by Alice Raine
After ten pitches, Caitlin switched off the machine and was about the leave the cage when Mel ushered her back inside. Taking on the role of tutor, she then proceeded to stand behind Caitlin and wrap her arms around her as she guided her on the exact body positioning needed for the perfect swing. My eyes narrowed slightly as I saw Caitlin tense a little, but she didn’t actively flinch away from the body contact, further enhancing my belief that it was purely men she feared close proximity to.
To say I was jealous of Mel’s close contact with Caitlin would be a huge understatement. I wanted it to be me holding her close and helping her learn new things, but more than that, I wanted it to be me causing her eyes to light and sparkle with happiness.
Seeing Allie in the small group supporting Caitlin, I decided to take my opportunity to move closer. She was dating my best friend, so it was only normal for me to go and speak to her. That’s what I used as my excuse, anyway.
‘Allie, hi. How are you?’
Allie turned to me with a broad smile, which quickly turned to a knowing grin. She seemed like a shrewd girl, and obviously recognised why I was speaking to her, but she still greeted me enthusiastically, which made me think that while I had significant work to do on persuading Caitlin of my good intentions, it seemed I had her friend convinced.
‘Jack, hi! I’m great, thank you, how are you?’
‘Very well, thank you. I’m enjoying being back at the cages, actually. I felt a bit rusty, but I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.’
‘You didn’t look rusty to us,’ Allie replied cheerfully, and I immediately wondered if her use of ‘us’ was just generic or if she had specifically meant herself and Caitlin? Had Caitlin watched me? Had she been impressed? The idea made my heart rate pick up slightly before I shoved my hands in my pockets, suddenly feeling really stupid. I felt like I was back at school trying to show off to the girl I fancied. It was pathetic how desperate I was to get closer to her.
‘Have you had a go yet?’ I asked, desperately trying to act and sound my age, and not like a hormonal teenager.
‘Yeah, I was rubbish,’ Allie grimaced, ‘I thought that because I was good at rounders I’d be just as good at this, but it turns out you can’t use a baseball bat one handed like I’d thought. Cait’s taking to it much better than me.’
Her words gave me the perfect excuse to look at Caitlin just in time to see her hit another almost perfect shot. She was rather good, and it really was stupid how proud that made me feel. I knew I had absolutely no right to feel that way about her – she wasn’t mine to feel proud of. She barely tolerated me most of the time, but I just couldn’t help it.
Caitlin handed the bat to another girl and began to take off her protective gear to leave the cage but my attention was drawn back to Allie as she spoke again. ‘Have you seen Cait much since she’s been working at the studio?’
Turning back, I tried to work out how much she knew. Obviously after my little outburst at the Getty Centre she knew I was interested in Caitlin, but had they talked about me? Did Caitlin express a curiosity about me too? Had she even told Allie about our ‘accidental’ meeting yesterday? Truthfully, it wasn’t accidental at all; I’d been dying to go to her set ever since she had started, and had finally caved on Thursday and made up a reason to go over there.
Seeing as I was committed to pursuing Caitlin, even if it just ended in friendship, I decided I had nothing to hide from her best friend. ‘A little. I think she’s still pretty wary of me, but my intentions are genuine, Allie, I promise you.’
Allie’s face softened, concern and affection for her friend obvious in her expression as she nodded. ‘I know. I can see that, Jack. I think Cait can too, but she’s scared.’
Scared of what? That was the question on the tip of my tongue, but I knew it wasn’t fair to ask Allie for personal information on her friend, so I held back and gave an accepting nod instead.
Licking her lips, Allie narrowed her eyes as if considering sharing something with me, and I found myself holding my breath in anticipation. As several seconds ticked by, my eyebrows rose in curiosity. I was desperate to know what she was going to say but determined not to push her.
‘She doesn’t date. I know she’s told you this, and I can’t promise she’ll ever change her mind on that, but …’ Allie looked uncomfortable, glancing across to where Caitlin was standing and back to me furtively. Waving her hands around as if she was struggling for the right words, I found myself almost on the verge of exploding from expectation. ‘I don’t know, but she’s definitely different when she talks about you, Jack.’
