Page 61 of Curveball

Collin pinches his eyebrow together in obvious confusion. Quincy Abbott is well known in this town as a bachelor.

I sigh. “He’s joking. I’m not his wife.” I hold out my hand. “I’m Ripley St. James. I’m just a friend helping make sure this house doesn’t turn into a bachelor pad whorehouse.” I turn to Quincy. “Though I could see you as the Hugh Hefner of the East Coast.”

I bat my eyelashes and Collin laughs. “I know who you both are. I didn’t think you were married.”

We hear his passenger car door open and a woman, a little younger than me, who’s dressed to the nines in a business pantsuit, exits and stands.

She’s a stunning blonde who’s as tall as me and about seventy pounds lighter. Collin points to her. “This is my baby mama, Jade. When I’m a good boy, she helps me out with the design aspect of things. She does virtual modeling.”

She smiles at him. It’s neither sweet nor innocent. “I prefer you be a bad boy, but whatever.” Jade turns to us. “Yep, designer, baby mama, and sex goddess. I’m a full-service woman.”

Collin starts laughing before nodding. “It’s true, she’s all those things.”

I study her. There’s something very familiar about her. Maybe I’ve met her before.

She notices and apparently can read my mind. “No, we haven’t met. Reagan Daulton is my cousin. We look alike.”

I let out an audible breath. “Yes! That’s why you’re familiar. You two really do look alike.”

“Yep. I know. And your team co-owner, Beckett Windsor, is my stepfather. Well, soon-to-be stepfather. My mom won’t make an honest man of him just yet.”

“Got it. I’ve met Beckett’s daughter. She comes to our games.”

“Yes, my soon-to-be stepsister loves softball. She plays. She even has a poster of Arizona in her bedroom.”

Quincy sighs. “At least she’s not a teenage boy. Unfortunately, I have a lot of them telling me they have her poster in their bedrooms too.”

Jade and I both giggle at that.

Collin leads the way as he lays out some general thoughts to Quincy. They seem to be getting along well. Jade loops her arm through mine as we walk a few feet behind them. She looks me up and down. “I love having a woman who’s my height. I always tower over people.”

I smile. “I know the feeling. I always feel like a giant. At least my softball friends are all tall too.”

“Right. Arizona is tall. And you and her grew up together, right? I think I read that somewhere.”

“We did. We’ve been best friends our whole lives.”

“So…does she know you’re sleeping with her brother?”

I stop dead in my tracks. “What makes you say that?”

“Hmm. I heard him call you his wife, he brought you to this meeting, and every time you talk, he looks at you like he’s about to devour you. I know what a man in lust looks like. He’s lusting hardcore for you.”

“I don’t think that’s true. We’re not together.”

“That’s not what I asked, but I think I have my answer.”

“You’re kind of nosy, Jade.”

She lets out a laugh. “You don’t know the half of it. Why aren’t you together? You’re obviously equally into him.”

I let out a breath of exasperation. Man, I need to do a better job hiding things. First Bailey, and now a stranger.

She squeezes my arm. “It’s clear to me that something has or is going on with you two. It’s also clear to me that Arizona doesn’t know. You must need to unload on someone.”

She’s kind of right. I wouldn’t mind someone to talk to.She’s the only person I know without any real connection to Arizona.

“We’ve known each other most of our lives. I pined for him from afar for years until the day he noticed. We’ve been secretly on and off for years, but that ended nearly two years ago. We want different things in life. I want marriage and family. He wants none of those things.”

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