Page 42 of Nailed at Home Plate

Oh my god, the man did it.

Jamie did this little happy thing with his feet across the base. Wait, did the man justfrolicon the bag? The man didn’t have a graceful bone in his body when it came to dance moves.

Baseball, yes.

Dance, no.

Wait…was that an actualgrinon his face? Was he actuallyfinallyhaving fun at this “stupid excuse for baseball”, as he called it? I felt the corner of mymouth quirk up before my jaw suddenly dropped. His blue eyes sparkled when they met mine as he did…ashimmy.

He did a fucking shimmy at second base. The man looked at me and shook his non-existent titties, okay so they were hella toned titties, in celebration. In celebration of his first hit playing for the Philly Sillys. Despite his constant reluctance in my attempts to crack through that grumpiness, something must have sunk in. Or maybe it was all the horizontal dance moves we did before the game. He just did anunrehearsed and unprompteddance move for fucks sake!

I couldn’t help but puff my chest with pride. All those hours of frustration and a forced smile to counteract his monotone personality. They finally paid off. Especially if the crowd’s response had anything to say.

The Jamie Rheems Shimmy.

It had a nice ring to it.

And he lookedhot as fuckdoing it. My god, he’s handsome. Maybe he could pull this off after all.

Cadence

FRACTURES

Ifelt like a giant weight had been lifted off my chest. The moment I kissed Cadence was as if everything in my life clicked at once. Which would have been ideal, except for the fact that I wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life. I wanted to be back with the team that I loved. Back in the locker room that felt like home and not some 2-bit inner city cinder block bomb shelter.

But then I wouldn’t have mether.

Cadence.

From the fateful moment we met in the Sillys locker room a month ago, there was just something about her I couldn’t put my finger on. She cowered anytime I got within ten feet of her. Which only brought my attention, and curiosity, back to her over and over again.

Despite her intriguing me to a frustrating end, the dancing aspect of this reassignment had made her an unforgiving thorn in my side for the past few weeks. The fact that I’d been just as stubborn as she was with this dancing nonsense, making us butt heads, only made the situation even more bonkers.

Never in my life had I met a woman who met me toe-to-toe. One who didn’t immediately fawn all overme because they recognized me from television or jumped in my lap after I mentioned I played major league ball. The funny thing was that she thought I was hot all along and hadnoidea how to act around me. Instead, she avoided me like some 16th-century European plague or gave me two tons of attitude.

It was…cute.

Okay, fuck cute. It was the biggest damn turn-on. She had been an unsuspecting tease the entire time. I thought it was just my mind-blowing frustration over a woman who made it her life’s work to annoy me to death. Had I been good at dancing, the whole experience might have gone along a bit easier. She could command a room full of loving assholes and yet she had no idea what kind of power she wielded.

Cadence was…different. A good different. An amazing different. She was carefree and goofy. Not to the extent that most of the team was, but she didn’t take life too seriously. Each day was a different adventure with her. And when she was passionate about something, it showed.

After my breakup with Vanessa, I felt lost. She and I were supposed to be forever. But the fact that she didn’t want to leave San Diego to follow me to Philadelphia spoke for itself. Trades in the majors were bound to happen. I needed a partner that would be by my side to support it. Or at least make the effort to figure out a solution to new living arrangements. Vanessa didn’t even want totry.

I had to make the cross-country move all by myself. It was a big ask of her, I knew that. But had Vanessa followed me, I would have asked her to marry me. As much as it hurt to bring a years-longrelationship to such an end, perhaps it was just fate’s odd way of letting me know that I avoided a lifelong mistake.

The longer I spent in Cady’s presence, the more I realized that Vanessa was just…safe. She was a safe choice with a steady job. We went on dates and the sex was fine. But there was no earth-shattering chemistry. I thought that was a myth. Which maybe was why I had no idea what to do with my feelings towards Cady. I’d never felt them before.

Once I got to Philadelphia, the team made it feel like home almost instantly. I never had a deep connection to San Diego. I was there to play and live my major league dreams. The thought of being traded from Philadelphia made me sad. I wanted to stay here. Hell, I’d be ecstatic if I retired here. When I came to Philadelphia, I wasn’t looking for the city to have such a strong hold on me. Let alone find love.

Whoa, love?

Hold onto your fucking horses, Jamie Rheems.

I spent one night with the woman. Knowing something serious like that after one night had to be impossible, right? Maybe I was only eager for a second evening with Cady. Now that we had the weird pretenses behind us, it made everything so much easier.

She was so easy to talk to. Easy to joke around with. More so than even Vanessa had been. Me throwing the “L” word around was something I didn’t take lightly. Although it did scare me shitless to even consider it.

Was that why I couldn't get Cady out of my head? Even on the days that I wanted to punch the wall in frustration with my predicament and becauseof her attitude. She was the last thing I thought of when I went to bed and the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning.

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