| |
“YOU SLUNK OUT OF MY bed without saying goodbye.”
Sebastian’s voice washed over her, and all the still-aching parts of her from two nights ago sat up and panted.
Not that she could blame them—one night with Sebastian had launched her into the stratosphere, leaving her wondering how she could have ever found her previous sex lives satisfying.
Crushing guilt assaulted her at the thought, leaving her a bit cranky. Her mood churned like the murky sea before her under a rare, heavily clouded sky.
William sat next to her, adding to her guilt.
She turned to face Sebastian, craning her neck to find him glaring down at her. “I didn’t slink.”
“I’m a light sleeper. You had to have slunk.” He started to drop down next to her.
She stuck her arm out. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
His eyebrows shot up. “I’m sitting.”
“Not without giving me that cup you’re not.” She put her hand out and wiggled her fingers.
“Seriously? This again? I would think my having been in you for hours would have upgraded our consumer/troll relationship.”
“Yes, but obviously you came out here to find me, and you didn’t even bother bringing me a cup. Rude. So now you must throw yourself on the sacrificial sword and give me yours.”
“You don’t deserve a cup after your disappearing act,” he said.
“Oh, I deserve a cup after the shameless things I did to you,” she said.
“Then I deserve to sit for making you come, oh, I don’t know, was it seven times before we finally fell asleep?”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “A gentleman wouldn’t brag.”
“A lady wouldn’t have tied me to my bed with my ties.”
Yeah, it was kind of inspired. But telling him to ‘stay still’ hadn’t worked. He was a shit listener, and she wanted to explore his rock-hard baseball body without interference.
“The right kind of lady would.” She sighed. “Sit, but seriously, I need a sip. I’ve been out here for an hour, and I forgot my water.”
He dropped down next to her and immediately wrapped his arm around her before handing her his cup.
“I thought you would have come out to find me yesterday,” she said before taking a gulp of the hot brew. The heat stung her throat, but she didn’t care. All was right in the world again.
“Yeah, well, I had planned to, but something came up.”
“Your shoulder?” she asked.
“I wish.”
“What is it?”
“Well, you clearly haven’t watched the entertainment news. At least that’s something. The people you know must not have either.”
“Oh, God. Do I even want to know?”
He scratched the back of his head. “Probably not, but you need to know. A woman came forward, claiming I’m the father of her baby.”
“Okay, that’s my cue.” She moved out from under his arm and tried to push up, but he curled his hand into the back of her shorts and yanked her back down with a hard thud, making coffee slosh onto her hand.
“Dammit!” She passed the cup to her other hand and shook the coffee off as best she could.
“That’s what you get for being an idiot,” he bit out.
“If you’re trying to flatter me, you’re sucking at it. Big time,” she said.
“The least you can do is put on your big girl pants and hear me out. After all, I’m here confessing all to you, am I not?”
She pressed her lips together and glanced away. Here he was, telling her some nubile young thing might be carrying his baby, and in a couple days, Kate’s mother would likely bring a pamphlet to brunch with a chart breakdown of how many viable eggs Kate had at her age.
And William still sat beside her, which just made the whole thing weird.
“What will you do?” she asked without looking at him. She didn’t need to see the look on his face. The look that told her he was slowly putting distance between them.
And how many times had he said “marry me” to her the other night?
She didn’t know what she wanted, but after their time together, she wanted something. At least a chance at something. It’s not like she was mining for diamonds in this relationship, not that she’d have to, but a second date would be nice.
It was the least he could do after she put out on the first date.
“I have no other choice but to give my DNA for testing. If I refuse, I look guilty.”
“How possible is it?” What did this girl look like? After their talk the other day about his aversion to fake boobs and walking fetuses hitting on him, she hoped at the very least the woman wasn’t just like what he said he loathed.
Not that she wanted the woman to be like her either.
Five minutes ago, there was no other woman. Could they just go back to that?
He took the coffee from her and smiled. “It’s not.”
She slowly turned to face him. “What do you mean it’s not? She’s accusing you—you must have had sex.”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?”
He gave her a sardonic look, brow raised and mouth twisted. “You think I would forget that?”
“Well, if you were out with the guys, got loaded... it could happen.”
“My last bender was the day I found out about my shoulder. I was the last patient of the day. I went out and got bent with the MRI technologist—Doug.”
“I don’t suppose Doug has ovaries, then?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Nope.”
“You haven’t slept with anyone else?”
“It’s been a while. And I always use protection. If something had gone wrong and I got someone pregnant, the child would have been born by now, and the mother would have already been after me for support.”
“Why would she be doing this then? What could she possibly get out of it?”
“You’d be amazed. A little fame, some money for interviews while the paternity is in question, that kind of thing. It happens a lot, and it’s hard for me to even get mad because it’s more pathetic than anything.”
Yeah, well, she still wanted to drop-kick the bitch. “And what about us? Where do we stand?”
“I guess that depends after I give you the other part of the news.”
“There’s more?”
“Just a bit. With the story, they ran a grainy picture of us from Ten Spot the other night. They haven’t identified you yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
“Great. Knowing my luck, they’ll discover my identity and find me out here with William’s ashes.” She pushed off the sand and reached for the urn. “It’s stupid. I need to just honor his wishes.”
