Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel (9 page)

But he also wanted something real.

That’s probably part of the reason why he was so attracted to Sonny. Everything about her was real.

And that’s why he was there at her place, planning on buying milk that he didn’t need so that she’d get used to him being around. He’d even contemplated a dairy allergy as his excuse, but decided against it. Lying to her didn’t seem right.

Instead, he was going to stick with the premise that her milk might be better on his body, and since he was a jock, his body being in peak performance was essential. All of that was true. But it didn’t mean he was actually going to drink the stuff. Goat milk had a funky taste.

That was the part he was going to omit.

He reached the women and stopped, giving them a grin. “Hey.” Taking off his shades, he stretched out a hand toward Sonny’s friend. “I’m JP.”

She fumbled a little with the toddler until a hand was free and smiled wide. “Nice to meet you. I’m Janie, and this is Kelly.”

JP saw the girl stare shyly at him while her head rested on her mom’s shoulder. “Cute kid.”

“Thanks.”

He watched as Janie turned to Sonny and said, “I’ve got to run, lady. Thanks again for the tray. I’ll call you tomorrow and give you the rundown on how things went.”

With that she grabbed a silver tray from Sonny and she and the toddler hustled off, leaving JP all alone with his dream woman.

He thought of something. “Where’s Charlie?”

Sonny stared at Janie’s retreating back over his shoulder, her expression a little desperate. “He’s at a play date with his best friend Sam.”

Meaning: they were completely and utterly alone.

A big part of him—the part with a case of the hot and horny, according to Drake—wanted to take advantage of the alone time to press her. But he wasn’t ruled by his dick, and he had a few brain cells, so he threw that idea out the window real quick.

Hoping to put her at ease, he hooked his thumbs in the front pocket of his jeans and said, “How’s that work with his diabetes?” He actually did want to know.

She probably didn’t even realize it, but her eyes dropped to where his thumbs were—right smack on the front of his pants. On second thought, the way color rushed to her face, he’d have to guess that she did know it. And he liked that she knew it. It meant that Sonny wasn’t immune to him.

Quickly averting her gaze, she cleared her throat and replied, “It’s not a big deal. Cheryl, Sam’s mom, knows how to handle his shots and how to check his blood sugar. But really, Charlie’s super responsible with it. I think the fear of what could happen to him if he doesn’t take care of himself scares the pee out of him. Because of that he’s incredibly vigilant. It’s been months since I’ve even had to nag him to check his glucose before it was time to eat.”

JP was impressed. “That’s sounds awful grown-up for a ten year old.”

Talking about her son put a smile on her face and softened her features. Sonny really was a beautiful woman. “Tell me about it. Now if I can only get him to empty his pockets before he throws his pants in the wash.”

Half the time JP forgot to do that too. “Good luck with that one, sunshine. Us guys love to forget that we shoved a ton of crap in them.”

“I’m sure. He’s going to be bummed he missed you, by the way. But he’ll see you tomorrow at the game.” She gestured over her shoulder at the small brick building behind her. “The milk is in my workspace here.”

Her workspace had some sort of dark purple flower growing all over it. If he was a chick he’d have thought it was beautiful and gone on about the aesthetics of it. Since he was a guy he settled for “nice.”

His mom, the gardening guru, would be sadly disappointed at his lack of botanical knowledge. She’d tried to teach him, but it hadn’t stuck. He could, however, tell the difference between a zucchini and a squash, so that was something.

JP followed her inside and let out a soft whistle. It was a pretty slick setup she had, and the décor was fun and simple. He knocked into an oversized wooden giraffe by the door and a grey hat fell to the floor. While bending down to pick it up he scoped a look at Sonny’s ass and felt the warmth of arousal start to heat his blood. The woman had about the shapeliest butt he’d ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Straightening, he placed the mobster-style hat back on the giraffe and tilted it over one eye for effect. Give the thing a zoot suit and Thompson machine gun and it had a real chance at showbiz. He said as much to Sonny and she laughed.

