Page 9

I?IGO PASCUAL & MOOPHS

I arrived at practice earlier than normal. I couldn’t sleep. Again. Most of the night was spent tossing and turning, the other long hours were spent thinking. I couldn’t get my mind off my upcoming debut with the Sillys. It was looming like the breath of death along the back of my neck. And then there was also the endless deluge of thoughts of Cadence. For whatever reason.

Ever since the interaction in the locker room, Cadence had piqued my curiosity. Well, piqued it more than she already had. The guys had inadvertently alluded to the fact that she wasn’t always this off-putting. I didn’t mean to make the poor woman’s life a living hell on purpose. But maybe I unknowingly had. As much as I didn’t want to be here, it wasn’t fair to take it all out on her. The guys noticed it. And if they noticed it, then Cadence for sure had. The thought made me feel like shit for letting my attitude be my personality of late. It was my fault that I was in this mess.

She was a woman with brains and two tons of attitude. Not to mention the humor to match. Cadence was nothing like anyone I’d ever met. She was a woman who loved baseball. Loved her team. Almost as if she was one of the guys out on the ballfield. The guys said that she didn’t have to go to all the games, especially ones where they rehashed some of the older routines. Game after game, she was a constant presence at home games. As much as I hated to admit it, it was her dedication to the team that attracted me to her. Like, to an unnerving level.

Even with her keeping her distance around me, it only fueled my curiosity and the intrigue about her. What made her tick? What made her laugh? What inspired her to be part of the Sillys organization?

Maybe I was going about this all the wrong way.

As much as I hated the fact that I was demoted away from my beloved team, I had to be here. I deserved to be here. I wasn’t playing the caliber of baseball that was needed in the majors. Maybe I needed to pull my head out of my ass and stop being in denial. To grit my teeth and focus on the here and now. This was a cold, hard, slap to the face to get my shit together. Would being stuck with the Sillys be such a bad thing? Probably not. Except for the teeny, little fact that I still couldn’t fucking dance.

After watching a few of the ball games, I knew I’d be the one who looked like an idiot on the ballfield if I was the only one not shaking his ass in some form or fashion. Either way, I didn’t have much longer to get my shit together before my slated start. Topper let me have a bit more time to acclimate to the team, which I was grateful for. It was just a lot to acclimate to.

With the long hours of reflection during my restless night, I concluded that I needed to make a change. Today. Even if I had to hire a private dance tutor. I didn’t want to lose my baseball career because I couldn’t get my head out of my ass long enough to learn how to dance. If I didn’t do everything possible to keep my career afloat, I’d hate myself if I just gave up. That wasn’t Jamie Rheems.

The overall Sillys experience was interesting. Maybe, just maybe, a bit…fun. Not just the dancing part, but the game part. It would be nice to play for fun again. To play for the love of the game instead of constantly worrying about stats and numbers and being nominated for awards or the All-Star team. It would be the first time in my life that I wouldn’t be living every day just to strive for something greater.

With my sleepless night of clarity, I settled on resetting my attitude. Sometimes you just had to be a bigger man and admit that you were at fault. Even if it meant shaking your ass around like a jackass.

The southern gentleman part of me pulled at my good conscience to take the time to apologize to Cadence for my appalling behavior of late. Maybe that would thaw out her icy attitude towards me. Maybe just–

At the top of the stairs of the dugout, movement in the outfield stopped me in my tracks. She was an utter vision of grace and beauty floating in the outfield. The woman who’d been the bane of my existence, the subject matter of my thoughts at an alarming frequency, was dancing as if she was the last being on earth and had no fucks left to give.

Cadence was certifiably stunning. As awkward as it was to admit that about someone who was my coach. Stunning in a carefree sort of way. Here she was, in a ballpark, my favorite place on earth, dancing with effortless ease. She glided from foot to foot, twirling through the grass in the outfield as if she were one of those ballerinas in the old wind-up music box.

No music could be heard, which made the spectacle almost eerie. The vision of her took my breath away. It was wild, unbridled. Something I’d never seen before.

Her eyes were closed. Even with the size of the outfield, it was rather brave of her. What if someone saw her? What if the grounds crew was lurking about? The last thought made me ball my hand into a tight fist. No one should be staring at what was seemingly a private moment. Yet here I was, doing the one thing I was pissed about any other man doing.

