Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel (12 page)

JP looked at Mark, an eyebrow raised in surprise. “You think Ramirez has the bounce on Paulson?”

The player nodded. “Yeah. I hear he’s juicing.”

Steroid abuse was a dark cloud over Major League Baseball. Some years back there’d been a huge industry-wide shake-up over it when a few prominent players in the league had been discovered. Barry Bonds was the least of it—though he may have been one of the most outspoken.

So far as JP knew, his team was clean. And he thought he’d know if it were different. But the boys, well, all of them were on the up-and-up. “I still say Drake can take him.”

Mark smiled, his gray eyes lit with humor. “You’re on, then.”

The two of them clinked their beer bottles together to seal the bet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sonny look at her phone and then straighten from the table. She excused herself and walked away, and JP assumed she was off in search of Charlie. Checking his own phone for the time, he noted it was getting late. The recap was about to finish. If he was going to catch her before she left he’d better get a move on, though he hoped she wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.

Movement on the big screen caught his eye, and he glanced over. When he saw what was on, he chuckled. Sonny was going to love this.

Catching her eye before she disappeared down the hall, JP tilted his head toward the flat screen and smiled, trying to turn her attention to the
TV
. She got the message, so he gave the screen his attention and missed her reaction. The news was showing footage of an interview he’d given before the game. Charlie had gotten screen time, too, as he and JP had some fun hamming it up for the camera. The clip ended with his arm slung over the kid’s shoulder, his hip cocked, while he relaxed and the reporter interviewed a super excited Charlie.

He glanced back at Sonny just quick enough to glimpse what looked like a frown disappearing from her face before she turned away and said something over her shoulder to Lorelei. It had happened so fast he couldn’t be sure. But he couldn’t figure why she’d be upset over a little air time for Charlie, and he dismissed it. She’d no doubt enjoyed seeing him on the news. The kid had been thrilled about it.

He left Mark and followed Sonny. He saw her head down a hall and disappear into one of the rooms. Charlie had said he’d be playing Pokemon in one, so he assumed she’d gone to find him. Maybe if he got lucky she’d be all alone when he walked in and they’d get a few minutes together.

On his way he passed Peter and Drake talking shop and cuffed the pitcher on the shoulder. He grinned when the player rolled his shoulder and flipped him the bird. Razzing Pete was always a good time.

Crossing the threshold at the first door, JP found the office space empty. Smirking at a framed poster of Mark on the wall, he turned and headed back out. Sonny must be in the other room. Not that he wouldn’t enjoy looking through all of the catcher’s trophies and awards, but the woman was what he was most interested in. All of Mark’s baseball glory would have to wait.

The door to the second room was closed. JP turned the knob, opening it. Sonny spun around like she’d been caught stealing, surprise plastered across her face.

Her hand flew to her chest and she declared, “You scared the crap out of me!”

A quick scan revealed that they were alone. Charlie and his friend must have vacated the room already. Closing the door gently behind him, JP stepped into the room, his attention centered on the beautiful woman in the middle of the room. “Where’s Charlie?”

Sonny waved her hand. “He went with his little friend to snag another slice of pizza.” Her eyes narrowed slightly on him. “What are you doing in here?”

JP hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and leaned back against the closed door, relaxing. “Looking for you.” She kind of floundered at that and he added, amused, “Did you catch the interview?”

He watched her nod and break eye contact. “Charlie looked like he was having a blast.”

The tone of her voice had his instincts buzzing and he cocked his head, studying her. “Are you not okay with him being on
TV
with me? You know we were just having fun, right?”

“I know that.” With a hand she brushed her hair over her shoulder, sent him a look full of uncertainty, and changed the subject. “I thought you were mad at me.” She sounded kind of put out about the idea of it.

He had been mad. But he’d gotten over it real quick. Although it still grated that she didn’t see all the things they shared in common—like their country kid roots, enjoyment of baseball, and loyalty to family. More than that, it irked the hell out of him that she didn’t think she was worth him pursuing. Like she had absolutely no concept of her own desirability.

