Star-Crossed in the Outfield (All About the Diamond #4)

by Naomi Springthorp

  Star-Crossed in the Outfield

  An All About the Diamond Romance

  Naomi Springthorp

  Star-Crossed in the Outfield

  An All About the Diamond Romance (Book 4)

  Copyright © 2019 by Naomi Springthorp

  Published by Naomi Springthorp

  All rights reserved.

  Digital Edition eBook ISBN 978-1-949243-07-9

  Star-Crossed in the Outfield is a work of fiction and does not in any way advocate irresponsible behavior. This book contains content that is not suitable for readers 17 and under. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  Any resemblance to actual things, events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, places, brands, products, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark status and ownership of any location names or products mentioned in this book. The author received no compensation for any mention of said trademark. All references to the MLB are fictitious and there is no endorsement by the MLB.

  Cover Photographer: Tonya Clark

  Cover Model: Matthew Carothers

  Graphic Designer: Irene Johnson johnsoni@mac.com

  Editor: Katrina Fair

  Created with Vellum

  For the Naughties. Chase is here.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Playlist

  The Closer

  Finally in Focus

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Naomi Springthorp

  Prologue

  Chase

  I spend the off-season looking forward to spring training, then I get there. I’m happy to be there, but talk about a grind! Every year it’s back to the basics. Practice catching. Practice throwing. Practice hitting. Dive, slide, bunt, steal. Drill after drill. Long days with early morning workouts and afternoon games in the warm Arizona sun. It’s always the same. All the younger dudes play with us until they get assigned to a lower camp and some of them are pretty cool. I was one of them and I’m still one of the youngest players on the big league team. I enjoy getting lost in that crowd during spring training and having fun. This season I’ve taken it to a new level because my best bud, Rick Seno, got married in the off season and all he wants to do is campout in his new wife’s ass—figuratively, not literally, I think. The last couple of years he’s watched out for me and even took the heat for me once to keep me in the lineup when I needed to be there or risked losing my spot on the roster. He invited me to stay with him and Sherry, and I took the room on the opposite side of the house from them because I don’t want to miss out on Sherry’s baking. Plus, I know he’ll keep me out of trouble. Just because I have a room doesn’t mean I have to use it. Our place has become pool party central for the team. The couple disappears into their side of the house at some point every night. Nobody even notices until they’re gone. The problem with this is that I get out of control. Sadly, I need someone to babysit me sometimes. I’ve done some stupid things. It’s not an excuse, but I’m only 23, male and single. The facts are that I’m a professional baseball player, have more money than anybody my age should be allowed, and women find me adorable. Shit happens.

  Chapter One

  Chase

  Shit happens. I know I’m in the right place when I freak and immediately have Rick and Sherry both standing in front of me, focused on me sitting on my bed and their jaws both drop. Their view of the situation is worse than mine. I’m sitting front and center on the edge of my bed with my feet flat on the floor, buck fucking nude with a sheet wrapped around my good bits, my head bowed and being held up by my hands. I’m hungover and it’s the mother of all hangovers. I have red splotches all over my chest, abs, thighs, and that’s just the places I can see. There are three different women’s bikinis on my floor and the tail from the team mascot seal costume. They stare directly at each other and laugh, full on belly laughs. They’re laughing at me, not with me. Sherry stops laughing to make it worse, “Have you looked in the mirror yet, sweetheart? Looks like something bit you.”

  Seno shakes his head, “How the fuck did you get the tail of the mascot costume?”

  A question I’d really like answered. I shrug my shoulders, not having a clue.

  “Just relax and I’ll get you some breakfast, maybe I can piece together what happened here.” Sherry will always take care of me.

  Seno shuts the door behind her and starts in on me, “Do you remember anything from last night? Do you know who you had in your room or how many? Do you know if you had sex? I thought you weren’t doing this shit anymore! Who was hanging out at the pool last night?”

  “Dude, just stop!” Still holding my head because it feels like that’s the only thing keeping it attached to my body. “I don’t remember having anybody in my room. I feel like I had sex. Mason, Stray, Clay, Bravo, and a couple of the minor leaguers were here late last night. Martin left earlier, not much after you went off to be married.” I should know if I had sex or not and probably who I had sex with. “Pretty obvious there was someone in my room.” I survey my room and hope I didn’t manage to get bit everywhere while I was at the pool, though that would be kind of cool to get attacked by a bunch of women while I was swimming. I can see it now, skinny-dipping with women biting and sucking at me under the water, maybe even giving me head. My own personal kinky shark attack. Saving that one for later, filing it in my personal film collection.

