Why hadn’t she put her phone on vibrate? Why had she chosen the blaring, old-timey phone as her ringtone?
It dinga-linga-linged again and again as she blindly reached for it. Her hand groped empty air until she accidentally knocked the phone off the nightstand.
Crap.
She quickly slid over and bent down to grab it, only to hit her head on the edge of her nightstand.
“Oww!” she yelped grabbing her forehead with one hand.
She saw the lit phone lying on the floor just out of her grasp and she struggled to reach for it, only to tumble right out of bed. She fell with a thud and another yelp of pain.
She finally snatched the phone of the floor with a frustrated grunt. Looking at the number, she had no idea who it was, but at this time of the night she didn’t want to take any chances. Hopefully, it was just a wrong number.
“Hello?” she said with exasperation.
“Jordan? It’s Carter, Carter Fox.”
She blinked in surprise. Then she brought her phone around to look at the time, and her, admittedly pleased surprise turned to annoyance. “What the heck…do you know what time it is?”
“Oh…” he paused on the other end, no doubt using this moment to actually look at the clock.
“Oh shi—sorry. Did I wake you?” he asked.
Jordan let out a brief, sharp laugh. The question was so absurd she couldn’t help but be slightly amused. “That would be a definite yes.”
“Sorry about that. I just had this strong urge to call after the game tonight, but I guess I just wasn’t factoring in the time.”
“Did you and Ben form some sort of cosmic connection?” she joked, smiling suspiciously into the phone.
“Pardon?”
“Never mind,” she said, giggling. She was up now, and the pain in her forehead was beginning to dull, so she might as well have a bit of fun on his account. Her sleep fogged brain wasn’t quite sharp enough to be mad at Carter Fox at this hour of the night—or rather, morning.
“So, would you be interested in going out to dinner with me, Jordan?”
Blunt and to the point. She could appreciate that—especially at this hour. She actually chuckled into the phone.
“Is that a yes then?” Carter asked.
Jordan backpedaled right into all her doubts and concerns again.
“Listen, I appreciate the apology at your press conference. I know it was just a stupid mistake on your part that got blown out of proportion. Though, I certainly hope you have a bit more respect for your female fans now.” She had to at least get that little dig at him.
She could hear him chuckling on the other end. “That’s for damn sure,” he mumbled into the phone.
“But, I’m not even a baseball fan,” she continued. “I was only there that day because of Ben. It’s just that…I’ve just got a lot going on right now in my life with law school and this summer associate job, and….”
She had no idea how to just say no.
“And that means no dating?” She could actually hear the grin in his voice.
No dating. Now that she was rolling it around in her head, it seemed ridiculous. Of course she could date!
But Carter Fox of all people?
Oh, what the heck.
“Sure,” she said impulsively.
A date with Carter Fox. God, this was so surreal.
Coral.
It was a good color on her, especially when she got as brown as she did in the summer. Definitely coral.
Or maybe the white dress. It showed less skin. Did she want to show less skin? She didn’t want to look like a virgin. White gave the wrong impression.
No, coral. It was a good color on her.
She looked at herself in the mirror again. Coral sleeveless sundress. She’d bring a sweater just in case.
Definitely the coral.
Her summer curls were flat ironed and tucked behind a white headband. No telling how long that would hold up. Her feet were tucked into white sandals.
Definitely the coral. It looked good on her.
It was almost pick-up time.
She had wanted to meet him at the restaurant. He had firmly said no to that. So had her family, all of whom were waiting downstairs for her—scratch that—for him.
It was a bit embarrassing having him pick her up at her parents’ house like she was still in high school, but then she remembered the $800 she had spent last semester for books alone, which wasn’t even factored into tuition. Better to save that rent money than try to save face. Besides, why not do something fun for the family, like introduce them to her famous date for the night?
She sighed and opened the door to face the eager crowd waiting downstairs. Walking down the steps felt like prom night all over again. They were all standing there looking up at her proudly. All because of Carter Fox.
“You look nice, Jordan,” Ben said, grinning up at her.
“Yes, very nice Jordan,” Ralph, her dad, said, beaming.
“It’s just a date, y’all,” she reminded them.
The doorbell rang, startling her. She could feel her heart beating faster. God, why was she so nervous? It was one silly date. With Carter Fox.
She saw her dad heading over to open the door and she rushed to preempt him. This was not going to turn into a big deal. He frowned down at her as she grabbed the knob.
“Carter!” she squeaked a little too brightly. She saw the bouquet of pink tulips in his hand and looked at them with an almost puzzled expression. Who brought flowers on a date anymore?
It filled her with something warm and pleasurable.
He obviously wasn’t expecting such a pleasant welcome and gave her a broad grin. Then he eyed her coral dress with open appreciation.
Yes, definitely the coral.
“These are for you,” he drawled, handing over the flowers.
She took them and stood there in the doorway in dumfounded paralysis. Her eyes wandered over the muscles that lingered just beneath the surface of his blue dress shirt. Then there were his jeans, not too tight and certainly not too loose.
