Welcome to Bluestone 1 - Bluestone homecoming (11 page)

She drew back, wishing she’d spoken up
earlier. Playing catch with Max and him was one thing, but playing
an honest-to-goodness, win-or-lose game with her questionable
skills was something else. “Leo, I haven’t batted since I was in
high school. I probably should just go watch.”

“No, you don’t.” He curved his hand around
her arm and drew her toward the rest of the team, who were jostling
positions in line. “It’ll come back to you. You know the logistics
of it. I heard you when you were coaching Max. Come on.”

“Where is Max?” she asked as she followed him
behind the chain link backstop.

“Over there, watching with my dad.” Leo
gestured to the decrepit bleachers where a crowd had started to
gather.

Oh, dear. Bad enough the other players were
going to see her make a fool of herself. But the whole town? Only
her desire to spend time with Leo made her step up to the plate
after the local doctor, Dale Simmons, got their first out by not
beating the ball to first base, where Quinn scooped it up.

“You can do this, Trinity,” Leo shouted from
behind the backstop.

The bat felt suddenly heavy in her hand as
she lifted it, angled it over her shoulder as she’d told Max to do.
She sent a pleading glance at Lily to go easy on her, but she
should have known better. Lily sent a pitch that dipped just as
Trinity swung, causing a strike. Trinity staggered for balance as
Lily smirked.

“That’s okay,” Leo said behind her, clapping
optimistically. “Dirty trick, Lil.”

“Where’d she learn to do that?” Trinity
demanded, lifting the bat again as Chris Strand, Lily’s catcher,
tossed the ball back out.

“I may have taught her that one,” Leo
confessed.

Trinity glanced over her shoulder to see him
leaning against the fence, fingers linked through it. So sexy. She
turned away with a shiver of appreciation and a renewed desire to
impress him. She faced Lily and nodded her acknowledgement that
Lily’s competitive streak was stronger than their friendship.

Another strike, though if she’d let it go, it
might have been a ball. Frustration tensed her shoulders, though
Leo called out encouragement. She realized then that he didn’t
really think she could hit the ball. That was why he’d put her
second in the line-up, where her failure wouldn’t hurt the team too
much. With a roll of her shoulders, she faced Lily again, and this
time, the bat reverberated as it struck the ball, sending it flying
straight down the baseline—and into Quinn’s glove.

He gave her an apologetic shrug as she turned
away, handing the bat to Douglas Sawyer. Leo patted her shoulder
absently and focused his attention on Doug, shouting the same
supportive words he’d given her. Nice. She stalked behind the fence
and waited to head outfield.

Doug got a base hit, though, and made it to
first. Leo stepped forward and picked up the bat, swinging it in a
loop, then tossing it into the air, letting it spin end over end
before he caught it and brought it to his shoulder, fingers
restless on the grip.

“Show off!” Lily called.

Leo straightened then, and pointed over the
third baseman’s head, indicating the direction he’d hit.

“You’re going down,” Lily said.

Leo leaned into position—damn, he had a nice
form, and a great butt in those faded Levis. Trinity made every
effort not to drool at the image. A glance to Sonia on her left let
her know she wasn’t the only one admiring him.

The crack of bat meeting ball drew her
attention, and she snapped to attention in time to see the ball
sailing in the very direction Leo had pointed. Leo bolted for first
base, shouting for Doug to move it. Lily sighed as she watched his
hat fly off, his long legs eat up the ground between bases.
Cheering from the stands drowned out her own, and she heard Max’s
voice above the others.

“Go, Dad, go!”

She was only vaguely aware of the ball being
retrieved, of it flying through the air over his head as he charged
for home. She began jumping up and down as if she could will him to
beat it, as the catcher stretched to reach for it—too late.

“Safe!” Her brother, who acted as umpire,
called as Leo stepped on the plate and was surrounded by the rest
of the team, who clapped his back in congratulations.

He looked over their heads and found her,
grinning like a little kid. She kept her fingers looped through the
fence to resist the urge to run to him and give him a
congratulatory kiss. A ridiculous urge, really. The kiss in the car
had been—well, wonderful. But a mistake. She’d made enough of those
in her life.