  “Sherry already thinks ball players are players. I don’t want her having any extra stress or getting worried about me doing this type of shit. She needs to stay happy and relaxed. She’s already dealing with enough and we want her to have a healthy pregnancy, so she can travel with me as long as possible. We’re going to get this figured out. I got your back, but you need to work with me here.”

  “You’re having a kid?”

  “God damn it!” Rick shook his head. “Sherry!” He calls her and she appears a minute later with breakfast and coffee for me that smells delicious.

  I don’t know how she makes everything better with food. Waffles with bacon? It’s like baked goods, but breakfast.

  Rick gazes at Sherry and speaks sweetly, “Baby, I know you’ve been wanting to tell somebody. Why don’t you tell Cross?”

  Seno smiles when her face lights up. “I’m pregnant!” Sherry declares happier than I’ve ever seen her and everything starts to make sense. She turns to Rick, “And you need to be nice to Chase. He’s just a kid and I know you’d never do those things. But, you might have to remind me of that when I’m eight months pregnant, look like a house, and can’t travel with you.”

  “There’s nothing sexier than you pregnant, my queen.” Seno kisses Sherr
y and I can see where this is going.

  “Congratulations. I can’t wait to meet baby Seno. Now, take that, whatever you have going on out of my room.” They leave me with my waffles and no answers about the night before.

  I decide to text the dudes I was partying with and ask if they know anything, but I can’t find my phone. I go for a swim to clear my head and look around at the pool for anything that might jog my memory. I find my cell phone in the planter, dead. I’m sure there were empty containers left out, but I don’t find any. I’m guessing Sherry already picked up. I plug my phone in to charge while I shower and get another cup of coffee. I find Seno at the coffee pot.

  “Bravo says the minor league guys were fucking with you and planted the bikinis in your room, but he doesn’t know anything about the seal tail. Clay says he’s hungover, but swears you were humping the seal. I thought the seal was a guy.” Seno turns to me questioning, but gets distracted by Sherry walking through the kitchen singing a mushy song by that Ed Sheeran dude. It’s got this line about fingers and thumbs that’s kind of sexy, but I don’t know what it’s called.

  I get in Seno’s face trying to get his attention back, “Dude! I need help here and you’re doing your woman in your head.”

  “I was not.” He grins and continues, “We need to get the tail from the seal costume back to the stadium somehow without causing a problem.”

  Sherry chimes in, “When do you want it at the stadium?”

  “Earlier is better. Less people are there.” Rick smiles and doesn’t ask questions.

  “I’ll handle that right now. I’ll drop it off and let them know I was helping clean it. I’ll see if I can find out who’s been wearing it. I’ve been making friends with the volunteers at the training complex. I need to go to the grocery store anyway. Barbecue this weekend, for you and the seal humper. I’ll get enough for the team to come over. Last weekend of spring training there should be a party.” Sherry smiles as she grabs the seal tail and leaves.

  “I need a woman like that. Keep me wanting her and out of trouble. Fixes problems.”

  “You need a keeper, not a woman. The team knows it, the minor league guys played you!”

  “Where did the splotches come from?”

  “They look like hickeys. So, I don’t really know what’s going on with that. Maybe the seal is a vampire. Did you see the ones on your neck? You really don’t remember anything?”

  “It’s weird. Maybe I got roofied or something.” We talk as we walk to the stadium for our morning workout. The grounds are busy with fans because it’s the last week of spring training and they all want to evaluate the product the team is going to put on the field. The fans are roaming the backfields, taking photographs, asking for autographs, and watching us run drills. There are women out here for completely different reasons. Yes, they’re fans, but they want more. They’re after a baseball player of their own and these women come in all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors. The gold diggers can be any age and usually appear to be perfectly put together with every single hair in place, typically they’re under 30. The cougars are over 40, appear younger, and are only after sex. Baseball players are a conquest. For some of us younger players, we have pumas to deal with. They’re in their 30s and still at least eight years older than us, but they’re tricky. Some of them haven’t given up on getting a player of their own, which makes them a gold digger. Others, are after the conquest and a small number of them are really potential girlfriends. Of course there are women of all ages that are truly fans, but most of them still spend some time gawking at the players or have a favorite player or something. The team front office passed information on to us about the fans now being more female than male. I hope they don’t change the uniform to make it more appealing to the fans.

  Text from Sherry - Seal tail returned no problems. A bunch of different people have played the seal in the last month, boys, girls, even retired volunteers. Still investigating.

  Well, at least I don’t have to worry about getting in trouble with the team. One problem handled.

  Mason walks out to the backfield with me to warm up and throw the ball around, “What was with you and the seal last night?”

  I focus on him, “I don’t remember. What do you know? Help me out here. Do you know who it was or if the seal went in the house with me or anything?”

