She tosses her ponytail of thick, ebony curls over her shoulder with a smirk. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that when Terry ships his ass to another team and he gets bored waiting around for you."
I take a step toward her. "That's not going to happen."
She tilts her head to the side. "Never say never."
I can feel myself start to shake, and I know I need to take a step back or I'm going to hit her. "I have to get back to the city," I state crisply, walking backwards, not letting her out of my sight.
"Yeah, you do that," Roberta responds, not bothering to keep her sarcasm in check.
Great. Now, I'm leaving Grandpa all alone with Scott's worst enemy. I need to backtrack a little, get her to tone down the scorned-woman rhetoric.
"I didn't mean for things to go down like this, Roberta," I reply, softening my voice. "You have to believe me."
"I don't have to do anything," Roberta retorts. "I work for Mr. Heimlich. I don't have to answer to you. I got my job the honest way. I earned it because I'm qualified. I'm good at what I do. I wish I could say the same thing about you."
"Roberta, hey. Wait a minute," I protest as she strides in front of me, backing me up against the door. "That's not fair."
She twists the knob, and I lose my balance, stumbling onto the porch. She stands in the doorway, leering at me, "Oh, and when you're getting all cozy with Scott later, tell him he can kiss my ass."
She slams the door in my face, and I'm left standing there with a broken heel and a huge problem on my hands.
Chapter Twenty-One
Scott
"Sunny San Diego. God, how I've missed this." I throw back my head and let the ocean breeze wash over me on this glorious day in the first week in May.
"When's the last time you were home?" Carrie asks, strolling beside me along the beach.
"I was here for a few days over Christmas." I lower the bill of my cap, trying to stay incognito as a couple jogs by us.
"That's all?" Carrie sounds surprised.
She has no idea why I've stayed away. That's funny. I thought she would've read something about my brother when she was doing her research on me, but then again, any info about my family probably got lost among the thousands of links to my naked photos. I guess we've both been keeping secrets from each other.
"Yeah…" I stall, scratching the back of my neck, not wanting to flat-out lie to her but not wanting to get into it when the wind is tantalizing me, whipping her skirt over her legs. "I…uh…wanted to stick to my workout regimen and get back down to the Florida complex as soon as I could. No slacking off for me."
"I never knew you were such a workaholic," she teases me. "But to me, you'll always be a California boy." She twirls around in a circle, extending her arms and laughing. "This laid-back vibe is all you. I really like getting to see you in your natural environment."
"Why's that?"
She looks so beautiful, so relaxed and carefree, making me wish we were alone so I could have her all to myself.
She spins around, ankle-deep in the surf. "Because we've only been walking the beach for five minutes and you can't stop smiling."
When she turns to gaze at the incoming waves, I move to stand behind her.
"It's home to me, ya know?" I wade closer to her, letting my hands rest on her shoulders. "It feels exactly the same, like I never left. Surfers in the water, skateboarders waiting in front of the burger shack, sand lining the street."
She lets her head fall back on my chest. "Was it tough for you adjusting to New York?"
"In the beginning, yeah." I wrap my arms around her to keep her steady as a large wave crashes around our knees. "But like anything else, you get used to it."
She snuggles up against me, nestling her chin in the crook of my neck, her hair tickling my jaw. "What? You didn't dream of playing for the hometown team?"
"I grew up a San Diego fan, but it's not really a baseball town. The mountains, the ocean, the desert—they're all close by. There's a lot of stuff you can do, and people around here typically don't wanna sit around and watch a baseball game for three hours."
"My childhood was somewhat different," she sighs against my ribs. "All I knew was baseball growing up. It's what my whole life revolved around."
"Considering who your family is, I can see why." I dig my toes into the sand, widening my stance. I circle my thumbs against her waist, fighting the temptation to take her into deeper water and have some fun beneath the surface. Instead, I grip her tighter when her skirt flutters between my legs. "Did you—" I clear my throat. "Did you…ever play softball?"