“Jordan don’t be rude, let the man inside!” her father said impatiently.
She blinked and raised her eyes to see Carter smirking down at her. He’d seen exactly where her eyes had ended up. She frowned and opened the door wider waving him in. He gave a satisfied smile as he passed the threshold.
“Mr. Douglas? It’s very nice to meet you, sir,” he said offering his hand.
Her father was only too pleased to shake it, holding onto it as he placed the other hand on Carter’s broad back to lead him further in to meet everyone else. Jordan just stood by the doorway to watch, hoping that this whole family meet and greet would be over quickly.
Carter made the rounds, shaking everyone’s hand, chatting with Ben, and making small talk with his parents. He was even able to charm her mother, who seemed surprisingly less than enthusiastic about all of this.
“Let’s get a photo,” her father said. The camera was already sitting on the living room coffee table.
This was the part that had made Jordan cringe internally. “You don’t have to, Carter.”
Before her dad could protest, Carter saved him the trouble.
“Nonsense,” he said, a grin appearing on his face. “I would love to take photos.”
Her dad gave her a satisfied smile as he went to pick up the camera.
Carter came in close to her and positioned himself slightly behind her as he placed an arm around her bare shoulders. The feel of that hand on her shoulder, touching her skin, sent an immediate shiver through her body. She only hoped he hadn’t noticed.
Standing next to him was like standing up against a brick wall. It made her feel rather feminine and tiny, in a frustrating sort of way. She could feel every pec, every ab, and the hard thighs underneath his jeans, not to mention….
Good God!
“Smile, Jordan!” her father urged.
She gave a tight, surprised smile. As soon as
she heard the shutter click she pulled herself away, giving him a glare. He just gave her an unreadable smile, then turned to focus on her family.
“How about one with you Ben?” he offered.
“Cool!” Ben said, only too happy to get another photo op with his idol.
Jordan watched as Carter wrapped one huge arm around her cousin and smiled as her dad snapped the photo.
“What about with my mom and dad?” Ben asked, taking full advantage of the opportunity.
“Ben!” Jordan said with exasperation.
“Not a problem, little man,” Carter said.
It went on and on. By the time all was said and done at least twenty photos had been taken. He’d even managed to charm the seemingly reluctant Mrs. Douglas into posing for one.
“It was very nice to meet y’all, especially you Mrs. Douglas. I can see where Jordan gets her brains and beauty from.”
Jordan knew that the brains part was enough to earn him a grudging smile. Her mother was harder on Jordan when it came to school than she was on herself. With Deborah Douglas it was all school and work, work and school, when it came to her daughter.
“We should get going, Carter,” Jordan urged, hoping her family would take the hint. Not leaving anything to chance she grabbed his hand and led him back to the door. Even though he was twice her size he let her tug him away, enjoying himself a little too much.
Jordan pushed him out first, then leaned back inside, pulling the door closed just a crack. She stuck her head through and gave each of them a direct look.
“Don’t you dare wait up for us,” she warned them, hoping it was low enough that Carter didn’t catch it.
She could hear them laughing as she closed the door shut and turned to face her date with a relieved sigh.
“Nice performance in there, Carter,” she said, giving him an amused chuckle. “You certainly charmed everyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. This whole”— she waved a hand at him—”amicable meet the family thing. Is this part of the plan to repair your image?”
He frowned at her. “Hey now. I may be a lot of things, but rude I am not. Your family was considerate and nice enough to invite me into their home. I returned the hospitality. You should appreciate having a family that cares enough about you to go through all this, even if it does embarrass you. I wish I had half as much.”
That left her speechless.
“Now, shall we go Ms. Douglas?” he asked, giving her a questioning look and offering his arm.
She paused, giving him a long, searching look, then nodded and took his arm as he led her to the passenger side door. Maybe there was more to Carter Fox than met the eye.
9
The dinner had been lovely…for all of about one minute.
They were at Lupe Tortilla, one of her favorite restaurants. Carter had let her pick the place. He had picked her up at her house. He had met her parents. He had even opened the car door for her. He had brought flowers for heaven’s sake!
The trip downhill had started with the sudden silence as soon as they were seated in the middle of the restaurant. The stares. The smiles. The whispers. The intrusions.
Jordan had ordered a margarita. A large margarita.
“So Ben is a great kid,” Carter said. It was the right foot to start on. The one thing they actually had in common was the fact that they both liked Ben.
“Yeah, he had a really good time last weekend. Thanks for that,” she said, taking a sip of the margarita once it finally arrived.
“No problem. I can see why you went to so much trouble for him, getting that ball.”
He smirked, and she just averted her eyes, both of them remembering the incident.
She took another sip.
“Hey, great game today!”
It was a couple. The guy actually reached out to pat Carter Fox on the back. The woman just stared at him, cast a quick, curious glance to Jordan, then back to Carter Fox.
Jordan took another long sip.
“Thanks,” said Carter, obviously used to such intrusions.
They walked off.
