by Hope Ford
Waiting on the One
Hope Ford
Waiting on the One © 2020 by Hope Ford
Editor: Kasi Alexander
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
www.authorhopeford.com
Contents
1. Jackie
2. Jackie
3. Jackie
4. Jackie
5. Jackie
6. Jackie
7. Reagan
8. Reagan
9. Jackie
10. Reagan
11. Reagan
Epilogue
Epilogue 2
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1
Jackie
Getting home from the office, I barely get the door of my apartment unlocked before my phone starts ringing. I drop everything I’m carrying onto the couch and start searching my purse for it. I’m hoping it’s my boyfriend, Major League baseball player Carter Arnold calling me from his practice. I mean, he sort of owes me an additional call after canceling our date last night at the last minute. I was all dressed up and ready to go out when I’d gotten the call. He said it was some sort of baseball-work thing so I understood, but I can’t help but have a bad feeling about it. It’s already been hard to ignore all the rumors I’ve heard about Carter. They say he’s a player and moves from one woman to the next. With me, he’s been a total gentleman, so until I find out otherwise, I’m giving him a chance.
I finally find my phone and the display shows it’s Milo from the accounting department at work. He keeps asking me out and I’ve turned him down just this week before telling him that I’m going out with Carter Arnold.
I debate answering it, but I feel obliged in case it’s something work related.
“Hello,” I answer, carrying the bag of groceries into the kitchen.
“Hey, Jackie. It’s Milo.”
“Hey, Milo.” I put the carton of milk in the refrigerator. “What can I do for ya?”
He clears his throat. “Well, I wanted to tell you I was sorry about the breakup and was wondering if I could take you out to cheer you up?”
I shut the door of the fridge and lean against the island of my kitchen. “Uh, Carter and I haven’t broken up.”
Milo starts rambling and stuttering.
“Slow down, Milo. What did you say?”
He lets out a soft whistle into the phone. “Uh, well, have you seen the news?”
I pull the phone from my ear and stare at it before hitting the hang up button and running into the living room. I turn it on and flip it over to the sports entertainment channel. I only have to watch for two minutes before Carter’s face fills the screen.
Well it looks like Carter Arnold is at it again. Just last night he was seen at the Underground Club with this unknown woman… I tune out the reporter as I watch Carter making out with some slutty looking hussy. The broadcast is having to fade out parts of the woman’s body that are so explicit they can’t put her on television.
I feel myself start to sweat as my heart starts racing. I’ve never been the kind to just lie down and take it. “Oh hell no! He can’t just blow me off and get away with it.” I grab my keys and purse and drive over to the Maverick stadium where I know he’s practicing. I get there in record time and when I see the guard, I wave and smile at him. He’s seen me before and doesn’t check the old pass I hold up in the air as I walk by the gate. He just smiles and waves me on.
I pass one of the players in the tunnel. Jasper Reilly stops in front of me. “Uh oh, I’ve seen that look before. Carter?”
I barely refrain from clutching my stomach to keep from being sick. Why didn’t I listen to all the rumors? I nod, and he points down the hallway he just came from. “He’s in the locker room.”
When I get outside the door, I stop and catch my breath. When I push the door open, I barrel inside just as Carter’s pulling up his jeans.
His eyes get wide when he sees me, but he still has that smirk on his face. “You couldn’t wait until after practice? Miss me that much?”
The sound that comes out of me is something like a growl. “You blew me off last night for some skank!” The room is silent and I see all the players standing around staring at Carter and me. It’s in this moment that I’m thinking, What am I doing? I’m making an ass of myself. Maybe I should have thought this through a little bit. Determined, though, I’m not backing down now. I’m tired of men like Carter getting away with their shit.
He tries to deny it, but when he sees I’m not buying it, he smirks at me. “You’re stupid if you thought a baseball player wasn’t going to play the field. It’s in the name.”
I can feel my face get even hotter. I want so badly to wound him like he did me.
Reagan
Carter Arnold is the biggest loser. Everybody has been talking about how it’s his last season, his batting average is suffering and since that’s all he has to offer he’ll be out. Carter’s clearly heard the rumors as well because he’s been talking shit about the position players who can play both offense and defense. I’ve been catching most of Arnold’s sour grapes since my locker is near his.
Then to top it all off I’ve got to listen to the asshole treat a sexy, gorgeous woman like shit. The dude should have realized what he had with this little spitfire before he screwed it up. I can’t take my eyes off her. Her long black hair is in curls down to her waist. She has to have the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen and they make me want to get closer to her to see if they get darker when she’s excited. But probably the kicker is the way her curvy body is almost begging me to run my hands down her backside. She’s beautiful and in a class of her own. She doesn’t seem like the skanks that Carter usually hooks up with.
Listening to Carter say that all baseball players are no-standard losers like him is just too much. I snort loudly at his remark.
