Page 103 of Wild Pitch
YET
Me
Anyway, we don’t know how Cade’s doing. He kept on pitching and hasn’t come back from dinner yet
Mellow Roommate
HE KEPT PITCHING???
Happy Roommate
And shut the other team out. I saw it with my very eyes
Me
Yeah he’s… something else
A shadow falls over me, followed by a scent I could now recognize in my sleep. But it makes absolutely no sense because I’m alone in the office, and I would’ve heard a sound if…
Slowly, I turn my face up. Cade Starr leans over my chair, looking down at my phone screen until he shifts the bluest eyes to me. “Y’all are talking about me?”
I exceed my multitasking skills by hiding my phone against my chest, yelping, and pushing the chair away from him with enough strength that it crashes against the desk, rattling everything on it and also myself.
“Cade!” I sound breathless and squeaky, like someone caught in the middle of a crime.
He straightens up, hands on his hips, and that’s when I notice what he’s wearing. Just his undershirt, which is tight enough that it hides absolutely nothing and looks like it was sprayed by a can, and his baseball pants rolled up to his knees. No spikes or socks. No wonder I didn’t hear him come in. His hair is still damp from sweat and the rain, and his lips have a tilt that annoys me.
Cade cocks an eyebrow. “So?”
“The news are spreading around. The girls were just worried about you.”
“But you said I’m something else. What does that mean?”
One in eight billion. But also strange. Wonderful. Sweet. Annoying. Talented. Hot. Kind. Sneaky. Adorable. Tender. Strong.
Ugh.
I pick that last one. “Strong. No one can believe you went out to pitch after that and killed it.”
“I’m a pro.” He shrugs like it’s easy pweasy lemon squeezy.
“Are you really okay?”
Cade’s eyebrows rise a notch. “I am, thanks to you. That’s the main thing I came to say.”
“It’s no?—”
“Nuh uh.” He lifts his index finger. “Don’t say it’s nothing. It was not nothing. You were my lady in shining armor and saved my ass out there.”
“Lady in shining armor?” I let my lips stretch into a smile for the first time in hours.
“Your armor was kind of flimsy but hey, no complaints from me.”
“Hold on.” I start looking around. “I need to find something to throw at your face.”
Cade chuckles and the fact that he’s able to produce such sound after what he just went through does something to me. I’m glad it hasn’t ruined his mood, but I’m also angry that he’s not taking himself as seriously as he should.
And yet, who am I to tell him how to feel? So I clam my jaw shut.