Their celebration didn’t last long. Laura
Bonner hit a foul ball that the catcher caught, and they were
outfield.

“You’re my catcher.” Leo pressed his glove
into Trinity’s hand.

“Leo.” She resisted the urge to let it fall
to the ground between them. “I could do it for you and Max, but not
in a real game.”

“Babe, this isn’t a real game,” he said with
a laugh. “I trust you. Keep your eye on me.” Without allowing
further protest, he turned and jogged to the pitcher’s mound.

Like that would be hard. She stayed behind
home plate and crouched, much easier in jeans than in a dress.
Nerves tumbled over each other as she watched Leo toss the ball and
catch it in his palm as he faced the first batter. Before she knew
it, the ball was hurtling toward her and in defense, she raised the
glove. The ball smacked into it, surprising her with its force. She
met Leo’s gaze, and he gave her a nod of approval. Shaky from the
errant catch, she tossed the ball to him, her lack of power causing
him to step forward to catch it, before he repeated his
performance, striking out this batter and the next. The next three,
though, got on base, and she could see Leo’s frustration as he
paced the mound.

Quinn stepped up to bat, and held the thing
like a weapon, every line of his already tense body even tighter.
Trinity watched Leo working out which pitch to throw, decide, and
Quinn hit it, sending it on almost exactly the same trajectory as
Leo’s. Trinity straightened to follow its path with her gaze as all
the runners on base jogged in.

Making the score four to two.

Leo got the next batter out with a pop fly
that he snatched neatly out of the air, and then their team was up.
Maybe it wasn’t a real game, but Leo was more intense now that they
were behind. He probably wasn’t accustomed to losing.

His anxiety transmitted to Trinity when she
faced Lily again. She shouldered the bat. This time when Leo
shouted encouragement, his voice held a note of urgency. The first
ball went wild and Leo clapped at her decision not to swing. She
didn’t let herself look back before the next pitch. This time, she
swung and hit. Leo cheered when she raced to first base, louder
when she crossed the plate ahead of the ball. She cast him a
triumphant grin and wave, but moments later she was stranded on
base.

“How many innings are we playing?” she asked
Leo as they passed each other to their outfield positions.

“Three.”

She nudged his shoulder. “Take it easy. Not a
real game, remember?”

But Quinn’s team scored two more runs.

Last inning, six to two. Leo, Laura and Dale
were on base as Lily’s arm grew tired, her balls slowed, her aim
wavered. Doug took his place over home plate and crouched as if he
would attack the ball. The stance worked. He hit the first pitch, a
home run, and jogged easily around the diamond behind the other
three runners, to the cheers of the crowd.

When they took outfield again, the game was
still tied.

Quinn hit a double, but the next two batters
struck out before Lily came up to bat. Trinity rocked on her feet,
her thighs burning after three innings in this position.

“Hey, batter, batter,” Trinity called, and
received a teasing butt-wiggle in response.

She was still laughing when Lily’s bat struck
the ball, sending it between first and second base. Trinity didn’t
have a chance to watch her friend run to first, because Quinn came
charging toward home plate. Heart pounding at the sight he made,
all intensity and speed, Trinity stood, braced, watching the
determination on his face as his arms pumped, legs ate up the
ground. And she was right in his path.

“Trinity!” Leo’s shout grabbed her attention
and she turned to see the ball arching through the air toward her.
If she caught it, the game was over—three outs, tied game. If she
missed it—

Her glove went up. Quinn’s heaving breaths
grew closer, louder, over the sound of her own panicked breathing.
The game depended on her. Leo depended on her.

The ball fell into her glove a split second
before Quinn’s foot hit home plate.

“Out!” her brother shouted, and a cheer went
up all around her.

The next thing she knew, Leo’s arms lifted
her and he spun her on home plate. She grabbed his shoulders and
laughed as he let her slide down her body. Just when she thought he
might kiss her in front of everyone, Max barreled through the
crowd, shouting for his dad.

“You won, you won!”

Leo released her to pick up his son in one
strong arm and father and son exchanged matching grins. “Tied,
technically, but we didn’t lose.”

