For the Win: A Standalone Baseball Romance

by Raine Thomas

  “Okay.” She held up some fries to prod him into taking more himself.

  After he did, he said, “I saw that you brought groceries with you. Were you going to cook dinner for us?”

  “You saw them?”

  “On video.” Seeing her expression, he ate his fries and said, “Let me start at the beginning. I got a call not long after I got home this morning…”

  They made their way through the bag of fries and their shakes as Will summarized his day: the call from Katie’s mother, his conversations with Frank and Ryan, and their decision for Will to meet with her at the house. He also explained about the cameras and microphones and what they captured.

  Jasmine was outraged on his behalf. “She stole from you? How dare she?”

  “I know. I’m just glad I wasn’t gone from the room long enough for her to get even bolder and go to the bedrooms.”

  Thinking of Carol Ann in Will or Katie’s rooms both creeped her out and jabbed her temper. “Oh, she’s lucky she’s not here right now.”

  It steamed her to picture that woman sauntering around Will’s house acting like she owned the place. She gathered up their garbage and walked it over to the trash can.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked as she washed the grease from her fingers.

  He walked over to do the same. “Since she only took the twenty bucks Ryan planted, I’m not pursuing charges. When she left, she asked if she could keep in touch and I told her no, so in my mind, that’s that.”

  “What if she decides not to leave it there?” she asked as they finished drying their hands.

  Because she was watching him, she saw the pain that entered his expression. She put away the dish towel and reached out to take his hand. He wove his fingers through hers. The pain eased.

  “I’ve been in touch with my attorney to make sure she’s prepared if anything happens,” he said. “She doesn’t seem worried.”

  “Okay. Then that’s what we have to believe too.” Glancing at the fridge, she asked, “Do you want a beer?”

  “I’d better not. I’m one long blink away from falling asleep where I’m standing as it is.”

  She released his hand to get two cups from the cupboard and filled them with water and ice. As they headed back to the sofa and sat back down, she noted how heavily he sank against the cushions, as though he carried a great burden. She longed to ease it for him. Maybe she could if she better understood what that burden was.

  He took the cup from her and drank some water. He looked like he was quickly losing steam. She’d have to guide the rest of their conversation if she wanted to learn how she could best help him.

  “How well do you know Carol Ann?” she asked.

  “Not at all, it turns out.”

  She detected the bitterness in his voice. “Did you meet her in high school?”

  He shook his head. “I met her my first month out of high school when I was in North Carolina for Single-A ball. I pushed to graduate early so I could enter the draft. I was seventeen and thought I was the shit, you know?”

  She nodded in understanding.

  “She was older than me by a couple years, and boy, did she know what she was doing. She led me around like a puppy begging for attention. I was more than happy to—” he paused and took another drink of water. “Well, you can fill in the blanks. Anyway, things got hot and heavy for a week or two before I caught her making out with one of my teammates.”

  “Ouch.”

  He shrugged and leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees. “Not really. That might be the saddest part of all. I brushed it off and moved onto the next one. I don’t think I even remembered her name by the following week.”

  That should have made him sound callous and cavalier. Instead, it relieved her. She had wondered how deep his feelings for Katie’s mother ran, especially after meeting her.

  “Is this the first time you’ve seen her since she…”

  “Abandoned Katie on my doorstep?” he finished for her.

  Her hand tightened into a fist. “Is that what happened?”

  He nodded and looked down at the cup he held between his hands. “Katie was four. I lived in Denver at the time and had no clue she even existed. Carol Ann left her on my porch in the middle of the night. Katie wasn’t dressed for the Colorado winter. If I hadn’t been out at a party and come home to find her…”

  Jasmine’s eyes stung as she pictured Katie all alone in the cold and the dark, left behind by the one person in her life who was supposed to love her most.

  “You’re an amazing man, Will Campbell,” she said softly. “You saved Katie’s life.”

  He shifted uncomfortably, setting his cup on one of the coasters on the coffee table. “I did what any self-respecting father should do.”

  “That doesn’t make it any less admirable.”

  “Does that mean you forgive me for forgetting to cancel with you this afternoon?”

  She smiled and patted his hand. “Sure.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” He released a long breath. “So now we get to move on to my second apology of the night. The one for being such an ass after the concert.”

  Some of the hurt she had buried rose to the surface over the memory. He obviously saw it, as he nodded.

  “Yeah,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face. “The whole comment about you failing and being alone…that was me talking out of my ass. It was a total dick thing to say. I’ve got no good excuse for it either, but I swear on my mother’s grave that I’m really, really sorry I hurt you.”

  Sincerity infused every word. She decided to put her pride aside for once.

  “Could it have been because you wanted to discuss taking our relationship to the next level and I brushed it aside?”

  His mouth opened, but all that came out was, “Uh.”

  “I sort of reasoned it out over the past couple weeks,” she explained. “The time apart helped me put things into perspective.”

  His brow wrinkled as though he couldn’t quite comprehend what she was saying. It once again brought his fatigue to her attention.

  “It did?” he said.

  “Yeah. And you know what? I’d really like to discuss our relationship too.”

