Page 9 of Striking Out In The Mountains

I tilt my head to the side, glaring at him. “You should worry aboutmehittingyou. Swing, or I’m aiming for your head.”

Those sexy lips curl up into a wolfish smile as I get ready to throw another pitch. This one has a bit more heat to it. It tears through the space between us and he swings hard. He connects, but it goes straight up, sailing over the fence, and it comes down hard into the crowd.

“Watch out!” someone shouts.

The ball lands on the twins’ huge nacho plate with a loudsmack, sending melted queso and sticky soda flying all overthem. They scream as they get drenched in it. Everyone at the park bursts out laughing. They’ve been annoying everyone all day and finally got what they deserved.

The crowd claps, cheers, and whistles as the twins hurry off to the bathroom to clean themselves up.

“Strike two,” the umpire says as I get the ball back.

I’m surprised he hit that. It had some crazy heat on it, but I guess he’s as quick and coordinated as he is strong.

Instead of my fastball, I throw a curve on the next pitch. He lets it go, thinking it’s a ball, but it curves back in and the umpire yells ‘Strike!’

Graham stands up, grinning in amusement as he watches me. “Very good,” he says, nodding. “Verygood.”

I love how he took it like a good sport and didn’t throw a tantrum like Emmanuel or Doug. He’s all class, smiling at me before walking back to the dugout with his shoulders back and his chin held high.

He doesn’t look like the type of man who’s threatened by women. He’s too confident for that.

My crush deepens as I watch him head to his water bottle for a drink.

He’s so hot. I want him back on the plate where I have an excuse to shamelessly stare at him. I should have thrown him a few balls to make it last longer.

But it’s too late now… Another big muscular fireman with tattoos all over his skin comes over with the bat resting on his massive shoulder.

I strike him out too.

Easily.

CHAPTER FOUR

Graham

My pulse is racing as I watch my girl celebrating with the other cops. She looks so happy. That beautiful smile is grabbing ahold of my heart andsqueezingit as I stare at her in awe.

I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s spectacular.

We never scored another point after she arrived and took over the game. We lost 12-9, but I don’t care. Really, I don’t.

I’d lose a thousand games if it meant I could see that radiant smile shining on her face. She looks so happy as the team congratulates her. I can’t look away. I’m mesmerized by her beauty.

She struck me out two more times and it didn’t bother me one bit. I was just happy to have those gorgeous green eyes on me. They made my whole body come alive.

I’ve always been attracted to strong muscular girls, but nobody has ever caught my interest like Cara has. As soon as shewalked onto the baseball diamond, I was fixated on her. I knew it was over.

I knew I’d never want another girl but her for the rest of my life.

“There goes my hundred bucks,” Doug says, kicking the dirt. “I should have known those cocksucking cops would have scammed me.”

“They didn’t scam you,” I say with a harshness to my tone. I know he didn’t mean it seriously, but calling Cara a cocksucker is getting my blood boiling. I don’t want anyone talking about my girl like that.

“They brought a ringer in,” he says with a scoff. “What do you call that?”

A miracle…

That’s what she is.

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