The woman with the black hair and fire in her eyes looks at me and so does Carter. I can see just a flicker of interest on her face and as if it’s an answer to my earlier question, her eyes change to a dark jade the longer she looks at me. I don’t – I can’t – take my eyes off her.
Carter seems to take offense and adds to his comment, “Unless you thought I was some kind of pussy like Reagan Kline over there.” He points at me, then asks me, “You do like women, don’t you?”
I stand up to my full height and both Carter and the raven haired beauty bend their heads backwards to look at me. “If being a position player who isn’t a walking STD makes me a pussy, then fine by me.”
It was just the right words to piss Carter off. He’s a little sensitive about not having a secure spot on the team. He starts to move toward me, but I don’t even care because the woman walks over to me. “Carter, you’re right. I do deserve a lot better than you.” She stops right in front of me. “Reagan, would you go out to dinner with me?”
I’m surprised but also pleased. Her soft floral scent hits my nose and right now she seems like the complete package. Her not wanting to put up with Carter’s bullshit is just a bonus. I accept her invitation and then make sure I thank Carter.
2
Jackie
I wait in my car for Reagan to finish up in the locker room. The longer I sit here the more freaked out I become. Did I really just storm into the locker room and call Carter out? I don’t regret it, I know he had it coming, but still, I can’t believe I did that in fr
ont of everyone… in front of Reagan.
What must he think of me? When I heard him snort at something Carter said, my attention went to him. It’s the first time I’d seen him up close and I have to say, the big screen or even seeing him out in left field from the stands doesn’t do him justice. He’s magnetic and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Sitting in my VW Bug, I tap my hands on the steering wheel as I watch the players come out of the stadium. When I spot Reagan, I suck in a breath. He’s wearing jeans and a tight white Henley that is stretched across his muscled chest. The white shirt brings out the darkness of his skin and makes his big brown eyes pop. He flicks the hair off his forehead and looks around the lot. When he spots me, he strides over and I do my best not to drool watching him. I get out of the car and meet him at the front of it. “So, uh, I’m sorry for putting you on the spot like I did. If you want to back out, I completely understand, but I appreciate you helping me out back there.”
He doesn’t even have to think about it. “I don’t want to back out. I’d like to have dinner with you.” His voice is deep and commanding and the way he’s staring at me causes me to fidget. He doesn’t give me time to respond. I smile at him and he turns me around with his hand on my lower back, leading me around the car and opening my door for me.
He waits until I’m settled and I watch as he walks around the car and gets in. As soon as he sits down, a giggle escapes my lips. He’s sitting with his knees pressed into his stomach. He’s so big, he looks almost ridiculous sitting in my little car.
He tries to turn toward me, but it’s too hard for him to maneuver even an inch. A smirk lights up his face. “What’s so funny?”
“Not only have I saddled you with a date but now I’m taking you to said date in a sardine can,” I say as my face heats up.
He covers my hand that’s on the gear shift and I stare at it. His hand is huge compared to mine, but that’s not what got my attention. It’s the fact that as soon as he touched me a tiny spark shot up my arm and my whole body trembled from the contact.
He’s looking at our joined hands and I know by the look on his face he can feel it too. He shakes his head as if he’s trying to clear his thoughts. “So I can ride like this if you’re more comfortable driving. Or we can take my car.”
I take my hand out from under his and pull the keys out of the ignition. I had to break the connection quick because if not I’m afraid I would embarrass myself even further by starting to take my clothes off or something. Damn. The man is fine. “I’m perfectly fine with you driving. I did get you into this, after all. You should at least be comfortable doing it.”
I hightail it out of the little car to put some distance between us. He walks around to me and holds his hand out. “Let’s quit saying you got me into this or acting like going out with you is a bother for me. I’m actually glad you asked me out.”
He’s staring hard at me and the look on his face tells me he’s serious. I put my hand in his and he pulls me away from my car to his black BMW in the next corner lot. Once he helps me in and I slide across the soft leather seats, I just shake my head that he was willing to ride in my tin can when he could have been riding in this.
We decide on a small restaurant and bar downtown and after we order, we start to talk. He asks me about my job and I tell him about the marketing firm I work for. I ask him about baseball and he surprises me by telling me that he started playing in high school. Most of the stories I’ve heard, they’ve played since they were little, but not him. He picked it up in high school and found out he was good at it.
I just smirk. “Good at it? You have the best batting average on the team. I’d say you’re more than good at it.”
He bites his lower lip, smiling at me. “So I guess you follow the game?”
“Yeah, I’ve always watched the games with my dad. It’s sort of our thing.”
We talk all through dinner and I had hoped to avoid the subject, but I can’t blame him for asking, “How’d you meet Carter?”
I roll my eyes and the smile drops from my face.
He holds his hands up in front of him. “Wait, you don’t have to talk about it.”
