It made his pulse kick up a notch in anticipation. “There’s a surefire way to end this little disagreement right now, because I say you’re lying. I say you are interested in a celebrity like me.” He cupped her chin with his hand and watched her thick lashes flutter as she broke eye contact. But she didn’t pull away. “In fact, I say you’re interested in me.”
JP knew he had her.
Her voice came soft and a little shaky. “How do I prove I’m not?” The way she was staring at his mouth contradicted her words. So did the way her body was leaning into him.
Lowering his head until he was a whisper away, he issued the challenge. “Kiss me.”
Her gaze flew to his, her eyes wide with shock. “You want me to do what?”
What he knew they both wanted.
“Kiss me. Prove to me you’re not interested and I’ll leave here. You can go back to your business and your son and never see my celebrity ass again.”
Contemplating for a minute, she bit her plump bottom lip and stared at him. It was too much temptation for him to ignore. He’d wanted to do this ever since he’d laid eyes on her.
But before he could flatten her against the wall and take her mouth in a searing kiss like he wanted to, she rose on tiptoes and placed a perfunctory one on his lips. “There.”
“That’s not a kiss, Sonny. Not a real one anyway.” Her lips had barely brushed his.
Her gaze was on his mouth again and she whispered, shifting a little closer. “Oh, well. I suppose I should try another one?”
JP murmured as her lips touched his, “Yes, you should.” She whimpered against him and he felt her hands flutter before they smoothed over his shoulders. Her body went soft and pliant as a marshmallow.
He let her keep up the seductive assault on his mouth until she sagged against him and her hands fisted in the back of his shirt. When she moaned and slid her tongue over his bottom lip he knew he had her right where he wanted her.
Pulling back, he took in her glazed, passion-drunk expression and tasted the victory. Damn straight she was interested.
“See you next week, sunshine.”
He’d actually only stopped by to bring back the cell phone she’d dropped while climbing into her minivan last night and he reached into his pocket for it. She’d peeled out of the parking lot in such a hurry he’d been left waving it in the air and hollering like a dumbass. He figured seeing her in her current state was payback enough. Satisfaction radiated through him at her thoroughly bemused expression.
Sonny obviously hadn’t been properly kissed in far too long.
Feeling smug, JP tossed her cell phone on a nearby hay bale and turned to leave. He was stopped by Sonny’s words.
“So that’s what you came for? To give me back my phone?” She seemed to be building up bluster and it made her voice sharp. “Then why did you want me to kiss you?”
JP took a good look at Sonny. He had four sisters and recognized a woman working herself into a lather when he saw it. And because he had four sisters, he also knew that there was something more going on than what appeared on the surface.
It took some of the smugness out of his step. Her eyes had gone round as saucers and dark as a summer thunderstorm. A frown pulled at his brows. “The two of us kissing isn’t the worst thing in the world, Sonny.”
“I didn’t ask for it.” She pushed at her hair and stared him down.
Her attitude got his back up. But he wanted her to let her guard down. And that meant that he needed her to trust him.
So even though he wanted nothing more than to push her down into the hay and kiss her everywhere, he reached out and tapped her cell phone instead. “Yeah, you dropped this in the parking lot last night.” Pushing it in her direction, he added, “Also, I forgot to mention at the restaurant that one of our batboys is out for the next few weeks. His family is heading to Taos last minute and I thought Charlie might be interested in filling in this week during the games against Milwaukee. He’s technically too young, but I already got the go-ahead on it since it’s only temporary.”
Some air seemed to go out of her and Sonny deflated. Her shoulders relaxed and she gave him a look full of chagrin. “Oh.” She wiped her palms against her thighs and smiled tentatively. “Charlie would love that, thanks.”
“Anytime.” Because he couldn’t resist, JP put his sunglasses on and grinned, quick and hot as lightning. “Thanks for the kiss, sweetness. It was damn sexy.”
Chapter Five
* * *
CHARLIE HAD BEEN beyond thrilled when she’d told him about playing batboy for the week. On the morning of the first game, he’d popped out of bed at sunrise and had his chores done in record time, a big silly grin on his face the whole time.
