Page 26

AMBER RUN

J amie didn’t show up last night.

He didn’t call either.

Instead, he only texted.

He let me know that…he got the call .

I tried to tell myself that the majors were different. They had different communication rules. Maybe he didn’t have a chance to call me. Maybe all he could do was shoot off a quick text. Either way, it was difficult to hide my disappointment at practice.

I’d grown so accustomed to seeing Jamie’s handsome face on the Silly’s field. The way his eyes lit up every time our gazes met across the sea of players. Despite his gruff demeanor when he first arrived, he became one of the Sillys in the end.

He poked fun with the guys, laughed at his own mess-ups, and was the one asking me to do another run-through of the dance so he was sure he had all the moves. While he kept his usual seriousness when it came to game time, he rediscovered that spark of fun that he had so long ago that came with playing baseball.

Within the last few weeks, he’d been playing some of the best baseball of his career. The guys in recruiting and management would have had to be blind to miss it. No wonder they wanted him back.

Now that Jamie suddenly wasn’t here, it felt as if I’d imagined everything. Were the last two months just a fever dream? Did any of it actually happen?

It's your vagina’s fault. It wanted to get into his pants.

Thanks, brain. But not at all helpful.

Whatever. It was a group effort anyway.

I mean yes, sure, I wanted to see what he looked like underneath the uniform. Everything else after that had been a bonus. An incredible bonus. A bonus that had me believing that maybe we were something. Or…could be.

“Cadence, did you want to go to the bar with us to watch Jamie’s first game back?”

Martin’s question jarred me from my thoughts. I hesitated. As much as I would’ve loved to go with them, I was sure that I’d be an emotional mess. Of course I was thrilled for Jamie, but his sudden departure made me feel as if my life was incomplete again.

I didn’t want to damper the guys’ mood when they wanted to go out and have fun. All I wanted to do was go home, put on my favorite oversized tee, and bury myself in serotonin-boosting foods. There was entirely too much for me to figure out in the middle of a noisy bar.

“No thanks.” The looks I got from the guys made me pause. I never turned down watching a game with them whenever it had been offered. “I mean, I’ll just watch it at home. I’m tired after all the prep for the performance the other day. My PJs are calling my name. ”

When Jamie initially texted, he told me we would talk later. However, my anxiety was not a patient person. Waiting was eating away at me.

“Oh, well…we’ll be sure to drink a beer for you.” Arlow offered up a lopsided smile to reassure me. He joined the rest of the crew as they slowly filtered out of the locker room. Practice had been less than productive with the guys talking secretively behind my back. It only made me more paranoid.

“You do that.” My voice unexpectedly cracked, and I quickly turned away. What the hell? Why was I getting emotional over this?

“Andrews!” I nearly jumped out of my skin as Topper’s booming voice invaded my thoughts. He poked his head out of his office. “I hope you’re not busy tonight. Corporate car just arrived for you.” His face looked as impassive as always. Ownership coming to you for anything was probably bad news. Nobody ever got a visit from their boss when it was good news.

Shit.

Did they know about me and Jamie? Who squealed?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I had to be in deep shit for ownership to send a car specifically for me. This evening just went from bad to worse.

“Uh…thanks, Coach.” I tipped my cap to him as he grabbed the last few things in his office to head home. Swallowing back my anxiety, I grabbed my stuff from my office and made my way out of the little stadium that had become my second home. Maybe this was goodbye .

Sure enough, at the entrance was a shiny black SUV. A looming beacon to my downfall. A hearse to my doom.

My hand shook as I reached out and grabbed onto the handle of the back passenger door. I prayed that I didn’t fuck my life up by falling for the blue-eyed catcher that had not only stolen bases but also my heart. If only I had the balls to tell him earlier.

Sliding into the car, I closed the door and buckled my seatbelt. I felt like I was getting into my dad’s backseat after he was pissed about picking me up from somewhere I shouldn’t be. When my door shut the driver turned to me.

“Cadence Andrews?” My mouth went dry and all I could do was nod. It was then that the driver did something that I didn’t expect. He smiled. “This is for you.”

