“I’m not sure I’d call it great. But it is growing on me.”
“What’s a walk-off grand slam?” he asks me.
“Um … some sort of home run?”
He laughs. “Some sort? Yeah, you need another lesson. Thursday. Twelve o’clock.”
“Fine. But you have to feed me first,” I say.
“I know just the place.”
The suite erupts in cheers and we look down to the field to see that Mason has just thrown a touchdown pass. Caden jumps over the back of his chair to go high-five the other guys.
He leaves me to my thoughts. Thoughts that convince me I’m going on a date on Thursday. A date with my best friend.
Lord help me.
Chapter Twenty-five
Caden
After my workout and shower, I sit in the café in the gym and wait for Murphy to finish up her shift. I can just barely overhear the conversation she’s having with her boss, and from what I can make out, it sounds like she’s been given a lot more responsibility than a front-desk receptionist would normally have.
I’m glad they’ve figured out she’s much more than a pretty face. She’s been working here for over a month now. Sometimes I wonder if she will go back to modeling when her scars fade. She never talks about it anymore. It’s almost as if she left that life behind when she moved out of her old apartment.
I see someone familiar come through the front door of the gym and I go on high alert. Tony walks to the front desk with a smirk and throws an envelope down on it. He has a few words with Murphy and I can see she’s uncomfortable, so I get up and head over.
“What’s up, Murphy?” I ask. Then I look at Tony as if I just noticed him. “Oh, and look, it’s the lying, cheating bastard.”
Tony looks at me funny. I guess he doesn’t know that I know who he is. “You don’t know dick about me,” he says.
“I don’t?” I say, coming around the desk to stand right next to him. “Let’s see. I know you were feeling up your girlfriend’s roommate while your girlfriend was getting hit by my ball on what was supposed to be a night celebrating her. I know you and the aforementioned slut were carrying on behind Murphy’s back. I know you kissed her the very day Murphy got injured and was lying in a hospital bed.”
“Whatever. Like I said, you don’t know shit,” he says.
“I saw you in the hospital cafeteria, you asshole. I heard you on the phone saying you were going to dump her because her face got messed up. I saw you stick your tongue down her roommate’s throat right there in the food line.”
Tony looks surprised, but not the least bit guilty. He nods to the envelope on the counter. “The bill for the window you smashed,” he says to Murphy.
I swipe it from her when she picks it up. I open it and then I open my wallet and take out five hundred-dollar bills and slap them on the counter in front of him. “That should cover it.”
“You aren’t paying for the window I broke,” Murphy scolds me, pushing the money back to me.
“It was my ball that broke the window,” I say. “I’m paying.”
Tony grabs the bills off the counter. “Must be nice to have a sugar-daddy,” he says.
I lean towards him, putting my chest inches from his. I look down on his face that only comes up to my neck. “You got what you came for. I suggest you leave. Now.”
“Gladly,” he says. But before he reaches the door, he turns back to me. “She was a shitty lay anyway. A cold fucking fish. But maybe you already know that.”
He walks out the door leaving Murphy horrified. There were at least five people within earshot who are now looking at her in sympathy.
She smiles awkwardly. “Let me go clock out and get my purse,” she says, quickly leaving the scene.
I’m on the phone with Sawyer a few minutes later when Murphy comes out from the back. “Gotta go, I’m taking Murphy to lunch.”
“Murphy, the girl you hit with your home run ball?” he asks.
“One and the same.”
“I’d like to meet her,” he says. “You should bring her along this weekend.”
I look at Murphy as she tries to ignore my phone conversation. “I’ll ask her. But she doesn’t date.”
Murphy furrows her brow at me. She heard her name and knows we’re talking about her.
“She went out with Brady last weekend, didn’t she?” Sawyer asks.
“As friends.”
“At least that’s what she told you,” he jokes.
I ignore his misplaced humor. “Goodbye, Mills.”
“Later, bro.”
“What was that all about?” she asks.
“My friend, Sawyer—you’ve heard me talk about him before—he wants you to come out with us on Saturday. Make it a triple date.”
“Why would you need me when you already have a wingman?”
“Wingman, huh?” I laugh. “More like a buffer. Something between me and my dates in case I need an out. Come on. It’ll be fun.”
“I’m not going out with Brady again. He stares at my boobs.”
“Brady stares at everyone’s boobs,” I say laughing. “I’ll find you someone else then.”
Murphy looks behind me and smiles. “What are you doing Saturday night?” she asks someone over my shoulder.
I turn around and see Corey walking up to us. And he’s got a big damn grin on his face.
“I might be free,” he says, looking between us. “Why do you ask?”
“Want to go on a triple date?”
He looks confused. “I thought you two didn’t know each other.”
“We’ve recently become friends,” I say, before Murphy can respond.
He appraises me like he knows I’m lying. Then he looks back at Murphy. “Sounds good. Just tell me when and where to pick you up.”
“She’ll meet you there. Just leave your phone number at the front desk and she’ll text you the details,” I say, swinging my large bag over my shoulder as I pull Murphy towards the door. “We’re late for something.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re pushy?” Murphy asks as we walk to the subway.
“Just think of me as your overprotective big brother.”