I shake my head, knowing I need to just tell him and get it out of the way. I’m sure he’s wondering how serious we were. “No, really, it’s fine. I uh, met him at a bachelorette party at a bar. He came up to me and started talking to me. I had heard the rumors about him but he was always a real gentleman with me. Luckily, I found out what he was really like before I, uh, got serious or anything with him. We never, uh, you know.”
My face turns fifty shades of red, I know it. But I keep thinking about Reagan calling Carter a walking STD and I don’t want him to think I slept with him. We didn’t and now I’m really glad.
Reagan’s face turns red and it embarrasses me even more. I can’t believe a guy like him is single. He’s sexy, smart, cultured. It’s impossible to fathom how he isn’t married. “So, uh, how are you still single?” I ask him as I push my plate away from me.
Reagan
I love watching the way her skin warms to a sexy shade of pink when she’s being brave or when she blushes. Usually, I bristle when I have to talk about my past relationships. There haven’t been many, for one thing, but mostly it’s because talking about Diana Major is a sore spot. I’m not about to tell her that I met my biggest relationship in high school, was engaged to her all through college, and then found out she was screwing around with other guys.
Jackie is smiling softly at me, waiting but not pushing for an answer. Damn, I like that about her too. Fuck, how do I answer and not screw this up?
“There was a woman in my life for a long time, but it’s been over for a few months. I’m ready to get back into the dating game.” It’s not exactly specific information and I wouldn’t blame her if she asked for more.
But she doesn’t. Instead her smile gets even bigger and she leans toward me. “Lucky me.”
3
Jackie
The way Reagan is looking at me sets me on fire. I’m relieved when he asks me to dance and I have an excuse to touch him.
We dance and I find out he’s got rhythm. I can’t help but laugh when he spins me out and pulls me back to him, but as soon as I’m fitted up against his hard body, my hands almost have a mind of their own as I slide them up his chest. I’m staring at the thin material of his white shirt almost like I’m wishing it away so I can see the skin underneath. His hands on my hips grip me almost painfully, pulling me against him. When I feel the bulge in the front of his jeans, my eyes snap up to his. There’s a fire raging in their depths and before I can question him or get any closer, he’s holding my hips away from him.
The way he pushes me away, I would assume that maybe he doesn’t want me, but the look in his eyes tells me he does. I want to ask him about it, but I don’t. A salsa beat starts and I start shaking my hips. I know some people don’t want to see my wide hips shaking, but I also know that they were made for salsa. The dance floor is already crowded, but that doesn’t stop me. I let go of Reagan to do some fancy salsa moves when I feel someone behind me, grinding on my ass.
Reagan didn’t seem like the confrontational type with Carter, so I assume I’ll have to tell the grinding guy to go away. I turn toward him and tell him, but he’s not listening. He’s acting like me turning toward him is a like a yes, please keep grinding on me. I freeze up and start to back away.
Reagan comes around me and puts himself between the two of us and says less than two words to the jerk who then races off the dance floor. Even hotter, Reagan doesn’t make a big deal about it. He pulls me back into his hot embrace to keep dancing. The music and dancing goes on all around us, but I’m not moving like I was. No, now I’m just as happy to be in his arms, our feet barely moving and swaying against each other.
I can’t believe he doesn’t have women falling all over themselves to be with him. It’s unlikely I’ll get to keep him. I’m never down on myself. I know I’m no debutante
. I’m plain. I have black hair that never wants to lay right. Probably my best feature are my eyes. But that’s only if you can get past my chubby cheeks and my rounded body. My hands tighten on his shoulders knowing that this is probably a one-night thing. I clench my eyes shut almost as if I’m willing the negative thoughts away. I’m not this girl. I’m Miss Positive, I can find the good in anything. So I’m determined to enjoy this time with Reagan while I can.
Reagan
When I drive across town to get Jackie’s car from the lot at the baseball field, I can tell that she is ready for me to suggest we go to my place or hers. The silence between us is comfortable and I’m not looking forward to the night ending. I look at her small hand in mine, resting on the console between us. Whether she knows it or not, her thumb is stroking mine and the sensations are like a jolt up my arm.
When I pull into the lot, I turn in my seat to look at her. I can see the longing in her green eyes and I open the car door to get out and away for a minute. I could take her home with me right now. I know she would say yes. But I don’t want that. I don’t want her to think I’m like Carter. I want her to know that I value her as a person, not just a piece of meat or a trophy. Besides, I like Jackie a whole lot more than the few girls I’ve dated since Diane and those women hadn’t worked out well. No sense in rushing.
I open her car door and help her out. She’s looking at me with a question in her eyes and I know I can’t just let her walk away like this. I crowd her against the side of my car. I’m close enough to smell her sweet scent, but I don’t touch her. I’m afraid if I do, I’ll lose the last bit of control I have.