My brow furrowed as he extended a nondescript white mailing envelope to me. Timidly, I took it, wondering if I just accepted my termination paperwork. If so, it was a terrifying way to go about it.

As the car pulled away from the Sillys stadium, my hands shook as I stared down at the envelope. It seemed rather light for dismissal paperwork. Might as well rip off the metaphorical Band-Aid and open the damn thing. Then at least this bullshit wouldn’t be hanging in the air for the entire ride over to the stadium.

“What the hell is this?” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them as I stared at the envelope’s contents.

“I believe it's a ticket to the game.”

“From who? ”

“That I don’t know. I was just sent to give that to you and drive you to the stadium.”

For fucks sake.

Was this some kind of cruel joke?

Fighting through the traffic on the way to the stadium was excruciating. My mind had the opportunity to run wild. Why did they give me a ticket to a game? Maybe…this wasn’t a bad thing after all?

At least the team car could bypass the headache of parking and head straight to the security gate. My hands shook as I got out of the car. Calm down, Cadence. If you were in trouble this would be a really weird ass way to go about disciplining you. Maybe it was one of the guys on the team that set this all up?

My brow furrowed in the most unattractive fashion. This wasn’t the main gate. This was the VIP entrance to the Diamond Club. Now I was even more confused. I opened my mouth to ask the driver another question, which he probably didn’t have the answer to, but he was already out of the car and around to my door.

These tickets were easily $500 or more a seat . Who the hell would drop that much money on me? There had to be a catch. Maybe I won some sort of employee thing? The thoughts tumbled in my head and distracted me enough to stumble from the car and up to the security at the club entrance gate.

I handed my ticket to the person at the check-in desk and heard the reassuring beep. Well, at least it wasn’t fraudulent. With a knowing smile, she directed me to the waiting usher to escort me to my seat .

He led me down the stairs and into the main entrance of the Diamond Club. It was a bustle of activity as this was the private restaurant and concession stand for those sitting in the prestigious seats. They were right behind home plate and smack dab in between both of the teams’ dugouts.

I timidly made my way down the steps behind the usher in a team logo polo. I could see the guys out on the field doing their pre-game warmups. And that was when my heart stopped. Wearing his catcher’s gear, he was hard to miss.

Damn, Jamie looked good in his element.

“Miss…?”

Oh, right. I was supposed to be following the usher guy. With a nod, I closed the gap between us as he gestured to my seat. It was the last plush seat in the front row right next to the home team’s dugout.

This was every baseball fangirl’s dream. I sank into the plushness of the outdoor vinyl seat. How was I supposed to sit and relax watching the game when I knew exactly what the catcher looked like naked ?

“Would you like to order anything to eat or drink?”

“What?” I glanced up at the usher, shading my eyes, blinking against the late evening sun.

“It's included with your ticket. Would you like to see a menu?”

“Could you get me a hard cider? Or a light beer? Or hell, wine. Whatever you have, that's sweet and full of alcohol.” With a chuckle, he nodded and wandered off to get someone on the wait staff. Thank fuck he left. I needed this moment of reprieve to get my head on straight .

“Miss Andrews?” I nearly jumped out of my seat. So much for a moment to collect my thoughts.

“Oh my god! Yes?” Turning, I was met face-to-face with a white box tied up with a red bow. Surely, he had the wrong person. The fact that he said my name wasn’t something my common sense wanted to consider at the moment.

“I was told to give this to you when you found your seat.” Bending down to my level, the staff member handed over the sizable box to me. What in the world?

I gave it a timid shake. All I could hear was the rustle of tissue paper. It wasn’t heavy but it wasn’t as light as an empty box would be. My pointer and thumb grabbed a hold of the forked end of the ribbon and pulled, loosening the bow. The box barely fit on my lap. What the hell was inside?

Pulling away the lid and a layer of tissue paper, I was greeted with the vision of the gorgeous special edition team hat that I’d been eyeing up all season. I kept my excited squeal internal. Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad. Employee perks and all.

I lifted the hat out of the box and quickly set to work adjusting the cap to fit my head. But this was a rather large box for just a hat. Glancing down, my heart came to a complete and utter stop.

Carefully folded inside the box was a Jamie Rheems jersey.

