Down the Line (Sports Romance)

by Cheryl Douglas

  “Makes sense,” Ash said, circling the room. “But the only time I’ve ever tried to hook up with an ex was because I wanted to… you know, hook up. You sure that’s not the reason you wanna go out with Grace tonight?”

  Ethan laughed. “You think I wanna bang Gracie?” Just saying those words left a bitter taste in his mouth. He thought about the last time they’d had sex. It had been epic, and he’d known then that was one woman he could wake up to for the rest of his life. He’d grown up on locker room talk, but this wasn’t some groupie Ash was talking about. This was his Gracie. “You’re way off base, Ash.”

  “You sure?”

  Ethan sighed. “Is she still hot as hell? You’re not blind. You know she is. But I don’t think you can have the kind of relationship we did and then try some casual sex thing. I doubt that would work.”

  “Then you’re not going to sleep with her?”

  “Why the hell do you even care?” Ethan asked, trying to tamp down his annoyance. He understood looking out for his friends—he’d done the same when Chase introduced him to Jayda—but this was different. Ash was a guy. Gracie was a girl. They were business partners. Best friends. And maybe he wanted more? “Could it be you don’t want me to sleep with her ‘cause you want her for yourself?”

  “Hey, no way,” Ash said, raising his hands. “You gotta believe me, it’s not like that. But I’ve seen her miserable, first because of you, then because of Joel. I don’t want to see her go through that again.”

  “She was miserable because of him?” That gave him another reason to hate the guy. “Why? I thought she broke up with him.”

  “She did, but you know the way Grace is. She’s sweet and sensitive. She hates hurting people. It took her months just to work up the nerve to tell the guy it was over.”

  “Yeah, and he doesn’t seem to be taking it too well. Why do you even let him come in here to work out? All he does is leer at Gracie the whole time. It’s got to weird her out.”

  “I’d love nothing more than to kick him out on his arrogant ass, believe me. But his old man is our landlord. Our lease is up next month. Last thing we need is to give him another reason not to renew.”

  “Another reason?”

  “Yeah, Joel’s folks aren’t too happy Grace called off the wedding. They love her. His mother has even come in here a few times, pleading with her to change her mind and telling her Joel can’t live without her.”

  Ethan wasn’t surprised the ‘rents loved her. His did too. They’d come down hard on him when he broke up with her, telling him he’d thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to him. Not that he’d ever admit it to them, but they were right.

  “I found him circling her car earlier.”

  Ash’s lips flattened into a hard line. “He’s always doing weird shit like that. Waiting for her after work, sending flowers with no cards, showing up on her birthday with a big-ass box that she refused to open. I’ve already told him he needs to get over it and leave her the hell alone, but I’ll be damned if I can get through to him.”

  “Yeah, I tried talking to him too,” Ethan admitted. “Not that I got anywhere either.”

  “I told Grace to tell him she has another boyfriend.” Ash laughed. “Some guy from out of town so she wouldn’t have to prove it.”

  “Doesn’t have to be someone from out of town,” Ethan said, grinning. “Not now that I’m back.”

  “What’re you thinking?” Ash asked. “Sending him a message that you’re back in Grace’s life… for real?”

  “I am back in Gracie’s life for real,” Ethan said, gripping Ash’s shoulder as he walked past him. “And I think I might have to deliver that message to our buddy. Again.”

  Chapter Three

  Grace nearly jumped out of her skin when the door opened. She was sure she’d locked it.

  “Oh hey,” she said when she saw Ethan, flattening her palm over her heaving chest. “You didn’t have to come pick me up. I have my car. I could have met you there.”

  “Hey,” he said, winking. “This is a date, right? I always pick my dates up.”

  A date. Those two little words made her heart hammer even harder. Earlier he’d said they were going out to grab a burger as friends. Now he was labelling it a date?

  “Um, I was just finishing up here,” she said, gesturing to the computer she’d been shutting down. She stood and tucked in her chair. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  “No worries, take your time.” He stepped into her path when she rounded the desk.

  She looked up at him, wondering whether she should side-step him. Before she could, he rested his hands on her waist.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I thought about you all day today,” he said.

  She reminded herself that he was still reeling from his broken engagement and surely looking for a distraction. She just happened to be it. In a few months, he would be itching to play baseball again and he’d catalogue the good memories they made over the winter with all the rest.

  They had no future. Only a present. And a past.

  “Let’s not get in too deep here.” She patted his chest. “We both know what this is. A diversion. You’re here for a short time and you want to have a little fun. I get that. I’m not averse to having some fun too, but that’s all it is.”

  “You wanna have some fun with me?” He grinned, looking so sexy it caught her off guard. “Then let’s skip the burger and—”

  “Easy,” she said, laughing. He’d always had a one-track mind. When they’d been a couple, she loved that, but now she had to be more careful. She didn’t think casual sex with Ethan was an option. Her heart would want more. “I agreed to a burger. Nothing more.”

