by Aubrey Gross
Jenn’s palms grew sweaty at the thought of opening up like that to him. “I don’t know if I can yet, Jo.”
“Well, what’s it going to take?”
She sighed. “I don’t know.”
#
“So do you plan on ever putting me back into the rotation?” Matt asked after finally managing to corner Toby three days later in his office.
The Wranglers manager looked up at Matt and then back to his computer screen. “As a matter of fact, yes. Dombrowski started feeling some shoulder tightness this morning during his bullpen session, so I’m starting you on Friday against the Astros. You okay with that?”
Relief washed through Matt. “I’m great with that. Thanks, Toby.”
“You’ve worked hard to get back here, Matt. You’ve earned it.”
Matt nodded and turned to leave. He was almost to the door when Toby said, “Oh, by the way, could you close the door real quick? I have something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
Matt closed the door, curiosity mingling with nerves. “What’s up?”
“I hear you were offered the opportunity to start coaching with the Twisters once you decide to retire.”
His laugh was more of a bark than an actual laugh. “I don’t know that you could say I was offered anything. Reed pretty much tried to threaten me—it was either give up playing and coach or trade me.”
Toby shrugged. “He was just testing you, trying to make sure you still had your head in the game after all the reports that had started coming out, and then that YouTube video. At any rate, all threats aside, what did you think about the offer?”
Matt shrugged then crossed his arms over his chest. “I think it could be a good one when I’m ready to retire, but I have some other things I need to consider, some people I need to talk to, before making any decisions. Why?”
“Just curious. Word is Thomas Everett hasn’t been able to stop talking about you, said you really helped him get his head on straight those last couple weeks of the season.”
“I just talked to the kid.”
“Matt, he’d had one hit in twenty-five at-bats prior to whatever you said to him. You did more than talk to him.”
“No, seriously. All I did was talk to him. I mean, I tried to help him get out of his head a little bit, but it’s not like I gave him technical pointers on hitting or anything. Besides, didn’t the kid graduate from Stanford with something like a 3.8 GPA? With brains like that, you’ll figure things out sooner or later.”
His manager smiled. “That’s the thing, though. You knew Everett was smart—you even knew he’d graduated from Stanford, which most guys in the majors could care less about when it comes to the guys down in the minors—and you apparently knew just what to say to him to help him step out of his own way. That’s the sign of a great coach——someone who knows how to motivate his players as individuals rather than using the same method for everyone.”
Matt ran a finger under his collar, uncomfortable with the praise. “That’s just common sense. We all respond differently to different methods of teaching.”
“Exactly. Anyway. I just wanted you to think about it, and to know that whatever you decide I’m behind you one hundred percent.”
“Thanks, skipper,” Matt said before turning, opening the door and walking out of Toby’s office.
Not quite ready to think about his conversation with Toby, he pulled out his phone and texted Jenn.
Matt: I’m starting Friday night. Home game versus the Astros. Let me fly you up here?
He re-pocketed his phone, not expecting a quick response since it was the middle of the school day for Jenn. His phone vibrated almost immediately, though.
Jenn: Sure. Need to get a substitute.
Matt: Can’t wait to see you. I’ll email you flight details.
#
Friday afternoon Jenn arrived in Dallas after her first ever flight on a private plane. A tall, elegantly dressed man with mocha skin and clear green eyes greeted her as she stepped onto the tarmac.
“You must be Jenn,” he said, holding out a hand. “I’m Darrin Mann, Matt’s agent.”
She took his outstretched hand in hers and shook. “Hi, Darrin. Nice to meet you.”
He didn’t look anything like what she’d thought. When she thought of sports agents she thought of Jerry Maguire or fat, balding men with nicotine stains on their teeth. Darrin was probably closer to Jerry Maguire than fat and balding, but his sheer beauty combined with his expertly-tailored and highly fashionable suit made him look more like a runway model than a fierce negotiator.
Something about the sharpness in his eyes, though, made her think that in Darrin’s good looks were most definitely deceiving.
He ushered her to a waiting golf cart, and they then made their way to the parking lot and a pristine, newer model Mercedes Benz that probably cost four times as much as her Edge. She swallowed before placing her carry-on in the trunk, making sure not to scratch the paint job or leave so much as a fingerprint smudge on the black paint.
Darrin silently held the passenger side door open for her, and she climbed in. So far he hadn’t said more than a few words to her, and she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.
He probably thinks you’re a country bumpkin gold-digger.
Darrin opened the driver’s side door and slid in.
As they pulled out of the small airport’s parking lot he said, “Matt’s already at the ballpark. Practice starts early, and he ended up in an impromptu meeting with management this morning, otherwise he would have been here to pick you up.”
Jenn looked out the window. “Thanks for the heads up. Everything okay?”
Darrin was silent for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I think so. It’s been a crazy month for him.”
She turned and looked at him. “He’s kept me fairly up to date on everything going on, but I have the feeling he’s purposely glossed over some of the rougher patches.”
A small smile curved his lips. “Knowing Matt, most likely. You know he’s crazy about you, right?”
Jenn raised an eyebrow. “I know he likes me and is attracted to me, but I don’t know about crazy about me.”