Trinity took a step back, her breath catching
in her throat. A tug on her ponytail drew her attention and she
turned to see a grinning—grinning!—Quinn.

“Nice play, Blondie.”

She let herself relax and return his smile.
Adrenaline still pumped through her at the memory of how he’d
looked running toward her. “I thought you were going to mow me
down.”

“Thought about it. Come on. Let’s have a
beer.” He looped an arm around her shoulders and guided her across
the field.

She had never been the center of attention in
Bluestone, but as the player with the game-ending play, she found
herself the recipient of good-natured ribbing from Quinn’s team and
admiration from her own. Doug, in particular, was standing close
beside her, his head bent as if to catch every pearl of wisdom that
tumbled from her lips someone reached through the crowd and grabbed
her hand. She looked up into Leo’s eyes as he drew her away from
the group.

“Hey, where’d you go? I looked up and you
were gone.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear,
off-balance from all the attention, especially from him. The light
in his eyes was familiar, at once thrilling and terrifying. Could
she really let herself get involved with this man without getting
hurt? Of course not. He wasn’t staying around. But would their
short time together be worth the pain when he left?

“I came over with Quinn. Making peace and
all, you know. Where’s Max?”

“Eating outside with my dad.” He tugged on
her hand and led her down the short hallway to Quinn’s office.

“What are—we can’t go in there,” she
protested as he opened the door and pulled her through.

“Only place I can think of.” He closed the
door behind her and turned, blocking her view of the surprisingly
neat room to crowd her against the door. “I’ve wanted to do this
all week. Even dreamed about it this morning.” And he touched his
lips to hers.

She curved into the warmth of his body,
wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her fingers tunneling
through his hair as he dipped his tongue between her parted lips,
stroking, playing, teasing. She loved how he kissed, not taking it
so seriously, but conveying his intensity all the same. He lowered
his hands from the door to close over her hips, bringing her
closer, making certain she understood her effect on him.

He lifted his head to look into her eyes.
“Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, make sure it doesn’t happen again,”
she said, all breathless, and pulled his mouth back down to hers.
Her body came alive as she absorbed the heat of his, as he hooked
his fingers through the belt loops of her jeans, as she dared to
nip his lips with her teeth.

He dragged his hands up her back and loosened
her hair from its ponytail, filling his hands with her hair. “God,
you’re so pretty,” he said, dragging his lips over the crest of her
cheek to her ear, finding the sensitive spot below.

She whimpered and couldn’t stop herself from
rubbing against him, just a little, knowing this would have to end
soon, but he made her feel so good, like she hadn’t in so long. The
doubt demons crept into the corners of her mind, but she shoved
them back, angling her head so he could kiss her throat, tease her
collar bone above the neck of her T-shirt.

This time when he broke the kiss he stepped
back, ending contact completely. “We should…” He hooked a thumb
toward the bar. “I just needed—I’ve wanted to do that all week and
someone’s always watching.”

Particularly someone with big brown eyes and
a broken heart. What was she thinking, getting involved with a man
with a child? A man who’d leave when the place felt too small, as
he’d done fifteen years ago. And if he didn’t leave, if he stayed
with her, she’d have to tell him her story. She told no one,
because she didn’t want to see the same disappointment on their
faces that she saw on her parents’ every day.

She touched her fingertips to her lips,
afraid it was too late. She turned and grasped the door knob.
Before she could open it, he was behind her, the heat of his body
warming her back. He pulled her loose hair back into a ponytail
with gentle hands, then pressed a soft kiss to the side of her
neck. Then he closed his hand over hers on the knob and opened the
door.

Totally worth the pain
.

***

Leo arrived early at the town hall meeting
Wednesday night. Hard to believe he’d only been in Bluestone two
weeks. Between the baseball team he was now coaching and working
every day at the paper, he felt more a part of the town in this
short a time than he had in the years he’d lived here as a teen,
and he was happy. But maybe that was because this time he knew
escape was in sight. Tonight he had information to share for the
meeting. Not information they’d want to hear, but something to
contribute.