Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1)

by Micah K. Chaplin

  He frowned for a moment, trying to figure out why she would go to the Twin Cities. Then he remembered their last time there, and that smokin’ hot dress she’d been wearing.

  “The guy?” he asked.

  Kate nodded.

  “He must be pretty special,” Reid said. “Nothing takes you away from baseball.”

  She shrugged. “I make time for things that are important to me."

  "And he is? Already? You've only just started dating."

  "It's really none of your business. How many times do I have to say that?"

  Reid shook his head in disbelief. "This isn't like you."

  "I wish you'd quit pretending you know me so well.”

  “And I wish you'd quit pretending we have no history at all.”

  “Oh, I'm not pretending that at all,” Kate said. “But it's history. Ancient history, as far as I'm concerned. And I'd like to leave it there.”

  “You keep saying that, but the fact that you can't put it aside so we can be friends tells me it's not as ancient as you wish it was,” Reid said.

  He saw her stiffen and frown. But she didn't object to his comment. Instead, she did just as he should have expected – she shut down.

  “I have work to do and so do you,” she said. “Close the door behind you.”

  Reid stood there for a few moments just studying her. He didn't want to go back to work. He didn't want to leave her office like this. He wanted to talk to her more. He wanted to force her into a conversation about their past and whatever was keeping her at a distance from him. He wanted to know what he'd done so he could issue a proper apology instead of just a vague blanket one that didn't seem to be working.

  “I wish you'd tell me why you’re so angry with me so I could make it right,” he said.

  She kept her head down, focusing on her computer. Her face remained set in a frown, and he could see her chest rising and falling rapidly. Clearly, she was trying to contain her frustration or anger or whatever emotion it was that he seemed to evoke in her. And those weren't the feelings he wanted to evoke in her. Not even close.

  He sighed and turned to go. When he reached the door, he paused and looked back at her again, but as far as he could tell, she had yet to look up from her desk.

  “Kate, I know you probably don't believe it, but you're pretty important to me. For a lot of reasons. If you weren't, I wouldn't keep trying to be your friend again,” he said. “I'll get back to work now, like you asked, but this isn't over. I may not know you well anymore, but I guarantee you still know me, and you know how I am when I set my mind to something.”

  She didn’t look up at him once as he spoke, but he could tell his words rang through her. He saw it in the expression on her face. Kate was stubborn, but so was he. Before the season ended, he was going to get close to her again.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, Kate leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Reid had gotten under her skin again. He seemed to do that without much effort. Then again, he'd always had that power. It was foolish of her to think it'd ever go away, but that didn't stop her from hoping. And it didn't stop her from being blindsided every time it happened either.

  Like today.

  She'd been in a good mood when she arrived at her office, with her favorite coffee in hand and the latest Ben Rector album playing through her iPod speaker. She sat down at her desk, smiling as she reminisced about her time with Neal. As she clicked through e-mails and the transaction wire, she'd been humming and singing to herself. The time away had been good for her, she'd enjoyed her time with Neal, and now she was eager to get back to work. Peace and productivity were on her agenda for the day.

  And then Reid walked in and destroyed her calm demeanor. At first, his visit was fairly innocuous. When he expressed concern about her absence, she'd been touched. Even though she wanted to keep him at a distance, she had to admit it was nice to know he cared. But when he kept asking questions about her whereabouts, his visit took an unwelcome turn. Reid sounded irritated when he asked about “the guy.” Kate grew irritated as well, annoyed with his questioning.

  She hadn't intended to tell Reid – or anyone – about Neal. Not yet. There was nothing to share right now. They were still just getting to know each other. But she didn't clarify that when Reid asked if this new guy was important to her. She didn't know why that mattered to Reid, but admittedly she had enjoyed testing his reaction. It hadn't been a good one. If she didn't know better, she'd almost say he was jealous. His eyes narrowed, and she saw his fists clench. A reddish tone had been creeping up his neck, and she was certain it would have reached his face if the conversation had continued. But she'd cut it short, put out by his interrogation and even more by his constant presumption to know her and her behavior – even if he had nailed it.

  He was absolutely right in his assessment of her spontaneous trip. It wasn't like her. And it bugged her that he knew her that well. With the way he'd pushed her aside so many years ago, he didn't deserve to have that insight. He had dismissed her from his life – over the phone, no less – and never looked back. He didn't get to do this. He didn't get to go away and then come back like he knew all her secrets and all her quirks. Except he did. Even with the years that had gone by since she last saw him, Reid was still the person in the world who knew the most about her. Their time together had been disjointed and brief, but in that time, she'd shared a lot with him – things she hadn't shared with anyone else before or since. She supposed that was another reason she still resented him. Not only had he rejected her; he'd also taken with him parts of her she could never get back.

  She sighed and shook her head. She had spent far too much time thinking about Reid – in the past and the present. She needed to break that pattern, but she was certain it wouldn't happen anytime soon. Not with him on her payroll. And, as he'd mentioned on the way out, he was going to be persistent in his efforts to be her friend again.

  Friends.

  Hrmph.

  How could they go back to a place they'd never really been?