"No." She shakes her head. "But I think that was my way of rebelling. I didn't want to have anything to do with it."
"Yet here you are." I lift her up and over the next wave, liking how buoyant she feels in the water.
"Well, I always had a love of the game." She reaches back and holds on to my wrists, her hair blowing across my face. "I can't deny that. Baseball's in my blood."
I take in a jagged breath. "Is that why you came back to it?"
"Yeah." She nods, bobbing against me. "And to show my family that I could nab this job without their help. I needed to prove to myself that I could get hired without having to depend on their influence."
I lower my face into her hair, getting lost in it. "But we could sure use some of that influence now."
"Scott, there's no need to worry. If something was up, I would've heard about it by now." She shifts sideways, trying to look at me, but I keep her locked in my arms. Her ear is on my chest, and she can no doubt hear how loud my heart is pounding. She whispers, nuzzling against my shirt, "Nothing's going to happen."
"Don't be so sure of that," I murmur. "They could be getting rid of me tomorrow and we'd be none the wiser."
"Yeah, Grandpa wasn't pleased about us…" She kicks her foot at a piece of seaweed floating by. "But I didn't exactly handle myself well either." Her shoulders slump. "I freaked out and just kept babbling on. He's so difficult to talk to sometimes. I always feel like I'm having a one-sided conversation since it's so hard for him to respond. I let my mouth run away with me when I just should've shut up."
"So he knows we're sleeping together… So what?" I shrug, trying to cheer her up, even though I know I'm a dead man. "At least you didn't tell your father about all of the wild and crazy sex we had down in Panama," I chuckle, hoping to ease her anxiety.
She strokes my arm, her voice all deep and sexy when she says, "Scott, I want you to come back with me to my hotel room tonight."
I groan. "Care Bear, I know what you're saying, but I can't."
She whirls around, freeing herself from my arms. "Why not?"
I stare down into those gorgeous, hazel eyes of hers, hating to disappoint her. "Because when I'm in town, I always stay at my parents' place," I explain to her as gently as possible. "I don't get to see that much of them anymore. I can't bail on them now when they're already expecting me."
"Invite me to spend the night, then," she demands enticingly, jutting out her lower lip.
"Even I have my limits," I chuckle when a wave tosses her against me.
"Oh c'mon, Scott. I'll be quiet. I promise."
"What about waiting till my hitting streak ends?" I tease her, my hands once again spanning her waist.
"Screw your hitting streak. I wanna screw you tonight." She jumps with the rush of the next wave, sliding her legs around my hips, making me take a step back.
"We'll figure something out, okay?" I whisper against her ear.
"I can't believe you're turning me down," she moans, kissing my neck.
"Something's happening behind the scenes. I can sense it. Let's just wait and see how it all plays out." I hug her to me, running my hand through her hair.
"I'm not going to let them get rid of you, Scott." She takes my face in her hands, peering deeply into my eyes.
She tilts her head and captures my lips, kissing me with abandon. I groan against her mouth, tugging on her bottom lip and sli
ding my tongue in. She tastes like the raspberry snow cone we shared earlier. I rake my tongue over her teeth, deepening the kiss. She sighs, her breath hot against my mouth, before tangling her fingers through my hair, knocking my cap off. I laugh, lowering her slowly to her feet and reaching for it before the waves carry it away.
"Hey, I'm gonna need that if we plan on sneaking out of here without attracting attention." I smile down at her, shoving my soaking-wet cap onto my head. "It's almost noon. We should start heading back since my folks invited us over for lunch."
"And you're just telling me this now?" she shrieks, patting her skirt down and hopping through the waves with me. "Scott, I look a wreck. I'm all sweaty and windblown and—"
I bend down and kiss her lips again, silencing her fears. "You're perfect. They're gonna love you, just like I—" I pause, catching myself in time. Shit. I don't say that word to girls. Carrie's different—special, even—but love isn't a part of my vocabulary.
"You…" she prompts, looking up at me, her eyes shining.
