Page 133 of Wild Pitch
Cade and I are super late because there was no way of excusing ourselves from work together without anyone suspecting anything, which is great because it means we’ll be in the presence of these people the least amount of time possible. Unfortunately, it also means that the moment we walk in, every pair of eyes turns to us.
“Show time,” whispers Cade.
“Hope!”
I almost melt in relief at the only friendly face. Kelly rushes over, pushing one of our college friends out of the way. Her arms wrap around me with the same familiarity of years of friendship, and I return the favor because she’s the one I’m genuinely glad to see.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so happy you came for your sweet, sweet revenge.” She pulls away, inspects me with a grin, and turns to Cade. “And you must be the new boyfriend.”
Cade drops my hand and for a horrible moment I fear he’s going to declare that he’s not my boyfriend. But instead, he offers that very hand to her for a shake. “Cade Starr, at your service, ma’am.”
“He ma’am-ed me,” she says to me while shaking his hand. “So nice to meet you, Cade. I’m Kelly, Hope and I went to college together.”
“Aren’t you that baseball player?” another familiar voice says and I relax because it’s Mitch. He and I may not be the besties, but I guess he’s the other friendly face in this vipers’s nest.
“That’s right.” Cade glances at me like he’s checking whether Mitch is a hostile or not. I smile a little and it puts him at ease. Freeing his hand from Kelly’s grip, he offers it to Mitch. “And you are?”
“Mitch Geller, Kelly’s husband.” Mitch does one of those tight manly macho handshakes but gives up the alpha act when he asks, “Any chance we could take a selfie at some point? The guys at work won’t believe I met you otherwise.”
“Uh, sure.”
I very openly explain to Cade, “Kelly and Mitch are the only people we can be normal with around here. Everyone else is no longer a friend.”
“Gotcha.” Cade frowns as if standing on the mound in the middle of a game.
But then he slides his arm around my waist, his hand falling perfectly on the patch of skin between my top and jeans, and he slides his thumb and index finger beneath my top to touch even more skin.
I swallow hard, trying to process how the relatively tame contact is making my entire body flare up.
The thing is, I’m very competitive. I can’t really let Cade think I’m the only one who can get affected in this relationship. Leaning against his side, I slide my hand in the back pocket of his chinos, splaying my hand as wide across his butt cheek as the confines of the pocket allow. It might not be noticeable to the trained eye, but I sure feel his body tense.
The heated look he flashes at me makes me unsure of who won this little game. But it doesn’t matter when we’re both enjoying it, huh?
Kelly’s eyes sparkle, having noticed everything. I have no interest in feeling embarrassed though, so I just offer a little shrug to her.
“Anyone want a drink?” Mitch glances at Cade and I, then at his wife. “Babe?”
“The booziest thing possible for me, babe,” Kelly responds.
“Same.” I grin.
Cade makes an attempt at freeing himself. “I can go with you.”
“No need, man.” Mitch shakes his head. “You have a very important role to play here as Hope’s arm accessory.”
Kelly nods. “That’s right.”
Cade clears his throat to tame a laugh. “Right. Then a sweet iced tea if they have it, please.”
“Right on.” Mitch takes the less disruptive approach of bordering the dance floor toward the tents at the back.
And that clears my view of the party to land squarely on the lovebirds. Amy with her short hair I know Dawson prefers—he used to nag me to chop all of mine off—and the pastel pink dress that shows enough cleavage and leg to be this side of spicy. She hangs from her fiancé’s arm and I’m amused to note that he’s matching her with a pastel pink button shirt and light grey slacks. In fact, a glance around confirms that all the decoration is done in these colors. Pink flowers, whites, and touches of silver.
Well, I guess Rose’s dreams of matching with a guy aren’t farfetched at all. Seems like this is a couple thing I had no idea about while I was with the groom-to-be.
Speaking of, he and his bride-to-be are heading over.
“Here they come,” Kelly warns in case I haven’t noticed.
