Over the Fence: Lyssa Layne's Baseball Romances (35 page)

“Sweetheart, why don’t you go get us another drink?”

We both know he’s just trying to get rid of her since the waitress will be back any minute. I slide out of the booth, offering my hand to help her out. Her delicate hand squeezes against my calloused one and she looks into my eyes. I see that same begging look in her face, but force myself to look away. Asher and I both watch her walking toward the bar, pain filling my heart while his grin gets larger at each sway of her hips.

“What the hell, Tommy? You and Mia have different last names?” I ask, unable to keep it in anymore and needing answers.

He leans back smirking and sips his martini. “Nah, same last name. I took her surname when we got married. Unconventional, I know, but we were trying to start our business and Thompson just blended in too much. It was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made.”

Back in college, Asher’s last name was Thompson. He’s right. It was a common name. We had three different Thompsons on the team which is how he got the nickname Tommy.

I laugh and shake my head. “So Mia wears the pants in this relationship?”

His smirk fades but is quickly replaced by a mischievous grin. “Not hardly, I have her wrapped around my finger so tight, she’d do anything I told her to. She’s just the pretty face to our business, second best thing I did.”

My blood pressure skyrockets as he says this. I find it hard to believe that independent Mia would take orders from anyone. My beer arrives and I chug half of it in one gulp.

“So you have this woman, who is not only beautiful but smart and ambitious, and yet you go sleeping around behind her back?”

Asher shrugs. “What can I say? I’m a wanted man.”

I shake my head, disgusted. Peeling the label off my bottle, I ask, “So what’s the deal with the marriage? You say you are, Mia says you’re not…”

Asher raises an eyebrow, looking at me. “Why are you so intrigued by my relationship with Amelia?”

Any other man and I would have told him the truth, but the threatening look in his eyes and Mia’s face from earlier has me thinking I should be careful how I answer. I shrug it off and point to a blonde at the bar. Asher’s grin returns and the question is dropped.

Mia

Balancing two shots of whiskey and a dry martini with three olives, I make my way back to the table when I see Asher rush to the bar to flirt with the blonde on stilts. Tate looks defeated in the booth by himself and I’m sure it’s not just today’s loss that’s contributed to his feelings. Once I talk to him, though, I’m sure he’ll cheer up.

I push one shot glass across the table and slide in beside him with the other. He glances up and shakes his head with a huff. I frown and hold up the glass, waiting for him to follow suit. Reluctantly, he does.

I smile and move my hand to his thigh. “To old friends and making new ones.”

Tate downs the alcohol without saying a word. I set my full shot glass on the table and squeeze his leg. “Talk to me, Tate.”

“It’s better that I don’t.”

I frown and slide my hand up and down his leg. “Tate, it’s not what you think.”

In a hushed yell that is barely above a whisper, he says, “That your business partner is also your ex-husband. Not to mention that he’s an old friend of mine. Fuck, Mia, you really know how to keep someone in the dark.”

Stunned by his words, I pull my hand back and take the shot in front of me. Tate stares ahead at the bar where Asher is running his hands up and down Blondie’s quad. Tate doesn’t know me. He has no idea what my marriage was like and it’s clear he has no interest in seeing past the obvious. He has no idea how perfectly he hit the nail on the head with the last part of his comment.

“Tate, I honestly didn’t know—”

“What? That I’d find out?”

I take a deep breath. “There’s nothing to find out, Tate. You never told me who gave you my name, Asher never mentioned it, and who cares if he’s my ex and my partner?”

Tate throws up his hands and leans closer to me, his voice still quiet yet much more intense. “Who cares?
Who fuckin’ cares?
I do, Mia, or Amelia, whatever the hell your name is. I fucking care because I have feelings for you. I want you, Mia. No, I
need
you and this whole time you’ve been with Tommy behind my back.”

“Behind your back?” I question, ignoring the rest of this statement. “I’ve been
working
. Asher and my relationship was over long before it started. Ever since I met you, it’s been nothing but professional.”

He scoffs. “Professional, huh? It that what that kiss during the game was? Or what about when his lips were all over you a few minutes ago? Or better yet, how he still introduces you as his wife? You two have a fucked up relationship is all I can say,” he rants and stands up, heading for the exit.

My entire body shakes with his revelation, yet he has no idea exactly how true his words are.

CHAPTER 16

Tate

My body shakes violently as I struggle to push three-hundred pounds over my head. I arch my back and press with all my power, praying it doesn’t drop on me. Of course, if it does then I won’t ever have to think about Mia Tomko again, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Suddenly, the weight is lifted out of my hands and my hope of never thinking about Mia again is vanished. My body falls back onto the workout bench, still trembling slightly as I sit up and see Grant racking the weight.

He tosses me a towel and nods toward the bar. “Working off steam today?”

I shrug my shoulders and gulp down my water.

Leaning against the rail behind the bench, he cocks an eyebrow and simply asks, “Mia?”

I’m really not in the mood to talk about it, but the anger floods through my body again. I stand up and slam my water bottle on the ground. Through gritted teeth, I answer, “Yeah, she’s fuckin’ married to her business partner,
Asher Tomko.
” I say his name in a mocking tone. I still can’t believe he took her name; it seems like an extremely uncharacteristic move for him.

