Getting Wound Up: A Sapphire Falls/ Love Between the Bases Novel-- PART THREE (9 page)

“That would be ideal. But if my fiancée is carrying out a surprise elopement, I’m not going to argue.”

“I’m not officially your fiancée,” she said, her voice a little scratchy.

She was choked up. He liked that.

“You are, Candy-girl,” he said, turning slightly in his seat. “You’re mine. In every way. Fiancée just means that we intend to get married. And we do intend to get married, right Cait?”

She ran her tongue over her lips, staring hard at the road in front of the car now.

“Cait? I need to hear it.”

“Yes,” she finally said softly. “Yes, we’re going to get married.”

Eli felt his chest deflate as the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding rushed out. He loved her, he believed that she loved him. But he really loved hearing the words.

“After.”

He looked over at her. “After?” Had he missed a few other words?

“After the season’s over. During your break.”

The season. He should have known. “Cait, I already said no.”

“You told Duke no. But he hasn’t actually told the Friars yet. So you’re still good, as long as you’re at Friar Stadium tomorrow.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Your dad said that Stewart had been calling. I got ahold of him and told him that I was going to get you to California.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally he managed, “So the Friars…that’s still an option?”

“Yes. Absolutely. They want you. And I’m taking you to them. To your dream.”

His
dream
was sitting right next to him. Being kind of a pain in the ass. But his heart melted at how important this was to her. He smiled in spite of it all and wondered if that was what all romantic relationships were like—heart-melting with a dash of pain-in-the-ass.

Eli sat back in his seat. He turned his head, his thoughts whizzing as fast as the line of trees past his window.

The Friars. He could still go. He could still be in the big leagues. He could still have that dream.

Because of the woman beside him.

“I’m not doing it without you,” he finally said. “I’m not. I don’t care if you drive me all the way to California. You can dump me out there and I’ll just come back. Like a dog lost from his home. Or one of those cats that gets separated from his family and then finds his way back. You can’t get rid of me.”

She laughed. “I’m not driving you all the way to California.”

“Oh.”

“I’m driving
us
to the airport. We’re flying to California.”

His head swung around and he took in her smile and let her words sink in. “Us? We?”

She looked over. “Us and we.”

He pivoted on his seat as they passed the city limit sign for York, Nebraska.

“You’re coming with me?”

“Of course. I spent all afternoon setting everything up. I talked to Stewart, I talked to Duke. I called Levi Spencer and asked to borrow his plane once more, I bought new sunscreen and sunglasses, and I talked to Lindsay about helping Bryan out.”

“Lindsay?” he asked. “My sister Lindsay?”

“Yeah. She’s such a sweetheart and she’s got experience with being a caregiver to someone in a wheelchair and she wants to be a physical therapist.”

Eli leaned in. “Lindsay wants to be a PT?”

Caitlyn nodded. “You didn’t know? Because of your dad. She wants to help people recover after injuries and illnesses and get as much of their life back as they can. Bryan is going to have her take him to his therapy sessions so she can see it all firsthand and talk with the therapists and stuff.”

Eli’s heart was pounding. Everyone in his life was…going to be fine. Better than fine. Everyone was going to be great and it was because they all had each other.

He and Caitlyn didn’t have to be the ones doing everything. The people they loved could take care of each other and love
them
enough to let them go to California for however long the league would have him.

And Caitlyn had made it all happen.

His hands itched with the urge to grab her and kiss her. The moment she pulled up at the York Municipal Airport, Eli slid across the seat, unbuckled her seat belt and pulled her into his lap.

He buried his face in her hair, pulling in a long breath and letting it all wash over him.

He was going to California to play baseball in the major leagues and Caitlyn was going to be there with him.

She squirmed in his lap, laughing lightly. She managed to pull back. “Kiss me already,” she told him, taking his face in her hands.

So he did. Until she finally said, breathlessly, “We’re going to miss our flight.”

As they walked into the airport with their suitcases—his packed by his dad and sister—Eli had to shake his head.

“They were all in on it. Tonight before and during dinner,” he said, just now realizing it.

Caitlyn grinned and nodded. “Yep. And they loved every minute of it.”

Eli knew that having everyone else helping take care of him and Cait was going to take some getting used to, for both of them.

But he knew how amazing it felt to be there for the people he loved, and he was ready and able to let them feel that way too.

* * *

“Strike two!”

Eli breathed out and caught the ball Mike Solo threw back.

Two balls and two strikes.

Eli grinned as the crowd whooped and cheered. He repositioned on the mound.

Perfect game.

Well, not really. Two guys had hit off of him in the fifth inning and three had hit off of him, including a triple, in the sixth. The Friars were up by two but they hadn’t scored in two innings and the infield was struggling.

But none of that mattered to Eli. He’d never been happier.

He was in the major freaking leagues. The air in the San Diego Friars ballpark seemed sweeter and more electric than any he’d breathed before. The grass seemed greener. The sky bluer. The leather of the gloves seemed softer, the stitches on the balls tighter and the lights on the scoreboard brighter.

