Silas:Thanks. Road trips are a lot easier when you don’t have to participate in practice, only direct.
Me:Ihaven’t decided whether I’ll watch or look on Instagram later. They’d give me the better angle.
Silas:I am sure they would, but you already know the good angles, right, Slugger?
I did, and I remembered them every damn time I watched Silas walk back into the dugout. As sexy as he was in his uniform, he was lethally gorgeous underneath. I remembered every ridge of muscle, the smooth skin on his back as I dragged my nails down, the soft tickle of his chest hair against my breasts.
My body heated from head to toe, the yearning and frustration hitting me hard in equal measure.
Me:Good night, Silas.
Silas:Sweet dreams.
I let my head fall back on the couch.
I’d have dreams tonight, but they wouldn’t be sweet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SILAS
“How long is this PR thing?”Chris asked me after we headed out of the locker room. We’d won in the tenth inning of a long game, and the guys had to be exhausted. If the girls weren’t waiting in the offices, dying to meet them, I would have excused them all to go home, but I couldn’t do that.
“Not that long. I know you guys are tired but think of when you were their age and how it would feel to meet professional ballplayers.”
I spied a few nods and grunts when I turned my head. It didn’t matter how much I sympathized with the team. Kent would have had a heart attack if I’d let them skip, and I didn’t want to disappoint Rachel and her sister, although I tried to forget they were here.
I wasn’t sure what it was about Rachel that lured me in so much that I’d felt her presence. It was weird and not at all helpful, but it was palpable. I did have altruistic motives for choosing a girls’ softball team to sponsor. Girls’ and women’s sports teams always got the least amount of funding because the possibility of going pro, at least on a level that most considered pro, wasn’t there.
Kent had agreed with me when I’d suggested it, not knowing why I’d recommended sponsoring this particular team.
Rachel and I weren’t possible. I knew that. We knew that. This tense friendship we had would be all I could get, but I wanted to help her in some way, be someone in her life who made things even a little easier so maybe she’d get to enjoy a moment or two without worrying about doing all she could for her sister.
And if I got to see her again, what was the harm? We were adults and could handle ourselves. As long as we’d see each other in public places, we’d be fine.
So what if she starred in every dirty fantasy I had and I’d probably call out her name with my hand around my dick during my next shower—again. I’d focus on the team I had to manage and the publicity hoops my bosses made me jump through, not on the woman who’d taken over my mind and most of my common sense.
The guys followed me toward the back of the field, where the management offices were. The girls would be waiting for us in a conference room, and it was supposed to be a short meet-and-greet. I hoped so for their sake and mine, as too much time around Rachel would make the feelings I was trying to ignore bubble up and make me do something that might be too obvious, like stare at her beautiful face and linger around her for too long.
Extra time with Rachel would only mess with my head even more, so why did I keep trying for it?
Kent was waiting for us with the girls and their parents, quickly introducing us and mentioning that we were all happy to be their sponsor and would sign anything they asked us to. They stared back at us with nervous smiles, whispering to each other as they clustered together.
“Hi, I’m Amy, the coach. I’ll introduce them since they all seem to be a little frozen.” She jerked her head back to hermostly quiet team. “I can’t tell you how much we all appreciate this.”
“Oh, it’s our pleasure,” Kent said, extending his hand to Amy, a tall woman with red hair pulled back into a ponytail. “But I can’t take the credit. It was Silas’s idea.”
“Well, thank you too,” Amy said as she shook my hand. “I don’t know how you heard about our little team, but we are very grateful.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, not explaining how I knew about her team, because how would I?I had mind-altering sex with the older sister and guardian of one of your players and never thought I’d see her again.Now that she’d stumbled back into my life, I had to find a way to make her happy, even though being with her again could never happen, and the more time I got to spend with her, the more I’d started to forget that.
Nope, I couldn’t understand those reasons myself, let alone explain them.
I spotted Rachel over Amy’s shoulder, standing next to a girl I assumed was her little sister. She had long black hair that draped almost down to her elbows. She had the same eyes as her sister, but she was tall and lean, a little less than a head shorter than Rachel.
Rachel turned her head, smiling when she caught my gaze, and wrapped her hand around her sister’s elbow to push her forward.
Kent and Amy had moved on to speak with other players, clearing a path between us. I was thankful and hopeful none of them would be watching us or catch how, once my gaze landed on her, I couldn’t tear it away.
