Page 316 of Well Played

“Our quarrel? I don’t have a problem with you. You’re the one who has a problem with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I just don’t appreciate your buying Jimmy a tablet and…”

“I didn’t.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, and then pursed her lips. “He said he got it from you.”

“Yeah, he’s checking out a game a friend of mine designed. It is about baseball stats and all. Well, I’m okay with stuff like that, but your brother is a genius. I just asked him for help.”

“What? I don’t understand…” She pursed her lips in concentration.

He liked the way she pursed her lips, but he didn’t think she’d like it if he smiled at her for being cute. He cleared his throat. “One of my former teammates is a game designer. He wanted a game like fantasy football but for baseball teams. You play games to earn money to buy your favorite team members and if you are playing with another person or group, it’s first come and no one else can get that guy until he comes up again.” He shook his head. “I’m not a big gamer and the stats and stuff are a little more advanced than I was comfortable with, but I was talking to your dad and realized Jimmy might understand it better than I do. I asked for his help.”

“Oh,” she said, her face turning pink with embarrassment. “Then I guess I owe you an apology.” She started to walk away.

“Is that all I get?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you owe me an apology, but you didn’t give me one.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re really pushing it, aren’t you?”

He smiled and was delighted to see her eyes flash with heat. He hoped it was desire, but he’d take whatever heat she offered. “I like to live dangerously.”

“Okay Mr. Dangerous, you want to put your money where your mouth is?”

He’d like to put his mouth where her money was, but he probably shouldn’t say that out loud.

“Batting cage, we’ll see who can get the most hits and who can hit the ball the furthest, the most times. Then that person can deliver their apology.”

“I tried to give you an apology. You didn’t want it.”

“I do now, in public, at my shop during rush hour.”

He raised his brow. “And if I win.”

She shrugged. “I don’t plan on losing, but if I do, I’ll apologize wherever you want.”

“Wherever?” He grinned, thinking of possibilities.

She started walking away. “Well, come on.”

“The practice.”

“They’ll be awhile, and this shouldn’t take long.” She smiled.

Damn, she had a killer smile and a walk that could lead him into temptation. He should probably pray, but he wasn’t sure God answered those kinds of prayers.

Walker followed Kay to the batting cage. She pulled a key from the pocket of her snug fitting jean shorts. He enjoyed watching her move.

“What setting do you want to start with?” she asked as she loaded the pitching machine.

They negotiated the number of practice pitches and Kay insisted he bat first.

The batting cage had an impressive set up with electronic monitors to analyze their hits. As he watched the analytics appear on the big screen, he adjusted his stance and beganhitting the ball with purpose. Pleased with his batting average, he smugly handed Kay the bat.

“Not bad for an old guy.” She grinned and replaced his bat with another from the collection. She went over and adjusted the machine, giving him a brief tutorial on what she was doing and why.

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