Caught Looking

by Lucy McConnell

  He snagged two cans of iced lemonade and nodded to a blanket in the corner. The red blankets with the team logo on them were a nice touch. Clover stayed close, and they leaned shoulder to shoulder as they ate.

  They weren’t sitting there long when Brayden and Tilly joined them. They were holding hands and carrying plates. “There’s Brayden.” He nodded their direction.

  She squinted into the setting sun. “He’s the one who lives by you, right?”

  “Right.” He took a swig of lemonade. “He’s probably the nicest guy on the team. But don’t tell him I said that.”

  She pretended to lock her lips with a key and toss it over her shoulder. He pretended he didn’t want to kiss the lock open.

  Clover smiled shyly at Tilly, who sat across from her on the blanket.

  Tilly was probably used to interacting with strangers as a climbing guide. Her arms were ripped and her calves super-toned. Tilly grinned back at Clover. “Nice shoes.”

  Clover glanced down. “Thanks. I borrowed them from my roommate.”

  Dustin hooked his pinkie with Clover’s and gave her a look, silently asking if she was okay. She nodded discreetly, and Dustin gave Brayden his attention while the women talked about shoes.

  “How do you think the rookie will do?” Brayden asked.

  “There’s so much hype over Judge. It’s a lot to swing on the end of a bat,” replied Dustin.

  “My man!” Juan called from ten feet away where he’d been talking to Brian Tuttle. Tuttle was in the middle of a divorce—it was a sad thing; he hadn’t seen it coming and was devastated.

  Dustin masked his cringe at the way Juan rubbed his hands together. Juan was a lot to take in for an average person; he’d terrify Clover. He mentally kicked himself for not warning her or warning Juan off.

  Juan offered Dustin a fist bump, which he returned. “This is your pretty lady?” His eyes roamed Clover, all eager beaver.

  Dustin tensed. Clover linked all their fingers together.

  “Hell-o, beautiful.” Juan sank to his knees in front of her. “Why are you with him? Huh?”

  Clover exchanged a look with Tilly, who rolled her eyes. “Knock it off, Juan.” Tilly shoved him. “You’ll scare her away.”

  Clover’s eyes brightened a little and she gave Tilly a grateful smile.

  “You cannot be jealous, Rocky.” Juan adjusted his ball cap. He’d called Tilly Rocky since she eagerly encouraged him off the side of a cliff during a lesson. He’d hung there, petrified for ten minutes, before his legs worked again.

  “Why would I be jealous when I have this guy?” Tilly wrapped her arms around Brayden’s middle and snuggled close.

  Juan huffed. “Riiiight.”

  Just then, Juan’s daughters approached, carrying paper plates piled with cookies and brownies and a scoop of ice cream. Juan frowned. “I told you to get dinner.”

  “We did. We’re having cookies for dinner,” said the oldest. Her hair was in a French braid that reached all the way to her belt. The other girls didn’t look as well put together, but they were all smiling as they stood there with their plates.

  Clover scooted, bringing her back flush with Dustin’s chest. He instinctively placed a hand on her hip, ready to scoop her into his lap for protection. She patted the front of the blanket where she’d been sitting. “Come sit down,” she told the girls. “There’s lots of room.”

  Dustin put his lips close to Clover’s ear. She smelled of coconut shampoo and something floral and feminine. “You doing okay?”

  She nodded, her hair tickling his neck. “They’re adorable,” she whispered.

  And that, right there, was what he found so dang attractive about Clover. While he’d seen the crooked braids and untucked shirts, she’d seen their smiles and cherubic faces. He pressed his lips to her earlobe. She gasped quietly—a pleasurable sound, to be sure, that ignited a fire in his chest.

  He chuckled, liking that he got that kind of response out of her. If she gasped when he kissed her there, what would she do when he kissed her proper? Better yet, what would she do when he kissed her improperly?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Clover leaned back in her chair in the stands and rested her feet on the dugout, mirroring Dustin’s posture. The big screen had been turned off, and a small army of workers cleared the buffet, folded blankets, and stacked chairs on a dolly that would roll to some storage room.

  One angry grounds crew member muttered as he combed the outfield, looking for divots in the grass. He didn’t need to worry. Most everyone had taken off their shoes and enjoyed the cool grass on a dry and hot evening.

  Even after the sun disappeared behind the red cliffs, the hot air bounced off Clover’s skin. Of course, she took all this in, but what truly grabbed her attention was Dustin.

  The players and their families had all gone home. Well, not Juan. He and his girls were playing an imaginary game of baseball. Juan was pitching, and when Julia, the seven-year-old, swung a pretend bat, Juan clicked his tongue loudly, and she took off for first base.

  Clover and Dustin laughed, as Juan was the only defensive player on the field and ran back and forth, tracking a high foul ball that apparently touched the clouds.

  “Should we help him?” asked Dustin lazily. They’d had a great time in their little corner of the park. Several players had wandered over to say hi, but their group remained relatively small, and Clover found that she enjoyed herself once she quit worrying so much about what everyone thought about her.

  “Nah, let them wear him out. He’ll sleep better that way.” Clover settled deeper into her seat.