There was a
feel
here that he soaked in every time, like the warm tingly sports cream the trainer rubbed into his shoulder muscles after each game.

Even the sports cream felt better here.

It wasn’t his first game with the Friars. He’d been in California for three months now. It wasn’t his best performance. He’d pitched four innings a month ago, giving up only two walks and two hits. It wasn’t even the biggest game of the season. They were playing the Atlanta Braves, certainly not a big rival.

But it was his favorite game of the season.

Caitlyn was in her usual spot with the other team wives and girlfriends, just to the first base side of home plate. She sat next to Sadie Merritt, Caleb Hart’s fiancée. They’d clicked right away, which worked out well since Caleb Hart had become Eli’s mentor on the team. Between Caleb and Mike Solo, Eli had all the friends he needed in San Diego—or would, as soon as the Friars called up Trevor Stark. According to the rumor mill, any minute now the bad-boy slugger would be taking San Diego by storm. Eli couldn’t wait. With Trevor in the lineup, there’d be no stopping the Friars.

Best of all, he had Caitlyn. She wore a snug white t-shirt advertising Scoop, the shop she was still working with back in Kilby. She looked gorgeous, as always, her smile bright, her eyes on him the entire time, her little hand signals—that they’d come up with one night while tangled in the bed sheets, talking and laughing—making him smile. Like when she put her sunglasses on top of her head. That meant he needed to stride out farther. When she tucked her hair behind her left ear it meant that he needed to throw harder. When she put her sunglasses back on her nose it meant he could relax, that he was doing well. And when she applied lip gloss that meant he was going to get a blow job later that night.

She had very soft lips from all of the lip gloss she used.

He’d bought her a ten-pack the other day at the store and left it on the pillow next to her when he’d gotten up to come to the park early today.

But none of that was unusual. It made his games, hell, his
life
, better having her there and being connected to her during the games that way. But it wasn’t what had his level of excitement turned up to max.

What really had his nerves jumping today, in a good way, was that the box also held his father and sister, Caitlyn’s mother, father and brother, along with a rowdy bunch from Sapphire Falls. Ty and Hailey were there, Peyton and her half-sister, Hope, with her husband TJ—who happened to be Ty’s older brother as well—had come along; Peyton and Hope’s dad, Dan, Levi and his wife Kate, and Levi’s brother Joe and his wife Phoebe.

And they were making their presence known. They had signs, special chants just for him, and were, in general, being loud and crazy.

Eli couldn’t get enough of it.

This felt good. Right. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

And while he always loved being on the mound, he was eager to get through the game and take them all out for a celebratory dinner.

He ran his fingers over the ball in his glove. He glanced at Caitlyn and saw her cross her arms.

That meant he needed to focus on what he was doing.

He grinned. Yeah. He supposed he needed to close out the game, with a win, before they could have that celebratory dinner.

He tugged on his earlobe. That meant, “yeah, yeah.”

Then he looked to Mike Solo behind home plate.

And got the sign for a fastball.

Eli shook that off.

He could practically see Mike’s eyebrow rise behind his mask. Eli almost never shook him off. Even though Mike was barely past the rookie stage himself, he already had league-wide reputation for brilliant pitch selection.

But Mike did give him a new sign.

The one he wanted.

Eli gave him a nod, pulled back, and went into his windup and delivered the pitch.

“Strike three!”

Exactly.

Knuckleball for the win.

He looked up at Caitlyn as his teammates whooped and jogged toward the infield for the traditional high-fives and fist bumps.

She grinned.

And slowly applied a new coat of lip gloss.

Yep, he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

About the Authors

Jennifer Bernard
is a
USA Today
bestselling author of contemporary romance. Her books have been called “an irresistible reading experience” full of “quick wit and sizzling love scenes.” A graduate of Harvard and former news promo producer, she left big city life in Los Angeles for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters. She still hasn’t adjusted to the cold, so most often she can be found huddling with her laptop and a cup of tea. No stranger to book success, she also writes erotic novellas under a naughty secret name that she’s happy to share with the curious.

You can find Jennifer on the web at
JenniferBernard.net

On Facebook at
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Erin Nicholas
is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of over thirty sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, flawed heroines, sex with food and happily ever afters. She does not like to write dark moments, synopses or bios.

You can find Erin on the web at
www.ErinNicholas.com

On Facebook at
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On Twitter at
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More from Jennifer Bernard

Find all of Jennifer’s books on
Amazon

Love Between the Bases

All of Me

Caught By You

Drive You Wild (available June 28)

The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel

The Fireman Who Loved Me

Hot for Fireman

Sex and the Single Fireman

How to Tame a Wild Fireman

Four Weddings and a Fireman

The Night Belongs to Fireman

novellas

One Fine Fireman

Desperately Seeking Fireman

It’s a Wonderful Fireman