  “You totally took the seal to your room with you. I assume it was a chick, but I never saw her face. She was wearing pink flip-flops, so you’re cool because it was a girl.” He nods coming to the female conclusion. “I still want to know how you got her in your room and did her without taking her mask off.”

  The power of a baseball player that’s been hanging at the pool in swim trunks and no shirt, showing off his body unintentionally. Combine it with my non-existent will power and the need to get laid. I humped the seal. Seno’s right. I need to be more responsible for my actions and stop acting like a kid. It’s driving me crazy because I either had her out of the seal costume or there’s another girl. There’s no other way I would’ve gotten all these hickeys. Maybe the minor leaguers took a vacuum to me, but I don’t think it’s possible to be so drunk that I could have slept through that. I wonder if I left hickeys on the girl. Okay, so I’m watching for a girl wearing pink flip-flops that may or may not have hickeys.

  Seal Girl

  What was I thinking? I’m probably going to lose my internship over this. For what? A baseball player. Of course, they’re always trouble. I can’t keep a job as a volunteer! It’s embarrassing enough that I dress up as the mascot and now I’m going to be known as the girl that was cut from the volunteer team for losing the tail piece of the costume. I can’t go back in there and get it, can I? He’s pretty wasted. He might not notice. No, I can’t trust myself. I left because I want him too much. I can’t even get a quick meaningless fuck right. It wasn’t the alcohol. I couldn’t help myself. I shed the seal costume and dry humped him for hours in my PJs. I wish I could be there to watch him try to explain the hickeys I left him with to the next girl. I kissed him all over his body, biting and sucking and leaving him spotted like a leopard. What kind of guy hits on a mascot anyway? Serioulsy? All he could see was my pink flip-flops and polished toe nails. Maybe he has a foot fetish. Worse, a seal fetish. Maybe he’s into plush costumes and gets off on the anonymity of the whole thing.

  I know three things.

  One, he made me hotter than I’ve ever been. If I didn’t get out of there when I did, I never would’ve left. His hands were warm and inviting. His body solid and sexy. His kiss owned me. His hard naked cock? I wanted it and had to rub on it. I still want it.

  Two, I can’t let him get in the way of my goals. This internship may sound silly, but it’s the stepping stone I need to get into media at the major league stadium. I can’t mess this up. This can’t happen again. Chase Cross is not an option for me no matter what.

  Lastly, baseball players suck.

  Chapter Two

  Chase

  I chill at the pool and relax as much as possible for the rest of the week, doing my best to stay out of trouble and not get released or reassigned to the minors. I’ll party when everybody comes over for the barbecue after the last spring training game, and Sherry has invited everybody. I mean everybody, including the people who work and volunteer at the stadium, even some of the groupies. I think she wants to know who was in my room with me. You’d think it was the only chick I had in there, but it wasn’t. Nobody noticed the others. I know I shouldn’t, but I’m single and horny. I had two girls over together on two different nights, the same two girls and they apparently like to work as a team—I’m not complaining. One night I had three girls over, but I was sure I was going to get caught. They were so loud! It was fun to have them all in the pool together with me, but they were too giggly and I took them to my room and turned on some music to drown them out. “Train in Vain” by The Clash was playing. It was like hiding them from my parents, though I knew I wouldn’t get in trouble. I don’t
disrespect them. I try to give them what they want. I’ve been told they like my blonde hair that’s almost shoulder length and tries to curl around my ears, and that I’m tall and skinny and “have shoulders that go on for days.” I’m not exactly sure what that means, but the chicks think it’s a good thing and I’m going with it. Some of them like the way I play, I do put it all out there. I’m not afraid of diving for the ball. I’ve heard that chicks dig scars. I’ll lay it all out there for the game and my team. I want to win and I refuse to be the reason we lose. The chicks say I’m the same way when it comes to sex, but I’ve never really thought about it like that. Game rules are that she’s getting some and so am I. But, it’s always just sex. Well, not just sex. Sometimes we do other things. We might order a pizza, or sit in the hot tub. I guess my point is that I haven’t found one that I like. They like me and sadly I’m using them, so I try to stick to the groupies because that’s really all they want. Fucked by a player. That, I can do.

  I’ve been thinking about women a lot during the off-season. I’d already started to think I wanted a real girlfriend before last season was over, but then my best bud got married and I was best man. I don’t think they’re the norm for a couple. I like what I see and want some of it for myself. It’d be great if she likes to bake. I need to find a chick I like, not just girls that want me. Seems like it’s one of those things I don’t have control over and it’s hard to meet chicks that aren’t trying to meet me. I need Sherry to help me with this, but she’s so determined to figure out who the seal is. I guess it’ll take some time and I need to work on keeping it in my pants.