"Uhh…wow. Look at the time!" I pretend to glance at my watch. "We'd better get a move on." I grab her hand, but she pulls me back, bending down to pick up her high heels from where she left them on the beach and handing me my Nike flip-flops.
"Wait. At least let me rinse the sand off my feet," she grumbles, giving me an enticing view of her cleavage.
"Now that's something I can help you with."
Before she can say another word, I lift her into my arms and march toward the first available spigot near the boardwalk. My thighs feel the burn as I trudge through the hot sand, but she's worth it. It never hurts to get in a little extra cardio when I have a girl like her clinging to my biceps. When we arrive, I lower her down the front of my body, letting her feel every last inch of me, and I hear her breath hitch in response. I give her a naughty smile, bending down and taking her ankle in my hand.
She blushes, digging her nails into my shoulder. "Scott, you don't have to—"
"I insist. Let me take care of you." I turn the water on and run her foot underneath it.
"Oh no! You're getting all wet!" she calls out when the front of my shirt gets a few drops on it.
I stand up and quickly whip off my shirt. "Then why don't you hold on to it for me?"
Her cheeks turn scarlet, so I give her a saucy grin before hastily yanking down my zipper.
"Oh yeah, and my shorts, too," I say, letting them fall around my ankles.
So what if I'm famous and there's nothing but a rickety, wooden screen blocking us from view? For me, clothes have always been optional. And there's no one I'd strip down to my underwear for quicker than Carrie McKenzie.
"You did not just do that." She buries her face in my shirt.
"It's a beach, Care Bear. It's what people do—take their clothes off, get naked." I scoot the band of my boxers down, pretending like I'm about to take them off too.
"Scott, don't you dare!" She grips my arm.
"Anything for you, baby." I grin at her, deepening my voice.
"The guys weren't kidding when they said you were a nudist." She steps in front of me like she's trying to hide me from the people walking by even though we're safe on the other side of the screen.
"My junk is covered." I rock my hips against her once, twice, and she rolls back her head with a groan. "Or would you rather it not be? It's up to you."
"Scott…" She sighs when I slide my hands over her ass and down the back of her thighs.
I take my time skimming my hands over her body until I reach her feet. "Now, let's get down to business." I guide her right foot under the spray, her hand coming to rest on my back. "Is the water pressure too much for you?"
"No, it's…it's fine," she answers breathily.
"I wanna make sure I get in between every single toe," I murmur, dipping my finger in and out of each one, wishing I could aim the water between her legs like I did when we showered together back in Panama.
"Scott!" she cries out, grabbing at me.
"Why are you pulling my hair, darlin'?" I tease her. "Are you remembering the last time I had your toes in my mouth?"
"Yes…"
"Like this?" I suck on her baby toe.
"Ohhh…"
"And like this?" I move on down the line.
She closes her eyes. "Uh huh."
"But I think you especially remember feeling this." I raise my head and press my lips to her mound through the outside of her skirt.
"Scott, we can't. Not here." She pulls my hair again, yanking my head away.
"I am so close to taking you behind that pier, bending you over, and shoving myself deep inside you," I growl.
She groans when I kiss the back of her wrist.
"But since you don't share my exhibitionist tendencies, we'd better go." I loosen her fingers, and she lets go of my hair, allowing me to stand up. "My family's waiting," I whisper against her forehead.
"Come to my room tonight, Scott. Please," she moans, copping a feel of my ass.
"Are you begging me, Care Bear?" When I feel her grope me, I jerk and smile into her hair.
"Scott, c'mon. You want me just as much as I want you." Her hands boldly move between my legs, and she sighs loudly.
"God, it turns me on, hearing you moan like that."
I shut my eyes, enjoying having her hands on me, getting off on it even more because someone could walk behind the screen at any minute. I love the danger of it all. "Let me see what I can do, 'cause I'm all about carving out some alone time for us while we're here."
"Good, because I didn't pack my bikini, so if you want to get me naked, it's going to have to be behind closed doors and nowhere else."