  “You would?”

  “Yes.” She got to her feet and gave him a gentle tag until he also rose. “But not tonight. Tonight, I’ve got other plans.”

  “You do?”

  She didn’t have any plans at all, of course. It wasn’t like she’d known how the events of that afternoon and evening would unfold. But he didn’t seem capable of thinking clearly enough to reason that out. She took his hand and started toward the stairs.

  “Come on, William,” she said. “I’m putting you to bed.”

  “I’ve got a bed somewhere. I should probably go to that one. And my dad’s with Katie. He’s expecting me back.”

  “I’ll take care of it. Promise.”

  It was enough to stop any further protests. She led him into the bedroom, sending Dido sleeking past them and out the door. After turning on the bedside lamp, she closed the door and reached down to grab the comforter and top sheet to tug them down. She would get some bedding from the hallway linen closet for May to use on the sofa that night and find a way to make it up to her sister later.

  With that done, she turned back to him. She reached for the first button of the dark blue short-sleeved collared shirt he wore over a lighter blue T-shirt. A few buttons later, she helped him shrug it off and then reached for the T-shirt, lifting it up and over his head.

  Her fingers slid beneath the waistband of his khaki shorts. He drew in a sharp breath. Her eyes lifted to his.

  “I’m suddenly not so tired anymore,” he said in a gruff voice.

  “So it would seem.”

  Her other hand also slid beneath the waistband, moving to the sensitive point just beneath his navel. His breathing grew more ragged.

  She slowly unfastened the button, then took her time with the zipper. She
allowed the shorts to drop to the floor before she lowered herself to her knees in front of him. The evidence of his arousal was right in front of her as she started untying and removing his shoes and socks and divesting him of those as well as his shorts. The last to go was his boxer briefs, which she eased down his body while looking up at him from her kneeling position.

  “Jasmine.”

  Knowing what he wanted—what he needed—she grasped the length of him and started stroking. It wasn’t long before he let out a low groan and thrust himself insistently against her palms.

  She got to her feet and said, “Onto the bed.”

  He hesitated, apparently torn between wanting to touch her and wanting to please her by following her orders. He eventually did as she said.

  She also climbed onto the bed, settling herself beside him. He started to reach for her. She captured his hand and moved it back to his side, softening the rebuff by pressing her lips against his.

  She indulged him in a couple of deep, languorous kisses as her hand continued to torment him. Then she shifted down, using her lips and tongue along the way. She paused and lifted the pendant he wore. Having already learned how important it was to him, she kissed it like he did before he pitched. They exchanged an intimate, meaningful look before she made her way along the rest of his body until she reached her goal.

  By the time he finally fell asleep a short while later, it was with a smile on his face.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Will woke with Jasmine’s scent filling his senses. It conjured the provocative memory of her taking him into her mouth and driving him out of his mind the night before. It also reminded him that he was still in her bed.

  His eyes slid open. Morning sunlight bathed the room.

  The bed beside him was empty.

  He looked around for a clock or his phone. He found both on the nightstand beside him. The clock read seven-thirteen. He’d slept for a solid ten hours.

  Spotting a folded sheet of notebook paper tucked under his phone, he picked it up and opened it.

  Will, it read, I had to go in for the opening shift this morning and didn’t want to wake you. I called your dad last night so he knew you’d be staying here. He said he and Gareth will take care of Katie until you get home. Good luck at your game tonight. I’ll be watching. XO, Jasmine.

  Disappointment rolled through him because he had missed out on the pleasure of waking up next to her. His phone was plugged into a charger, one he assumed belonged to Jasmine or May. He picked it up and removed the cable before calling his dad.

  “Hey there,” Frank greeted him. “You all rested?”

  “Yeah. Just woke up. Jasmine said she reached out to you last night after I passed out.”

  “She did. Said you were so tired she didn’t feel comfortable sending you home. I agreed. Always knew she had a sensible head on her shoulders.”

  Will smiled.

  “Did you make up?”

  “Yeah.” They hadn’t gotten to the conversation he’d really wanted to have about their relationship, but they’d made some headway. “For some reason she was willing to forgive me for being an idiot.”

  “Maybe she’s not so sensible after all.”

  “Hey.”

  His dad chuckled. “You heading home?”

  “Soon. I’ve got to do my Walk of Shame first.”

  “Sounds fun. I’m on the road to the Donovan project.” Frank said, referencing a new house flip they’d purchased the week before. “Ryan is off this morning, so there’s some other guy from Ordinem watching the house. Gareth is having breakfast with Katie. She’s looking forward to seeing you.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing her too. I barely got to spend any time with her yesterday.”

  “Yeah, well.”

  “Yeah. I’ll let you go. Thanks for staying with Katie last night.”

  “Any time. Chat with you later.”

  Will disconnected the call and sat up. His gaze fell on the life-size cardboard cutout of Elvis standing in one corner of the room. Jasmine had told him about May’s obsession with The King. The cutout gave him the impulse to say, “Thank you…thank you very much,” in the iconic Elvis voice…an impulse he barely resisted.

