Page 12 of Double Play

“News. What news? Just tell me now.” Maggie had him allrattled.

“No. It’s the kind of thing I like to do in person. The only good part of this fucking job. Why do you have to steal thatfromme?”

The world shifted around him, grass tilting against the dark sky. “Duke. Don’t fuck with me.Isthis—”

“Seriously, you’re going to make me do this on the phone? You’re a punk, Conner. But you’re no longermypunk. Yes, the Friars want you. They want you there by tomorrow. Get your ass to theairport.”

“Holy effing—” He pulled the phone away from his mouth before he let too many swear words out. “Are you kiddingmehere?”

“Of course I’m not kidding you. I’m not a kidder. I leave that crap to you boyos. Okay, good luck upthere.”

“I’ll swing by the stadium and saygoodbye.”

“Sure thing. Kilby’s going to miss you, I’ll tell you that. Crush will probably cry in his beertonight.”

Dwight doubted that. Crush didn’t even drink anymore since he’d gotten together with Wendy Trent, the mayor of Kilby. These days he walked around looking happy as a chickadee. “Thanks foreverything,Duke.”

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t let me see you back here. Unless you get injured. That’s the only excuse. Have fun and play your ass off. I’ll see youonTV.”

Dwight hung up and looked to the heavens.Thank you, Jesus. Three long years. You finally had mercy on abrother.

Unless… He looked ahead at Maggie, who was almost to his car. Maybe he had it all wrong. He was giving her a hard time about her computer program, but what if she was the one who’d recommended him to the Friars? What if he owed it alltoher?

He jogged after her, gaining speed as he went. She spun around at his approach. With her arms folded across her chest, eyes alight with fiery gold, she looked fairly magnificent. Without thinking too much about it, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, so her face was levelwithhis.

“I’m in. I got called up. Just now. This was you, wasn’t it? Youdidthis?”

Her mouth dropped open, her lips parting. He noticed how full they were, and what a pretty color, like raspberry wine. He lowered her down, letting her choose how close she got to his body. Close. Very close. So close the tips of her breasts brushed against his front. He instantly wentrockhard.

Wow. When had he developed a thing for thewhizkid?

“I’m…uh…happy for you,” she began. He noticed that she was staring at his mouth too, in a way that got him even moreworkedup.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but thank you.” He brushed a quick kiss across her lips—just totaste.

She stared at him, astonished. He ran his tongue across his own lips to taste her again. Because that one brief moment of contact wasn’t enough. Not even close. He leaned in again, wondering if she’d back away, if this was taking things too far, too quickly. Besides, he was leaving.Tonight.

But she didn’t move except to lift her chin in a clear offer of another kiss. He took this one deeper, more slowly, running his tongue along the soft inside of her mouth, finding heat and fire. Kissing her made something inside him shift. Maybe it was the innocent way she leaned into him, or the way her heart raced against his. Her breath came faster, mingling with his. He wanted to take her hand and rub it on his cock, show her what she was doing to him. But something warned him that might be taking things too far, tooquickly.

Instead he stepped back, keeping his hands on her shoulders for distance. “Guess I got carried away there. I’m sorryaboutthat.”

“You are?” She looked a little dazed as she put a hand to hermouth.

“Not sorry, as in, sorry. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want todothat.”

“Dwight, if I wanted to be comfortable, I’d still be back in Boston tweaking my program. Or I’d be working on my next degree somewhere. I didn’t come to baseball to be comfortable. And just for the record, kissing you didn’t make me uncomfortable at all. It made me want to do it again, if you want to know thetruth.”

He laughed, finding her completely delightful. “That’s exactly what I like to hear. Repeat performance, coming up. But it’s going to have to be in San Diego, baby!” His excitement spilled over. “I’m going to prove your model right, you’re going to be joining me in beautiful downtown San Diego and we’ll do this all over again. We gotadate?”

A funny look crossed her face, something he didn’t care to analyze at the moment. “Sure. It’s a date,” she said. “And congratulations again. I’ll be rooting for you one hundredpercent.”

She walked around to the passenger side of the Audi. He clicked the button on his key fob so she could get in. As soon as she couldn’t see him anymore, he frowned and scrubbed at the back of his neck. Her reaction…it was off somehow. She ought to be more excited, more “told you so,” more “way ahead of you, dude, I knew this wascoming.”

He shrugged it off and got into the Audi. He didn’t really know Maggie. Maybe this was a completely normal reaction for her. And what did it matter anyway, because he wasgoing to SanDiego!!

5

Nina fled down the street,past the statue of Colonel Kilby on his horse, toward the old fort turned souvenir shop. What was she even doing here in Kilby? Trevor kept inviting her to San Diego to live with him and Paige. If she moved to California, she could go to the beach, learn to surf, or maybe rollerblade. Maybe she’d meet a nice California accountant or something like that, someone who wanted the same things she did. A family. A normal, boring existence, with dogs and kids and maybe a pethamster.

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