Darrin snorted. “Please. He’s never been like this over a woman, and I’ve known him for most of his professional career.”
Not knowing how to respond to that, Jenn turned her head and stared out the windshield. “So where are we headed?”
“Matt’s arranged for you to get a tour of the ballpark and meet some of the other WAGS, who you’ll most likely end up sitting with during the game. Most of them are great women, but there are a couple you might want to watch out for.”
“WAGS?”
“Oh, sorry. Wives and Girlfriends.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” Kind of. Did this mean she was his girlfriend?
God, I feel like a kid asking myself such stupid questions.
They chatted about unimportant things the rest of the way to the ballpark. Jenn found out Darrin had actually grown up in Beaumont and had graduated from the University of Texas with a Master’s in Sports Management. He’d played basketball and football in junior high and high school, and while he’d loved the sports he hadn’t been quite good enough to play at a collegiate level.
Thirty minutes after landing in Dallas she found herself standing along the first base foul line as a lot of well-built men took batting practice and fielding practice. A couple of the younger guys were shirtless, and even though they were just this side of jailbait she couldn’t not appreciate the sight.
She didn’t see Matt anywhere, and tried not to worry.
After a brief tour of the field, the dugout and the currently empty locker room her tour guide, Laura, took her up to the suites where she’d be watching the game. A couple of women were already there, a middle-aged one dressed to the nines and the younger wearing blue jeans and a Wranglers t-shirt, which made Jenn feel slightly better about her choice of skinny jeans and a tank top she’d made from one of
Matt’s old World Series t-shirts after seeing a tutorial on Pinterest.
She liked to think it still smelled like him.
The two women stopped talking as Jenn and Laura approached their seats, both of them smiling warmly at her. The brunette in the Wranglers t-shirt reached out and grabbed Jenn’s hand. “You must be Matt’s girlfriend, Jenn.”
“I…” dammit, everyone but her seemed to think she was his girlfriend, but she wasn’t about to let her insecurities show to a couple of strangers, “…yes, I’m Jenn.”
“I’m Melissa, Adam Peterson’s wife. It’s so great to meet you. And this is Chelsea, Toby’s wife.”
Adam was the Wranglers’ shortstop, and Toby was, well, Toby. Everyone knew who he was. Jenn exchanged handshakes and smiles with the other two women, and Laura said, “Now that you’re all settled in, I’ll leave y’all to get to know each other. These two can show you the ropes, I’m sure.”
Uncomfortable silence settled over them as Jenn searched for something to say.
“So how long have you and Matt known each other?” Melissa finally asked.
Jenn fidgeted. “Since we were kids, actually.”
Melissa and Chelsea shared a look, and Jenn sighed inwardly.
Melissa smiled. “Well, from what I’ve heard he’s totally in to you. You’re a teacher, right?”
Jenn nodded. “Seventh grade English.”
“I used to be a teacher. High school biology,” said Chelsea.
“Used to be? What made you quit?” Jenn asked, fearing she already knew the answer.
The older woman shrugged and smiled. “I met a man and fell in love. I tried for a few years after we got married, but it was just too hard with him being gone all the time and us being newlyweds. For a while I wondered if it was worth it, being married to a guy who at that time was a player. There was so much uncertainty—would he get traded? What if he got hurt? But I loved him, and I was never one to take marriage lightly, so I stepped back from the ledge and decided my relationship with my husband was more important than any silly fears I was holding on to. I quit teaching and went on the road almost full time with the team, even tutored some of the players’ children for a while. Once Toby retired and became a coach things got a little easier, but there’s instability there, too. Baseball can be a cruel mistress if you let it, but if you fight for what’s important, she loses a lot of her hold.”
Melissa gaped at the other woman, while Jenn tried not to squirm.
“You never told me any of that!”
Chelsea shrugged. “That’s partially because you and Adam were high school sweethearts and had planned for all this to happen.” She swept her hand towards the suites and the field below them before looking Jenn dead in the eye. “Not all of us have the luxury of planning, of preparation. Sometimes love just smacks us right upside the head and we have to make some really hard decisions.”
Jenn searched for something to say. “So, um, I take it Matt’s mentioned me?”
Chelsea laughed. “He does more than mention you, Jenn. I’ve known Matt for years and I’ve never seen him so happy. It’s like he’s a different man these past couple of weeks.”
Well that was interesting.
“Girl, that man is head over heels in love with you,” Melissa said. “But more importantly, how much do you know about the WAGS?”
“Nothing.”
Melissa and Chelsea sat and Jenn followed. “Then here’s what you need to know.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
In a game eerily similar to the one in San Antonio ten years earlier, the Wranglers beat the Astros 10-1. Matt had pitched six scoreless innings before being pulled more for precautionary reasons than pitch count reasons. He felt good afterwards, high from the win and excited to see Jenn.