Maybe there were men out there who were too shallow and self-involved to be interested in a woman with a kid. JP wasn’t denying that fact. But he wasn’t one of them. And he didn’t know who Sonny had insulted more with her off-base assumption—him or her.

Only time was going to convince her otherwise, though. And that was okay with him. He was a patient guy. There was a confidence in having her figured out. It gave JP the advantage because he knew what she was going to do. And since he figured he knew what she would do then, he could predict it some and lead her down the road to where he wanted her.

Relaxing against the door, JP replied, “I was mad, but I got over it.”

Sadness streaked across her sweet face and then was gone, and she straightened her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to upset you earlier. I’m sorry.”

He could tell that she was sorry. Her blue eyes got all big and soft, and her hands were held out in supplication. “You made a lot of assumptions, Sonny. In doing so you took away my right to make my own decisions, to see what I see.”

She blew out a breath. “I know I did. I apologize.”

Without realizing it she’d stepped all over one of his biggest pet peeves: people telling him what he should be thinking or wanting. JP didn’t work like most people. He cut his own path, had his own thoughts. He’d never been part of the herd. Didn’t Sonny see that about him yet?

Patience, he reminded himself. “No need, sunshine.” Her fears were just clouding her vision was all. She’d get the right of it in time. “Once you get to know me better, you’ll see that you’ve been laboring under a misconception.”

Staying quiet, she bit her bottom lip and gave him big doe eyes, making his gut tighten. Feeling his muscles tense, JP forced them to relax. He wasn’t there to scare her. Sonny had enough fears floating around in that head of hers.

Besides, the next move was hers.

So even though he wanted nothing more than to kiss that bottom lip she loved to chew on so much, he turned his attention to the room they were standing in. It had the added benefit of diffusing the arousal some.

They were in a spare room with a low bed and Asian styling. In the far corner was a pile of empty boxes. Lorelei must already be starting to pack. Which reminded JP that he should talk to Mark about the condo. The catcher had been making noises about finding a new place as soon as possible. Although there was room, Lorelei wasn’t much of a city girl and Mark wanted to find her something with some land. And that meant that the condo would be available. No more horny, yowling Siamese.

Tuning back in to Sonny, JP tipped his head to the side and studied her. She seemed agitated about something. Her brow was wrinkled and she was fidgeting. The woman clearly had a bee in her bonnet.

With his gaze on her, JP rolled his shoulders back and waited. It didn’t take long. Sonny muttered under her breath and swore. Then she marched right up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek, surprising him. “I don’t like that I upset you and I’m sorry.”

JP held perfectly still. “You mentioned that already.”

She was so close he could smell the scent of her hair. “I know, but I mean it.” She cocked her head and looked up at him. “We’re becoming friends, right?”

Among other things. “You can say that.”

She grimaced and patted his chest absentmindedly with a slender hand. “Friends shouldn’t tick friends off.”

The way she kept stroking his chest was driving him crazy. “I suppose we could kiss and make up.”

Sonny seemed to realize what she was doing and yanked her hand away, blushing. “Then we wouldn’t be friends, JP.”

“Sure we would.” He wanted her hand on him again. “We’d just be the kissing kind.”

S
ONNY COULDN’T BELIEVE
that she’d been petting his chest like he was some plush-coated feline. Embarrassed, she glanced up at him through her lashes and found him looking down at her, a small half smile on his lips. His eyes held warmth and an invitation that she was finding exceedingly difficult to refuse. More to the point, she was beginning to have a hard time recalling why she’d needed to refuse him in the first place.

JP made her want to do very naughty, very unwise things.

Things like kissing. A whole lotta kissing.

Damn that Janie.

Trying to come up with a witty response, Sonny dropped her gaze to his chest. The palm of her hand still held traces of his body heat and the shape of his pectoral muscle was imprinted in her memory for life. It was hard and hot and just the right amount of built. And for the life of her she couldn’t stop her hands from wanting to slide all over him. Seeing the muscular shape of his chest beneath the thin black cotton of his T-shirt scrambled her reasoning skills and pushed her hesitation right on out the window.

