Page 14

“I did but you never check your damn phone on game days.” He pushed me back and ruffled my hair the way he had since I could remember.

“Okay, let me rephrase, why didn’t you call before today to let me know you’d be here? Did you watch the game?” I waited to invite him in until I knew whether his surprise visit was a good thing or a bad thing.

“It was last minute. My flight to New York got canceled and I decided to hop a plane to Tampa instead.” He shifted on his feet but otherwise my brother didn’t look like he was suffering.

“Aw shucks, you came to see me?”

He shook his head. “It’s been a while. I thought I might go see Grandma Kaine too.”

I opened the locker room door and ushered him into our domain of maleness. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the playoffs does it? Because you know I’ll get you tickets. You didn’t have to come grease the wheels ahead of time.”

He smacked me up the backside of my head. “You better get me tickets. You think after all these years of baseball practices and tournaments and camps I’m going to miss out on the party of your career? Hell no.”

“Scott!” Wes yelled from the other side of the locker room. The whole team knew my movie star brother. Wes, being our loud-mouthed catcher and resident movie aficionado liked to think of Scott as his friend, even though they barely knew each other.

“Wes!” He yelled back, chuckling.

“You don’t have to encourage his bad behavior.”

Scott shrugged. “Of course I do. When you guys win the championship I’m going to milk all your fame. I need signatures and photo ops. Especially Mr. Instagram.”

It was true Wes was Instagram famous. And I didn’t doubt Scott would use that to his advantage, however I also had a feeling there was more lurking beneath his sudden and unplanned visit.

Scott worked the room while I finished dressing. Ruiz and Arroyo both cornered me before I could escape.

“Great game. Sorry we gave you a hard time.” Ruiz said.

But Arroyo grinned. “Is she pretty? Just tell us if she’s pretty.”

“I have no idea what you knuckleheads are talking about.”

“She must be gorgeous,” Ruiz nodded.

“No way our cool cucumber pitcher could be this flustered if she were ugly.”

I saw red for a moment, which was, of course, exactly what they wanted. My expression must have been somewhere between murderous and jealous because they both busted out laughing. “He has it so bad!” Arroyo laughed and laughed andlaughed.

“Who has it bad?” Seth Butler asked, joining them.

The exact last person I needed to know anything about my personal life was our gossipy left fielder. “Nothing. Ruiz and Arroyo are just being assholes.” They were. There was nothing false in my statement.

“So what’s new?” Seth shrugged. “They don’t know how to be anything different.”

They teased me for another minute before finally leaving me alone. At the rate my teammates were going I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy my evening fantasies of Olivia. Instead of her smile I’d see their dumb faces. Instead of her sweet voice I’d hear theirs.

Seth leaned closer. “You okay? You look like you’re going to murder someone.”

So of course I had no choice but tomakemyself cool off. “I’m fine. They just got to me today.”

“You need to bunk at my place tonight?” Seth’s roommate, Erik, wasn’t exactly using his room most nights anymore and Seth had offered it up to me for future use.

I’d turned him down every time he offered because the thought of spending any unnecessary nights away from the island turned my blood cold. I’d been looking forward to this night all week. Ever since I fell off Olivia’s dock and swam home. Seven straight nights of wondering why she’d told me she wasn’t single when she clearly was, wondering if I had a shot.

“Naw, I’ll grab a late dinner with Scott and head home to my own bed, but thanks.”

He nodded, his eyes telling me he suspected I was upset for another reason. “Another one bites the dust,” he mumbled as he walked away.

What I didn’t realize was that my brother had come up behind us and was listening in on our conversation. Not until he dropped his big paw on my shoulder and scared the piss out of me. “So who is she?”