I think I see a frown cross her face before she shakes it away and hides it with a laugh. I’m sure she always wanted siblings. I can’t imagine having grown up without Lexi.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asks.
“To Mitchell’s.”
She smiles. “Oh, great! I’ve been wanting to eat there but was saving all my money to pay for the window.” She puts a hand on my arm and looks me directly in the eyes. “And since I ended up not paying for it, I’m buying.”
“But—”
“Don’t give me your shit, Caden. I don’t care that you make a gazillion times what I do. I’m buying or no baseball lesson.”
I laugh quietly. She’s kind of sexy when she’s mad. “Gazillion?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes.
“Fine,” I say, pouting. “You can buy lunch. You drive a hard bargain, Murphy’s Law.”
~ ~ ~
An hour later, with our bellies full, we walk through Central Park on the way to our destination.
“I wanted to ask you about something you said to Tony earlier,” she says.
I was wondering if she was going to bring it up. “Okay, shoot.”
“You said you saw him kissing Kirsten at the hospital. And you said you overheard him say he was going to break up with me.”
I nod my head. “I did.”
She lets out a huge, frustrated sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me, Caden?”
“I did. Well, I sort of did. I showed you the video of when you got hit, and then you came to the same conclusion.”
“You should have told me. I don’t like deception.” She kicks a mound of dirt on the sidewalk.
“Deception? No, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t even know you, Murph. I wasn’t about to walk in there and tell you your boyfriend was a l
ying, cheating scumbag. You would have thought I wanted in your pants. It wasn’t my place to do it. But I got the job done in a way that didn’t make me the prick. People do tend to kill the messenger, you know.”
“I guess you’re right. But please don’t keep anything from me again,” she says, looking me straight in the eyes.
I hold my hand out to shake hers. “Deal. And we’re here.”
I open the gate to one of the many ball fields and wave her through. Murphy narrows her eyes at me. “Aren’t we going to get into trouble? I mean, I’m not sure we should be here. Are we trespassing?”
“It’s fine. I reserved it.”
“You reserved an entire baseball field?”
I put my bag down by the dugout. “I did.”
“What, like there is some on-line signup sheet to use the Central Park baseball fields?”
“Kind of. You need to get a permit to use one,” I explain.
“A permit?” she asks, surprised. “That sounds like it would take a while, yet you only asked me about coming on Sunday.”
I shrug. “I know people, Murph.”
“Who are you, John Gotti?” She laughs at her own joke about the infamous mobster.
“Come on,” I say, grabbing some gear and pulling her to home plate. “Let’s get started.”
She looks at the bat in my hand and pales. “I know you don’t think you’re going to throw a baseball at me.”
“Relax.” I raise my other hand and show her my catcher’s helmet. “You’ll be fully protected.”
“I’m not wearing that, Caden.” She takes it from me. “It’s ugly.” She examines it closely, turning her nose away. “And it smells.”
I laugh. “I’ll remember to spray it with my cologne next time.” I take my hat off and put it backwards on her head.
She takes it off and turns it around, placing it on her head with the bill facing front. “Why did you put it on the wrong way?”
I remove it once more and place it back the way I had it. “Because this is how you have to wear it under a catcher’s helmet.”
“Ewww,” she says, crinkling her nose at the smell as I carefully put my helmet over her head.
I pat her on the top of the helmet. “Looking good, Slugger.”
She laughs. “Did you know that’s what Murphy Brown’s co-worker called her?”
I smile and wink. “Kind of apropos, don’t you think?”
I can’t be sure, but I think I see her blush. I stand back and admire her. Then I take out my phone and snap a picture of her before she can protest. Somehow, I know this will be one of my favorites.
“You better not show that to anyone. I mean it, Kessler. I will hang you by your toenails until the life drains out of you.”
She stares me down through the facemask of my helmet and I realize how much I like the way she looks wearing my gear. I realize I love the way my last name sounds coming out of her pouty lips. And as wrong as it is, I realize I love the tiny scar under her eye. It’s as if she’s been branded by me. Something inside me shifts. I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. I all but double over when it hits me.
I want her.
I want her like I want baseball.
Chapter Twenty-six
Murphy
Lexi and I stroll down Fifth Avenue, window shopping. I’m pushing Ellie in a stroller and Lexi is wearing Beth in a baby sling.
I love spending time with her kids, especially Ellie. Caden has been teaching me a few signs every time we’re together. I know how to tell her she’s pretty. I can ask her if she’s hungry or sad. And I can understand some of the basic signs she does.
I’m impressed by how proficient Caden is at sign language. He loves his nieces and would go to the ends of the Earth for them.
As if thinking of him has caused some cosmic shift in the universe, I look in a storefront window and see a life-sized cutout of none other than the very man who has been invading my dreams. I don’t even realize what I’m doing when I stop and stare.
“What’s the story with you and my brother?” Lexi asks, looking between me and the cutout.
I peel my eyes away from the likeness of him. “There is no story,” I say. “We’re friends, Lexi. Same as you and me.”
She giggles. “Yeah, except I’m pretty sure you don’t want to get me into bed.”
My jaw drops. “Who says I want to get him into bed?”