Her fingers and toes came to delicate tips, extending the lines of her mesmerizing body as they expressed the emotion of whatever music she was listening to. Typically, she wore her hair up in a ponytail, but today it was loose and untamed in coppery gold waves. With each twirl, the strands surrounded her like a heavenly halo.

My brain was thinking anything but angelic things as I watched the talent my coach had. I had no idea that she was this incredible . The dance moves she taught us were usually comical or whatever was hot on social media. But this? This was something I could see on a big stage somewhere. She could be so much more than stuck in Philly dealing with my untalented ass. The strength and flexibility of her body had me imagining just what it would feel like to have her all tangled up in my arms. With legs like hers, she could wrap around me tight enough to go hands-free…

Fuck.

No .

Holy fuck I was literally an HR complaint waiting to happen.

I came here to calm the waters between Cadence and me. Not churn them up more with inappropriate thoughts. This kind of shit was completely out of character for me. If I did find someone worth pursuing, it was a slow and respectable sort of courtship. Not all these thoughts of falling into bed with someone each time my cock got hard looking at her.

This certainly wasn’t the first time I was turned on by thoughts of my coworker.

I was ready to run back into the locker room and douse myself with cold water to get my damn cock to chill the fuck out before practice. Literally and figuratively. Cadence eased her dancing to a slow stop. Part of me wanted to duck away so she didn’t see me and yet another part wanted to make a beeline at lightspeed for the woman just to get this all over with.

She slipped out her earbuds and grabbed her water bottle. I had to play it cool and not pretend that I’d been watching her for the better part of the last few songs. As Han Solo suggested, “I don’t know. Fly casual.” How the fuck do I maintain any sense of being casual after watching that performance? Shit, I didn’t even have anything prepared to say to explain the past few weeks and I–

“Jamie?”

Fuck.

The more alarming notion was the fact that my body had moved of its own accord towards Cadence. Even though my brain had still been locked in a heated debate on even approaching her. Swallowing back my sudden fluster, I tried to remain cool.

“Uh…” Off to a great fucking start, Jamie. “Sorry, I’m here early.” Thank you, Captain Obvious.

“That’s okay.” Dammit. Her voice sounded strained. I must have interrupted her quiet dance time before the insanity of team practice. Suddenly her eyes squinted shut and she shook her head. It caused the skin of her nose to ripple, bringing her freckles to the forefront. “Actually,” She added suddenly. “Uh, there was um…something I wanted to talk to you about anyway. Privately.”

My stomach bottomed out. Shit. Was she going to call me out? What about this woman made me so unnerved or pissed off? How did she have this kind of power over me? Even when she couldn’t look at me square on.

“Oh?” I swallowed nervously with an equally unsteady laugh. “Hopefully it's not about me being a total lost cause.”

“I mean…” Fuck. “Not…not technically.” Giving her a cautious glance, she seemed to be just as tense as me. But that was only a passing thought as her sweat-covered dewy skin caught the sunlight. Suddenly I craved salt. “Look,” The sharpness and urgency in her tone made me snap out of my salt lick daydream. “I understand that dance isn’t easy for everyone. Sometimes you just need to find what teaching style works for you.”

Wait, was this an underhanded way of kicking me off the team? “So…that means…?”

“Maybe we just have to think outside the box.” I must have looked as lost and confused as I felt. Cadence bent down into her bag and procured her trusty hair elastic. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, she furiously wound the loop around her wild waves. I could feel the twitch of jealousy in my hand as I suddenly wanted to feel those silken strands knotted in my fist.

“I’m…almost afraid to ask what you’re thinking.”

“What, don’t you have a sense of adventure, Jamie Rheems?” There she went with my full name again. The tone of it and how it slid off her lips sent a delicious shiver up my spine. “I know your coaches in the majors had you doing all sorts of interesting field work and wild things for batting practice. To name one, I seem to remember you chipping some golf balls from home plate.”

I blinked at her. How did she know that? And for fucks sake, why was it a turn-on?

“I–yes.”