She was different when she spoke about me? I could only assume Allie meant that in a good way, and she could have no idea how much those few words meant to me. Maybe I would have a chance for more with Caitlin after all.
‘Don’t write her off yet, OK?’ Allie finished softly, hope clear in the soft tone of her voice.
Write her off? The very thought made my teeth clench. Never. ‘I won’t,’ I promised gruffly, just as Caitlin joined the group of girls and exchanged several congratulatory high fives on her stellar performance. Her eyes flashed towards where Allie and I were talking and I saw curiosity in her expression, accompanied by a mild flush to her cheeks before her eyes flicked between Allie and me one more time and then looked away.
I would pay millions to know the cause of that blush. Was it because she was embarrassed by all the attention she was getting, or because she’d seen me? I knew that was an egotistical thought, but every time I saw Caitlin I felt warm and my heart sped up, so it was possible that she had a similar response. God, I hoped that was the case.
Over the next twenty or so minutes the people standing with us wandered off to get some food or take their turn in the batting cages and I was finally left with just Caitlin. This was exactly where I wanted to be, so I didn’t complain one little bit. I was finally alone with her again, close enough to smell her light, sweet scent and watch her tentative response to me as she realised we were alone.
She might be feigning indifference, but I’d caught her watching me on several occasions tonight, her cheeks pink with a blush and her eyes wide with curiosity. Small steps and signs, but I soaked them up nonetheless.
Suddenly there was an almighty crash behind us which had me jumping on the spot as my head flew around to see a large stack of metal chairs from the drink stand toppling over and noisily scattering everywhere.
Jeez, that had been loud, but I was suddenly completely distracted from the source of the noise when I felt two soft, warm hands gripping my right arm in a hold tight enough to make me wince.
Caitlin was tucked in by my side, closer to me than she had ever been before, as her hands held on to my arm in a death grip. Her hazel eyes were wide like saucers as she stared past me to the scattered chairs. The loud noise had made my pulse spike, but the continued thumping of my heart was now down to one simple thing – Caitlin. The girl who fascinated me more than any other was touching me.
Staring down at our joined hands, I blinked several times in disbelief. This girl who hated physical contact with men was voluntarily holding on to me for dear life, and I could barely comprehend how good it felt. One of her hands was locked around mine, and the other wrapped around my wrist. I was so thrilled that she was turning to me for support that I barely knew what to say or do.
Giving her hand just a tiny squeeze of reassurance, I cleared my throat. ‘That was pretty loud, huh? It even made me jump,’ I murmured, immediately wincing at how lame that had sounded. Bloody hell, all she was doing was touching my arm and it had me completely messed up and unable to act normally.
Suddenly, Caitlin’s shocked eyes widened even further as she cast a stunned glance down at where she was clinging to me. A spluttered, choked noise escaped her throat as she seemed to realise what she was doing, and then she practically threw my arm down and jumped away from me as if I were the devil himself.
‘I … I …’ Caitlin seemed to be floundering now, com
pletely lost for words and just as surprised about her sudden use of physical contact as I was.
Quickly gathering my wits before this all got out of hand and freaked her out, I held up my hands in a calming gesture and nodded. ‘Hey, it’s OK,’ I murmured softly, but she blinked rapidly three times, frowned, and gave her hands a shake, looking decidedly like she wanted to wipe them on her jeans to clear away the feel of me. Charming, and not exactly the reaction I had been hoping for.
I tried not to be offended by her response, but it was difficult. She seemed to want to clear the evidence of my touch from her hands, whereas my arm was still tingling with awareness from her grip and craving more. Did she not feel that way too?
‘It’s normal to turn to other people for comfort, Caitlin, especially if something makes you jump like that,’ I added, hoping to reassure her, but instead of looking comforted, she rammed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and averted her eyes, her expression still troubled. She seemed to have reverted back to her old shuttered self, which was incredibly frustrating after the progress I thought we’d been making.