Sonny had been watching him for the past hour from her seat along the first base line and it hadn’t waned. In fact, as fans trickled into Coors Field and the teams warmed up, Charlie’s tireless smile seemed as fully charged as ever. JP had taken him under his wing when they’d first arrived and when Charlie had emerged from the locker room he was sporting an authentic Denver Rush jersey. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him so happy and it made her heart do little flops of joy.
And it gave her warm fuzzies for the guy who’d made it possible.
JP had an angle, no doubt about it. Even though Sonny hadn’t been on the market for ages, she could still recognize the signs. Especially when they weren’t subtle. And he was anything but. In fact, JP seemed to be a straight shooter. Most of the time she’d appreciate that kind of quality in a person, but not today.
Not after he’d kissed her senseless and left her feeling things she was better off not feeling.
Charlie caught her eye and waved, bobbling a few baseball bats. The Rush’s ace pitcher strode by and gave him a quick hand reorganizing and a reassuring pat on the back. Pride swelled inside Sonny for her boy. Just look at him out there, she thought. He was growing up so fast.
For now he was still her boy and she was so excited for him to have this experience with the pro team. It really was great of JP to facilitate this opportunity for Charlie. Whether or not he’d done it to soften her up didn’t matter. The result was that her son was having the time of his life and she had him to thank.
She would too. In a public place. Where he couldn’t kiss her again.
Sonny propped her feet on the seat in front of her and sighed. She was such a liar. JP kissing her was exactly what she wanted to happen again. In those moments he’d made her feel things she hadn’t experienced in years—maybe ever. Charlie’s dad sure had never kissed her like that. He’d never left her light-headed and floaty and intensely aroused.
With JP she’d felt all those things. And all her instincts told her to shut it down now. Kissing JP was like standing on a precipice. One wrong move and she could tumble a long, long way down. The last thing she needed was to fall for a sports star who lived a life in the public eye. Even if she could somehow get around that—which she couldn’t—dating a celebrity would only put her and Charlie in the spotlight too. God, what if they went after her son and decided to make him a poster child for something? He already dealt with enough scrutiny just from being the kid of a single parent. And yes, it did happen, even in this modern age of same sex marriage and legalized pot. School functions were the worst—all the parents and staff gave him vaguely pitying looks. Poor Charlie Miller. He doesn’t have a daddy.
They never said anything, but she felt it just the same. She knew he did too. And she hated it. Hated that he had to grow up with that kind of cloud over his head.
She knew all too well what it felt like.
Becoming involved with JP would only escalate that judgment to a national scale and have strangers prying into their personal business. And she couldn’t deal with that. She’d already spent most of her life feeling like the world was watching, waiting for her to fail. She didn’t want Charlie to feel that way too. That was Grace’s delightful legacy—giving Sonny a deep-rooted paranoia t
hat what she was doing wasn’t good enough. Dating JP and opening herself to public scrutiny would only provide a platform for complete strangers to say as much.
No frigging way. She and JP just couldn’t be.
Ever.
She knew that. Sonny’s rational brain preached caution. Told her to turn around now because it was nothing but a dead end packed full of trouble. And she heard it, really she did.
But then the memory of his hard-muscled body pressed up against her would flash in her mind and she forgot all about caution. All she could think of was how good it felt to be held by a man.
Even now, just the sight of JP in his baseball uniform warming up on the grass had her blood pressure up. Now that she knew what his body felt like under the clothes, she couldn’t help the butterflies that leapt in her belly when he began stretching, his highly toned body flexing deliciously with the movement.
What was she supposed to make of him? Reluctantly she admitted that it was flattering to have a man like JP interested in her. Beyond that, it was disconcerting and frightening. For starters, Sonny was thirty-one-year-old single mother. JP was a twenty-six-year-old hotshot baseball star. She knitted scarves and he dated supermodels.
