Sweet spot, p.6
Sweet Spot, page 6
“On purpose?” Kate frowned.
“No. He had no idea Olivia lived there. He was like five when they lived on the island. Anyway, the crush was still there and they started dating.”
Kate popped some edamame in her mouth and sucked out the beans before chucking the husk into the bowl with the other discarded pods. “So how does this lead to you?”
“I was the ranger at the Calusa Key Sanctuary. You may have heard we do some educational stuff there.”
She shook her head and smiled. “I have heard something about that, yes.” The combination of hair swishing, lips curving, and that sultry voice of hers made me picture kissing her again. I could remember the feel of the warmth of her skin in my palm and it itched to make it happen for real this time.
Strange how much I liked flirting with Kate. It was every bit as much a sport as baseball. Any play could be successful or disastrous, and part of the thrill was finding out which it was.
I intentionally decided not to mention Rosie. “Well Olivia, Chris’s then-girlfriend, has a son. Linc was in one of our camps and Chris brought him by and started helping out. We got along great. One day he offered to bring Everett and me to a friends-and-family practice at the stadium.” And then my life changed. Not only did it bring me this job opportunity, but it led me to this moment, sitting across from a woman I might have never met. “Ev threw some nasty shit that day.”
“In this case I’m assuming nasty is good?” She held her straw as her lips wrapped around it. The way her lips and tongue moved entranced me. Made me picture them moving over my skin. Kate’s mere presence activated the primal part of my brain. Did I want to talk with her? Absolutely. Did I also want to imagine every single way our bodies could connect? Also yes.
“Yes. Nasty is very good. Specifically it means hard to track. Some pitchers throw hard. Some have so many pitches in their arsenal you never know what they will throw and they can play some wicked mind games with a batter. That’s Chris’s specialty. But Ev never settled into a specialty. It’s part of why he left the game. He was just another pitcher in a sea of decent pitchers. But he never stopped throwing. Over the years he started playing with different grips and timings. He had fun throwing batting practice at the high school when they needed help. I don’t think he realized just how nasty his pitches had gotten until he was tossing strike after strike at professionals again.”
“The Mantas were smart to snatch him up then. But how does this lead to you?”
“I’m getting there,” I teased. I liked being playful with Kate, liked making her smile and laugh, anything to get that voice of hers in the air again. “Apparently, over the course of the day, I subtly coached most of the team. I don’t remember this and I believe all the tales told are fabricated, however I seem to have corrected Rhett’s swing, adjusted Wes’s run, and kept Seth in his place, which, I must agree, is a small miracle.”
Kate shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “That’s a nice start, but I don’t believe they offered you a team after a few tweaks.”
“Correct. I accidentally got into a conversation about team strategy with a very important man.”
Her mouth fell open. “Eli?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t know who he was or that there would be a job opening. Stirling knew exactly who I was and was a fan of mine back in the day. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was already in talks with the owner to buy the team. At his suggestion, they offered me a coaching job. Coaching led to managing.”
She whistled. “In very short order. You are impressive, Isaac Anson.”
It took everything I had not to puff up my chest and act like an idiot just because a pretty woman praised me. But inside? All of that happened at once. In fact, impressing Kate was my new mission in life. Maybe if I impressed her enough she’d say yes to a date when she was done with her contract.
The waitress placed our plates of sushi on the table and I used the distraction as an excuse to change the subject and get Kate talking. “So what about you? How did you wind up with this gig?”
“Well, like you, it was an accident.” She arranged her dishes as she spoke. With her attention on the food I was able to study her again, but still couldn’t figure out why I was so attracted to her. I found everything about her damn near perfect, so I knew I was delusional. No one was perfect. But to me, Kate had it all. A beautiful face with a sexy smile, a gorgeous body, and she was fun to talk to. I was still absolutely convinced all I had to do was touch her to erase my stress.
“How so?”
She shrugged. “A lot of odd jobs come along with graduate programs. One of them involved working on consumer behavioral profiles. This was associated with my sociology degrees. The company that hired us was trying to fix a public image issue but they kept getting it wrong and making it worse. So they hired us to get to the root of what their customers were actually thinking and what they wanted. Turns out, it was the company itself that turned everyone off. They were such a hot mess that even their very delicious products weren’t enough to get people to buy their stuff anymore.”
“Are you going to tell me which food this is?”
“Nope,” she said with a laugh that made me feel good. “I signed so many pages with so many rules. Anyway, I got a little too into this job and ended up writing up a whole proposal. The company loved it and hired me to implement it. It took a year and by the end of that process I knew I’d found my niche. I decided to make my doctoral research about the different cultures of workplace environments. I took two more jobs like the first, both much easier to manage, before Max called me up. Ever since I fixed the Pythons my phone has been ringing off the hook.”
Her left hand sat flat on the table while she ate with her right. I was left-handed, so my right hand was free. Only a few inches separated our fingertips. I could slide my hand forward and touch hers.
Fuck, how I wanted to erase all the complications and just flirt like hell. Like we had at Red’s. “What would have happened if Stirling didn’t call you last week?” I held my breath as her eyes locked with mine. Time slowed down. It must have because the space between the thuds in my chest stretched out longer and longer. “Would you have met me at Loretta’s?”
