Page 39 of Take Me Home

She tucked shirts back in the drawer neatly as I pulled that one over my head. She didn’t look up as she asked, “Does it fit?”

“Darcy, you can look at me. I don’t mind,” I said, my voice dropping again. Her body stiffened, ready to flee.Not yet, Jake.“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

The expressions on her face were at war: wanton desire versus fear. Darcy would be horrid at poker. “No. Not at all,” she for sure lied. “I didn’t want to invade your privacy.” A timid smile. Then she looked at the shirt on me: skintight and probably 3 inches too short. She stifled a giggle.

“You’re not invading my privacy. I’m in your room,” I said, trying to put her at ease and test the waters at the same time. “What’s funny?”

“It’s just a little small on you,” she said, poking at the exposed strip of skin at the bottom of the shirt. I laughed, too, lifting my arms to draw the shirt up further by the sheer tight fit of it.

“Well, better than the wet t-shirt contest I was running before,” I said.

“Come on, crop top. Let’s go bake some stuff,” she said, putting her hand in the crook of my arm like we were in an 1800s salon and leading me from the room. And just like that, she was back to her real self again.

In the kitchen, we donned aprons and worked on separate peach-based recipes. Darcy rationalized that if the market was rained out, she could still freeze anything we made for next time. Brianna was subbing in for Becca over the holiday weekend, so Becca could have some time off.

“After our game is over, I could probably help out,” I offered. “Our field is right by the market.”

“Ooh, what game?” Brianna asked.

“I coach a Little League team, 9 and 10-year-olds,” I said.

“What are they, Jake, the Gina’s Spaghetti Palace Gremlins?” Darcy cracked. I shot her an insulted look.

“Excuse you, we’re the Gina’s Spaghetti Palace Angels,” I corrected. “And we’re actually pretty good this summer. Tomorrow is the semi-final before the championship.”

“It’s gotta be that next-level coaching,” Darcy said, elbowing me.

“That’s what I hear,” I said, smirking at her compliment. Her tone had cooled from the prowling tomcat to friendly-flirty-fun, which was more on-brand for her. But God, was I hooked from knowing that insatiable side was in there. I needed another hit of it. Were we toeing that line between just friends and something more?

Darcy moved from beside me to get another stick of butter and a bowl. “Jake, why’d you stop playing baseball professionally?” she asked. “I mean, if that’s not too personal a question.”

I let out a breath. “I guess I was to a certain point and had to decide what I wanted the rest of my life to look like. I was tired of being on the road, and even at 23, I wasn’t sure I’d ever make it to the majors. Even if I did make it, I’d play for maybe 5, 10 years, and then what? If you’re not big enough to have a media career, you just have the rest of your life without a plan. I wanted more stability than that, so if I ever decide to settle down, I’ll be able to spend more time with my family.”

Darcy stared in front of her, her mouth falling open again. Not the same as shocking her speechless with my body, but this was better. If Darcy liked Future Family Man Jake, I could give her that.

“And how old are you now?” Brianna asked.

“I’m 26.” I paused for a moment, thinking. “I also didn’t love that most of the dating pool for my set was jersey chasers.”

“Whaaaat?!” Brianna asked, incredulous. “You mean you couldn’t meet people who weren’t just hoping to gold dig?”

I shook my head. “We didn’t have a ton of time to meet people, so it was really whoever sought us out. Joke was on them, though. Minor league players make so little that most of the women gold-digging were sorely disappointed. And then in the off-season, I usually went home, so it was people from high school or UVA students. It was a weird balance.”

“That’s understandable,” Darcy said, something stirring in that mind of hers that she wasn’t letting out.

“So you’re telling me that you were a pro-baller and didn’t take advantage of the perks of easy ass?” Brianna cut in.

“Brianna!” Darcy shrieked, horrified. “Go easy!”

“What? If I had the chance to get status-laid in my early 20’s, I’d have been all over it,” she mused.

“I didn’t say I didn’t, exactly,” I murmured. I didn’t want Darcy to think I was a saint. I wasn’t. I’d done plenty of dumb shit. I was just lucky I didn’t get any diseases or children out of it.

“Brianna,” Darcy whined, still pissed at her friend.

“Alright, alright. I went too far. I apologize, Jake,” Brianna relented.

“It’s okay,” I said, giving a shy smile. “No harm done.”

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