seems smitten with your new lady.”

Yeah, he’d noticed. “I see that.”

The catcher set his plate on the bookcase beside him. “It can only mean that she’s all right, brother, if Lorelei likes her. So, well done. You thinking about keeping her?”

“I was planning on it.” He just had to convince her first. Lucky for her he was a patient guy, because with Sonny it might take a while. He settled his mind around the realization that he was in for a game of long ball and took another pull from the bottle. It might not be so bad, he tried to convince himself.

Sonny burst out laughing and the sound carried across the large room to JP. His body reacted and he grew hard and achy for her. Casually as he could, he shifted to give more play at the front of his jeans and took a long drink of chilled brew to cool his ardor.

Yeah, waiting might just kill him, all right.

But when he looked at Sonny and her smile lit the night sky and warmed his chest, he didn’t mind so much. All that mattered was that they got there eventually.

And when they finally got there, he was going to take his slow, sweet time with her.

At that moment she looked up and their gazes connected, the distance across the room vanishing in an instant. Energy traveled down his body and set his nerves tingling awake. With his eyes locked on hers JP lifted his beer bottle and took a slow, deliberate drink, his gaze never straying.

He could see clearly the ways the two of them would fit together. Sonny was the first woman he’d been interested in that he could say that about. And he figured that was a good thing. Because at the end of the day he wanted a partner he could sit on the porch with while the sun went down. The fact that she had Charlie didn’t make him hesitate. He knew what it meant to date a single mom—what his role could end up being. He figured he had his dad to thank for that, for being such a great father that JP saw it as a positive thing. Not something to shit bricks over. Besides, having helped raise his younger siblings gave him a leg up. It meant he wasn’t completely inexperienced.

It never occurred to JP to stop and consider what was happening. Everything was unfolding mostly the way he expected it to,
because
he expected it to. So what if Sonny was scared and overcautious? So what if he let her call the shots about the timing? He knew where it was all going to end up, so what did it matter when? Besides, he felt confident that he was figuring her out, which should only speed the process, right?

JP realized he was still staring and broke eye contact, the front of his jeans still uncomfortably tight. Mark nudged him in the shoulder. “What are your plans for the break?”

By break, he figured Mark meant All-Star week. JP shrugged his shoulders and stole a peek back at Sonny. She was talking to Mark’s sister now. “Not sure. But I’m sure something will come up.”

The catcher had been voted in to the All-Star Game that the Rush were hosting at Coors Field in just over a week. So had Peter and Drake. His ego wanted to be offended that he hadn’t been invited, but his brain triumphed with logic. Those guys had earned their place in the game from years of play. JP, though making big waves in the sport, was still newer to the pros. These sorts of things took a while.

JP raked a hand over his hair and pointed his bottle at Drake. “How much you want to bet that he takes first in the Home Run Derby?” The dude knew how to hit ’em.

The catcher grinned. “Let’s make it a bennie, ’cause I think that slugger from the Giants will beat him out.”