  Juan was loud and thought himself much too funny for his own good. He’d joked about Clover ditching Dustin and going home with him. He’d also teased Tilly about getting out of her “obviously rocky relationship” with Brayden and trying out a stable guy like him.

  The girls giggled as they circled the bases, scoring three runs off one hit. Juan charged them, promising the tickle of a lifetime, and they ran, screaming in all directions.

  Clover wouldn’t mind a chance to touch her toes to home plate. For now, the image of the girls—their hair falling out of their braids and their skirts flying behind them as they ran, their giggles and grins full of that joy that children can grab in an instant—was soothing.

  “Front-row seats are sweet.” She laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying the firmness.

  “I’ll keep my spot on the field, thank you.” Dustin lifted one side of his lips in a sultry grin.

  Clover dropped her lashes. He’d been looking at her like that a lot tonight—all interested. Each time, her stomach did that bubbling-brook-happy feeling. She was definitely interested in Dustin. She wasn’t sure what to do about it yet. The two of them came from different worlds, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be together. They’d held hands most of the night, and she’d leaned against his firm chest for part of the show.

  The derby exceeded her expectations. The players on screen made the whole thing look like a party. Under the smiles and the joking, there was a strong level of competition. They all wanted to win something fierce. Balancing friendship and competition was difficult, and yet they made it look like another day at the ballpark. She’d seen that same drive in Dustin and found it incredibly attractive—like a primal need inside of him to come off the conqueror. It was so very alpha male and triggered something primal inside of her to grab on to him and not let go.

  Before she could let herself sink deeper into this swirling pool of desire, he needed to know what he was getting himself into. She turned her attention back to the girls spinning circles around the pitcher’s mound.

  “They remind me of me.” She nodded to the field.

  Dustin pulled his eyes off of her. Funny how she could feel his gaze as easily as she could feel his thumb stroke her hand. The sensation was pleasant and exciting at times. Especially when he pulled out that devilish grin.

  “How so?” he asked. He moved his thumb back and forth,
slowly.

  Clover had to think hard to get past the sensations his touch created inside of her. “My mom was … unconventional. She didn’t care if my hair was done.” Or hers, for that matter. Rainbow’s wavy blonde hair hung all the way down her back, ending in a V. Brushing it was a chore, and washing it was worse unless she kept it braided.

  “My mom was like that too, depending on the day. Sounds like our moms would get along.”

  Clover closed her eyes, feeling the sting of being different. It would be so easy to agree with him and drop the conversation. To let him believe she had come from a middle-class neighborhood with a white fence around the yard and stories about recess and a dog she’d loved. But then what? What if all the feelings that were growing within her led to a relationship where he wanted to meet her parents? After all, that’s what normal couples did. They dated for a while, and then, to take it to the next level, they met the family. The level after that involved a ring. It could take months or even years to arrive at that point, but suppose they got there and he thought her mom was going to be at the wedding? Eventually she’d have to tell him. “I don’t know where my mom is.”

  “What?” Dustin’s thumb stilled.

  “My mom’s a gypsy. She raised me on the streets.”

  His hand gripped hers. “I don’t—”

  “We were homeless.” The words weren’t a confession, nor were they a plea for understanding. Clover couldn’t change the past any more than she could flick her fingers to extinguish the stadium lights.

  Dustin’s eyes softened. They were so green under the bright lights, green as the infield grass. “That actually explains a lot about you.”

  “In a good way?”

  He squeezed her leg. “In the best ways.”

  She let out a sigh. “I’m sorry I freaked out earlier—in the dugout. It seems silly now.” Yes, there had been a lot of people here, but they were all kind—at least the ones she’d met. And Juan’s girls were adorable with their cocoa-colored eyes and round cheeks—the picture of a happy childhood. And their smiles could talk their daddy into anything. They waved as they disappeared through the dugout. Clover and Dustin waved back.

  “Does it?”

  Clover put her free hand over his. “All my life I’ve been treated as if I was invisible or told to act as if I was. I revert to that when I feel uncomfortable.”

  Dustin reached out and ran his fingers down her cheek. “I can’t seem to look away.”

  “I don’t want you to,” she rasped, her voice abandoning her in a pool of desire.

  Dustin lightly traced her lips with his thumb, turning on every one of her nerves and stirring desire in her lower belly. She barely stopped a whimper from escaping her throat. His eyes dropped to her lips as he leaned forward.

  Clover had been kissed before, but never had she wanted a kiss as badly as she wanted Dustin’s. His warm, brownie-tinted breath brushed her face, and her eyes fell shut, heavy with the need for him.

  His lips met hers, warm, sweet, and then he smiled, breaking contact. Cupping the back of her neck gently, he didn’t let her move away. Not that she wanted to. Her breaths came deeper but also faster, her chest lifting and falling. Heaven help her, her chest was heaving while Dustin’s cheek brushed hers once, twice. A whimper came from deep inside her throat.

  Dustin’s smile melted against her lips and he kissed her again, more insistent this time. She wrapped her fingers in his shirt and held on for the ride, because she was flying, soaring through this moment.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Clover covered her yawn.