“So maybe you’d be open to doing some country line dancing. Off the clock of course. The guys and I go a few times a season. You follow along, most of the time everyone fucks up in one way or another. I figured you’d fit right in.” Uh…thanks? The words tumbled out of her all at once in a singular breath. Why did it seem that she was just as unsteady with us being this close as I was?

I bristled at her suggestion. Line dancing in a bar was slightly more terrifying than dancing in front of 20,000 fans at a baseball game. But this was exactly what I told myself needed to be done. I needed to change my attitude about this whole thing. I needed to learn how to dance if I wanted to keep playing baseball. I needed to do whatever was necessary to get back on the team I belonged to .

If this was something that Cadence said I should do, then…so be it.

“Well, I guess that’s something I could try.”

“Excellent!” The sense of relief in her body was noticeable. For fucks sake I’ve been a total asshole. “Thank you.” I didn’t exactly expect that enthusiastic response. She bounced on the balls of her heels for two beats and my eyes couldn’t help but drift to her chest.

Fuck. Shit. Stop being a horny teenager. Do something else. Anything else.

“You’re welcome, Cady.” I rushed out in a single, charged exhale.

“Cady?” Her surprised tone hit me like a brick wall. Goddammit, we were doing so well. I had to go and fuck it all up because I couldn’t help but stare at my coach’s tits and say stupid shit. I needed to recover this word vomit if my life depended on it.

“Yeah…uh, like the chick from Mean Girls .” Cadence blinked at me. I mean, fair. Most guys weren’t into early 2000s teenage romcoms.

“Right.” There was some skepticism in her voice. Her brow arched as her hands slipped to her waist. Shit, she needed to stop drawing attention to her body. Especially being this close to me.

“Yeah…I’m gonna call you Cady.” All I could do was continue the lines from the movie. With a snort, she cocked her head to the side. How many men could quote lines from such an off-the-cuff cult classic teen movie?

“Are you a closet Lindsay Lohan fan or something?”

“What, you don’t like Mean Girls ?” Now it was my turn to be surprised .

“Oh no, I love Mean Girls . It's just…I don't know. It’s weird you can reference it and then accurately quote it.”

“Well, now I feel like you’re judging me.” The conversation became so easy all of a sudden. I felt dizzy from the sheer thrill of it. Maybe she didn’t hate me after all? There’d been little to no animosity since we started talking. I was eager to continue this back and forth but then I heard the chatter of the guys coming onto the field for dance rehearsal.

“No. Just…impressed.” She pulled my attention straight back to her so suddenly that I was afraid I had whiplash. As she turned away from me, I managed to catch her little smile. My heart knocked against my ribcage like a locked damsel in distress.

“Quoting movie lines is my superpower,” I mumbled out. Anything to keep her from escaping so quickly. We had some good banter going on.

“I thought catching was.” She quipped back with a snort. My ego surged at her response. Was…was that a flirt? There was a swirl of emotions inside of me. I didn’t know what to do until words exploded out of me all at once.

“Depends on what I catch.” I shot back, suave as fuck, with a wink to boot, as I caught her shocked gaze as she glanced at me from over her shoulder.

What in the actual fuck were you thinking, Jamie? Winking? Really? Next, you’ll be asking the woman to dance with you.

In all honesty, I wasn’t thinking. All thinking left my brain. It was only actions when I found myself alone around Cadence Andrews. Like I was a dumbass freshman swooning over the senior captain of the dance team .

No woman had ever left me this tongue-tied and completely unarmed. It was the first time she didn’t look at me with hidden disdain. Or…whatever it was she looked at me with. I didn’t know what to fucking do with myself.

I was still inwardly cringing over how our interaction ended as choreography practice started. During practice, I channeled all of my utter confusion and frustration into doing whatever I could to follow along. I felt the guys’ eyes on me, so either I was doing something right or flailing like a fish out of water. But there were no snickers or snide remarks. Hopefully, they were glances of approval or encouragement. Or, perhaps, it was pity.

I was still trying to gauge Cady’s reaction. She hadn’t said anything about the nickname, only smiled at it. It suited her.

The thought of her smiling made me smile. Or it could have been the fact that the routines were finally falling into a place in my brain where they made sense.

Holy shit, maybe I really could do this.

