Page 19 of The Third Baseman

His palms shot up defensively. “Okay, okay. Chill.”

I was not going to chill.

It became clear no one was going to say anything else. Only thedrip, drip,of orange juice hitting the floor could be heard. I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples, willing my racing heart to calm. It had been years since I’d felt this level of rage over a woman. In fact, Marnie was the only woman I’d ever felt jealousy over.

In all my years since her, there hadn’t been one woman who’d ever piqued my interest enough to raise an eyebrow over, let alone my pulse.

“Okay, dude, what the fuck is going on?”

I looked up at Stone, then the two rookies sitting and gawping. Stone turned to them because we both knew I wasn’t going to speak in front of them.

“You two, breakfast time is over. Go find a mop or something.”

They shot up and ran off without any argument. Stone simply looked at me, crunching down on a piece of toast he’d picked up off Ace’s plate, then sat back and waited.

“Okay, but you keep my secret and I’ll keep yours.” I offered up the trade before I got stuck into the actual intel.

Stone gave a single nod, like he was fucking Mr. Miyagi.

“The girl I told you about earlier, the one I’m working on who doesn’t want anything to do with me?” I looked at him dead-on. “It’s Marnie Matthews, the new girl.”

He threw the rest of Ace’s toast down, picked up a napkin, and wiped his fingers clean. “Whoa, seriously? But she’s only just started here! How did you fuck it up already?”

I shook my head slowly. “No, it’s not like that. We were in high school together. She was my first girlfriend, the only girlfriend I’ve had. The only woman I’ve ever loved. I broke up with her the day I was drafted. It had to be done, but I’ve regretted it every single day since. I never thought I would ever have the chance to make it up to her, but then Penn Shepherd came to see me. I said I would only play for The Lions if he found her and offered her a job.”

“Holy fuck!” he yelled, then dropped his voice at my snarledshhh. “Sorry, but that was not what I was expecting you to say!”

“She moved here from Houston.”

Stone’s eyes opened wider. “What? Like me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she was at N.A.S.A. It’s why Shepherd brought her on for baseball science or whatever it is. It’s all he could come up with. Marnie was a rocket scientist,isa rocket scientist. Well, an astrodynamicist.”

“Holy fuck. What’s she doing with you? You can’t even pronounce it!”

I shot him a wry look, though he wasn’t wrong. “She’s not with me… yet.”

“Have you spoken to her?”

“Not exactly,” I cringed with a head shake and quickly explained the slap. Stone’s jaw dropped further with each revelation, until I could see the whole length of his very pink tongue. “I’ve been texting her this week but she hasn’t replied to any of them. I need to talk to her before that rookie gets in to see her.”

“Dude, she’s here. Ace said he ran into her, remember?”

My eyes widened. “Yes, he did fucking say that, didn’t he?”

Stone lifted his hands in the air and trapped me with a hard stare. “What are you waiting for? Go.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I took off quickly, heading down the corridor and only slowing down to take the left at the stairs. It took a second before I realized someone was ahead of me.

It was another second before I realized that someone wasmysomeone.

Fuck.

“Marnie.”

She spun around, her green eyes locking onto mine. Her jaw tensed just before she shot right and slammed whatever door she’d gone through.

Turned out, it was her office.

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