Sonny blew out a frustrated breath and waved back at Charlie. Really she was just making a big deal out of nothing. All she was doing was wasting energy speculating and driving herself nuts in the process. It was one stupid kiss. There was no way that JP Trudeau could possibly be serious about her anyway. Real life didn’t work that way.
Sonny had learned at an early age that fairy-tale endings were only things a person read about in books.
As it always did when she thought such things, her optimism dropped and she frowned. Today was too good a day to let anything get her down. And it never did her any good to wallow.
With effort, Sonny shook off the vaguely sad feeling and forced a smile for the young couple who needed to get by. Muttering an apology, she lowered her feet to the floor. They scooted through and sat half a dozen seats down.
While she’d been lost in thought, Coors Field had filled with eager baseball fans. The sun had shifted position in the sky and the game was about to get under way. Glancing around for Charlie, she spotted him standing near JP by the dugout. The two were deep in conversation and she couldn’t help noticing how easy the shortstop seemed with her boy.
Men were one of those things in short supply in Charlie’s life. Most of the time Sonny was okay with it—she had to be. It was only times like this, when Charlie was so obviously eating up the male attention, that she had any misgivings about her decisions. But those misgivings were outweighed by the potential consequences of inviting someone into their life.
Whatever Charlie was missing now would just have to be because she wasn’t willing to risk the consequences. She wasn’t willing to risk screwing it up for him.
Heavy from the thoughts, Sonny inhaled and looked up at the sky. Beautiful blue and cloudless, it steadied her nerves and calmed her. It lifted the weight. Taking a moment to soak it in, palms against the sun-warmed denim of her jeans, Sonny let herself just feel thankful for what she had.
It smoothed the emotional waters and lowered the stress. Over the years she’d learned some effective ways to keep calm and in control. She’d had to, otherwise there was no way she’d have made it this far.
What she needed to do now was so simple: she just needed to utilize said coping skills. This thing with JP was nothing she couldn’t handle.
With one last look at the shortstop, Sonny settled in and prepared to watch the game.
JP ENTERED THE locker room, riding high on the win against the Brewers and feeling buzzy. He and the boys had played a helluva good game. Peter Kowalskin had pitched right up to the ninth inning, throwing heat until the end. The team’s catcher, Mark Cutter, caught a pop fly and executed a triple play. And he’d nabbed his share of doubles for the night.
Crossing over the thick rug depicting the Rush’s mascot, Goldpan Sam, and his pickax, JP headed toward his locker. He only had a few minutes before the media barged in. If luck was on his side, he’d be changed and out the door quick enough to find Sonny before she left with Charlie
“Hey, Trudeau.” Mark hailed him.
Scanning the room, he found Cutter undressing in front of his locker. “What’s up?”
The blond catcher eyed him as he unwrapped a bandage around his ankle. “Word is you got a woman thing going, bro.”
Drake walked by just then in nothing but a towel and slapped JP’s back, laughing. “It’s true. Our boy’s got a bad case of the hot and horny.”
JP raked a hand through his hair, leaving the soft brown tresses spiked and sweaty. He ignored Drake’s comment and replied to Mark, “I’m working on it, man.”
Mark tossed the bandage into the locker behind him and rolled his shoulders. “She’s got a kid, right?”
JP nodded.
“Are you up for that?”
Slicing a look at Mark, JP determined the question was one of genuine concern, not judgment. “He’s a good kid.”
Peter piped up from nearby. “Is the dad in the picture?” Apparently JP’s love life was an open topic of discussion in the locker room.
Thinking back to their conversation at the restaurant, he shook his head. “Don’t think so. Charlie said it’d always been just the two of them, so I get the feeling the dude punted when he was really young.”
Drake called from the shower, “A kid without a dad is a sad thing.”
JP frowned at the veteran first baseman. He sounded like a fortune cookie. “You got a problem with me seeing a single mom, hoss?”
Drake poked his head out from behind the shower wall, shampoo dripping down his neck. “Nah. Just stating facts, is all. We’re all different, brother. If this is your tale, then tell it.”