"Damn. I loved that bikini too."
"Well, it didn't like staying on," she grumbles.
I smile, remembering how she nearly popped out of it when she stood up in that hot tub. "I'll be glad to take its place and cover you with my body, but it's gonna be hard to decide where my lips would rather be—between your breasts or between your legs." I tease her as I lovingly fondle her there.
But she's a lot closer than I anticipated. "Ahhh…" she cries, her head falling back as her muscles quiver.
Holy shit. She's coming hard and fast on my fingertips. With just a few more flicks of my fingers, she exhales with a loud moan, sagging against me like a rag doll.
"Now that was…unexpected." I kiss the tip of her nose, supporting her against my body when her legs give out.
"Only you could make me come in broad daylight with strangers milling around," she groans, hiding her face against my chest.
"Don't worry. No one saw you, or heard you, but me," I whisper huskily near her ear.
"You are taking me to places I've never been before, Scott Harper." She glances up at me, a satisfied grin spreading across her face. "And I think I like it."
***
"Well, look who it is. The notoriously naked baseball player."
My brother, Bobby, appears at the door of our childhood home, and my heart lurches when I see him sitting there in his wheelchair, a sight I don't think I'll ever get used to. Carrie reaches for my arm, thrown off guard at seeing the amputated stumps where his legs used to be, and I realize I should have warned her ahead of time about what happened to my brother.
"Yep. The one and only." I throw my arms out, hiding Carrie from view, giving her a moment to recover.
"Glad to see you have some clothes on, at least," Bobby says, continuing to heckle me. His lips turn into a sneer when he sees how wrinkled and disheveled I am because he has a good idea why.
"I always rise to the occasion." I give him a wink, letting him know that he guessed right. Yeah, I fooled around with Carrie on the beach, and I'm damn proud of it.
He rolls his eyes at me. "Are you gonna introduce me to Carrie, or are we gonna have to keep awkwardly staring at each other all day?"
"Carrie, this is my dipshit little brother, Bobby," I say, moving aside so they can shake hands.
"Bob, if
you don't mind. I'm not ten years old anymore, jackass," he snipes at me before giving Carrie a tentative smile.
"Nice to meet you, Bob," she greets him warmly, her hair falling forward over her shoulder.
He must get a whiff of her mango-scented shampoo, because he blinks his eyes and leans closer to her. "You can hug me. I promise I won't break."
She laughs, sliding her arms around him, and he shoots me a look of pure bliss, running his hands up and down her back.
I mock glower at him until he lets go. "Bobby was serving in Afghanistan when his Humvee hit a land mine."
He shrugs. "Yeah. I lost both my legs, but who's counting."
"Oh, how awful," Carrie says, placing her hands over her mouth.
"At least nothing messed with the perfection of this face," Bobby teases, giving her a killer grin—the one that used to nab him any girl he wanted.
"Don't let his grim humor bother you. It's his way of coping with things." I take Carrie's hand, slapping my brother on the arm and guiding her inside.
"Did you know that I was a better baseball player than my brother when we were in high school?" Bobby asks, shutting the door and wheeling himself up next to Carrie. "If I had gone that route, I probably would've been in the majors a whole lot sooner than it took my lazy-ass brother to get there."
"Bobby's more of a man than I'll ever be. No argument there." I pull Carrie onto the living room couch next to me, tossing an arm around her shoulders. "He went off to war and I joined the Kings. Doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?"
"I don't know about that, Scotty. You're just immersed in a different style of combat, waging your own kind of war." Bobby parks himself in front of us.
"But it didn't cost me my limbs," I argue with him.
"Yeah, just your heart," he replies.
Carrie shoots me a questioning look.
"Bobby!" my mom calls out, rushing into the room. "Why didn't you tell us that your brother was here?"
I stand up and she gives me a great, big hug.
"How are you doing, baby?" she asks.
"Hey, Mom. God, it's so good to see you." I hug her back tight before gesturing behind me. "This is my girl, Carrie."
Perfect Game Page 18