She practically ignited. His hands were magic, big and callused, moving with sure confidence up the curve of her rib cage. And then he was pushing her bra above her breasts and thumbing her nipples. The sensation made her jump and utter a little cry, which was swallowed by the mouth consuming hers. Her head spun, the Chevy whirled around her, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in swirling darkness. She felt something against her back . . . vinyl . . . she was on her back . . . and then Caleb’s hot thigh parted her legs, pressed against her sex. And oh God, it felt so good, all the nerves jumping and screaming for release.
“I’m going to make you come, Sadie. Right now.” He growled the words into her neck. His touch and the searing whisper sent shudders through her body. He lowered his head to her breasts and took a nipple into his mouth. Sharp pleasure pierced her.
“Oh God,” she mumbled, digging her hands into his thick hair. “Oh my God, oh my God . . .” For a brief moment of clarity she wondered at the way all her other words had deserted her. She, who was never at a loss for words. And then he closed his hand around her other breast, blanketing it in seductive warmth, and she was lost again. Sweet drugging pleasure filled her mind and liquefied her body.
“Come for me,” he whispered, snaking his hand between her legs. She still had her shorts on, but underneath she was burning for him, craving him. What she wanted, needed, was flesh against flesh, but at the first press of his hand against her still-covered sex, she exploded. The orgasm rocketed through her, spasm after spasm, sharp and brilliant. Burying her face in his sweat-sticky neck, she tried to hold back her cries. But she had no experience with an orgasm like this one, and it took her in its strong fist and shook her like a rag doll.
Then left her limp and wondering on the backseat of the Chevy.
“Holy hell, that was hot,” Caleb muttered, bracing himself above her on one hand. His eyes were twin blazes of blue.
She couldn’t find the breath to answer. When he stared at her like that, like she was the only thing that mattered in the world, she couldn’t think. She let her head fall to the side, so she was looking at the shabby interior instead of at him. The windows were actually steamed up and her cheeks felt like fire. This . . . this changed everything.
One thing she knew for sure, she’d never experienced anything like that with Ham. It had always taken her a long time to come, and when it happened, it was nothing to get too excited about. Was it Caleb? Did he just know how to do things better? They hadn’t even taken their clothes off. Maybe Ham just hadn’t known the right way to do it, despite all his boasting.
Perplexed, she looked back at Caleb. He was in the process of shifting himself off her, carefully removing his leg from between hers. A small patch of wetness darkened the front of his jeans.
“You . . .”
“Came in my pants,” he said dryly. “You noticed.”
She bit her lip to hide her quivering smile. So she wasn’t the only one who’d gotten swept away in that crazy hurricane. She sat up, realizing her bra was still somewhere under her chin, but before she could fix it, he brushed her hands away. “I’ll do that,” he muttered. Gently, he drew the bra cups over her breasts then lowered her shirt. His touch was so light, like a wisp of cotton drifting across her skin.
She gave a helpless sigh.
“I’m sorry,” he said when he was done. “I didn’t mean to get so carried away. Again. I just . . . you were so . . .” He ran one hand through his hair, leaving it even more disheveled. With his big body and powerful thighs, he took her breath away. “You do something crazy to me, Sadie.”
Heat flamed in her cheeks. If anyone had gotten carried away, it was her. “Maybe we can just forget all about this,” she said in a strangled voice.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Not fucking likely.”
Desperate, she tried again. “It doesn’t change anything. It’s still a bad idea.”
“You think so? Maybe I have a weakness for bad ideas.” One corner of his mouth drew up, creating a groove in his cheek that would make a grown woman cry. She steeled herself against it. No way was this sexually devastating, emotionally wounded ballplayer going to make her cry. He picked up her hand and turned it palm up, then pressed a kiss into the skin of her wrist, just above the heel. The exquisite sensation made her eyes drift to half mast.
Her mother’s voice made them snap wide open again.
“Sadie! Where are you, sugar?” It sounded like she was already halfway across the lawn.
Sadie swore and pulled down her shirt, then dove for the door handle. She yanked the door open so fast she nearly fell out. “Right here, Mom.”