Her laughter was infectious and he was so damn proud of himself for making her do it that he found himself grinning back at her like a fool. He would prostrate himself on the altar of her dignity anytime if it made her do that again. Hell, he’d dress up in a zoot suit himself, because when she laughed the whole world seemed lighter.

JP
LOOKED AWFULLY
proud of himself, Sonny thought as she pulled some fresh milk from the fridge. Still grinning over his comment, she handed him the old-fashioned glass jug. “This is from early this morning. I’m actually not supposed to sell raw unpasteurized goat milk for human consumption per FDA regulations, and my license doesn’t include it, so you can just have it.”

He reached out and took the jug, his fingertips brushing against her hand and leaving a trail of tingling nerves in their wake. His brows pulled low and he seemed uncertain. “Are you sure?”

Absolutely. Some rules she just didn’t break. “Yep. It’s all yours.”

“Thanks.”

His eyes locked on hers, the gorgeous warm honey of them making her knees weak. That single-minded focus of his was as disconcerting as it was intoxicating. And it made her wonder what it would be like to have that focus on her in another way. A naked way. He had the kind of bedroom eyes that promised heaven could be found with him, should she be tempted. It ought to be illegal for a man to possess eyes like his.

Against her better judgment, Sonny discovered she
was
tempted. Heat pooled low in her belly and she could feel herself getting wet. It’d been so long for her that she’d almost been swept away by the sensation before she’d recognized it. And when her gaze dropped to his mouth, she heard his deep intake of breath and quickly looked away.

What was she doing being tempted by JP? She blamed Janie for this. Her best friend’s words echoed in her head.
Kissing. You should be doing a whole lotta kissing.
The not-so-subliminal message was playing in her head like a song stuck on repeat.

Suddenly the room closed in and his large, toned frame took up the entire space. All she could see were broad shoulders, sculpted arms, hard pecs, and flat abs. She was afraid to look any lower. The way she was feeling right now, if she saw that he had an erection she might be inclined to do something with it.

And that would be about as stupid as dirt, because he was off limits. Besides, everybody and their dog knew that she was an idiot when it came to men. As soon as she’d been naked with one, all her issues and insecurities rose to the surface and she became all kinds of dysfunctional crazy—pushing them away and creating roadblock after roadblock.

Which was why she hadn’t been with a man in over five years. Charlie had been just a preschooler the one and only time she’d ventured into relationship territory. She’d thought it was love and he’d proved different. The end result had been so bad that she’d swore it would never happen again.

Because truth was she couldn’t be trusted.

All the therapy in Colorado wouldn’t change that fact. Some things were just in people’s natures. Being relationship-challenged was in hers.

Good thing for her that JP was a famous celebrity. Just the thought was sobering.

With that reminder, Sonny released a slow breath and took a step back. The air had gone hot and stuffy, and she suddenly needed to be outside in the fresh breeze. She needed some space, period. Being around JP made her brain stop functioning and her hormones take over.

Leaving him standing in the middle of her work kitchen, Sonny strode outside and inhaled deep. Damn her libido. Why did it have to crop up at this moment? The first time she’d noticed it had been at the charity event when she’d caught sight of JP. Before that, it’d been mostly nonexistent. What was it about the shortstop that brought it roaring to life?

And why now?

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice he’d joined her outside until he spoke quietly, startling her. “Everything okay, Sonny?”

Not at all. “Yep. Just peachy. Why do you ask?”

He seemed to settle in comfortably next to her, his arms crossed casually and his feet spread. She was tall, but he had a full head on her. He’d put his glasses back on and had taken a page from her book, staring out over her property.

“You hightailed it out of there like your ass was on fire, that’s why.”

Oh. “It was hot in there.”

Humor warmed his deep voice. “True that.”

He didn’t push her and they stood together companionably in silence. And it felt surprisingly good and comfortable. Like maybe they were becoming friends.

And if they were becoming friends then JP deserved some honesty. “I’m shit at relationships.”

He just kept on staring at her yard. “Is that a fact?”