  He pouted, making her smile. “But I had my heart set on a chocolate milkshake too.”

  “Okay, fine.” She pushed against his chest, giggling when he stumbled back. “A shake too.”

  “I loved you, you know.”

  She sucked in a breath, taken aback by his serious tone. “I know you did.”

  “But what you don’t know is that you’re the only girl I’ve ever felt that way about.”

  “But Issie—”

  “The way I felt about her doesn’t even compare to what I felt for you.”

  “Oh.” She felt the same way—that what she’d had with Ethan only came along once in a lifetime—but she couldn’t say as much. It was too risky.

  “I just wanted you to know that.”

  “Okay.” She felt like an idiot as he stared at her expectantly. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.”

  “You seemed so angry when I stopped by your house this morning. Why?”

  “I was surprised, to be honest. Every other time I’ve seen you, I had time to prepare. This morning I felt… slammed.”

  “What do you mean?” She had some idea but needed to hear him say the words.

  “My feelings for you have remained…” He shrugged. “Close to the surface, I guess. Whenever I’d see you at my parents’ house with my sister or whatever, I’d try to deny it or ignore it, but it was always there.”

  She felt the same way, as if every time Ethan walked into a room, he sucked all of the oxygen out of it. “Maybe it was the way we ended things. We didn’t get closure.”

  “Maybe I didn’t want closure.”

  He couldn’t mean the things he was saying. Yesterday he’d walked in on his fiancée with another man. Regardless of how he claimed to feel about her, that must have been a terrible blow.

  “I don’t think this is the time to talk about this.” She wanted what he’d promised her—a chance to be friends again. Not another chance to be his lover.

  “You’re afraid.” He’d always called her out and never let her hide behind her fear, no matter the risk.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she said, turning her back on him. “Because this can’t go anywhere. We’re not kids anymore, with silly fantasies about happily ever after. We’re adults
now, with real lives and real responsibilities.”

  He followed her into the gym and watched her wipe down the equipment. “You like it here?”

  She glanced up, and her gaze collided with his in the mirror. “Are you talking about the gym or Hillsborough?”

  “Both.”

  “I love it.” She’d gotten a business degree, and when Ash, who was already a personal trainer, approached her with the idea of investing the money she’d saved from working at her father’s car dealership, she’d jumped at the chance to go into business with him.

  “I’m glad. That’s all I ever wanted you know, for you to be happy.”

  “Well, I am.”

  She moved quickly, trying to distract herself from the feelings rising dangerously close to the surface. When Bella had called her that morning and asked her to check on Ethan, Grace had never imagined it would result in unresolved feelings and painful conversations about the past.

  “So am I. I love what I do and getting to play on a championship team is more than I ever hoped for when we were kids.”

  “I can imagine,” she said.

  He wasn’t just a professional baseball player, though she knew that would have been more than enough for him. He was a champion with the kind of memories that would last a lifetime, and the ring to mark his accomplishments.

  “But baseball can’t last forever. I always knew that. When it eventually ends, I think I’d like to come back here.”

  They used to talk about what life would be like for them after his baseball career, but it had seemed so far into the future that it was difficult for her to imagine. Now, she wasn’t surprised by his decision to come back. He’d always loved their hometown, as evidenced by the fact he came home every chance he got.

  “That’s nice.” She took the cleaning supplies back to the closet and washed her hands at the sink in the hall.

  “But here’s the thing.” He came up behind her and crowded her in the small space as they both looked into the mirror above the sink, their eyes meeting. “I don’t want to come home to find another man living the life that should have been mine.”

  She sucked in a breath, terrified of where he was going.

  “I don’t want to see another man married to the woman who should have been my wife.” His hands landed on her hips as his lips brushed her ear when he whispered, “I don’t want to see you pregnant with another man’s baby. We both know that wouldn’t be right.”

  “My God, Ethan.” She closed her eyes and curled her hands into fists. “Why are you doing this? What’s wrong with you?”

  “You don’t think I wanted to say all of this to you when I came home that summer and found out you’d moved on?” He turned her to face him. “I was about to, then you told me you loved him and thought you’d marry him. Every word I planned to say to you burned like acid on my tongue.”

  “I’m sorry.” Back then, she had still been hurt that he’d broken up with her, and she had been young and immature and vindictive. She’d wanted to make him hurt the way he’d hurt her and making her relationship with Joel seem more serious than it was was the only way she could think of to do that.

  “Don’t be sorry.” He framed her face with his hands. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I broke up with you. I was an idiot—”

  “Don’t.”

  She peeled his hands off her face and side-stepped him. He’d looked as though he planned to kiss her and she couldn’t let that happen. If he did, it would be game over. Her resolve would melt and she’d inevitably end up right back where she’d been all those years ago—in love with a man who had bigger commitments than the one he’d made to her.

  “Don’t what?” he asked, sounding frustrated. “Don’t tell you how I feel?”