  Chapter Ten

  Reid took out his frustration in the batting cages. He had planned on running and lifting first, but after the conversation with Kate, he needed a different outlet. With every pitch from the machine, he aimed to drive the argument out of his mind. He wished he could drive Kate out too.

  He still didn’t have any clue as to why she was so angry with him. He’d gone over and over it in his mind, but he was still completely confused. More perplexing than her anger was the fact that he couldn’t let it go. Why couldn’t he just accept her animosity, do his job, and move on? There was just something about her that made her hard to forget. He’d been trying to do that for years and had never quite succeeded.

  No one had ever gotten under Reid’s skin like Kate, and she’d done it seemingly without trying. When he accepted her offer of math help all those years ago, he had no idea he’d get more out of it than just a better grade.

  As a teenager, Reid had resolved never to fall in love with anyone. He didn’t want anything to do with love because it only got in the way of goals and dreams. He learned that early, and it’d been reiterated often in his life.

  It had happened to his parents. They’d both had to put their career plans on hold when he came along. He remembered how hard they had worked and struggled during his childhood. Reid had decided long ago he wasn’t going to be like them. He was going to get out of his hometown and make something of himself.

  When he started playing baseball, everyone marveled at how good he was. In his earliest years, pitchers stopped pitching to him after the first two at bats. When he was in eighth grade, he was invited to play on the junior varsity squad. He was a varsity starter before the end of his freshman summer. The game came easily to him, and he decided that was it. This was his calling. Scouts started coming around, and Reid decided right then and there that baseball would be his life. He didn’t want or need anything else.

  Then he met Kat
ie Marks.

  He’d been surprised when she offered to help him with his pre-calc, but he accepted the offer because he knew she was smart and a good student. She was also safe. She was kind of plain looking, and she definitely wasn’t one of the so-called popular girls. There would be no complications of attraction nor would he have to worry about her gossiping about their study sessions. She would help him with his math and that would be it.

  As they spent more time together, his view of Katie changed drastically. Or rather, he realized that while he’d passed her in the halls dozens of times, he’d never truly seen her. During their evenings together, he witnessed her fierce independence, her quiet sense of humor, and her genuine nature. She never put on a show or tried to be something she wasn’t. She was blunt, honest, and real. He also started to notice how pretty she was. And how unaware she was of her beauty. She was the kind of girl who didn’t wear a lot of makeup. And she didn’t need to. Her skin had been kissed by the Arizona sun, but only slightly. Her lips were a light shade of pink and usually had the slight sheen of gloss, but she rarely wore lipstick. Her dark hair had a slight wave and fell to just below her collarbones. But her most striking feature was those eyes. The first time he’d looked up from his math homework and straight into those green orbs, his breath caught in his throat. She didn’t seem to notice as she went on explaining the problem he was working on, but it took him several moments to get his composure back. Sheepishly, he had to ask her to repeat her instructions. She was always patient with him during their study sessions, and she never made him feel stupid. Quite the opposite. When he studied with her, Reid actually felt smart, which was why he chose to continue studying with her even after his math skills and grades had improved. At least that was what he told himself, but it was a lie. Or, at the very least, it was only part of the reason he went over to the Marks house on almost a nightly basis.

  He really liked spending time with her. He liked the way she looked at him and talked to him. It was so different than the attention he received from the other girls. Their fawning was nice for a while, but it quickly got annoying. Katie never fawned over him, and she definitely never annoyed him. She was fun, and it was easy to be with her. And she smelled really good. Oh Lord, she smelled amazing. He became even more aware of that when he danced with her at prom. He still remembered her reaction to his invitation. She’d looked stunned only for a moment, but then recovered and casually accepted. And he’d never forget how she looked when he picked her up for the evening, how she’d felt in his arms all night long, or the soft sweet scent that had enveloped him when they danced.

  He had intended the night to be platonic and friendly, but somewhere in the course of the evening, something shifted inside him, and he decided not to fight it. Her hand felt too good in his, and the urge to kiss her built all evening until he finally found the right moment at the after-party. His friend’s voice had broken the kiss and a little of the haze Reid had been in all night. As he drove Katie home, he could tell she was confused by his sudden distance. He couldn’t explain it, and he figured he’d only hurt her more if he tried. So instead, he avoided the discussion that night and for the rest of the school year.

  He immediately went off to summer league baseball and college. Katie was out of sight, but she was never out of his mind for very long. When they reconnected that one summer, Reid did not expect to pick up where they’d left off on prom night, but that’s exactly what happened. He went to her house to watch a movie with her, but being that close to her brought back all those desires. Once again, he decided not to fight what he was feeling around her. He still didn’t know if that decision conscious or an unconscious, but he wanted to kiss her, so he did. He didn’t expect it to go further than that, but he couldn’t help himself, and she didn’t push him away. He didn’t want to be pushed away either. Undressing her and touching her had felt incredible. And so very right. When he slid into her for the first time, he felt like he belonged there. Inside her. With her.