Brenda, holding an aluminum baseball bat over her shoulder, came to a dead stop. “You’ve been out here too long.” She peered into the car at Caleb. “What are you still doing here, you?”
“Mom! This is completely unnecessary!”
Her mother ignored her and watched suspiciously while Caleb unwound himself from the other side of the car. He kept his hands in front of his crotch during the entire process; no easy feat. When he finally stood before Sadie’s mother, his hair looked as if a groundhog had made a nest in it. Keeping one hand in place over his jeans, he used the other to straighten the mess. He looked so comical—like an X-rated version of the “rub your stomach while patting yourself on the head” game—that she nearly laughed.
“Sorry to make you worry, Ms. Merritt,” Caleb said. “I mean no harm, I promise.”
Brenda Merritt looked from one to the other, then back. “What were you doing in the car?”
“Nothing. Just talking.” Sadie figured she’d better keep her mother’s attention on her, instead of Caleb’s awkward stance. “Put down the bat, please. Did you finish that Angelina Jolie shoe?”
Brenda rested the bat on the lawn like a cane. “Sure did. Then I took a nap. I woke up because your phone was ringing and I thought it might be Wendy Trent.”
Sadie rounded the Chevy, moving faster than she knew she could. “You have no right to answer my phone, Mom. It’s mine.”
“It wasn’t Her Royal Highness, you don’t need to worry.” Brenda handed over Sadie’s smartphone.
If she were as smart as her phone, Sadie thought, she wouldn’t have left it anywhere near her mother when she’d been drinking.
“It was a reporter. And don’t worry, I gave her a quote.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“You, sneaky girl, were in the paper today and didn’t even tell me. But that nice ESPN reporter did. We had a long chat. She said the story might be on Outside the Lines tomorrow, imagine that!”
Caleb finally spoke. “What story, Ms. Merritt?” The tightness in his voice made Sadie feel terrible. If her mother had overheard the part about Bingo and spilled it on the phone to a reporter, she’d never forgive herself.
“Can the Catfish, of course! What other story is there?” She gave a little yawn. “That petition to make the team move to a different town. Like I told the reporter, when those crazy Catfish players start going after my family, I turn into Mama Bear.” She turned to Caleb and lifted the bat off the ground.
“No bat. Put down the bat. And Mom, he didn’t ‘go after’ me. We were just . . . discussing some work-related issues.”
She shot a quick glance at Caleb, who didn’t look very amused. He still held his hands in front of him, like a superbly fit secret service agent in jeans.
Brenda threw up a hand. The baseball bat glinted in the sunlight. “You don’t need to lie. I finally saw that picture of you two in the paper. I know there’s something going on. Some things a mother just knows.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” Sadie said through gritted teeth.
“I know you let yourself get taken advantage of, just like me. It’s a Merritt family trait, at least on the female side. And I know what ballplayers are like. He probably walked right in here and corrupted you. Just like that petition says.”
Sadie pressed her fists into her
eyes. If anyone had corrupted her, it was Hamilton. “You should have told them to get lost, Mom. Never, ever talk to the media. Do you know how this will look to Mayor Trent? I could lose my job.”
“She only hired you out of a favor to me.” Sadie bit back a gasp. It hurt to hear it said out loud, though she’d always known her mother’s friendship with Wendy had something to do with her hiring. Why else would the mayor employ someone who’d been the town scandal?
“You keep messing up your life, Sadie. And it’s always because of a boy.” Brenda picked up the bat and aimed it at Caleb in a vaguely menacing way. But then her usual state of lethargy returned, and she headed back to the house.
Sadie wished she could crawl back into the Chevy, lock it, and curl up to die. A more mortifying scene she couldn’t imagine. “I’m sorry about that, Caleb. I hope that reporter doesn’t make any trouble for you.”
She should say more . . . explain her mother’s veiled threats and innuendos. But Caleb was already pulling out his phone.
“It’s not your fault,” he said grimly. “But I’d better call Duke. He ought to at least have a little warning that we might be hitting ESPN.”
