I might not be the brightest bulb, but I had no idea what I’d done to piss her off. She brushed past me and threw her stuff onto the bench. The same book I’d taken from her weeks ago fell to the side of the bag. The desperate need to find out what was in there took over. It felt like a sneeze—a tickle in the core of my chest. It spread and I cracked my knuckles. I gazed around. She wasn’t in sight and I took two steps. I could reach out and see what the—
“What thehellare you doing?”
Shit. Shit.I spun around and plastered a smile on my face. It didn’t work. If she could shoot fire out of her eyes, I’d be dead. No question. Those frightening eyes bored into me. I wracked my brain for something…anything to get out of trouble. “Uh, well, see…I—”
“You what? You wanted to look to see what’s in my stuff? Huh?”
Uh-oh.Her voice cracked. She was either furious or about to cry. I braced myself for both scenarios. But she did neither. I stumbled back two steps and flinched when she threw the book at me.
“Take a look. Laugh your ass off at me. I don’t give a shit. I write to my dead best friend. My first and last boyfriend. I’m crazy, right? God.” She ran her fingers through her ponytail and pulled on the end. The wild look, I recognized it. Something flipped inside me. “I don’t need this shit. Not fromyou.”
“Fiona. Please, sit.” My calm tone shocked us both. Her lips parted.To hell with our little game.I handed her the book and thought about touching her, but pulled back. She sat on the bench and brought her knees to her chest. There was so much fire and passion on her face, but the turmoil hurt to see. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy. Can’t you tell?”
“Knock it off. I’m asking as someone who cares.” Fuck it—I placed my hand on her knee and took the spot next to her. I left no room between us. She tried to pull away, but I didn’t let her. “You want to fight with me? I can take it. You want me to ignore you? Let me know. But something’s wrong.”
“Why do you care?” Her goddamn lip trembled. It wasn’t much, but the small gesture hit me right in the chest.
“Honestly? I normally don’t give a shit about others. But with you, I recognize it. The pain, that is.” I released a long, pent-up sigh and patted her. “I’m sorry I thought about snooping. I won’t cross the line again.”
She nodded, ran her hands over her face a couple of times and sat up taller. I admired her strength. Not many women I knew could piece themselves together like that. Hell, even my teammates couldn’t. “Thank you for apologizing.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“You said that.” She sniffed and I grinned.
“I meant the apologizing. I won’t apologize again. That’s my apology for the month.”
“Oh god. You’re serious.” She smacked my chest and let out a small chuckle. The rope around my chest loosened. “Gideon, about what I said…”
“Stop.” I closed my fingers around her hand. I waited until she met my gaze. “We all have our demons. You don’t have to explain anything to me. I shouldn’t have pried.”
“You don’t think that I’m crazy?” She lowered her voice, barely above a whisper. Her left eye twitched a bit and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why it was so damn cute. I shook my head.
“Nope.”
“I don’t believe you, but fine. I think I hear the kids anyway.” She stood, dusted off her tight black pants and gave me a long look. “Thank you. You could’ve been a real asshole about it. But you weren’t. Let’s get a beer after the game. Maybe we can talk about it.”
“Sure. We’ll takemycar.”
My words were not lost on her and she winked at me. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait for the game to be over.
* * * *
“I can’t believe you won the game. It was a nail-biter! That play at the end…well done!” Cheryl cheered and patted me on the back. Quinn gazed at the baseball players with an evil grin, the she-devil already planning to charm them for candy, I was sure. I hoisted her up onto my shoulders and faced my sister. Little did she know thatFionahad called the play to win the game.
I would rather take ballet lessons with Quinn than admit it. “Thanks, sis.”
“Excuse me, did you just take credit for the sacrifice bunt?” Fiona jogged over with fire burning in her eyes. Shocking. She could hear anything from anywhere. “Hi, Cheryl. You must be Quinn!”
“That’s me! I’m Quinn.” The rascal held out her hand from atop my shoulders, and Fiona took it with a huge smile. “You’re pretty. I like your hair.”
“Thanks, girlie, I like yours too. It’s pretty, like your mom’s.” Fiona’s genuine smile annoyed me—I so rarely saw it pointed in my direction.
Quinn giggled and I rolled my eyes. If the three of them got to gabbing, I would be done for.Shit.I needed to get Cheryl on her way out. “Thanks for coming, ladies. I’ll walk you to the car.”
“No, you don’t.” Fiona reached out and put her small fingers around my arm. “Explain why you were taking credit for my idea. Sorry, Cheryl. This jerk likes to stir the pot, you know? Takes credit for stuff he doesn’t do.”