My head shot up. Like a hawk after its prey, I found Jamie in an instant, as he caught a hell of a fastball from the pitcher during warmups. Did he do this? Did Jamie orchestrate all of this? Or was it just some cruel prank ?

There was also something else tucked in the box. It must have shifted in transport as it was sort of off to the side of the jersey. It was an envelope and what looked like a velvet box.

Skipping any sort of decorum as my hands trembled, I tore open the envelope. The paper had the team’s letterhead at the top along with a handwritten note.

My brow furrowed as I read his letter over and over again. It was disbelief mixed with elation. Was I dreaming again?

I wanted to hug the piece of paper to my chest and never let go. Jamie and a grand romantic gesture. It wasn’t flowers but to a baseball-loving girl, it was the best fucking thing.

Blinking back happy tears, the black velvet box drew my attention next. He mentioned some sort of token from his game in his note. Could this be it?

With trembling hands, I carefully opened the box. Choking back a sob, I covered my mouth to muffle any more embarrassing sounds. I wasn’t an overly emotional person, but Jamie certainly had taken me through the wringer with this one.

Inside the box was a necklace. But it wasn’t some jewelry store necklace, oh hell no. It was a custom-made pendant. In a frame of white gold was a piece of dirty baseball leather in the shape of a heart.

Then it hit me.

It was his first hit ball with the Sillys. The ball that ended his post-injury no-hit streak. The hit that he claimed was all because of me.

Holy fuck my heart couldn’t take it right now.

Sniffling, I gingerly pulled the jewelry piece from the box and fastened it around my neck. My heart started singing as soon as the cool metal hit my flushed skin. Now I had to fucking deck myself out head to toe with all of Jamie’s gifts.

Fussing with the gift box, I shoved it off my lap as I pulled the jersey from the confines. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t one of those cheap knock-off ones, it was a wearable, embroidered game-use-only kind of jersey. This had to be from Jamie’s personal stash.

Fuck.

It even smelled like him beneath the hint of laundry soap. What the hell had I become? And in public no less? Here I was, with a front-row seat to my favorite baseball team, huffing my favorite player’s jersey.

As I slipped it on, I remembered our conversation at dinner before his first road trip. That he wanted something as simple as seeing his girl , wearing his jersey, cheering for him in the stands. The jersey was the equivalent of me advertising the man on a billboard in Times Square.

“Cady!” The shouted pet name hit my ears like a welcoming balm. Cramming the heels of my hands into my eyes to brush away the tears, I looked up. My eyes met the look of pure and utter joy on Jamie’s face as he jogged over to my seating area. The rest of the team headed to the dugout to my right.

He leaned over the padded field wall and pressed his face into the safety net. The vision of him turned my heart into a puddle of goo. “You made it! And hell ,” He sighed happily as he drank me in. “You look fucking fantastic in my jersey. You found my special gift.”

My jersey.

His jersey.

His lucky charm on my heart.

“I can’t believe you did all this…” I whispered as I met him at the wall. I quickly glanced around, hoping I wasn’t drawing attention. Having a player this close to the seats was something reserved for sm all kids asking for autographs. “Why didn’t you call? I’ve been a mess worried about you and—”

“I know. But I wanted to do a grand gesture. The Sillys convinced me.” Jamie stopped to catch his breath as his words tumbled out all at once.

“Wait…the Sillys? My Sillys?” My hand fell to my chest that was still sporting my team shirt under Jamie’s open jersey. My guys had something to do with all this pomp and circumstance?

“They helped.” My eyes looked to Jamie as his voice softened. “I should have told you this long before I got called back up to the majors. The truth is…” Leaning in closer, his fingers wiggled through the netting to grasp onto my hand. “The truth is I didn’t know how to tell you this. I didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

“T-Tell me what…?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“ Cadence, ” The sudden seriousness had me locking eyes with his. He took a step closer, his field cleats against the padded field wall. “ I love you. ”

Jamie said it.

He actually said it.

I never thought I’d hear the words, even though I imagined it a zillion times. My brain scrambled. How does someone respond to something like that on the fly?

Before I could manage any kind of coherent verbal response, my body flew into action. I launched myself at him. The net hampered my efforts but with the mutual effort between us, we managed to get our lips locked through an opening in the netting.