“I’m really sorry,” she said miserably, trailing after him. “I’ll call my contacts at the newspaper and see if there’s anything they can do.”
“I wouldn’t care except—” He broke off, but he didn’t need to finish the sentence for her to know what he meant. It would be so easy for the truth about his background to come out. “I told my dad to stay out of the ballpark. This is my fault, Sadie. And I’ll deal with it. I don’t want you to worry. And hey . . .”
He pulled her to him for a fierce kiss that turned her bones to fire.
“This isn’t over by a long shot,” he whispered. Then he was gone, hurrying across the lawn, cell phone at his ear.
Sadie watched him go, feeling about as low as she’d ever felt. Her body still vibrated from the aftereffects of that incredible sexual experience. But her mind was busy with a thousand other things. ESPN . . . her mother . . . the mayor . . . Caleb’s revelations . . . and then something else surfaced.
“Caleb!” she called, but he was already too far away to hear. At the ballpark, before Caleb came over the railing, Bingo had been talking to someone, and she was pretty sure she’d heard the word “bet” come up several times. Now that she knew who he really was, that seemed a little suspicious. If he’d just gotten out of prison, he was probably on probation, right? She made a mental note to tell Caleb the next time she saw him, then pulled out her own phone to call Burwell Brown and see if she could do any damage control.
Chapter 11
MAYOR TRENT HAD a nervous habit. When she was under stress, she tapped out a pattern with the fingers of her right hand. The more stressed she was, the faster the tapping. At the moment she resembled a concert pianist as her perfectly polished nails danced along the edge of her desk.
“Let’s recap. The media knows about the Can the Catfish petition. Right now they’re treating it as a kind of joke.”
“Yes.” Sadie shuffled through the pile of blog posts and articles she’d printed out for this meeting. “Here’s an example: ‘While most cities are thrilled to land a Triple A franchise, Kilby Texas wants to toss their team, the Catfish, back in the water.’ And another one. ‘In case you thought Footloose was ancient history, get a load of this. One South Texas town says their local baseball team, the Kilby Catfish, has the morals of a tomcat. Are these players too corrupt for Kilby? Are they too depraved for decent society?’ And this. ‘Town Says Catfish are Blackened and Must Go.’ ”
Mayor Trent rubbed her temples. “I get the picture. I was hoping to keep this completely local, so Kilby wouldn’t become a laughingstock.”
“Who cares what anyone says? It’s just words.” Sadie had told herself exactly that, again and again, over the past year.
“Unfortunately, in politics words have more power than you realize. I don’t want my first term in office to be known as the time Kilby became a national joke. Dean Wade will have a field day with that. You heard he’s considering running against me, I assume?”
Sadie bit her lip. No, she hadn’t heard that. Dean was one of Hamilton’s uncles. Normally the Wades didn’t bother with politics, except to bribe politicians. Since Mayor Trent wasn’t bribable, maybe they’d changed their minds. “He’d never win. That would be a disaster.”
“Let’s not worry about that yet. Back to our situation. The story is out, and it’s gaining a certain amount of traction. Then, on Saturday, this happened.” The mayor picked up the newspaper photo of Sadie and Caleb and Bingo. “What is this all about?”
Sadie had agonized over the subject of Caleb Hart since his revelation about his father. Should she tell his secret to Mayor Trent? She trusted her boss, but did she trust her that much? Caleb had opened up to her by sharing the story of his father. How could she possibly betray him?
She couldn’t. “I don’t know. Apparently he thought he saw something in the stands.”
“I really wish they hadn’t identified you in the article.”
“I had nothing to do with that. Neither did Burwell Brown.”
“Yes, well, nothing to do about it now. The question is, where do we go from here?”
“That’s easy” Hearing a man’s deep voice from the office entrance, both women swung around in their seats. The tall, lanky figure of Crush Taylor lounged against the doorjamb. The dark stubble on his jaw and bloodshot eyes made him look disreputable and slightly dangerous.
Mayor Trent surged to her feet. Her dark blue suit, pearls and power-sprayed hair looked even more immaculate in contrast with his dishevelment. “How did you get in?”