Sebastian caught her hand and stood up next to her. “Hey, don’t rush this on my account.” He smoothed his fingers over her cheek, curling his palm along her jaw and staring into her eyes.
“You keep William as long as you need to. You’ll know when the time is right.”
Did he have to do that? Did he have to be so damn understanding of the dead man sitting on the other side of her?
How was she supposed to keep herself from falling for him? For everything good that he was?
He cupped her neck and pulled her in for a scorching kiss that singed her toes. His tongue searched for hers and glided alongside it in a silken movement.
She recognized the motion from the other night, the way he had used that same tongue to part her and caress her, bringing her to a blood-boiling climax. Her body had sprung to life, and she’d clenched his sheets so hard she tore a hole in them.
More than just her mind remembering, her body remembered...and they both wanted it all again.
He pulled back and smudged the moisture away from her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.
“Why are you so understanding about this?” she asked, squinting up at him. Her hair whipped up around her face, and he reached in to tuck it behind her ear.
He shrugged and linked hands with hers. “Because I want you, and he’s part of the deal.”
“You know how that sounds, right?”
“Like I’m in love with you,” he said quietly.
She tried to step back, but he held her there. “No one said anything about love,” she whispered.
“I just did... and at some point, we’ll need to discuss it.”
“You barely know me,” she said.
“That doesn’t matter. I know my mind. And I definitely know my heart,” he said, pinning her with his stare.
“Sebastian—”
He shook his head and shut down whatever she was about to say. “Look, I have to drive to San Jose this afternoon to meet with management and team attorneys to get the test done. Come with me?”
Being seen by his team and bosses was as much of a declaration to her as the words, and much more serious than his flirtatious demands to marry him from a couple nights before. Despite the dozen ways this could all go terribly wrong, she desperately wanted to take him up on it.
“I can’t. I promised my sister I’d babysit tomorrow night. She’s pregnant with twins, so they’re limited in how many times they’ll get to go out before their life turns into one giant bounce house.”
He kissed her forehead. “I understand. Let’s get together when I get back. What are you doing Sunday afternoon?”
“I will have just had brunch with my parents, so I’ll be shit company,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. It’s like her psyche knew just what Sunday morning would bring, and the headache decided to ramp up and torture her early.
“Perfect.”
“You’re twisted,” she said with a laugh.
“You don’t know the half of it.” He swatted her ass again, something she was beginning to like, and headed back to his bungalow.
He thought he’d lost her. Relief settled in his heart when he spotted her on the beach. Was it normal to fall hard and fast like this?
He’d never really been in love, so he had no idea how it all really went, but from what he’d witnessed of his friends and family, he and Kate should have at least dated for a few months for her to have crawled so cleanly into his heart and taken up residence there.
Since her, for the first time since his injury, he didn’t worry so much about the prognosis. Oh, he wanted his career. He loved baseball. He’d lived and breathed it since he was four and his dad started him in T-ball. The minute he’d gotten that bat in his hands, there was no going back.
Baseball life was hard, though, despite the huge paycheck. He had to give up privacy, some friendships, and relationships along the way. He had to be on guard daily for scams, like what had jumped out at him now, and anyone in a relationship with him had to commit to the same.
It was a lot to ask.
Almost impossible.
And why he had put off serious relationships indefinitely.
But now he had Kate, and for once, he could see himself compromising on his belief that marriage and a family should wait until after his contracts were done. He’d figured a serious relationship might well be on the back burner until he was at least thirty-five, if not forty.
He smiled as he rinsed the last of the shaving cream off his face.
Well, not anymore.
He called his closest teammate, third baseman Randy Carver.
“Hey, man, where the hell have you been?” Randy asked. “It’s like you fell off the face of the planet.”
He sat on the bed and put on his pants. “In a way I did. I needed a break, and I needed to see a new team of doctors so I know my real prognosis.”
“And?”
Pinning the phone between his ear and shoulder, he buttoned his pants. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”
“Excellent. So where have you been?”
He slid his arm in his shirt. “I’m in Tallulah Cove. I’ll be back in town for a couple nights to straighten out some business.”
“The thing with Callie Sandville’s claim?”
“That’d be the one.”
“Yeah, just a warning, guy: there’re a few of us preparing to go through it. This group of bloodsuckers hanging around for the past couple months has gotten out of hand. We were at Rex’s the other night, and they stalked our table until closing time. We made a pact that we’re only dating older women now. Thirty at the bare minimum.”
Sebastian laughed and wondered what Kate would think of the deal the guys had made. “Good call. I’ve found one of those myself.”
“Nice—who is she?”
“Her name is Kate. She’s got a smart mouth and adventurous spirit. And her legs... perfection.”
“Damn, can’t wait to meet her. She got friends, a sister maybe?”’
“A sister pregnant with twins, so cool your nuts, dude.”
“Maybe I can convince her to stop slumming with you and come my way,” Randy joked.
“Only if you want me to use your balls for batting practice,” Sebastian returned with little heat.
“I hear you loud and clear.”
“Good. Look, I’ll call you when I get into town,” Sebastian said.
“Sounds good, man.”
Fully dressed, Sebastian grabbed his bag and headed for San Jose.
TALLULAH NIGHTS 
CHAPTER SEVEN