Why didn’t her admission bug him? He acted like she’d said the sky was blue. “I mean it, JP. Charlie is the only relationship in my life that I haven’t fucked up in some way or another.” And it pained her to admit it.

She’d half expected him to cut bait and run at that—maybe even half hoped he would—so she was taken aback by what he did next. He leaned down until his mouth was level with her ear. Sonny stilled, her breath caught in her chest as she waited for his move, anticipation racing under her skin.

It didn’t take long.

Light and sweet as whipped frosting, he kissed the hair above her ear and whispered, “Lucky for us, I don’t scare easily.”

Chapter Eight

F
OR THE NEXT
week, JP made excuse after excuse to drop by Sonny’s place to see her. And after he’d returned from an away trip to St. Louis and swung by again, his fridge was so full of cheese rounds and milk that there was barely any room left in it for a six-pack of beer.

His strategy was working though. Each time he was around her he kept everything easy and low-key, and Sonny was loosening up degree by degree. The last time she’d even nearly kissed him. Charlie walking into the room with a friend had stopped her though.

It was about time, too, because he was running out of excuses. There were only so many scenarios he could come up with that sounded plausible for why he’d needed to buy goat cheese. And he still had to figure out what to do with all the milk before it went bad. Probably Drake would take it if he offered. That dude drank more milk than anybody he’d ever seen. Said it was for his growing bones.

Or his neighbor’s cat probably wouldn’t protest over being given it, either. It might be a way to actually get the feline to shut up. His condo shared a bedroom wall with the neighbor’s place and for hours on end that damn cat yowled like it was being tortured. He’d knocked once to talk to the owner about keeping it down, but had been told by a woman watching the place that the neighbor and the feline who owned her were off at a cat show.

Which just figured, right? Crazy
Best in Show
people. Apparently the cat yowled so much because she was a pedigree Siamese and hadn’t been fixed for show purposes. JP had pleaded with the owner the next time he’d run into her to just let the frigging cat get knocked up so that he could have some peace and quiet. Nobody liked a cranky pussy.

He got the door slammed in his face for saying that one. And now it was time for JP to find a new place to live. Because if he had to listen to a sexually frustrated Siamese caterwaul for much longer in the middle of the night he was going to hurt somebody.

“Hey, Trudeau. Get your head out of the clouds. We’ve got a game about to start.”

The bark of the team manager’s voice snapped him out of his musings and he blinked, trying to tune back into the world around him. See? No sleep made him slow and unfocused.

Fucking cat.

Grabbing his baseball mitt from the dugout bench, JP wrenched his hat down tight and took to the field. On his way he saw Charlie decked out in his Rush jersey. The kid was collecting balls along the third base line and had the biggest smile on his face. Pulling strings to get the kid the job had been the right thing to do. He acted like every game was Christmas.

As JP passed, he cuffed the kid’s shoulder good-naturedly and said, “Keep up the good work, slugger.”

Charlie beamed up at him. “Being a batboy rocks!”

Yeah, he’d made the right call alright.

Taking position between second and third, JP shoved his head in the game with effort. They were about to take on the Padres, and he needed his wits about him. San Diego had a hitter who was famous for line drives to left field, and he was third to bat on the roster. JP’d been up against him before and knew he had to get focused; otherwise he should just hand the guy a bunch of RBIs and call it a day.

A clear head for split decisions was a shortstop’s necessity. It was one of those positions that required complete confidence and instant decision-making ability. JP had to be able to read and play the field in an instant.

Thinking about pussies of any kind would only get him screwed—and not the fun kind, either.

With even more effort, he forced any extraneous thoughts from his mind. Music pumped from the speakers and the fans revved up as Kowalskin took to the pitcher’s mound. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Pete had chosen “I’m Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO for his walkout song. For a while it’d been that song by Notorious B.I.G., “Big Papa.” Before that it had been AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” It was like he had musical ADHD.

JP liked his own walkout song: “The Way You Move” by Outkast. He’d used it since the minors and it had served him well. So well, in fact, that he’d become superstitious about changing it, afraid if he did he’d get jinxed.

Some things were better off being left alone.