The waiter came. A boisterous focus on Carter Fox. “Can I take your order?”
They paused to give their food orders and then Carter brought his full attention back to her.
“So you’re not a baseball fan?” Carter asked, giving her a grin.
“Sorry, it’s boring,” she confessed.
“I think once you understand the stats, it’s actually pretty interesting.”
“Hey, sorry to bother you, but would you mind if my son got a picture with you?”
A dad. A dad with a tow-headed, snaggletoothed son who couldn’t have been older than six. Carter looked in her direction questioningly.
How could she possibly refuse? She smiled, giving a shrug in acquiescence, then took another sip of her margarita as she was patently ignored.
She watched his large arm envelope the minuscule, preadolescent shoulders. A flash. A gleeful jumping up and down on the boy’s part. A shake of the hand between two men.
Jordan took another sip of margarita.
So this is what it was like to date Carter Fox.
“Where were we?” he asked, ever the gentleman.
But it was too late. The momentum had begun.
“Do you think we could get a shot with you as well?”
“Actually, folks—” Carter began, giving them an apologetic look.
“Of course you can,” Jordan interrupted. This time it was not one, but two kids. A once in a lifetime chance for them, and she wasn’t about to ruin it with her silly date. Baseball talk could wait. The smiles on their faces made it worthwhile.
Carter just gave her a half smile then went through the motions all over again, making sure to tousle the heads of the two boys afterward, making them laugh.
At the very least, it was one of the more interesting dates she’d been on.
They were rescued by their meal.
Carter was the one to eventually put a stop to it all.
“Hey, I’d love to, but I’m actually here with a date, and we’d really like to just enjoy our meal. Sorry folks.”
This time it was a double date that didn’t look too happy. Especially the two leggy brunettes who gave Jordan the what-has-she-got-that-we-don’t look. She didn’t feel so bad about this one.
By then, Jordan had finished her margarita. It was definitely time for another one.
“So we are now third in our regional division. There are three divisions, East, Central, and West. The Sluggers are West, in the National League.” They were finishing up their meal, mostly in peace.
Jordan nodded along, barely grasping his words.
He gave her a thoughtful look and smiled. “You aren’t absorbing any of this are you?”
She smiled into her second margarita. “Sorry, Ben’s the one you want here not me.”
“One of these days, you’ll appreciate it,” he said, taking a bite of his carne asada. “Sorry about tonight. I guess we haven’t really had a chance to actually talk.”
“I probably should have known better,” Jordan said shrugging with a smile. “All the same, it’s been…well, it’s been an experience. At least I have something to talk about when I go back to law school.”
He looked at her a moment longer, as though considering something. “Actually, I have an idea.”
Jordan’s eyes got wide with curiosity. Were they not done here? Had he not fulfilled his obligatory date duties?
“I barely got a chance to talk to you tonight,” he said in answer to the unspoken question. “If you think I’m letting you get away this fast, you’re sorely mistaken.”
It made her smile into the last of her margarita.
10
In retrospect, Carter should have warned her how the date would probably go.
In his defense, it had been a while since he had been on a bona fide date. And make no mistake, folks, this was a date, complet
e with meeting the parents. Carter smiled at the memory of it.
The flowers had been a sudden spark of inspiration. He liked the way tulips looked and thought it might just nudge him closer to Jordan’s good side. He had a feeling it had worked.
Despite his over the top performance, Carter really had enjoyed himself with Jordan’s family. It was refreshing to see all the sentiment he’d only ever seen in movies and TV actually come to life in front of him. Good natured teasing. Inside joking. Laughter. Love. Even the critical scrutiny of her mother had given him the warm fuzzies. Jordan had grown up with the sort of family Carter could only dream about. In the 20 minutes he had spent in their presence they had made him feel more at home than he had ever felt with any of his own family members.
He couldn’t remember the last “date” he’d actually been on. College? High school? Once he had hit the majors, girls—women—just seemed to be a little “fly by night.” Obviously, more than a few had tried to get him to wife them up, but he had always been far more interested in looking for the next best thing.
He’d meet them in bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, maybe take them back to his huge house in River Oaks, if that was where the night was going—and it usually was.
Right now would usually be about the time he should be thinking about what was around the corner—after hitting it and finding a way to finesse out of it. But all he could do was focus on those big, brown eyes and dimples that made an appearance every time someone dropped by the table to congratulate him or shake his hand, which had been all night.
And now he was reluctant to let her go.
Beat that.
The craziest part was that he wasn’t even thinking about sex. Well, that was a lie. Of course he was thinking about sex. But, there was something more here.
They were walking back to his truck. As he opened the door for her, she turned to him with a smile that advertised just how many margaritas she’d had.
A wee bit tipsy there, aren’t we sweetheart?
“Well, thank you for dinner Carter.”
“Like I said, we’re not done yet.”
She blinked rapidly in response. He duly noted her eyes flit down to his crotch and then back up to his face with a note of panic in them.
Home Run: A Texas Heat Romance Page 5