He impatiently sat through post-game media interviews, answering all questions directed towards him but unable to keep from glancing at the time every few minutes. Finally, he was free and made his way to the locker room to pick up his bag before heading out to meet Jenn. He found her standing just outside of Toby’s office with Chelsea and Melissa, and was surprised to see how relaxed the three of them seemed to be with one another. Granted, Chelsea and Melissa were fantastic women and he was glad Jenn had met them and was getting along with them, but he hadn’t dared to hope the three of them could become what appeared to be such fast friends.
Jenn’s back was to him as he approached their little group, but Melissa looked up and smiled at him as he approached. “Good game tonight, Matt.”
Jenn’s body tensed briefly before she turned and faced him. Wariness and hope mingled in her gaze. What had put that look there? Before he could say anything, though, she smiled and threw her arms around his neck.
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured into his ear.
He dropped his bag and hugged her back, whispering in her ear, “I’ve missed you, too,” before claiming her mouth with his own and showing her just how much he’d missed her. Like every time with Jenn, he went from half-mast to hard in less than a second, and nearly groaned at the lust that pounded through his blood.
“Dude, get a room,” Adam’s voice teased from behind him.
Matt broke the kiss and tucked Jenn under his arm before rolling his eyes at the young shortstop. “Like you have any room to talk. Wasn’t it just last week I walked in on y’all in one of the locker room showers?”
Melissa blushed as her husband reached her side.
“Hey, the curtain was closed,” Adam said.
Matt snorted. “That’s beside the point. Anyway. I am going to take this lovely lady home and catch up. See y’all tomorrow.”
He bent and grabbed his bag, his other hand holding Jenn’s. He led her out of the building to the sound of Adam’s catcalls, and Matt chuckled. Once they were in the parking lot and walking towards his pickup, he asked Jenn, “Did you bring a bag or anything?”
“Yeah. Darrin took it back to your place after he dropped me off here, that way I didn’t have to worry about it.”
He nodded as they reached his truck. He hit the unlock button on the key fob, opened the back door of the crew cab and threw the bag in before closing the door and pulling Jenn in for a tight hug. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Her hands fisted in the back of his dress shirt. “I’ve missed you, too.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You hungry at all?”
She shook her head. “Once they pulled you out of the game I kind of gorged myself on nachos and hot dogs. You know, ballpark food.”
“Why after they pulled me out of the game?”
She snorted. “Because I was too nervous while you were in it to eat a single thing. Even water was making me feel nauseated.”
He cupped her chin in one of his hands, lifting it so that their gazes met and held. “I am so sorry if I’ve made you worry.”
He could tell she wanted to look away, but forced herself to maintain eye contact. “Matt, I’ve worried every day since you left, every time you’ve gotten up on the mound. I know what happened a few months ago was a freak accident sort of thing, but it obviously happens every now and then, and I don’t know if I could handle you dying or being in a vegetative state.”
Whereas just months ago Jenn’s fear would have angered him and made him feel like he was being pushed into making a decision he didn’t want to make, tonight it made him feel relief. Knowing she worried about him was a weird balm to his soul; it meant she cared. Really cared. It also meant the conversation he’d had with management this morning had been the right one.
#
They reached his condo in Uptown about thirty minutes after leaving the ballpark, and as he opened the front door he tried to see the place through Jenn’s eyes. It was nice, sure, but it was also kind of cold. In the three years he’d owned it he’d never bothered to make it a home; instead, it was just a place where he slept and occasionally brought women.
He set his bag on the floor beside the front door, shut it and locked it
behind them. Jenn chafed her hands over her bare arms.
“You cold?”
“Kind of. What do you have your thermostat at, forty?”
He laughed as they walked into the living room. “Seventy. I’m usually really hot when I get back from a game, so I like to have it cool in here.”
“Makes sense.”
She stood in the middle of his living room, her eyes darting from here to there. He stepped towards her and took her hands in his own. “Why are you so nervous?”
She inhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t know. I mean, I kind of do, but I don’t. If that makes any sense.”
A curl had escaped her ponytail and he tucked it behind her ear. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Me, too.”
“You know I don’t expect sex, right?”
She actually snorted at that. “Please. You think I came all the way up here to not get laid? I’m going for the full service experience here, buddy.”
He chuckled. “Well, in that case…”
He wrapped his hands around her hips and pulled her to him before claiming her mouth with his own. If the kiss outside Toby’s office had been “hi,” this kiss was “hello.” He teased her tongue with his own, loving the feel of her fingers tangling in the hair he’d allowed to grow back over the past month.
Wordlessly, he led her back to his bedroom where he slowly, reverently removed her clothes until she stood bathed in moonlight filtering through the window, her nipples hard and goosebumps covering her flesh. She trembled a little, and Matt quickly removed his own clothes before leading her to the king size platform bed in the middle of the room.
As he lay her down, he showered kisses over her body, loving the feel of her under his hands and mouth.
She sighed, a small, breathy sound that had his cock straining, so hard it almost hurt. Her hands drifted up and down his arms, his back, cupping his ass before sliding around and exploring his abs before trailing lower. She fisted his cock, stroking it as their mouths met in a hot, open kiss that had turned from slow and sweet to fast and dirty in an instant.
He played with her nipples, rolling each one between his fingers and pinching lightly, making her gasp against his mouth. Her hand around his cock tightened.