It was just a kiss, right?

Just one little, innocent kiss. It didn’t have to mean that she’d abandoned all of her convictions about him and his lifestyle or her ideas about staying single and keeping her life complication-free. It simply meant that she was alone in a room with a man who made her want—and she hadn’t wanted in such a long time.

JP was a good guy, and kissing was probably just an entertaining way for him to pass the time. Right?

A small voice at the back of her mind told her it was so much more than that, and she knew it. Knew it, but refused to acknowledge it because she really,
really
wanted to kiss the daylights out of the gorgeous shortstop. He tugged at strings that had been laying unused and collecting cobwebs. So why the hell not?

It was just a kiss.

They were standing so close that she could feel his body heat radiating off him. It feathered across her skin and pulled her in, intoxicating her with the feel. It was heady and magnetic, and she wanted to dip her feet in the pool of his sexuality. To dangle her toes in the waters of his arousal and let the slow-moving current caress her, wrap around her, and drown her with sensuality.

Caught in the tide of desire, she reached out and placed her hands on the flat of his stomach, her palms flush against the corrugated muscle. She heard the sharp intake of his breath and it fueled her. Enticed her. Made her forget who she was.

For the moment she wasn’t Sonny, single mother haunted by the dismal wreckage of relationships past. She was just a woman standing in front of man who made her feel the rush of sexual awareness.

And she was going to let herself taste it, just this once.

Watching her hands, she slid them over the soft cotton, feeling his body through the fabric. Downward they roamed, lazily exploring the area of his abdomen where his jeans rested low on his waist. His shirt had ridden up and a small strip of golden skin was exposed and she ran a fingertip over it, hypnotized by the velvety hot feel of it.

A gap between the denim and his hip called to her, and her finger dipped inside. JP made a hissing sound as she explored the ridge of taught muscle that formed a V down to his groin. As her finger dipped lower, she became aware of the heavy ache between her legs. She felt slick and swollen and needy there.

With her head slightly down she couldn’t see his expression, but his breath fanned over her ear in short, thready bursts. It was thrilling, this silent and erotic exploration of his body. Though he held perfectly still, Sonny could feel the tension swirling and coiling inside him. Knowing that at any minute he could strike, like a riled viper, only made the moment more delicious.

It was like having a hungry tiger on a breakaway leash.

Sonny had never imagined that it would feel so good—so dangerous—and yet she felt so incredibly powerful. It went straight to her head.

She glided both hands under the hem of his shirt and felt his stomach quiver at her touch. Emboldened, her fingers dipped into the waistband of his jeans again and he jerked, hissing once more yet staying quiet. Sonny smiled over the heady feeling of power and let her fingers slip down a fraction more.

Her eyes went wide at what she encountered. Burning hot and slick with his arousal, the plump head of his penis pushed against her, escaping from the barrier of his briefs. Lost in the moment, Sonny traced the soft, steely ridge of his erection and heard him groan against her ear.

Until that second JP had kept his hands from her. But now they gripped her hips, the restrained strength in them arousing her further. What would it be like to feel those hard hands on her skin? His long, strong fingers inside her?

Lifting her gaze, it slid over his chest, up the length of his throat and over his square chin to his mouth. Going further she came to his eyes and felt a shiver at the emotion she found there. Dark as molasses, JP’s eyes were hungry and locked on her mouth.

The moment had come. “Kiss me.”

He shook his head, the movements short and jerky. “No.”

A frown pulled at her brow. “Why not?” She knew he wanted it. Her fingers stroked the evidence.

His hands tightened on her hips almost painfully. “You’re in control of this, Sonny.” His voice sounded rough and edgy. “I need you to know that you call the shots.”

She slid her fingers down the hard length of him and curled them around the base. “You want me to stop?”

Those hands of his flexed and his fingers curled into her hard enough to bruise. It turned her on. “Hell no. Woman, I want you.”

She stroked back up, feeling bold. “Then what’s the problem?”