Stopping Short: A Hot Baseball Romance
Page 16
Smiling at the memory of some of those rather spectacular displays of trouble, Haley pulled open the door to the linen closet. She’d told the truth when she said the bed was all made up—she always kept the house ready for any of the Thurman clan to stop by. She made short work of digging out a towel and a washcloth. It took her a little more effort to find a toothbrush at the back, but she managed.
“There you go,” she said.
“Thanks.”
She watched him slip into the boys’ room, gently shutting the door behind himself. She took the chance to duck into the bathroom, to brush her own teeth, to splash water across eyes that were suddenly grainy.
It was a ton of work to put on the Opening Day party. She’d cooked all weekend, getting things ready. She’d worried about the weather for twenty-four straight hours. She’d barely been able to concentrate on the afternoon game because she’d been thinking about timing, about making all the food come out in the proper order.
She rolled her neck, trying to loosen her muscles. Adam had done a killer job on her feet. She could still feel his firm, confident fingers on her calves. She should have pushed for a back rub.
She still could.
That was ridiculous, though. Adam had to be as tired as she was. More—he’d just gotten back from Florida the day before, and he’d played the game she’d watched with one eye. Played it, and been interviewed, and then come over and talked to everyone at the party. She should let the guy get some sleep.
Shaking her head at her own selfishness, she went into the master bedroom, the one that still felt like it belonged to her parents. Leaving the door open a crack so patrolling dogs would know she hadn’t been abducted by aliens, Haley shimmied out of her clothes. She found her nightshirt under her pillow, the oversize T that she always wore. As she slipped into bed, she pulled the blanket and comforter up close beneath her chin. This early in spring, it was cold in the old house. She’d turned off the heat, and there was a draft by the window.
The boys’ room would be cold, too. There was only a thin cotton blanket on the bed. What sort of hostess was she, inviting Adam to freeze to death?
Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she climbed back out of bed. Now, the house seemed more quiet than before. The door to the linen closet sighed as she opened it, and she sounded like a marauding bandit as she excavated a quilt from the bottom shelf.
She didn’t want to knock on Adam’s door, in case he’d actually managed to fall asleep. Instead, she twisted the doorknob with painstaking care, adding just enough pressure to ease the door open.
Moonlight washed in the pair of windows, supplementing the soft fall of light that barely made it down the hall from her own bedroom. The boys’ room wasn’t a museum. She’d replaced the bunk beds with a single queen, making a decent room for visiting adults.
Adam was lying on his back when she opened the door, but he pushed himself up on his elbows as she hovered on the threshold. The sheet and blanket slipped down his chest, making him look like some sort of silver statue. “Haley,” he said, his voice low and throaty.
She was totally unprepared for the wave of emotion that hit her. Her belly swooped down to her toes—the same toes he’d been rubbing not an hour before. No, that wasn’t her belly doing the swooping—it was something distinctly lower. Something that had never once been involved with a single thought about Adam Sartain. She caught her breath in surprise at her body’s reaction.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, pushing himself up further.
But that only caused more of a problem, because it made the sheet fall further, made the blanket curl across his lap. She caught herself looking at that lap, wondering if he was wearing underpants or if he’d stripped down completely for a quiet night’s sleep. She didn’t even know what type of shorts he wore. Her brothers had both switched to boxers as soon as they were able to voice a preference, so she assumed Adam had too, but maybe not. Maybe as an athlete—
“Haley?” he asked, and this time, the growl was gone from his voice, replaced by naked concern.
No. Not naked. She had to stop thinking of naked.
“Here!” she said, barking out the word at full volume. Then she cleared her throat and said, like a normal person, “I thought you might be cold. It’s a quilt. You know. In case you’re cold.”
Oh my god. She must be drunk. But she wasn’t drunk—she hadn’t had a sip of alcohol since that one beer with dinner.
He started to push back the covers, getting ready to stand and cross the room, but she wasn’t prepared to let him do that. Instead, she closed the distance between them, practically throwing the quilt onto the bed. She turned on her heel and fled back to the doorway, trying not to think about how hard her heart was pounding.
“Thanks,” he said behind her, and she thought she heard him laughing.
“No problem,” she said, and she hurried out the door, pulling it closed all the way and practically running to her own room. She hurtled herself into her bed and pulled the blanket up to her nose.
No problem, she’d said. But she’d lied. There was very much a problem. For the first time in her life, she’d realized that Adam Sartain wasn’t one of the untrained puppies in the pack of the Thurman clan.
He was a man. A man who might very well be lying naked in the next room. A man who had given her a foot massage and made her moan like Hollywood’s idea of a woman in love. A man she’d known every single day of her life, but who she was suddenly considering in a new light for the very first time.
She had a hard time falling asleep. And that wasn’t because Bess jumped up on the bed and purred like a freight train beside her ear.
~~~
Buy From Left Field today!
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading Stopping Short! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please help other readers find this book and others in the Diamond Brides series:
1. Visit my website, www.mindyklasky.com. While you’re there, sign up for my newsletter so you’ll get prompt notice of my next book. You can also comment on blog posts and we can have a conversation!
2. Be my friend on Facebook.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Write an honest review and publish it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and other sites frequented by readers like you.
ALSO BY MINDY KLASKY
The Diamond Brides Series
Perfect Pitch
Catching Hell
Reaching First
(Perfect Pitch, Catching Hell, and Reaching First available as a boxed set)
Second Thoughts
Third Degree
Stopping Short
(Second Thoughts, Third Degree, and Stopping Short available as a boxed set)
From Left Field
Center Stage
Always Right
(From Left Field, Third Degree, and Stopping Short available as a boxed set)
(Entire series available as a boxed set)
The Jane Madison Series
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft
Sorcery and the Single Girl
Magic and the Modern Girl
(Available as a boxed set)
The Jane Madison Academy Series
Single Witch’s Survival Guide
The As You Wish Series
Act One, Wish One (formerly How Not to Make a Wish)
Wishing in the Wings (formerly When Good Wishes Go Bad)
Wish Upon a Star (formerly To Wish or Not to Wish)
(Available as a boxed set)
Stand-Alone Works
Capitol Magic
Fright Court
Season of Sacrifice
The Glasswrights Series
The Glasswrights’ Apprentice
The Glasswrights’ Progress
The Glasswrights’ Journeyman
The Glasswrights’ Test
The Glasswrights’ Master
Harlequin Special Editions
The Daddy Dance
The Mogul
’s Maybe Marriage
ABOUT MINDY KLASKY
Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her she could travel anywhere in the world through stories. She never forgot that advice.
Mindy’s travels took her through multiple careers – from litigator to librarian to full-time writer. Mindy’s travels have also taken her through various literary genres for readers of all ages – from traditional fantasy to paranormal chick-lit to category romance, from middle-grade to young adult to adult.
In her spare time, Mindy knits, quilts, and tries to tame her endless to-be-read shelf. Her husband and cats do their best to fill the leftover minutes.
ABOUT BOOK VIEW CAFÉ
BOOK VIEW CAFÉ is a professional authors’ publishing cooperative offering DRM-free ebooks in multiple formats to readers around the world. With authors in a variety of genres including fantasy, romance, mystery, and science fiction, Book View Café has something for everyone.
Book View Café is good for readers because you can enjoy high-quality DRM-free ebooks from your favorite authors at reasonable prices.
Book View Café is good for writers because 95% of the profits goes directly to the book’s author.
Book View Café authors include New York Times and USA Today bestsellers; Nebula, Hugo, and Philip K. Dick Award winners; World Fantasy and Rita Award nominees; and winners and nominees of many other publishing awards.
www.bookviewcafe.com