Page 27 of The Road to Home Base
The door clicking shut shot me with a modicum of sadness. We had only known each other a week, so the prospect of nine days without seeing him felt like an eternity.
But I could still feel his kiss on my lips. His hands tight against my back. How stiff he grew beneath my touch.
Yes, I answered to myself his earlier question.That will definitely hold me over.
Chapter Eight
Rome
THEVISITORSCLUBHOUSEof the Ottawa Diamonds had enough recliners to sit our entire team. The chef was, I had to admit, at par with our own. None of us grumbled when we had to travel to Canada for games—the Diamonds really knew how to take care of their visitors. The clubhouse always smelled clean, the carpets freshly washed, every surface reflective without a speck of dust to be seen. The friendliness of the staff had us being just as polite.
We arrived around noon to fill our bellies as we split up to each do our thing. Brett grabbed the only hot tub room, so I plopped down on one of the comfy chairs. I sat in a corner, a wall at my back, as I reclined and fished my phone out of my pocket. Alex and I had texted a lot since I left his apartment, but it had been over forty-eight hours since we actually spoke. We exchanged plenty of selfies, something I noticed that quickly became a trend for us. Already I had saved four pics of him on my phone, each one a selfie in a different location.
I popped in my earbuds as I thumbed through the menu to video call Alex. I had no idea what he was up to or if he would even answer, but I wanted to give it a shot.
He answered before the second ring finished. His smilingface popped up with a familiar background, the wall of photos in his apartment.
“Well, hey you,” Alex said. “Um,buongiorno!”
Adorable. Absolutely adorable. He even put an Italian inflection on the word. I responded in kind, then settled deeper into the recliner to prop my elbows on the armrests and hold my phone properly. “Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
“Nope, not at all. Just editing. It’s my life.”
“What do you edit, anyway? Like filters or something?”
He tilted his head back and forth. “In a way. A lot of it is selecting the right shot from the hundreds that I took. Then there’s exposure adjustments, color corrections, retouch spots if I need to… it can be a hassle sometimes, but I find it relaxing, to be honest. Put on some tunes and zone out.”
Something seemed off as he spoke. I couldn’t put my finger on it until he turned his head to look out his window at something. Then I realized it was the hat he wore. It was on backward, and I caught sight of the bill as he turned.
“Is that my hat?” I asked. It looked a size too big on him.
He turned back and smiled. “It is. You left it here. Hope you don’t mind that I’m wearing it…”
I started to get hard.What on earth…?That seemed like a silly thing to kickstart my libido but there it was. I glanced around the room to verify no one was looking and quickly adjusted myself as a collage of mental images of a naked Alex in just my hat assaulted my mind’s eye.
“I think that’s great. You can keep it. It’s yours now.”
He nodded and thanked me. “Hey, congrats again on the win last night. You’re, like, some kind of home run king, aren’t you?”
“If that’s a title you wish to bestow upon me, hey, I’ll take it. Yeah, the Diamonds are always an interesting team to play. They don’t have a lot of legacy players. A lot of changeups. Always keeping us on our toes.”
“And tonight is the second of… three?” He had been typing something as he spoke, then looked at the screen. “Annapolis for four games and then Allentown for two games.”
I nodded. “You got it. Then home.”
“Do you ever get sick of all the hotels?”
I see-sawed my head. “It depends. Most of the accommodations are pretty good. It can get lonely, though.”
He perked up a little at that. “Are you… allowed to have guests?”
I grinned. “It depends. We have strict policies about guests staying with players.” He deflated and it wrecked me. So I added, “Hey, I’ll be home in a week. Don’t you worry. You can fall asleep again on me soon enough.”
Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head. He said something but my attention snapped up to the woman who just walked into the room. She wore a tweed mini skirt, heels, ivory blouse, and had long blond hair she kept in a low ponytail.
“Hey, I gotta jet,” I said as I saw her zero in on me. “Oh, send me a pic with you in that hat, ‘kay?”
“Will do. Text you later.”