“I love you too,” I mumbled in between our ravenous kisses. His mouth slanted against mine as he did his best to grab onto me. I grinned and laughed into the kiss while he hummed his delight. It was fucking magical .

Well, it was magical until I was manhandled off of Jamie by two members of the security team.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! You can’t do that!” One shouted as they managed to pull me away. I didn’t want to get thrown out of Jamie’s first game back.

“Yo, guys!” Jamie’s firm voice made them pause. “She’s mine .”

Oh, fucking hell.

Bye-bye panties. It was nice knowing you.

If these guys hadn’t been holding me up, I’d be a puddle on the platform.

“Mr. Rheems…?”

“She’s my girlfriend , guys.”

Oh, this was too much all at once for my body to handle. Between the gifts and the “I love you” and now the “girlfriend” title? This was a grand gesture of epic proportions. I was just…shocked. With my mouth agape, Jamie’s eyes found mine once more. “That is…if you’ll have me?”

I used the loosened hold of the security guys to launch myself back at Jamie. His huge grin matched mine as I managed to steal one more kiss. The safety net still kept me from doing everything in my power to tangle my body around him. Only now it was Jamie’s turn to be dragged away by his teammates so they could start the ball game.

Oops.

“This game’s for you, Cady!” Jamie shouted with one last grin as he dipped into the dugout. I was smiling from ear to ear as I turned to go back to my seat. That was until I realized I had the curious eyes of the entire Diamond Club section on me all at once.

With a blush, I avoided every last one of them as I slinked back down into my seat. I couldn’t stop grinning. My shit day turned completely upside down in the most unexpected way. Decked out in my boyfriend’s gear, I was ready for a hell of a ball game. Win or lose. This time I could watch and ogle Jamie and know that he was mine . And I was his.

How the hell could I concentrate on the game after all that? Had Jamie not been starting, my eyes would have been firmly fixed on the dugout. Instead, I had a front-row seat to the man’s glorious ass as it was bent behind home plate throughout the first half of the inning. The way that man winked at me each time he went up to take his position on the field made me swoon almost clear out of my seat.

Jamie was a completely changed man from the last time he was on this field. Gone was his typically stoic demeanor. He ran out onto that field with a spring in his step and an extra bounce to that booty I loved to squeeze. Instead of treating the game like it was all business, he was ready to have fun. And he learned all that by playing with the Sillys.

And me.

After a quick three outs, it was the bottom of the first. The coach must have been ecstatic to have him back as he slipped Jamie back into his coveted second place in the batting lineup. His usual walk-up song blasted over the ballpark speakers. I couldn’t help but do a happy little dance from my seat. This was the fucking greatest.

With his first at-bat, I held my breath. He walked out onto that field with purpose to the roar of the home crowd. They were so happy to have him back. He was amazing. He was incredible.

He was mine.

Jamie lifted his bat, pointing it at me with a tip of the brim of his batting helmet before he stepped into the batter box. Baseball games were going to have a hell of a new meaning if I always got this special treatment when Jamie was in the starting lineup. After all the years I fantasized about the man maybe it was just my heart telling me that he was the one for me.

The crack of the ball against the bat jarred me from my tumble of happy thoughts. Around me, the stadium cheered as Jamie made a beeline for first base. But there was no need. I slowly rose from my seat, squinting to see the ball against the fading light of day. That ball was long gone. Clear over the fence in right field and into the first few rows of the second level, which only made the crowd cheer louder.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. What a hell of a return to his home field. My heart was in my throat as I watched him run the bases with the biggest grin on his face, playing it up for the crowd. As his cleats hit home plate, I rushed back to the safety net.

Jamie made a beeline for me but kept his respectable distance. I could tell the security guys were sending their warning stares at me. With all eyes on Jamie, we had to keep it at least PG-rated. Not that I wanted to. Nor did my mouth. When he was at the top step of the dugout, I slipped him a quick promise for later that was for his ears only.

“I hope for a repeat home run tonight, Slugger.”

The look he shot me told my vagina that it was on like Donkey Kong .