Cady made her way over to me as the guys did a run-through without her at the head of the pack. My spine immediately straightened as I found myself suddenly slipping back into her gravitational pull. This time her face wasn’t some mix of horror and disgust as she looked at me. It resembled something of what looked like the lighthearted Cady from that day in the locker room.

“You…almost have it.” She sheepishly interrupted. Timidly, she lifted her hands in offering. “Can I…show you?” Wait, did her voice just crack ?

I couldn’t dwell on that fact for very long. With a nod of my head, I agreed to something that I wasn’t at all expecting. My eyes darted between her hands as they made their way to my arms.

I could feel the heat rise at the back of my neck as I stood incredibly still, waiting to see what she would do. Soft fingers gently adjusted the angle of my arms to something that more closely resembled how the rest of the Sillys moved in the routine. That was all I could think about at the moment. Because if I focused on how her touch felt, I’d have a hard-on in a hot second.

The touch was innocent, but my brain was thinking about anything but. Especially with her facing me while wearing one of her coordinating workout outfits. It was a front-row seat to her treacherous curves. Curves that needed a gigantic warning sign and flashing lights.

“Uh…see? There you go. Just…just some minor adjustments.” Her breathless smile was inches from my face. The woman could have told me I was a second-time Gold Glove award winner but all I’d be able to focus on was the glorious way her skin felt against mine.

“Oh, right. T-Thanks, Cady.” I breathed out. The continued use of the nickname brought a quirk to the corner of her mouth. She unexpectedly lingered, her hands still on my body. Oh, what fucking delicious hell was this?

“Psst. You’re doing it again, Jamie.” Benson chipped in with a teasing voice. I shot him a look. Schmidt joined with a low whistle. If anyone else was going to put their snide two cents in, I was going to have some bloody knuckles before it was over .

“Alright boys, cool it.” Cady snapped out of whatever spell that was between us and abruptly pulled her hands away from my body. “You’re supposed to be encouraging Jamie. He’s doing good work today...” My body inflated quickly and then deflated just as fast as I watched her wander back up to the front of the team.

What the fuck was going on with me? My skin was covered in goosebumps. Meanwhile, it was easily creeping into the usual Philadelphia summer heat and humidity. I was half tempted to fuck up even worse to tempt fate just to have her touch me again.

“Besides, I invited the rookie here out to line dancing with us tomorrow.”

There was a rumble of laughter and murmurs before Martin playfully punched me on the shoulder.

“Oh really?” I bristled at the excited tone of his voice. “It's about fucking time! I never thought we’d see your tight-ass dance. And I mean really dance.” Martin followed with a suave grin. My eyes looked up to Cady who’d gone back to avoiding looking at me square on.

“I…uh, yeah. I figured I should um, give it a shot.” I gave the group of Sillys around me an uneasy smile. Well, there was no going back now.

“Alright alright, you all had better show Jamie how it's done.” My cheeks went hot at her word choice. “Dancing can be…fun.”

“Yo, Jamie should I get you some lube to get that rod out of your ass before we go?” Truitt could barely keep in his laughter. Once he got the jab at me, the other guys joined in. I rolled my eyes before they caught the same heated look on Cady’s face that she had at the last mention of my ass. It made me wonder just what she thought of my hindquarters.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Kellan offered his reassurance as the laughter tapered off. “Get a few beers into you and you’ll follow along with any dance we put you through.”

“Just…not before games, Kel. The whole point of this is to get Jamie to be, well…comfortable. Er… more comfortable.” Cady added as she collected her things. “I’ll see you boys tomorrow at the bar. And you’ll need to be on your best behavior. We have a game in two days, Jamie’s big debut. And you knuckleheads had better not fuck it up for him.” There was an edge to her voice. All the guys took note, as her warning somehow scared them straight. Well, straight enough for the Sillys.

“Jamie?” Cady’s voice softened as she stepped over to me. My heart went feral all over again, thudding against each curve of my rib. A rather vain attempt to throw itself at the woman.

“Yeah…?”

“Um…good job today.”

“Uh, thanks.” My ears went hot with her rare compliment. Maybe I didn’t fuck up today after all.

Shit. I forgot to apologize. Perhaps it was best to attempt one thing at a time.