She nodded slowly. A long silence settled between us. Then her tongue darted out and wet her lower lip and I was gone. Nothing else existed but that tongue and all the wonderful things it could do.
“Yes, I was excited you asked. You…confused me.”
“How did I confuse you?” Was it like this brain fog I got every time she came around? Because if so, I totally understood.
“I’m not usually attracted to men wearing t-shirts and flip flops.”
“That’s almost every man in the state of Florida.”
Her eyes danced and lit up again. Fuck me. “And your hair was long and you had all that scruff. And yet, all I wanted was to have dinner with you and hear you laugh.”
Fuck it. I covered her hand with mine and sighed with the relief that came from her skin. “Laugh, huh?”
She didn’t take her hand away, thank goodness. “You have an incredible laugh,” she breathed.
“Well at least now I know you’re not just into my looks.”
Her eyes wandered over my face like I was still some big mystery. “You’re a very attractive man, Isaac.”
“Careful. You might give me a big head.”
She shrugged just a little. “You should probably know that you’re rated as the sexiest coach in baseball. There’s already a lot of attention on you. Not your coaching style or how the Mantas are shaping up in spring training. You. I haven’t dug through all the interview requests or the articles I’ve had my assistant summarize yet, but based solely on the amount of them, I suspect you’re in for a lot of attention.”
I had to tell her about Rosie. If she found out any other way she’d think I kept it from her intentionally. “I have a daughter,” I blurted out.
Kate blinked. “Okay.” She didn’t shrink away or put up a wall or anything. She just blinked.
“Fuck, that came out of nowhere. Sorry. I just…you’re about to dig into me and I thought you should know I have a daughter. I’m a single dad. And if you don’t want to meet me at Loretta’s when this is over I understand.” I felt like I just asked her to marry me. I was just as nervous and worried I was about to hear a no.
“Where is she?” Kate asked instead.
I let out a little breath. “My parents. School, friends, didn’t want to upend her world until I knew what I got myself into.”
“Where’s her mother?”
Ah, the complicated part. “Currently? Beijing. Amanda works for the State Department. Foreign Service. Always has, always will. It’s in her blood. Motherhood is not. She never wanted to get married or have children. Rosie was an accident. A wonderful, amazing accident.” The words poured out of me faster and faster. It was like once I started I couldn’t stop until I had it all out. “She loves Rosie. I don’t mean to make her sound bad. She visits whenever she can and flies Rosie and me out for vacations. She’s not absentee or anything, just not the textbook version of a mom. And it works for us because I’ve always wanted to be a dad. Rosie is my everything.”
We sat staring at each other. Not moving or speaking or eating. Just…staring. Her hand flipped over and took mine, sending a jolt to my gut. “Rosie?”
“Yeah.” My stupid grin took over. “Rosalinda, but we call her Rosie. She’s almost ten.” It was hard to believe. “You’re not running for the door.”
“No. How could I? If she puts that look on your face she has to be incredible.”
Fuck me. My heart started to hammer again, pumping all my blood south.
“But it doesn’t change things, Isaac. I can’t mix business and pleasure. It would ruin my credibility with the staff and I wouldn’t be able to do my job.” Her eyes darted down to the food as her cheeks flushed. “And I want to make the Mantas a happy, successful place for you.”
Even her belief we couldn’t flirt or date while she worked for Stirling couldn’t stop the wave of desire that kept growing inside me. Not with a line like that. I want to make the Mantas a happy, successful place for you. Fucking hell that was hot.
“I won’t interfere with your work, Kate. Don’t push me away. I don’t think I can stand it.” I tried to force my desires through the air. I really didn’t want to get in her way. The last thing I wanted was to cause her pain or complications. But I also couldn’t ignore my feelings. Kate made me feel good. Happy. I wanted to be near her as much as she’d let me.
“I won’t push you away,” she whispered.
I sighed with relief and gave her hand a squeeze. Working with the woman I wanted to date wasn’t ideal, but it would give us a lot of opportunities to get to know each other in ways most couples wouldn’t. And yeah, I was already thinking of us as a couple even though our first date was probably months away. “I hope for both our sakes that you’re very, very good at your job.”
She relaxed just the way I hoped she would. “Lucky for us, I am.”
7
Seth
“Seth! It looks like you’ve made some changes to your swing.” J.D. Smith was one of the Mantas regular on-air personalities, so I answered his question.
“Just a few tweaks. I was getting lazy with my stance.” My phone kept vibrating in my pocket. I ignored it. Stella Vance, the supermodel, wasn’t taking no for an answer. Ever since Claudia and I finally, officially, completely ended things I went on a short bender of celebrities, only coming to realize just how right everyone had been all along.
I…was an asshole.
An epically selfish, destructive asshole. I became everything she was in my blind rage to prove her wrong.
Fucking hell.
“The swing is looking good,” J.D. continued. “How has Isaac Anson affected your game?”