Grants narrows his eyes. “The realtor? He showed us a few houses when we first moved out here. By the third house, I was about to kick his ass the way he was flirting with Colie. Mia’s really married to that douche?”

I shake my head. “Yeah…well, she was, but…”

Grant raises his eyebrows as I pause. “So she’s not, so what’s the problem?”

I drop to the bench, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees and hanging my head. Grant takes a seat beside me as weights clang around us and jock jams blare through the speakers.

“Mia says they’re divorced, but Asher still calls her his wife and treats her like it. I mean, they work together; they’re inseparable. Why do I want to get in the middle of that?”

Grant laughs. “Inseparable? Not so sure about that after seeing the two of you together at spring training.”

I shrug. “He’s after other women too. Maybe it’s some kind of fucked up game they enjoy.”

“Or maybe Mia really likes you and you should give her a chance to explain.”

I shake my head as I look at Grant. “No, man, you should have seen them together. He was all over her. I’m not getting in the middle of that mess.”

Grant stands up and shrugs. “Suit yourself, but there are two sides to every story, James. Promise me something though?”

I look up at him with inquisitive eyebrows. “What’s that?”

“If you decide to be a coward and don’t fight for her, then promise me we won’t have to deal with your whiny ass all season.”

Shaking my head and laughing with him, I snap my towel at the back of his legs as he walks away. On my walk to the locker room, I think about Grant’s words. There are two sides to every story… the only question is, whose side do I believe: my lover or my old teammate?

Mia

The words on the computer start to weave across the screen. I push my glasses to my forehead and pinch the bridge of my nose as I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out everything around me. The Berrylicious candle that sits on the shelf behind my desk is making me nauseous and I think I might lose my mind if I hear my secretary’s
Crazy in Love
ringtone one more time. I slide my hands up and down my cherry rose desk, trying to find my zen but it’s nowhere to be found.

The past three days I’ve submerged myself in work, trying to keep my mind off Tate and as far away as possible from Asher. Of course, since I work with him, that’s a little bit difficult to do. Luckily, Asher knows to leave me alone when I’m in the zone because it profits him just as much as me. If there’s one thing about my ex, it’s that he loves money more than anything, even himself.

Moving away from the computer, I walk to the window and stare at the park below me. A dad throws a baseball high into the air and hits it to his son who fields it and tosses it back to him. I smile and think of Tate with Toby doing the same thing. My smile quickly fades into a frown as I feel a twinge in my heart at the thought of not being able to see the two of them together. All I had to do was tell him the truth, get him to understand my relationship with Asher. I sigh. I don’t even know that I understand the relationship myself.

My shoulders tense when I feel two hands grasp them and begin to squeeze tightly. His breath is warm on my neck when he asks, “What are you daydreaming about, Amelia?”

Taking one step forward, I spin around to face him and cross my arms. I’ve been avoiding Asher since the game, but right now I’m in the mood to fight.

“You were out of line the other night.”

Asher leans back on my desk, looking smug as he lifts his hands and shrugs. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You know exactly what I mean, Asher. We’re not married any more so stop telling people we are.”

“Amelia, you know we have to keep up the act for the business.”

I roll my eyes. “I highly doubt anyone believes we’re still married with the way you flirt with
every
female client we have…married or not.”

Asher laughs and walks toward me. “Don’t blame me for flirting with other women, Amelia. You’re the one that left me.”

I take a deep breath as he stands before me. His finger on my jaw line, trailing down my neck until it finds the diamond pendant at the end of my necklace that hangs between my cleavage. My heart races and I have to remind myself to focus.

“Exactly, Asher, I left you. We’re not married.”

Pressing the jewel against my skin, his finger continues to slide down my chest over the top button of my shirt. I move my hand on top of his and when I begin to pull it away, he quickly flips his hand and grabs my wrist tightly. One step and he has me pinned against the window, his hips painfully crushing into mine.

“I gave you the divorce to keep you happy.” His grip tightens on my wrist and I yelp, which only makes him grin. “I’m not going to let you go as long as I get what I want.”

I grit my teeth, trying to hide the pain he’s inflicting. “And what’s that?”

Asher lets go of my wrist and slides his hand through my hair giving it a tug, yanking my head back quickly. “Whatever I want, Amelia.”

As much as I want Tate, I know I’ll never be able to have him. Not because of the hold Asher has on me, but because I can’t take the risk of hurting Tate and Toby along the way.

CHAPTER 17

Mia

The smell of caffeine hits my nose and my lips turn into a smile. Between lying awake at night thinking about Tate, painting two kitchens by myself, and closing on four houses, the only thing that keeps me functioning is the daily, no hourly, coffee breaks.

Bringing the Starbucks’ cup to my mouth, I’m about to drink in the sweet taste of my macchiato when I hear my name behind me. I take a drink, trying to enjoy the hazelnut flavor before looking for the owner of the voice. Just as the flavors tease my tongue, someone bumps my arm sending coffee dribbling down my chin and onto my shirt. Arms fly around me pulling me into a bear hug as I try to wipe my face and keep my coffee from spilling over both of us.