Especially Jess. Naomi had been really touched to see the way Brody coached her, demonstrating the fluid mechanics of the most economical throws to first, second, third and home. Far from being over her head, the information had been quickly put to good use by the young player, taking her skills up several notches in the course of a few hours. Naomi knew the girl would never forget the lessons she’d received from a world-class player.

“Your team is great.” He tossed his glove in the truck and sat beside her on the tailgate. “I hope they beat the Braves Wednesday.”

She laughed, amused at the vehemence in his voice.

“We’ll do our best. Heaven knows if there are any line drives to the shortstop, we’ve got a guaranteed out.”

“Jess is a quick study.” He sat close to her so that his shoulder brushed hers. So that she couldn’t forget the potent effect he had on her despite her wishes to the contrary. “You’ve done a great job with the team.”

The simple praise touched her the way no extravagant compliment ever could have.

“Thank you.” She cleared her throat, aware of the emotion clogging it. “You know how much I’ve always liked sports. Softball’s my favorite, but I coach soccer, too.”

“I’ve heard the kids in town all want to be on your teams.” He peered out over the fields where another team had just started practice. There were four fields with a playground in the middle and a snack bar they ran during games that raised money for uniforms and new balls.

“You seem to hear a lot.” She couldn’t deny she was flattered about that.

“In particular, I heard you have some cool training films.” He turned to her, one eyebrow lifted in question.

Heat crawled over her cheeks.

“I use game footage from the local colleges and the major leagues and put together a fun instructional video to get them pumped up.” She kept her eyes trained on the monkey bars to avoid his gaze.

Unfortunately, he was having none of that. He cupped her cheek and turned her head toward him.

“I hear I’ve made the cut a few times.”

Her heartbeat accelerated at the heat of his stare.

“Anybody who gets a play of the day in the nightly highlight reels is in the running for my video.” She was a little defensive about it since Ryan had accused her of using her videos as an excuse to keep tabs on Brody’s career. “Long before we dated, I was sneaking on my radio at night to listen to the late games when the Aces played on the West Coast. Mom still pitches in the women’s league. My dad runs the men’s. You must remember that we took a family vacation to Cuba once, just to see some games.”

She took a breath, realizing she was rambling. Did she sound too defensive?

But Brody didn’t look at her like she was trying to cover up some big, secret crush on him by taping a few of his best plays. Not like Ryan had. Brody watched her with something like admiration in his eyes.

“You love baseball. Just like me.” He draped an arm around her shoulders, his thigh grazing hers. “You know how cool it is to talk to someone who understands the beauty of fielding a double play ball or the joy of fighting off impossible pitches to stay alive in the count when your team is down by a run in the last inning.”

She smiled. “It’s kind of like recognizing the skill of a five-tool player when you see Brody Davis knock one into the stands. Other fans see a two-run homer. I see the way you read the pitches and were ready for the curveball.”

His lips brushed her temple in a tender kiss. For a moment, she absorbed the closeness of the moment, allowing her mind to entertain the prospect of being with him again. Of talking about baseball. Touring around the major league stadiums with him or spending days here at the rec field, coaching kids. They’d always had fun together. And their amazing chemistry translated into the most spectacular sex of her life.

All at once she realized what a fool she’d been to let him back into her life. She’d been kidding herself to think she’d be able to get him out of her system by spending the night with him. Instead of proving her memories of him were overrated, she’d only learned that being with him was better than she remembered.

“Brody.” She eased away from him, needing to come back to reality before she got swept up in his world again, a world a long way from coastal New Hampshire.

But before she could explain why she needed to protect her heart, a truck pulled into the parking lot beside them, kicking up enough mud to spatter her shoes.

Incensed, she turned to tell the arriving parent to slow down. However, the silver Ford didn’t belong to any player’s family. She recognized the vehicle as the driver jammed the gearshift into Park and vaulted out of the cab.

Her ex-boyfriend, Ryan Patnode, strode around his truck to confront her. Actually, he appeared more like he planned to confront Brody since his eyes were glued to the Aces’ catcher, his stare hostile.

Confrontational.

All at once, she realized how similar in temperament these two men were and she wondered for the first time if she’d gravitated toward Ryan for a very particular reason. Holy rebound man, they were even built similarly with tall, athletic bods.

Ryan jabbed a finger in Brody’s chest and barked, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”



4



FOR A TEMPERAMENTAL GUY, Brody really hadn’t been in many fights in his life.

He’d thrown a few punches back in Triple A when some redneck clown had threatened him with a broken beer bottle in retaliation for a flubbed play at the plate. And of course, there was the brawl seen around the world when he’d gotten into it with the Chicago Flames third basemen a few weeks ago. But other than that, he’d managed to keep his nose clean.

A feat he didn’t see lasting much longer unless he did some fast talking.

The jerk pointing in his face was clearly looking for trouble.

“Lower your voice, Ryan,” Naomi warned, peering past the newcomer toward the rec fields where a couple of young teams still ran their practices.

“So this is Ryan?” Brody clarified, understanding better why the guy was in a bad mood. “I didn’t recognize you without your bicycle helmet.”

