Page 21 of Nailed at Home Plate

From afar they were blue but up close there was a stormy mix of gray, like the color of the seas in the middle of a hurricane. I couldn’t help but find myself utterly intrigued by her. She didn’t fawn all over me like other women. Nor did she put me on a pedestalbecause of my major league background. She treated me like any other Joe off the street. It was…refreshing.

Every day we were together made me want to get to know her more. There was something between us that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. As much as we butted heads, I always found it to be a victory if I could manage to get some semblance of a smile out of her or even a lingering look. It might have been my imagination, but I was pretty sure I caught her mid-stare in my direction a few times. I wasn’t the kind of man that looked for ways to fuel my ego but for some reason, Cady kept doing it without even trying lately.

I was high on the music. High on the fact that maybe I finally figured out this dancing shit. And I was sure as fuck high on everything that was Cadence Andrews. With my head still buzzing, an intrusive thought in the back of my mind kept bugging me.

Dip her.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to drop the poor woman if I miscalculated all of this. But fuck, I wanted to see her continue to smile. It was now or never. Without further thought, I tipped her back. A squeal shot straight from her lips to my ears. It morphed into a surprised bubble of laughter. Her eyes fluttered open to find mine.

Her laughter caused my heart to race and my palms to sweat. When her eyes locked so firmly onto mine, it was almost as if there was an audible crackle of electricity between us. It drew me in closer as she was draped over my forearm and palm. Her body arched up towards mine in an open invitation as I held her there in the middle of the twirling dancers.

I felt as if I was locked in a trance. The only way to stop it was to lean in and ki…

Fuck.

My body jerked forward as a body part from someone on the dance floor bumped into my ass. I glanced back to see who the offender was. They ruined a moment that I was still in the middle of desperately trying to decipher. But by the time I looked back at Cady, whatever we had experienced was gone.

Rising of her own accord, she shot me a playful, breathless grin as her hands grasped onto both of mine. I felt about two degrees away from being a melted puddle at her feet. Why did she have such an unholy hold on me? She could crook her finger, and I’d follow without question. As if she had trained to do so.

I couldn’t help but quirk some semblance of a smile back at her as her hands tightened their grip. She found her footing again but suddenly stumbled a bit in her steps. For someone so sure of her dance skills, it was unusual to see. Maybe it was just the alcohol hitting her all at once.

I dropped her hands and moved my firm grip back onto her hips to steady her. I took note of how her body moved with mine. A wordless call and echo to one another. Maybe this was…fun.

“See? You’re not so bad, Slugger.” Cady’s breathed out as her eyes dipped away demurely. “Maybe we need to do more one-on-one practice.”

Her suggestion took me by surprise. First of all, did she just lay a nickname on me? And secondly, my brain,and dick, went directly to the other sort of one-on-one practice with Cady’s and my body rocking together. My breath caught at the thought.

And so did her foot under my shoe.

An awkward squawk of surprise twisted her face.

“Fuck! Sorry.” I mumbled under my breath as I briskly pulled my body from hers. Despite the misstep, I was thankful for it. The last thing I needed was her feeling my hardening cock when the moment was already awkward enough.

“No, no it's fine! I’m just glad you’re dancing.” Her words were sweet. Excited even. Chancing a glance up at her, her smile hadn’t faltered. There was a delightful pink tinge on her cheeks. It was probably from the dancing. “You aren’t terrible. You need to give yourself more credit. I’d dance with you aga–OW!”

If I kept stepping on her toes every time the damn woman flustered me, she was going to take back her offer to dance. Or else she wouldn’t have any toes left to dance on.

During games I could call pitches, keep an eye on runners at second base, and catch/return balls in a timely fashion. So why the hell couldn’t I hold onto a womanandkeep my feet from stepping on hers?

“You sure about that?”

Cady let out a snort before pressing her body in close again. It's not that I wanted to push her away, I stupidly wanted to mold her body against mine. Spread kisses down her neck…

Fuck. I really needed to stop.

Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts.

“Stepping on my feet isn’t the worst thing a man has done to me.” There was a quick roll of her eyes. “This is tame.”

My skin prickled at the thought of anyone being mean to the little spitfire. How could she let anyone be mean to her? With how she spoke to me, it was almost impossible to get a word in edgewise when she went on one of her tirades.

“Dare I pry…?” I cautiously asked. This was the longest conversation I ever had with the woman that didn’t revolve around work. As rude as it was to ask about past relationships, it was the only fodder I had to keep talking to her in my beer-hazed and semi-horny thoughts. And she did open the door to the conversation.

“Let's just say that it involved different boyfriends who all found greener pastures and didn’t bother to let me know they moved on.” Well, that was one way to put it.Fucking assholes.“Working around men all day long somehow diminishes the trust factor in a relationship. Once they get a look at my sorry lot, and the fact that I’m a female coach, they automatically think I’m fucking the whole team.” Her lovely face curled into a sour expression. “What is it with men?”

I blinked at her. She spoke to me as if I knew. I mean, I kind of did. Not that I was anything like the past men she dated. I couldn’t help but bristle every time I thought about Cady dating Roman. But now that I got to know the Sillys and Cady, these guys were like big brothers. Intimidating but harmless. They took special care of her, and she of them. Nothing sexual about it.

Even if I didn’t mesh well with a woman or wanted to move on, I wasn’t a dick about it. Unlike Cady’s past knuckleheads, I at least gave my exes thecourtesy of a breakup face-to-face. Even during my immature teenage days.

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