Page 83 of The Problem with Players

I think I just orgasmed on the field.

Screw Nathan Pierce and those damn winks of his.

I didn’t think they still had that much power over me, yet there I was, feeling slightly weak in the knees.

“Can I sit with you?”Laurelin asked as I sat at one of the long tables in the barn, waiting to be served by the other team.

“Of course, please.”

She sat across from me and quickly made herself comfortable. She grabbed a slice of the sourdough bread in front of usand started spreading butter onto it. “What a fun game it was today, huh?”

“Gosh, yeah. I forgot how much fun it was to play an actual game as opposed to just coaching it.”

“I get the feeling Nathan felt the same way out there,” she said, gesturing to her smiling son, who was bringing in a tray of hash browns to put on the bar with the food warmers. “You know he’s been back in town for over a year, but this is the first time he actually took part in the Sunday Funday baseball game.”

My eyebrows arched in disbelief. “What? He never played before?”

“Nope. He always said he was too busy doing stuff around the property. That was until today.”

“He made it seem like he looked forward to these games when he told me. I wonder why that is or what changed.”

Laurelin smiled. “Yeah, I wonder.” Her eyes moved back to her son, and her smile slowly faded. “I do worry about him, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s like you. Resiliently strong. That worries me as a mother. I don’t want him to feel as if he needs to always be strong. I don’t want him to feel as if he needs to be so serious and driven every second of every day.”

“My father says the same thing about me.”

“The curse of being the eldest child,” she semi-joked. “I was the middle child in my family. I never realized how much my sister Stacey dealt with until I grew up. She took on a lot more responsibility than she should’ve had to. Nathan did the same thing, especially after his father passed away. After that happened, I know Nathan felt a responsibility to the family. He struggled a lot to have a life outside of looking after us and the game. When he lost the game with his injury, after losing his good friend, too, he focused so much on the farm life. Nathanputs so much weight on his shoulders to help everyone out. I don’t know the last time I’ve seen him have as much fun as he did today. It’s good to see him like this,” Laurelin explained.

“Like what?”

“Happy and free.” She smiled at me. “Why do I feel as if you might have had something to do with that, Ms. Kingsley?”

I shook my head. “No. I honestly think it’s just that he got back into coaching. I think helping the team is helping him. I felt it on the field today, too. I had nothing to do with his happiness. He just rediscovered something he loved again.”

“Yes,” she agreed in an all-knowing way. “He did.” She smiled a smile that matched her son’s and patted my hand. “Well, I should get to helping around here. But if there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Laurelin.”

“Thankyou, Avery,” she said before she walked away. I didn’t know exactly what she was thanking me for, but the words stayed dancing in my head for a while.

Not long after, Laurelin was standing in front of everyone, and she said a prayer over the brunch. When that was all done, the losing team began to go around and collect the winners’ orders. When Nathan came over with my full plate of food, my stomach instantly growled.

“Here you go, your royalty,” he sarcastically remarked as he set the plate in front of me.

“Thank you, my servant.” I gestured toward the beverage table. “If only I had a nice, refreshing mimosa to drink with this meal. Fetch me one, will you?”

He snickered, shaking his head. “You’re going to milk this, aren’t you?”

I started to gesture me milking invisible udders. “One hundred percent.” I patted my throat. “Make it two mimosas. I’m parched.”

With a slight bow, Nathan hurried off to grab my drinks,and when he came back, he took a seat across from me. He set down the mimosas in Mason jars and smirked my way as I was stuffing my mouth with a sausage link. I paused my bite as I stared at him, confused as to why he was smiling so dang hard.

I arched an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…”

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