  In that moment, Katie simultaneously represented a sense of security and a vulnerability he’d fought to avoid. He battled those two emotions even as he continued to spend more time with her. He knew they would both be going back to their separate schools soon, but he didn’t want to waste a single day that he could be with her. When he agreed to try a long-distance relationship, he was sincere, but after he went back to college, his fears won out, especially after Tony’s suicide. He couldn’t get so lost in a girl he lost everything else, so he let her go and returned to the only other place he felt he belonged, one where he had no fear – the baseball diamond.

  Here he was again, trying to use baseball to push Kate out of his mind. The only difference was that now she was part of his baseball life. She was his boss, so he couldn’t exactly ignore her. As he smacked another pitch from the machine against the back of the net, he realized ignoring Kate was the last thing he wanted. The years apart had done nothing to diminish his pull to her, but apparently they had the opposite effect for her. Whatever had happened to her in that time had caused her to put up some imposing walls and she didn’t seem eager to let them down.

  Admittedly, he was surprised when he had learned she was still single. Less admittedly, he was pleased about it. He figured Kate would be married by now or at least be on her way there. She was a great catch, and he didn’t know why some guy hadn’t scooped her up yet. Based on what he’d heard from people around the organization, she hadn’t had any recent serious relationships. When Reid asked why, no one really seemed to have an answer.

  “I’ve seen plenty of men ask her out,” said Jed Howser, the clubhouse manager. “And I’ve heard about some of the men who asked her out.”

  He was an older gentleman with gray-white hair. He was short and slightly overweight, but he clearly loved his job. The clubhouse was one of the cleanest Reid had seen, and the equipment for each game was always ready ahead of time. The younger players enjoyed hearing Jed’s tales about all the players he had worked with over the years, and Jed always told them, “Someday, I’ll be telling stories about you.” He said it with such sincerity that Reid knew he believed it, so the players did too. They believed they’d be memorable and special.

  “Miss Marks rarely goes out with anyone, and when she does, it’s usually a dinner or two and that’s it,” Jed explained to Reid. “I guess she works too much to get serious about anything except baseball. I suppose that’s why she’s so good at her job. No distractions.”

  Reid nodded in understanding. He understood too well. But he knew that’s where the similarities between he and Kate ended. They were both single and focused on their careers, but Kate was clearly better at her job than he had been at his. He’d been booed and fired when he failed to meet expectations. Kate, on the other hand, was admired and respected by everyone in the field. She was smart, savvy, and ambitious.

  She was also as beautiful as ever. Maybe even more beautiful. Her hair was just a little longer and richer in color. She wore more makeup, but it was still subtle and classic. Skirt suits seemed to be her favorite attire, and while they were completely professional, they also showcased the curve of her hips and her shapely legs.

  Reid knew he wasn’t the only guy on the payroll who noticed either. He saw the heads of players and coaches turn when Kate entered a room, crossed between two practice fields, or simply walked through the tunnels after a game. He’d also noticed a few men from opposing teams appreciating her, but she never seemed to notice any of the attention. Clearly, she was still unaware of her beauty. And she seemed to be dead set on denying anyone the privilege of seeing what was under her skirt suits and, more importantly, what was behind her professional front. She was content with the single life and pouring all of her energy and focus into the Pioneers. At least that’s what Reid had decided until her spontaneous trip to Minnesota. He wondered what kind of guy could change her mind.

  He arrived at the ballpark late one morning to work out before meeting with Will Batt, a young p
layer who had been called up from AAA a few days earlier. One of the starting outfielders was injured and the new guy was having some trouble catching up with major league pitching, which was ironic given his name. Reid knew that feeling and approached the kid to see if he wanted some cage time. Without a moment of hesitation, Will agreed.

  Reid was in total work mode when he heard Kate’s unmistakable laugh. He smiled at the sound and followed it, eager to see what had amused her so much. But as he turned the corner toward the indoor batting cages, his smile fell. Kate was leaning against the wall and a man was leaning into her. Their faces were just inches apart, and Kate didn’t seem to mind the intrusion. One of her hands was intertwined with his and they were talking softly. Kate laughed again and Reid felt something twist in his stomach. The twist tightened moments later when the man kissed Kate. Reid could do nothing but watch as the kiss deepened and Kate raised her free hand to caress the back of the man’s neck. The level of intimacy and familiarity between them told Reid this was not a first date or a casual thing, and that bothered him. A lot.

  He thought about backing away quietly and going to the field to run, but something stopped him from doing that. Instead, he continued down the hall, making plenty of noise as he headed for the batting cages. The pair looked up at the sound of his presence, apparently startled to learn they weren’t alone in the ballpark.

  “Reid,” Kate said. “What are you doing here?”

  Her voice sounded strange, but Reid couldn’t be sure if it was embarrassment or something else.

  “Good morning,” Reid replied, hoping his voice sounded cool and nonchalant. “I’m working. Usually you’re here for the same purpose, but I guess you have a different agenda today.”

  He thought he saw Kate blush a little.

  “I hope we’re not in your way,” the man spoke.

  Reid glanced at him, studying him now up close. The man holding Kate was just a few inches shorter than Reid and had broad shoulders. He looked mildly athletic, but in a more casual way than most of the men Kate saw every day.