  He climbed out of bed, stretched, and looked around for his clothes. At some point, Jasmine had neatly folded them and put them on top of the dresser across from the bed. As he pulled on his T-shirt, the fresh scent of detergent reached him.

  She had washed his clothes.

  It provoked a grin as he finished dressing. He tucked the note she had written into his pocket and unlocked his phone to compose a text to her.

  Thanks for taking such good care of me last night. Missed you this morning. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

  There was plenty more he wanted to say to her, but a text wasn’t going to fly for that. He tucked his phone into his pocket and opened the door. Jasmine’s cat sat between him and the bathroom. Her green eyes narrowed as though questioning why he was standing there and what nefarious thing he’d done with Jasmine.

  “I’m going to win you over one of these days,” he vowed.

  She rose onto all fours, gave him a haughty flick of her tail, and made a low mewling sound implying she would shred him limb from limb before she edged toward the stairs and loped down them.

  The behavior so reminded him of Jasmine that he chuckled as he stepped into the bathroom. While he was in there, he found a packaged toothbrush on the counter, one of the freebies that dentist’s offices gave away to their patients. He opened it and used it with the toothpaste someone had also left out.

  As a Walk of Shame went, this one really wasn’t so bad.

  When he got downstairs, he saw May sleeping under a fluffy blanket on the sofa and Danny sitting at the breakfast bar in front of a half-eaten muffin and a cup of coffee. The scent of the coffee made Will’s brain sit up and beg, but Danny turned and gave him a once-over that had him suddenly eager to duck out. He debated if it was worth trying to make small talk to get a hit of caffeine.

  “Help yourself,” Danny whispered, seeing Will’s glance toward the coffee pot.

  “I’ve got to get going,” he hedged in an equally quiet voice. “Traffic isn’t getting any better and, well…”

  “This is really awkward?” Danny offered.

  “That,” Will said, pointing at him. “But thanks.”

  Danny held up a finger and climbed off his stool. He went into the kitchen, opened a cabinet, and pulled down an insulated tumbler. Guessing what he was doing, Will put his discomfort to the side and headed to the kitchen as Danny added coffee to the tumbler.

  “Cream?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Once the coffee was doctored to Will’s liking, Danny handed it over. “You can just give the cup to Jazzy the next time you see her,” he said. “I’m glad you two worked things out.”

  “Me too. Thanks. And please thank May for me for taking the couch last night.”

  “Will do.”

  As he stepped outside into the already stifling humidity, Will looked across the street at Steamy Beans. He wanted to see Jasmine and thank her in person, but knew she’d be slammed at this time of day. After a brief internal debate, he decided not to risk interfering in her work. He hopped into his truck and headed home.

  Although traffic was already building for the morning commute, it had been a flimsy excuse to toss at Danny. His house was only a couple of miles from May’s. The drive took less than ten minutes even with traffic. He was soon striding into the kitchen with Gump clomping along beside him trailing drool on his socks.

  The thud of running bare feet prepared him for a tackle-hug from his daughter before she got into sight. He bent down to accept it and barely avoided toppling over as she barreled into him.

  “Morning, kiddo. I’ve missed you.”

  She rained a few kisses on his cheeks, letting him know she’d missed him too.

  Glancing over at Gareth, who was rins
ing a plate and loading it into the dishwasher, he stood back up and said, “Good morning. Thanks for keeping this troublemaker company.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Katie elbowed Will in the thigh.

  “What? You don’t think you’re a troublemaker?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then how can you possibly be my daughter?”

  She crossed her arms and gave him an adorable scowl.

  “Fine then. You’re an angel. Feel like sitting with me while I eat some breakfast?”

  She was so happy to spend time with him that she insisted on making him breakfast: two slightly blackened Eggo waffles drenched in syrup and topped with mushy bananas she attempted to slice with her kid-friendly butter knife. It certainly could’ve been worse.

  At least he hadn’t had to sneak any of it to the dog.

  Gareth joined them at the table when he finished the dishes. “I promised Katie we’d let her swim this morning,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “I sure don’t. I’ve got to practice my cannonballs sometime, right?” he said with a wink at Katie.

  Her giggle made everything right in the world.

  After finishing his breakfast and cleaning up after himself, he herded her to her bedroom so she could get changed into her swimsuit. He took a quick shower before donning his own swimsuit and grabbing a couple of their pool towels. Then they all headed over to Gareth’s.

  Will and Katie had the pool to themselves for the first hour while Gareth finished some of his chores. Gareth came outside with a pitcher of lemonade once he was ready to relax on the back patio with them. Will climbed out to join him while Katie kept playing in the water.

  “Frank told me you went over to explain things to Jasmine last night,” Gareth said. “Did everything go okay?”

  “Yeah. I apologized for forgetting to cancel with her. She forgave me for being an idiot.”

  “Oh, good. Maybe she’ll make that chicken meal for you another night this week instead.”

  “Chicken? How’d you know what she was planning to make?”

  Gareth’s eyebrows lifted. “Jasmine must not have mentioned she came over here for a bit after finding Carol Ann in your kitchen.”