Page 43 of Play the Field

I threw open my laptop to a few texts from Bri.

Where did she take you?

How did it go?

Did she murder you?

K, checked your location and your home. Gonna assume your phone died or something. But text me in the morning.

They spanned nearly six hours.Oops.Bringing my fingers to the keyboard, I wrote out a brief response.

I’m alive, just a late night. Lots to talk about later. But wondering if the league would be down for Cat to come play in a game or two?

I sent the text without much more thought. At some point, Cat needed to get back on a field with real players. And the women in the rec league had a variety of experiences. Some of them had even gone pro like Cat.

Checking the clock, I knew it was unlikely that I’d hear from Bri for a few hours. I opened a new document on my laptop and stared at the blank page.

Groaning, I sighed. This was silly. I hadn’t plotted a single word. Hell, all I really had was a vague idea. What good was that?

If I don’t write, Cat won’t practice.Then she’ll be stuck here. A part of my brain didn’t hate that idea, not after the night we’d had. But I knew she was still here on a mission: get back to the pro league.

One night with me was not going to change that. And I needed to make sure I was being honest about that. Otherwise, my heart might get ripped through the shredder…again.

I hovered my fingers over the keyboard, waiting for the words to come to my mind. After a deep breath, my skin met the plastic of my keys. Like a starting gun fired, I typed like a mad person.

Interrupting my first paragraph, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Bri:

YES. I need to grill her. Saturday? Also… what happened last night?! Need a debrief.

A blush rose in my cheeks at the thought of explaining what happened between Cat and me. But before I could get too in my head about it, the floorboards creaked near the kitchen.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.” Cat smiled, her eyes heavy with sleep. Walking closer, she wrapped her arms around my neck. Her eyes widened when she saw my laptop. “You actually took me seriously?”

I shrugged. “For now. You didn’t say how much I had to write.”

Rolling her eyes, Cat kissed my cheek. “I won’t bother you.” She walked away toward the kitchen and found herself some coffee.

Trying not to get distracted by her gorgeous body in the slightly buttoned dress shirt from the night before, I turned back to my laptop. This was dangerous. Cat already had my heart back in her palm and I had no idea what she planned to do with it this time.

26

CAT

Cleoand I managed to slip in one more practice before the weekend. We were both so distracted trying not to touch each other that we didn’t get much work in. By the time I was rolling out of bed on Saturday morning, I still hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Cleo.

The house was quiet, everyone trying to sleep in. But I had a game to get to. Cleo managed to get me a spot on their rec league team so I could practice in an actual game instead of a personalized training session.

I slipped on my white softball pants, mid-calf socks, and a shirt as close to Cleo’s team jersey in color as possible.

Tucking in the shirt, I checked myself in the mirror as I put a black baseball cap on.

I left the room and grabbed a to-go cup of coffee from the kitchen, lit up by the bright morning light.

“Good luck today.” Meredith startled me from the living room, where she watched the quiet street from the bay window.

Gasping, I clutched my chest. “Jesus, you scared me. Thanks.” Crossing the house, I looked out of the window with her. “What are you doing ?”

Meredith shrugged. “I just like being awake before everyone else.”

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