“The drool on your chin, maybe? Or how about the way you couldn’t take your dreamy eyes off him at Mason’s game. Or the way your face lights up every time we talk about him.”
I turn my back to the window and lean against it, closing my eyes. “God, Lexi. Am I that pathetic?”
“No, Murphy, you aren’t pathetic. It’s just that my brother is that awesome.”
I shake my head. “You won’t say anything, will you? I don’t want him to know. It would ruin things.”
“How would it ruin things?” she asks. “I think it’s wonderful.”
“We’re friends, Lexi. Good ones. We have a great time together. If he knew I was having feelings for him, he’d run in the other direction.”
She smiles at me. “I think you’re wrong. He’d run straight into your arms.”
“What? No. He’s not looking for a relationship, Lexi. Plus, he’s dating other women. Your brother does not like me. Not in that way.”
“I think you’re both living in denial,” she says. “He looks at you the same way you look at him.”
“He does not.”
She nods emphatically. “He does. And he only dates to be social.”
“But Kate, the girl I met last weekend, she seemed so nice. Definitely girlfriend material.”
“No way,” she says. “You know she won’t make it past the third date. No one does.”
I cock my head and look at her. “What do you mean no one gets past the third date?”
Beth starts fussing and Lexi fishes a pacifier out of her bag for her. “He hasn’t told you?”
“Told me what?”
“About his three-strikes rule?”
I furrow my brows. “What’s his three-strikes rule?”
She rolls her eyes. “Caden never takes a girl out more than three times. He claims it’s because he doesn’t want to get trapped by anyone, so I guess he never keeps a girl around long enough to fall for her. He’s afraid people won’t like him simply for who he is underneath his celebrity.”
I nod remembering how he told me something like that in the hospital. Then I turn around and study the pseudo-Caden in the window. “Still … it’s a stupid rule. How will he ever find out if anyone likes what’s underneath? You can’t possibly get to know someone after only three dates.” I look back at Lexi. “Never?”
She shakes her head in affirmation. “Not since he’s been with the Nighthawks.”
I give her a confused look. “Well then knowing he has this three-strikes deal, why in the world are you encouraging me to tell him I like him?”
“You’ve already answered your own question. Caden can’t possibly get to know someone in three dates. But you he already knows—and very well by the way he talks about you. There would be no reason for the rule when it comes to you, Murphy.”
I look up at the fake-Caden. “It would be too big a risk. I could lose him as a friend. I care too much for him to do that. Plus, I think you’re wrong about how he feels. In fact, I’m going on a triple date with him and one of his teammates tonight.”
I can tell Lexi tries not to laugh. She locks her lips together to form a thin line. Then she asks, “What do I have to do for an invite? I’d pay good money to see that go down.”
“I’m sure Caden won’t mind if you come. He’s always saying he wants more people along when he goes on dates.”
“I’m kidding, Murphy. I’ve got plans with Charlie and Mallory that involve kids, pizza, and a sleepover. We often do it when Chad is out of town and Kyle is working an overnight shift.”
“Sounds like more
fun than my triple date.”
She laughs. “We’ll invite you the next time we get together. So, which one of his teammates did he set you up with this time?”
“He didn’t have to set me up. There’s a guy at the gym who’s been asking me out. Corey will be my date.”
Her face breaks into a slow, devious smile. “Oh, Murphy, now I really do wish I was going. I’ll bet there will be so much sexual tension between you two that you could cut it with a knife.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I tell her. I see Ellie getting impatient and asking for a snack, so I get a pouch of goldfish out of the diaper bag and hand it to her. “I’m telling you, Lexi, he doesn’t see me that way.”
“And I’m telling you I’ve known my brother a lot longer than you have. Trust me. He wants you.” She tugs on my arm to get us walking again. “Now, come on, we have to find you a killer outfit to wear. One that will send him over the edge. There’s nothing like a little jealousy to get a guy to admit his feelings.”
I roll my eyes, but I let her drag me to five shops anyway. After all, if what she said is true, if there is even a sliver of hope that he wants to be more than friends, I want to look my very best.
~ ~ ~
Lexi was wrong. Caden has spent more time staring at my date than he’s spent staring at me. And Caden was right the other day when he said he’s like my protective older brother. He keeps asking Corey questions about his job (he works in security), his apartment (third-floor walkup in Midtown), and his family (two sisters and a brother). It sounds like a job interview. He’s vetting the guy for me.
I feel kind of sorry for his date, Maggie, as she’s getting ignored. I don’t miss how Maggie keeps trying to hold hands with Caden, but he brushes her away.
From the little information I’ve learned about her, I know she works in the fashion industry and is the best friend of Sawyer’s date, Angela.
Oh, and I’ve learned she’s a slut. Or at the very least, she’s exactly the kind of woman Caden wants to avoid. She keeps dropping names of famous people she’s managed to date. I guess she thinks that will impress us. But the only person at the table who seems impressed is Angela. Probably because she’s doing the same thing. In fact, they mentioned dating the same guy and I wonder if they had some kind of twisted threesome. The two girls do seem very close.
Catching Caden (The Perfect Game Series) Page 13