Caitlin turned her face toward me and I saw the familiar frown that was settled on her brows. ‘Not for me it isn’t,’ she muttered quietly. God, this woman even looked sexy when she was pissed off. But there was a slight catch in her voice that indicated a vulnerability below the surface that made my chest compress with emotion. A vulnerability that I desperately wanted to help her ease if only she would let me in.
Caitlin removed her hands from her pockets and rubbed them together in apparent agitation. Was she still trying to remove the feel of me from her skin? That was an idea I didn’t like at all. Suddenly, a more pleasing thought occurred to me. Perhaps she was reacting like this because she could still feel our connection. Her hands might be tingling just like my arm was. Nodding, I decided this was much more preferable than her wanting to rub her hands clean of me. She felt the electricity too, and it scared her.
‘Are you seriously telling me you never go to Allie to talk something through when you need some advice? You never get a hug from her to make you feel better?’ I saw the weakening of her expression and immediately knew that I was on to something. ‘It’s what friends do for each other,’ I pointed out casually.
‘But we’re not friends, Jack,’ she replied, almost as if on autopilot, her weak tone not supporting the words at all.
‘Yeah, we are. We chat at work, we see each other at social events, that’s what friends do.’
Caitlin finally lifted her gaze from the floor and met mine as if she were considering my words carefully. Biting her lower lip, she finally gave a small shrug. ‘OK. Fine. Friends.’ Giving a nervous scratch to the back of her neck she flushed, and finally allowed a small smile to escape again. ‘But don’t think that means I’m going to be grabbing on to you from now on. That was a one-time mistake.’
A smile stretched my lips at her playful and defiant reply, loving how she had so quickly recovered herself.
‘Noted.’ I didn’t want to push her too much, so I decided to give her some space, but as I turned to walk away I couldn’t resist one last little joke, so I wiggled my fingers at her with a cheeky smile. ‘But just so you know, these are here for you to grab on to anytime.’
I saw her stutter in shock and then open her mouth, no doubt about to fire a snarky reply back to me, so I grinned, waved, and made a hasty exit.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Allie
The studio social event moved to a funky, relaxed bar in Beverly Hills called the Bunker Hill Bar and Grill. The place was rammed to the rafters, mostly with faces I recognised from the batting cages, so it seemed we were pretty much dominating the small bar. Luckily, even with the busy night we’d still managed to get an almost continuous supply of beer to our table, and some amazing Buffalo wings and nachos to soak up some of the alcohol.
Mel and Lisa wandered toward the bar to get us another refill, so I took the opportunity of finally being alone with Cait again to dig for any gossip.
‘I saw you talking to Jack at the batting cages,’ I murmured softly, watching Cait’s reaction carefully. As expected, I immediately saw a guarded expression settle on her features, as it always did when the conversation turned towards men. Or in more recent weeks, Jack Felton in particular.
Her eyes flicked warily to mine, and then focused on the glass in her hand. ‘Yeah? I could say the same about you,’ she replied, the beer bravery obviously making her deliberately difficult.
‘I was, yes, were you jealous?’ I teased, giving her a nudge in the ribs to try and get her to lighten up.
‘No!’ The horrified look on her face indicated her lie, and I couldn’t help but persist with my mischievous banter.
‘Are you sure? You certainly looked jealous when you thought Mel and Lisa were checking him out at the batting cages.’ Cait gasped and her cheeks suddenly flushed a deep beetroot colour as she rapidly turned her eyes away from me and began to fiddle with a beer mat on the table.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she muttered, suddenly looking exceptionally interested in the grain of the wooden table. Fiddling fingers, pink cheeks, low voice, and a massive avoidance of eye contact – yep, Cait had certainly triggered my bullshit detector, so I grinned and nudged her again.
‘Yeah, you do. I got back from the toilet when Lisa was going on about one of the guys being the man of her dreams, and you got all tense because you thought she was talking about Jack.’