“I can think of no other way to celebrate with my good luck charm .” He gave me a wink as he ducked down into the dugout. There was another round of cheers and high-fives from his teammates as I floated back to my seat. Part of me didn’t care if they won or lost, Jamie had his triumphant return and that was all that mattered.

It was a wonder to see him in his natural element. The Sillys had a much more lighthearted take on baseball. I only got to see little peeks of his true talent in person in between the dance breaks and other on-field nonsense.

This game was simultaneously exhilarating and going at a snail's pace. Especially with the filthy promises for later that lingered between us every time he went back to the dugout. With each free moment, he stole a glance, shot me a wink, or lifted his mask to enchant me with his knee-buckling grin. Or there was the token sultry comment when his teammates weren't within earshot. Which was a bit difficult given that most of the coaching staff hovered in the corner of the dugout near my seat.

It was finally the top of the ninth inning, and they were up by three runs. If all went well, they could hold on for half an inning to win the game. Jamie managed a home run on his first at-bat then a base hit to first. The other had been a pop fly, but at least he hit the damn ball.

The relationship between Jamie and all the pitchers had to be symbiotic. Jamie and the pitcher had to study their hitting opponents, but Jamie was the one who made the pitch calls. He had to know who would swing on the first pitch no matter if it was in the strike zone. And who had a weakness against left or right-handed pitchers? He had to know it all.

As he ran out on the field for, hopefully, the last time for the game, I gave him one last bit of encouragement. I caught his eye as he lingered behind everyone else outside of the dugout.

“Keep up the great pitch calls!” I yelled at him with a smile as I hopped from foot to foot. At the stop step, he leaned in as close as he could manage between the netting and padded wall.

“Keep screaming my name. It will be good practice for later .”

The smooth husky tone that slipped that doozy of a line had me gripping onto the safety net for support. My legs were one breath away from giving out completely. He gave me a wicked grin before he raced after his teammates. How could he drop something as epic as that and just… walk away ? I was fairly certain I needed one of those security guards to grab a fire extinguisher for my thighs.

“Please God, if you can give me three pitches and three caught pop-fly balls, I’ll do anything you want.”

The chances were slim as I muttered out the words to the tangerine sky, but hey a girl could dream. Even if the game ended quickly, I still had to wait for Jamie to change out of his uniform and shower before I could jump his bones for the next twelve hours straight. Okay, maybe eight hours. The man did have to sleep at least a little bit before the next game tomorrow.

I didn’t have to bother with sitting down. The opposing team’s second batter was already up to the plate with two strikes. The crowd was on their feet, cheering on the pitcher to make this a quick top of the ninth. And since I had a very sexy reason to want this game to be over, I added my encouragement.

Like Jamie, the closer pitcher was on fire. He struck out the second batter and was well on his way to finishing off the third. The team was like a well-oiled machine with Jamie back in his usual position. The ease with which they fell back into their normal game flow was obvious to everyone.

With one voice, the stadium roared as the game was called with the last strike. You would have thought it was the team winning the World Series. It was bonkers. The announcers gave up on saying anything after the game. It was pointless over the deafening noise of the crowd.

My babe was back and kicking ass.

And I was here to see it.

The horde of baseball players celebrated on the field with special attention on Jamie. He certainly deserved it. From the first inning, he was back in his usual form, with a home run to boot. He certainly deserved to have the player of the game interview tonight.

I stood at the edge of the netted wall, anxiously awaiting Jamie to give him a congratulatory kiss. That was only the beginning as there was a hell of a lot more I had in store for him for the night. There was too much celebrating to do.

Once he managed to get away from the mass of his celebrating teammates, he swaggered up to me with a dusty, sweaty face and a big-ass grin. I didn’t care how filthy he was. He was still utterly kissable. My grin mirrored his as he stepped up to me on the opposite side of the wall. Despite the cumbersome netting, he still managed to pull me in tightly against him.

“I told you that you looked so fucking good in my jersey,” Jamie mumbled against my lips as the safety netting bit into my skin. “But it will look a hell of a lot better on my floor tonight. Be ready to round the bases, because I can’t wait to nail you at home plate.” Jamie swallowed my amused snort with a searing kiss.