Page 4 of Walk Off

“I’m not an idiot.” She was on birth control but she’d need a condom just to double up. Did guys still carry those with them?

“I never said you were.” He leaned in close, lowering his voice. “I’m not saying I approve of this or that you should be doing it, but I understand why you want to.”

His understanding went a long way to calm her nerves. Now she just had to decide who would be the lucky guy and then actually go through with it.

Easier said than done.

Chapter 2

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Kyle

Nothing like showing up to a wedding after he’d already missed the ceremony and the dinner thanks to a delay at the airport that had him stranded in Chicago for four hours.

He probably should have just gone up to his room in the hotel and skipped the wedding. He and Benji might have been close during his one year in college but they’d barely seen each other in the years since. He’d been shocked to even get an invitation to the wedding.

The only reason he’d come was because Benji played for the Strikers. The same team that Dallas Ramos played for.

The Dallas Ramos who was married to Ruby Mullen whose sister just so happened to be the one woman he’d never been able to forget.

Celia Mullen.

God, she’d been so sweet and sexy and made him so happy. All he’d wanted was to spend his life with her, but she’d had other ideas. He’d asked her to come with him to Arizona after he’d been called up, and when she'd said no, he’d pleaded with her to keep their relationship going even if it was long distance. Again she’d said no, telling him she didn’t love him and that she didn’t want to have anything to do with him any longer.

His heart had broken into a million pieces.

And it had never been the same since.

For the first six months after she’d broken his heart, he’d put all his focus into baseball. It worked too. He’d earned rookie of the year for that first year and gotten stronger during the off-season. By the time spring training started, he’d let the pain go enough to try and move on.

And by moving on, that meant sleeping with any willing woman.

For a while, it worked. He’d forgotten all about Celia and how much he’d loved her. He’d pushed her so far from his mind that, even if he heard her name, he would be hard-pressed to remember who she'd been to him.

It didn’t matter that when he closed his eyes each night, she was the first thing he saw. He couldn’t control his mind while sleeping. During the waking hours though, she wasn’t a part of his life. He’d effectively cut her out for good.

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