After a second, Cait’s eyes flicked briefly to mine before she slumped forwards on the table and buried her head in her hands with a long groan. ‘God. Was I that obvious?’ she asked in a muffled voice from underneath thick masses of hair.
‘A little, but only to me because I know you so well.’ Seeing as Cait was drunk and actually seemed to be openly admitting her feelings for Jack, I decided to press on. ‘He’s a nice guy, Cait.’
‘You’ve already said that before,’ she complained, still hiding her face.
‘I know, but you don’t seem to accept it. Gen-u-ine-ly nice.’ I broke it up this time into sounds so she might finally let it sink in.
Another groan came from her and she turned her head sideways and pushed the hair from her face. Her eyes were a little unfocused from the alcohol, but the pinched, tight line of her lips still showed her hesitation. ‘I know he is. He’s a complete gentleman and I like him, I really do. But I’m afraid to let anyone in again.’
Hallelujah! We had a breakthrough!
‘I get why you might be scared of jumping into a relationship, but how about friendship first? That’s not so confusing, is it? Can you give that a chance?’
Pushing up from the table, Cait brushed her long hair back over her shoulders and puffed out a breath through her nose. ‘We agreed tonight that we’re friends now,’ she confessed, her words thrilling me no end. ‘I guess I’ll just have to toughen up and see where it goes.’
Blinking slowly, Cait turned to me and raised her bottle. ‘Now, I think it’s time to get properly drunk to celebrate how rubbish you were at baseball.’
I wasn’t convinced it would take much more to get Cait ‘properly drunk’, but that was obviously her way of saying she’d had enough talk of Jack for one night, and I was happy to give in and leave the topic there.
Progress had been made, albeit small, but it was progress nonetheless. Besides, she had one thing right – I had been showing off like crazy at the batting cages and then turned out to be really terrible. Giving my bestie a wink and an agreeing nod we went to join Lisa and Mel at the bar where they had just snagged the attention of a barman.
Jack
Even though the bar was quite full, it wasn’t hard to find Caitlin and Allie, not because they were dressed flamboyantly or dancing crazily, but because I’d been watching them on and off ever since I’d arrived. Well, I’d been watching Caitlin, anyway. Both girls seemed quite tipsy, leaning on each other, sharing conspiratorial whispers, and laughing w
ith their friends. Caitlin looked completely relaxed and at ease, although on the two occasions that some guys had approached them she had tensed up and politely knocked them back.
Just as well, really. I’m not sure how I would have coped watching her flirt with someone else when I wanted her as badly as I did.
They seemed to have had a great night, as had I, although I’d deliberately kept my distance from Caitlin all evening. I’d thought that by giving her space after our ‘we’re now friends’ declaration, I’d prove to her that I wouldn’t try to push things too quickly. Hopefully, it had worked, because staying away from her when I knew she was just across the room had pretty much killed me.
It was getting late. Their friends had already left and I could tell from the way they had their arms linked and were both staggering a bit that perhaps they would be leaving soon too.
Which meant it was time for me to make my next move.
Sliding through the crowd, I reached their sides and nodded a greeting as I smiled at them both. ‘Evening. Seeing as I haven’t been drinking, I was wondering if I could offer you two lovely ladies a lift home?’
Allie was first to respond, grinning and nodding enthusiastically, but as my focus drifted to Caitlin, I found that her usually guarded expression seemed to be absent. Perhaps it was the alcohol loosening her defences, or maybe our new friendship status, but whatever the reason, she was definitely gazing at me with an openly curious expression that morphed into a tiny, shy smile which sent my pulse rocketing, and had my cock instantly twitching in my trousers.
Fuck. I was getting a stiffy just because she smiled at me? What the hell did this girl do to me? I was nearly forty, but she had me responding like a teenager barely out of puberty.
Shoving my hands in my pockets to disguise the semi I was now sporting, I smiled back and watched with pleasure as her cheeks flushed and she began to fidget with her jacket. That smile, though. It was gone in the blink of an eye, replaced by a slightly less telling expression, but that had been the sweetest, most sexy sight I had ever seen in my entire life.