  “How come you’re so tired?” asked Maddie. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bowl of cereal in front of her on the coffee table. They really needed to get some real furniture in this place, maybe a few wall decorations. The sparseness had never bothered Clover before, but she felt this urge to nest, to put down some roots, to make leaving St. George difficult—if she ever decided to go.

  A secretive grin tugged at the corners of Clover’s mouth. “Because I’m running on four hours of sleep.”

  “What?” Maddie squinted at the clock over the microwave. The crazy bun on the top of her head flopped to the side. “It’s 8 a.m.”

  “I know. I need to call Jane and tell her I’m not coming in today.”

  Maddie’s spoon dropped into her bowl. “Okay, what planet are you from and where have they taken my best friend?”

  Clover crossed her fingers over her heart and said in a robotic voice, “I swear I’m the human you are looking for.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Says the alien right before they eat you.”

  Clover poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat opposite Maddie at the coffee table. She had the night off at the hotel. Dustin’s evenings were free all week, and he’d said he wanted to spend every minute possible with her. She was A-okay with that plan. Arranging her work schedule was going to take an effort, but he only had one All-Star break, and then he’d play ball until October, alternating weekends home and weekends away. Three months never seemed so long.

  Maddie bounced. “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.”

  Clover laughed, enjoying this part of dating in a whole different way than she’d enjoyed the actual date. When she was a teenager, she’d snuck into a chick flick at the movie theater. There was a slumber party in the movie where the girls all talked about the boys they were interested in—she’d been mesmerized, watching them share their secrets and giggling. The scene was total fiction, and yet here she was, living it with her best friend. Her reality didn’t feel real yet, but she was going with it because it was the most fun she’d ever had. “We went to the party, then we hung out at the stadium for a while, and then we went back to his house and played catch. He made me French toast at three in the morning and brought me home by four.” She shoved a spoonful of sugared corn puffs into her mouth.

  Maddie twirled her hair. “And I supposed your lips are swollen because you got hit with a ball?”

  Clover’s fingers flew to her mouth to feel for anything out of shape. “We only kissed a couple times; I shouldn’t—”

  Maddie snickered. “Ha! I knew you kissed him. You’re way too happy on way too little sleep.”

  Clover glared for a second before she gave in and smiled. “There may have been a little lip action happening.”

  “A little?”

  “Yes, a little.” She wasn’t about to divulge those amazing kisses to Maddie. They were shared moments between her and Dustin, and she wanted to keep them that way. She loaded her spoon. “He’s got some things to do today, and then we’re going to an early dinner and mini golf.”

  “Mini golf? That’s kind of high school, isn’t it?”

  “Well, since I didn’t go to high school …”

  Maddie’s hand flew across the table to stop Clover from putting the spoon in her mouth. “Wait, did you tell him you didn’t go to school?”

  Clover set her spoon in her bowl. She swallowed before nodding. Over the course of their game of catch, she’d told Dustin her life story. Not all her stories, but enough. More than she had told anyone besides Pastor Paul and Jane. Maddie didn’t even know parts of her past that Dustin was now aware of.

  “What did he say?” Maddie whispered, her eyes round with worry or curiosity, Clover wasn’t sure which.

  “He kissed me,” she replied shyly.

  Maddie melted, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand and her elbow on the table. “That’s so sweet.”

  “He is.”

  “So you’re skipping The Pantry to see him?”

  Clover nodded. “Half a shift. He’s got a light workout this afternoon, and this morning he’s helping his brother with his company. I’ll run over to the Pantry for an hour and stock shelves. Can you maybe come in to help Jane out with serving?”

  Maddie sat up tall. “Sure.” She’d volunteered before and knew where things were, so Clover didn’t feel like she was leaving Jane in a lurch. Maddie was hesitant with
some of the rougher-looking regulars, but between Maddie and Jane, stomachs would be filled.

  “Great.” Clover got up and dumped her half-eaten bowl of cereal down the disposal. Skipping work didn’t feel quite right and had dampened her appetite. Sure, people took days off all the time, but there were people counting on Clover at The Pantry. They were most comfortable with her because she understood where they were in life and didn’t judge. Her stomach spun the Sugar Pops like it was trying to make cotton candy out of them. She closed her eyes and leaned against the sink.

  “Are you okay?” asked Maddie as she came around the bar, her empty bowl in hand.

  “I hate letting people down.” She took a deep breath in through her nose. Curse that Dustin; this was twice in as many days that he’d put her out of her comfort zone.

  “Who are you letting down?” Maddie asked.

  “Jane, the regulars, you.”

  Maddie grabbed her arm. “Clover! It’s one afternoon. The whole world isn’t going to end because you decided to play mini golf with your new boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” she protested weakly.

  Maddie took her by the shoulders. “Go. Have fun. You’re not flaking on anyone. You’re telling Jane, and you got your shift covered. You’re allowed to enjoy life a little, you know?”

  “That’s the problem. I’m enjoying this far too much for it to be real. I’ve been flying since the stadium last night—at some point, I’m going to crash. I know this. I know it as deeply as I want to be with Dustin today, and it scares the heck out of me.”

  Maddie tipped her head in sympathy. “What’s the point of flying if you can’t enjoy it?”