Page 51 of Last Fall

And that was probably too much information because Erik’s eyes narrowed and his lips turned down into a frown. He knew there was more than privacy behind myreasons.

Luckily I was saved by Jack’s arrival. He went around the table hugging everyone, stopping to talk to me. “I’m so glad he convinced you to come out with us. Two minutes is not long enough to meet someone as beautifulasyou.”

“Go shove food in your face,” Erik grunted pushing his brother away. His hand grazed my arm, our gazes collided, more electricity skated through myveins.

It was really quite insane how much heaffectedme.

Or how much I wanted him to sling his arm over my chair and pull me close like he almost had at thearena.

“So Zoe, what did you think of my team?” Jackasked.

“I don’t know much about hockey but the Pythonslookedmean.”

That got a laugh fromeveryone.

“Do you know much about baseball?” Jack asked, his eyes skipping to his brother, the arch of his brow so very big brotherly itwascute.

“I’ve learned a lot veryquickly.”

“She used to work for Eve Spencer and now she lives with June,”Eriksaid.

“Ah...trialbyfire.”

“Exactly. Luckily for me Ilikeit.”

Jack smiled. “Hockey isn’t all that different. Although some say hockey in Florida will always bedifferent.”

Which was one of my questions, actually. “So how did you wind up in thesport?”

I understood how Erik found baseball. It seemed there was a ball field on every corner in this state. Plus there were three Major League teams and spring training for half the league, it would have been more unusual that they didn’t play the sportatall.

“They built a rink down the street from our house. It was love at first sight.” Heshrugged.

“And how did you andRileymeet?”

Jack’s face fell and I realized all too late that it was the wrong thingtoask.

“Here, let me pull the Band-Aid off for you.” Erik waved at Jack. “My older brother is divorced. His ex-wife’s best friend was married toRiley.”

Riley shrugged. “We got each other in thedivorces.”

Jack held up his glass and they silently toasted each other from across thetable.

I got the impression neither divorce was easy. Jack looked haunted. Like half of his soul was removed and the very mention of his former wife made the wound tearbackopen.

While Riley, well that was a different story altogether. Jack and Erik both seemed completely oblivious but I was almost positive that Riley and Belle were about five seconds from ripping each other’sclothesoff.

“So Erik tells me you have a big new book series coming out next year and it’s being made into a movie,” Jack said, changing thesubject.

“Oh funny story,” Erik interrupted before I had a chance to respond. “I was having dinner with the guys after the game Wednesday night. Our pitcher, his name is ChrisKaine.”

At first I thought Erik was just completely changing the subject because he thought of a story he wanted to tell from his week, but then his words actually sank it and I sat up straight. “Scott’s brother! I totally forgot they werebrothers.”

“Yeah, they don’t talk about that,” Erik chuckled. “I think it bruises their fragile egos. But yeah, he said he ran some lines from your script with his brother last week. He said it wasreallygood.”

Oh god. It was one thing to hear my agent say Scott Kaine was interested in the part, butwhoawas it incredible to hear that he was reading lines and enjoying them. “Really?”

Erik shrugged, an adorable smile plastered to his lips. “The way Chris was talking, it was a done deal. Producing andeverything.”