Page 35 of Wild Pitch

“Hey there, Mayhem,” he says, looking up at me as I lean over the railing, trying to get closer to him. “I almost thought you weren’t going to come. I looked out here three times, only to find an empty seat.”

I laugh. “Yeah, well somebody let me sleep in. If it weren’t for your sister incessantly calling me for our weekly gossip session, I’d probably still be unconscious in your bed.”

“Hmmm,” he says, as if he’s mentally conjuring up the visual. “That might be fun to play around with.” My eyes go wide, and I look around to make sure nobody is within earshot, but I have to admit that the thought of giving himpermission to fuck me while I sleep wakes up a dull throb between my thighs.

“Stop looking at me like that, sweet thing,” he says, snapping me out of my fantasy. “These pants are way too tight to be thinking about what I could get away with in that situation.”

Jesus Tapdancing Christ, this man’s mouth is lethal.

“Valentine!” Ace yells from where he’s waiting behind home plate. “Let’s go!”

Riggs looks back at him, giving a tight nod before taking a few steps back and climbing the wall just like he did the first time I sat here. He holds the railing with one hand, using the other to cup my cheek. I can feel several sets of eyes on us as he slowly leans in, gently pressing his lips to mine in a sweet kiss. I know he wants to deepen it—because so do I—but I’m sure there are a bunch of cameras pointed our way. We have to keep things PG in front of everyone.

He pulls away, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll see you in a bit, baby,” he says quietly before dropping back down to the grass and running toward the mound. My pulse is racing, and a silly smile is plastered across my face as I turn to my seat, stopping when I hear a small giggle come from beside me.

“Your boyfriend is really cute,” a little girl, no more than eight years old, says shyly. “You’re so lucky.”

I turn, looking back to where Riggs is warming up, firing pitches into Ace’s waiting mitt. As if he feels my stare, he glances over his shoulder, shooting me a sexy wink.

“Yeah, I am,” I reply, and even with all the uncertainty I’m feeling, that’s the one thing I’m completely sure of.

RIGGS

“That’s how we do it, boys!” I yell as we make our way into the locker room. I pitched seven innings and although my shoulder is screaming, I feel amazing after beating the New York Imperials by five runs. My guys’ bats were on fire, and we all played the field like the well-oiled machine I know we are.

“We going out to celebrate tonight?” Ace says, sitting down next to me on the padded bench as the rest of the team yells and laughs around us. We have a night game tomorrow, which means we could hit the clubs tonight and sleep it off before we have to be back here in the afternoon. We do it all the time, but I’m done with that shit. I have better things to do.

“Nah,” I reply, rotating my shoulder slowly to combat the cramp I feel coming on. “Gotta spend some quality time with my girl. I feel like I’ve barely seen her.” Even though we were together all of last night, it just wasn’t enough. It never is.

He whistles quietly. “I never thought I’d see the day where Riggs Valentine actually settled down. I’m a little disappointed that I won’t get to be your wingman anymore, but I have to say…being in love looks good on you, my guy.”

I snap my head up, eyes wide as I look at him like he’s speaking a different language. At first, I want to deny it. Tell him that’s not what this is. But I can’t bring myself to actually spit out the words.

Normally the thought of committing myself to the same girl for longer than one night would scare the shit out of me. I’ve enjoyed living the single life. It was easy tomove from woman to woman, never worrying about anyone’s feelings getting involved because they all knew the score. I never allowed myself to think about a future with any of them because I was never willing to put my heart on the line. But with Monroe?

She can fucking have it. It’s all hers if she wants it.

As much time as we lost being mad at each other, I can’t even pretend like we haven’t fallen into something since she moved to Daytona. I was stupid to think I’d get through this without my feelings getting involved, blurring the lines of our arrangement. I was lying to myself every time I said I hated her. I was masking the hurt from her rejection with animosity, and even though deep down I knew it never really felt right, I thought I could keep that going while she was here. If anything, I figured I could continue matching her energy until this thing was over and we could go our separate ways.

But now…there’s no fucking way I ever could. I want her.For real.

I’m falling in love with Monroe Decker.

I shake my head at the revelation, huffing a laugh—becauseholy shit—before standing to quickly pull my uniform off. I just want to hit the showers, see the trainer, and get the fuck out of here so I can finally talk to my girl. As risky as it is to bring this up when we agreed to keep this thing professional, I feel like I might explode if we don’t sort it all out.

I just hope it doesn’t blow up in my face when I lay it all on the table for her.

TWENTY-FOUR

MONROE

“Mmmm,”Riggs hums, coasting his lips across the heated skin of my neck as we ride the elevator to our floor. Sometimes there’s an attendant on duty, but because it’s a Sunday, we’re all alone. Thank God for that. I’m not sure an extra body in here would’ve stopped him from pushing me up against the wall as soon as the doors closed, anyway. “Fuck, you taste good.”

I moan quietly, feeling the warm moisture between my legs as it begins to slowly soak my panties. I’ll never get over how quickly and easily he can turn me on. He barely even has to try and I’m a puddle at his feet. Now that I’ve come to grips with the fact that I don’t hate him and love the way he makes me feel, it’s been so much easier to enjoy all of this. I still have the same stupid hang-ups about getting into a relationship in the back of my mind, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what it would be like.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open, but Riggs apparently isn’t paying attention because he doubles hisefforts, biting down on my neck while reaching both hands around to palm my ass. I’m about to just let them close and take us to the next floor, when a throat clears from the hallway. My eyes snap open and I’m mortified to see a young porter staring back at me. I gasp, attempting to shove Riggs away, but of course, the horny motherfucker isn’t deterred.

“You know it makes me hard when you fight back, Mayhem,” he growls, gripping even harder with his hands as I maintain eye contact with the poor soul who’s literally just trying to do his job. I internally beg the floor to open up and swallow me whole, but obviously, it doesn’t.

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