It was probably a fair question, but it annoyed me. It wasn’t like Isaac was a stranger. “If you remember, I played college ball with Anson. Both Ansons.”
“Oh, I remember. Does having someone who used to be a teammate affect the relationship of manager and player?”
“No. Isaac Anson is and always has been, one of the greatest ballplayers of our generation. If he tells me to do something, I’m going to do it. It’s a fucking shame it took this long for someone to realize how brilliant he could be at managing.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.
It made J.D. chuckle. He was a good guy. J.D. had been an average pitcher once upon a time, but he was a great analyst. Something he had in common with Isaac.
So I said so. “You see the game differently, J.D. You see the whole picture. So does Isaac.”
“I look forward to seeing more great baseball out of the Mantas this season.”
I finally made it to my car and pulled away before anyone else got in my way. My phone kept vibrating in the cradle so I answered even though I really, really didn’t want to.
“Hey Stella.”
“Seth! I’m in town for the weekend!” She sounded high.
“I’m not. Spring training, remember?”
“Oh, boo. When will you be back?”
I cracked my neck and jumped on the highway. “Stella, we talked about this. I’m taking a break. Not just you…everyone. I’m not dating anyone.” She probably thought it was a lie. One of thousands I’d told women over the years. Whatever it took to get what I wanted.
Just me, myself, and I. That’s all I cared about. Asshole.
“It’s just…I have a showing in Miami next month. I really want you there.”
That was the old me. Any chance to make a splash, cash, and an orgasm. “I can’t, Stella. Next month I’ll be in the thick of baseball season. And besides, I’m not dating anyone.”
“It doesn’t have to be a date. It could just be two friends making a lucrative appearance together. Come on, Sethy-poo. Please?”
I would have bent like a twig in a strong gust just a few weeks ago. “Sorry. I really need to just be by myself for a while. I hope you can understand.”
The line went silent. It stayed silent for a really long time. Then, “Fine. If you’re done with me you could have just said that.” Then my phone beeped and the call ended.
“I did tell you that.” Fuck, the problem with lying to everyone about everything was that no one believed you when you finally told the truth.
I pulled into the driveway of the house I rented for the month. There were already two other cars taking up one side of the driveway. I slid into the empty garage. The moment I opened the door I was hit by the scent of garlic and groaned.
“I told you guys you don’t have to cook for me!”
Juan, Alex, and Manny all stood at different places around the kitchen. Juan had a knife and several different kinds of vegetables chopped up in front of him. Alex stood over the stove. Manny mixed up a salad.
“We all gotta eat, man,” Alex said. “Just accept our gratitude.”
“Fine.” I threw my keys into the bowl and dropped my backpack by my bedroom door. It was my custom to rent a big house and offer the extra rooms to the minor leaguers for free. This month was their chance to prove they had the stuff to hang with the big boys. Most, if not all, of them would return to the minors, the low pay, and whatever housing was offered. Giving these guys a chance to stay somewhere a little nicer and get a taste of what life might be like when they made it, was my way of giving back.
Things were way worse when I was in the minors, but it was still important to me to help where I could. Baseball was a fickle lover, giving great fame and riches to a very small handful of players, and absolutely exploiting the dreams of hundreds more.
I got to be in the handful and I’d be damned if I didn’t acknowledge how fucking rare it was. “So what’s on the menu?”
They plopped me down at the table with a bowl of spicy-as-fuck meat and veggies with a side of some kind of rice and a beer. The best part of baseball, aside from playing and the money, was meeting guys from all over the world. They brought their cultures and cuisine into my life and I appreciated the fuck out of it. Last year I had a player from South Korea introduce me to food and drinks I never even heard of. This year my guys had a hot streak. Sometimes it was a little too hot.
At least they were generous with the beer.
I watched as they ate and replayed the game from earlier today. Recited what each coach had told them to work on. Traded ideas. They were so full of hope.
I didn’t have that anymore. That burning need to get out on the field and kick ass. If anything, I was going through the motions. Show up, warm up, hit balls, catch balls, repeat. I didn’t need to hit the most home runs. I’d already done that. I didn’t need to steal the most bases. Done that too. I didn’t even need to win a World fucking Series. I’d have that ring on my finger very soon.
When I looked across the table I saw fire.
My fire was gone.
My fire for so long was revenge. I had to prove I was better than anyone else. I had to make more money than anyone else. I needed my face on billboards and in commercials. I had to do all that because I had to prove to her what a colossal mistake she’d made.
I fucked everyone I could, trying to prove…something. Maybe that I could have anyone I wanted? Fuck if I knew. I just moved through life a ball of anger and resentment, doing whatever felt right.
Now that I stopped, I didn’t know what to do.
“Butler.” Alex waved his hand in front of my face. He was a good pitcher. Might even make the opening day roster this year.
“Yeah?”
“How’s the food?”
“Good. It’s amazing. I can’t feel my tongue, but I liked it.”
The guys laughed, looking really proud of themselves. “I know you say we don’t have to cook for you, but it makes me happy, okay?” Juan said, hand over his heart.
“Okay. But you’ll have to let me make my wings one day. It’s only fair.”