That’s right. It was his tale. “Who I date is my business.” JP looked at his teammates, irked at being poked about his personal life. “Anybody have something else to say about it?”
They all shook their heads.
For a bunch of raunchy baseball players they sure acted like a group of gossiping old busybodies. JP shook his head and headed to the showers as the doors opened and reporters filled the locker room. He made quick work of it and was dressed in no time. After answering a few questions, he grabbed his duffel and hit the corridor in search of Sonny.
He caught sight of Charlie and headed over. Sonny was standing next to the kid in jeans and a tight-fitting Rush T-shirt. JP had never seen his team’s logo look so good as it did splayed across her chest. The R and H pushed out real nice.
Charlie waved and JP wondered how he could finagle some time alone with Sonny. He figured that this was one of the issues with dating a woman with a kid—getting her alone. Some guys would be able to manage the inconvenience. Some guys couldn’t.
Sonny caught sight of him and seemed to stiffen some before giving him a smile. Something about the way she moved had him thinking that she was still pretty off from their kiss. And it fascinated him. She was turning out to be much more complex than he’d originally guessed. One moment she was ballsy as a bull with three gonads; the next she was blushing and unsure. It was like who Sonny thought she was and who she really was didn’t quite line up.
The discrepancy turned him on and had him curious as all hell. Who was the real Sonny? He was drawn by the challenge. But could he deal with some serious inconvenience on the way to finding out?
Sonny smiled as he drew close and said, “Congrats on the win. This puts you guys in good position heading into the All-Star break, doesn’t it?”
Glad that she seemed to have enjoyed the game, JP adjusted the duffle on his shoulder and nodded. He liked it a whole lot that she was into baseball. “Yeah it does. Especially if we sweep next week’s series against St. Louis.”
Her smile spread and her shoulders relaxed. “Thanks again for getting Charlie the gig. He had the best time, as you can see.”
The kid di
d look extra happy, now that she mentioned it. He was kind of hopping from one foot to the other with a huge grin, a bundle of youthful energy.
JP slid a look at Sonny out of the corner of his eye and smiled playfully. “Ten bucks says he’s passed out before you even hit the interstate.”
Her eyes warmed and she shook her head. “Nuh-uh. I’m not taking a losing bet.”
The way her eyes sparkled with humor lured him in and he found himself getting sucked into her. Ducking his head, JP leaned in close and whispered against her ear, “Coward.”
Though he felt her tense at his nearness, she didn’t shy away. Instead, Sonny gave a sexy little hum and murmured a reply. “Realist.”
Arousal pooled low in his belly. Her full lips were centimeters way, teasing him, calling him. He felt the energy charge between them—the awareness almost electric. The way her breath fanned across his collar bone set the skin on fire, every nerve alive and jittery.
Kissing her again had just become the most important mission he’d ever undertaken. Because he remembered the way her lips had felt against his—so ripe and luscious, like a juicy mango. And her tongue gliding hotly over his bottom lip had to be about the sexiest thing he’d experienced. It was the way she’d done it, with so much shy passion.
Sonny undone would be the stuff of fantasy.
JP grew instantly hard. Sonny was so close he could smell the clean scent of her skin and the underlying muskiness of sexual arousal. She wanted him.
Forgetting where he was, JP was about to kiss her when Peter walked on scene and said rather loudly, “Hey, Charlie. Why don’t you come with me for a second? We’ll find a ball and I’ll autograph it for ya.”
Tossing JP a knowing look, the pitcher hooked an arm around the kid’s shoulders, turning his attention away. They were out of sight in moments. That left him all alone with Sonny. Knowing that he owed Pete big-time, JP decided not to waste the opportunity.
On a low growl, JP captured Sonny’s lips in a hungry kiss. Pent-up arousal burst forth and he fisted his hands in her hair, holding her captive to his growing desire. Even when she moaned and gave into the kiss readily, he didn’t let up. All he’d wanted to do since the last time he’d kissed her was kiss her again. Now that he was doing it, lust slammed into him like a freight train.
Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel Page 5