  “Don’t try to go back. We can’t.” She blew out a breath as she reached into the cabinet for her purse. She dug through the large satchel until she found her keys. “This was a bad idea. I can’t… we can’t do this.”

  “Do what?” He grabbed her wrist. “Talk to me. Please, Gracie, don’t walk away again.”

  “I wasn’t the one who walked away before! You left me standing in the middle of that damn park with tears in my eyes and a broken heart. I watched you walk away and I felt like my world had just been ripped apart.” She shoved him hard when he tried to embrace her. “You promised me a future, and you stole that from me!”

  She couldn’t believe she was crying again. She thought she’d dealt with all this pain, left it behind her, but rehashing the past brought it all back to the surface.

  “I know I made mistake. I knew it as soon I—”

  “Shut up and listen!” She needed him to understand why she could never go there with him again. “You told me you loved me, that we’d get married someday. You said we’d have kids.” That was the part that hurt the most—the family he’d promised they would have. “You said wherever you landed, I’d go with you and we’d build a life together. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you blindsided me. You said that you had to focus on baseball and the long-distance thing wasn’t working for you—”

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he said, sounding irritated as he paced. “You were always on my mind. I was supposed to be focusing on baseball. It was the one thing I’d wanted all my life, that pro contract, and I was afraid I was going to blow it because I couldn’t keep my head in the game.”

  She tried to understand it from his perspective, but she couldn’t. Why did he have to bail on her? Why couldn’t they have worked through their issues together, as a couple?

  “I panicked, okay? And I did the worst possible thing. I knew that as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Then I got back and I was even more of a mess ‘cause I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’d hurt you.”

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere. None of this matters now.”

  He grabbed her shoulders when she tried to slip past him. “How can you say it doesn’t matter? This is our lives we’re talking about.”

  “You’re wrong. You have a life. And I have a life. They’re totally separate now, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.”

  He stayed behind her as she walked toward the door. “Damn it, don’t do this. Don’t shut me out. At least let me take you out for dinner and—”

  “I lost my appetite. I just want to go home.” And curl up in bed and forget this day ever happened.

  * * *

  “What did you do to her, you big, dumb jerk?”

  “What the hell?” Ethan covered his face with a pillow while another pillow connected with the back of his head. “What’s wrong with you? Get the hell out of here!” He knew he’d regret giving his sister a house key.

  “You could have had another chance with her and you blew it!”

  He snagged the pillow before she could hit him with it again. “Would you relax?” He rolled onto his back, shielding his eyes from the light with his forearm. “God, you’re such a drama queen. What are you even doing here? I thought you’re supposed to be out of town until tomorrow?”

  “My client got called out of town on business, so we had to cut it short. But enough about me. Tell me what you did to screw things up with Grace this time?”

  He’d had a restless night of thinking about their conversation, and the last thing he needed was his sister to make it worse. “We got into it about our breakup, okay? But how did you know she was pissed at me? You talked to her?”

  “I stopped by the gym when I got back. I planned to get a quick workout in, but when I heard what you did, I rushed right over here.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean why, dumbass? It’s called damage control.” She was pacing his bedroom, biting her nails. That was a sure sign she was on the verge of losing it. “I swear I spend half my life cleaning up your messes.”

  Again with the drama. “Maybe you should spend less time worrying about my love life and more time worrying about why you don’t seem to have one.”

&nbs
p; “I don’t have one because I don’t want one. Men are a pain in the ass.”

  His sister was gorgeous—a point his friends liked to make every chance they got. But she’d shot down every one of them, claiming she needed her freedom.

  “Yeah, but at least if you had one, you’d stay the hell out of my business.”

  She grabbed a water bottle off the nightstand and uncapped it, threatening to pour it over his head. “Start talking, or I swear to God I’ll drown you.”

  He chuckled. “You’ll drown me with a half a bottle of water?”

  “Ever heard of Chinese water torture?” she asked, glaring at him.

  “You’re a little girl to be making such big threats,” he said before yawning. He grabbed his phone and groaned when he saw three missed calls from Issie. She just would not give up.

  “What?” Bella asked, frowning as she replaced the bottle cap. “Problem?”

  That was the thing about his sister. She could hate him one minute but still have his back the next. “Issie. She won’t leave me alone.”

  “Let me talk to her,” she said, reaching for his phone. “I’ll make her wish she never met you.”

  He smiled at her overprotective streak. At five feet tall and a hundred pounds soaking wet, she wasn’t someone most people would consider a threat, but they’d be wrong. She was as tough as nails, especially when she thought someone she cared about was being threatened.

  “Thanks, but I can handle her. Now would you get out of here so I can get dressed?”

  “You are dressed,” she said, pointing at his navy T-shirt.

  He was wearing gray athletic shorts too, but she didn’t know that. “Fine, I need to take a leak, all right? Why don’t you make yourself useful and make some breakfast?”

  “Breakfast?” she asked, consulting her watch. “It’s nearly noon. And for the record, I don’t wait on your lazy ass.”