Crush raised an eyebrow. “Janitor showed me the way.”
“Mayor Trent, this is Crush Taylor. The owner of the Catfish,” said Sadie quickly.
“I know who he is. I just don’t know what he’s doing here.” Pink burned high on her cheeks. Sadie had never seen her so energized.
“I’m here to discuss our mutual problem.” The way he said mutual made it sound as if it belonged in the bedroom. He strolled into the office and lowered himself in the supplicant’s chair. Unlike every previous occupant of the chair, he propped his long legs on the mayor’s desk, then crossed one extremely expensive steel-toed cowboy boot over the other.
The pink spots on the mayor’s cheeks turned fuchsia. “Get your boots off my desk or I’ll call security.”
“Go ahead. I keep a supply of signed baseball cards in my pocket for such occasions.” His eyes, a deep hazel-green, gleamed with a troublemaker’s glee. “Don’t get your panties in a wad. Why would you want to kick me out when I’m here to offer a helping hand?”
“What sort of helping hand could the Playboy Pitcher possibly offer?” Mayor Trent was still on her feet, as if refusing to sit down while he tainted her desk with his long-boned limbs.
“I’m prepared to offer a substantial cash donation and commit significant resources to the Sluggers for Slugs campaign. I’d hate to see those little guys go extinct. I still remember the first time I dropped one down a girl’s shirt. It was my neighbor Maisie, and she sure knew how to squirm and squeal. Of course, she turned around and squished it on my face. I should have known not to mess with Maisie.” He crossed his arms behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling, a nostalgic smile curving across his dissolute face.
“You’re revolting.” The mayor’s lips were pressed so tightly together they were white at the corners. Sadie didn’t see why she was so offended. Crush Taylor would hardly be the first to tease a girl with a slug down her shirt.
“Do you say that to all the guys who offer you a hundred thousand dollars? Or maybe that’s chump change for a lady like you.” He gave a quick, nearly invisible glance down Mayor Trent’s perfect figure.
Sadie let out a gasp. “A hundred thousand dollars?” The fact that he was clearly coming on to the mayor suddenly paled in comparison to the stunning amount.
>
“A hundred thousand dollars. I want to prove to the good citizens of Kilby that the Catfish care about the community. What’s more American than baseball and swimming holes? I’ve already got my PR department working on some great ideas. Your assistant, Ms. Sadie Merritt here, has done fine work already, and one of the Catfish stars, Caleb Hart, says he’s willing to be the spokesman.”
The mayor sat down abruptly. “That won’t do. He was just photographed attacking a fan.”
“He spotted a crime in progress. He’s practically a superhero. Or he will be by the time my PR people get finished.”
Sadie cleared her throat. “Caleb might not be here for long, right? Everyone’s saying he’ll probably get called up soon.”
“That’s the nature of the minor leagues, kid. They come and they go. But he’s the biggest star we have right now, and he’s good-looking to boot. If you want press attention, he’s your guy.”
While he wasn’t saying anything Sadie didn’t know, it still hurt hearing the raw truth out loud. Of course Caleb would be gone soon. She wanted him to go, because that would mean he’d achieved his dream.
“Can he behave himself?” Mayor Trent asked sharply.
“As much as any of us morally depraved baseball players can.”
“That’s a no, then.”
“Ow, that hurts, Mayor.” Crush put a hand over his heart. “Rawr. Are you sure you’re not a wildcat behind those pearls?”
The mayor’s nostrils flared, her color rose. Sadie said quickly, “I think Caleb would do a good job. He’s trustworthy.”
“Far as ballplayers go, he’s a straight arrow,” agreed Crush. “My other choice is Trevor Stark, and he just got out of rehab. But I’ll leave it up to you. The Catfish have a lot of fans in this city. I’d hate to see them get riled up against such a fine mayor.”
Again, that teasing double entendre. Crush Taylor clearly knew how to get under Mayor Trent’s marble-smooth skin.
“Fine,” she said, after exhaling a long breath. “You’ll have to speak with the Save Our Slugs leadership, but the mayor’s office will be happy to support this initiative.”
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