He kept his arm around Naomi, figuring if his right hand was on her shoulder, he wouldn’t be tempted to knock the jerk’s accusatory finger into next year.

“Well, I recognize you, pretty boy, and if you don’t get your hands off Naomi now I’m gonna show you how we settle disputes around here. And it doesn’t involve a temper tantrum on home plate, I’ll tell you that much.”

Whoa. The guy wasn’t just pissed to see another man touching his ex. This man was livid to see Brody touching his ex.

Apparently his style of baseball didn’t appeal to the bicycle dude.

He was about to tell him to cool off when he realized Naomi had tensed beside him, her shoulders stiff as a board as she eased away from him.

“Ryan, we need to talk.” She moved to slide off the tailgate.

Brody held her back. “Wait a minute.” He looked at her, confused why she would take off with some angry jerk she’d already broken up with. “Do you see the vein ticking under this guy’s eye? You can’t go anywhere with someone this mad.”

His request was reasonable. Hell, his request wasn’t optional. He wasn’t letting this woman—the woman he’d probably never stopped loving—spend time with a guy who went around threatening people.

For all that Brody had a temper on the field, he’d never dream of bringing it into his personal relationships.

“Don’t you see what he’s trying to do?” Naomi spoke quietly, eyes pleading for understanding as she met his gaze. “He wants to goad you into a fight for his fifteen minutes of fame. Or maybe so he can get you kicked out of baseball when the media hears about it.”

Brody felt his eyebrows shoot up along with his skepticism.

“Give yourself more credit, Naomi.” He didn’t buy her theory for a minute. “Any guy who had you and lost you would be hurt to see you move on. I don’t need to punch this guy. He already took a right hook to the chest just seeing me touch you.”

But Naomi didn’t seem to hear him. She turned her attention to her ex. Reaching for the finger the guy still poked at Brody’s chest, she guided his hand down and away.

Just like that, the steam puffing the guy up seemed to hiss out of him. His shoulders sagged with defeat. His face fell. He sucked in a breath and Brody thought bicycle dude might cry.

If he was in Ryan’s shoes, he might.

The poor bastard had lost more than a hot girlfriend when Naomi dumped him. He’d lost a caring, warm-hearted, amazing friend.

Still, recognizing that and empathizing with the loss didn’t begin to feed the green monster that roared inside Brody when Naomi led Ryan a few feet away to talk privately. They weren’t far from him in physical distance, but watching Naomi stand so close to another man, her face etched in lines of tender concern, made Brody feel a thousand miles away from her in every way that counted.

One of the teams’ practices ended nearby and the parking lot started to fill with parents offering their kids advice or encouragement on how they’d played that day. Spikes sloshed through the muddy gravel lot, as the kids stowed their gear in trunks and shouted parting words to their friends. Brody sat apart from it all—unnoticed on the SUV tailgate with his hat pulled low. Not even the familiar sound of a bat pounding dirt out of mud-caked cleats could cheer him as he watched Naomi console her ex.

Did she want to get back together with the X-Gamer, even after that outburst? Hell, she’d stuck by Brody through enough shouting matches and had never seemed fazed.

But then, maybe Ryan felt like more of a real option for her since Brody hadn’t come out and said he’d do whatever it took to make a future work for them. He’d been waiting for the right moment. And he’d almost arrived at it, but the bicycle dude had ruined it with crappy timing and bad attitude.

Unwilling to wait anymore for his shot at happiness, Brody slid off the tailgate and approached Naomi. He needed to speak to her now, before she patched things up with a guy who wasn’t close to worthy of her.

His step slowed.

Was he worthy of her?

Brody would uproot her. Disrupt her teaching, her coaching, her whole life. And while he had a multi-million-dollar contract and a kick-ass lifestyle to offer, he knew she didn’t care about stuff like that. His car didn’t impress her any more than any of his other toys would.

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he spun on his heel and stalked back to her vehicle. He couldn’t afford to screw up her life when she had carved out a happy niche for herself here. He had no plan of attack and no inkling how he was any better for her than X-Game dude, who at least had the benefit of never having broken up with her via cell phone.

Dropping into the passenger seat of Naomi’s SUV, he banged his head on the headrest and wondered where to go from here.


“THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME talk to him.”

Naomi finally broke the silence on their way back to her place after the embarrassing encounter with Ryan at the practice field.

She’d taken the long way home, both to clear her head and because she remembered Brody liked the view of the Atlantic from a bluff they would pass in another few minutes.

She felt a need to make it up to him after the way she’d ditched him at the field to talk Ryan off the emotional ledge. Things had ended on an ugly note with him a few weeks ago and she’d managed to avoid him until today. No doubt seeing her with Brody had hurt.

“You have a knack for calming down ticked off guys,” he observed lightly, his gaze trained out the window at the sun warming the wet fields after the downpour the night before.

“I figured he deserved to know how I felt about you since he had accused me of being hung up on you.” Her heart pounded with the admission and the scariness of laying it on the line with Brody.

But why avoid the truth?

Brody straightened in his seat, his gaze rounding on her as she approached the turnoff for a scenic lookout point over the ocean.

“So you told him how you feel, but not me?” He sounded incensed.