I woke up with a strange feeling that today was going to be a good day, and for half a second, I actually thought I might be right. As I lay there, I realized that I’d slept a full eight hours without any burning pain or cramping in my leg, which was a huge improvement. After I got dressed, I went downstairs and found that Dad had cooked us a big breakfast. He made all my favorites: bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy—and it smelled incredible. It had been a long time since we’d spent a morning together, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start the day. I was feeling pretty damn good as he drove me over to the rehab center for my physical therapy. It was then that everything started to go to shit. My PT was a fucking prick on a good day, but on this particular morning, he was even more of a douchebag than usual. I know he was just doing his job, but he was on my ass the entire session, pushing me to my limits at every turn. By the time he was done, I could barely walk. Every muscle in my body ached, and I just wanted to go home and take a long, hot shower. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. I’d promised Colton and the kids that I’d be at the park early to help set up drills for practice, so throbbing pain or not, I had to get my ass over to the field.

While Dad drove me over to the park, I took some pain relievers and tightened my leg brace. I thought it would help turn things around, but as soon as he dropped me off, my day went from bad to worse. I was late. The kids were already warming up while Colton was in the dugout unloading all the gear from his duffle bag. Oblivious to the crowd of parents sitting in the bleachers, I hobbled over to help him out. When I opened the gate, he looked up at me with a pissed-off face. Assuming that he was ticked because I was running behind, I said, “I’m sorry, man. Therapy took a little longer than expected.”

“Well, I hope you’re all warmed up and ready to go,” he glared over at the bleachers and growled, “because it looks like they’re expecting a dog and pony show today.”

I glanced over at all the parents and grumbled, “Well, fuck me sideways.”

“Guess I’ll have to tell them that practices are closed from here on out.”

“Can you do that?”

He stood up and grabbed a couple of bats. “It’s not like they’re leaving me much choice. Whether you’re here or not, I’m not putting up with this kind of bullshit.”

“I can just go, Colt. I don’t want to make things harder for you and the team.”

“No!” he barked. “I need you and those kids do, too. I can deal with a few horn-dog mothers for a couple of hours.”

“Oh, yeah. Way to ‘take one for the team,’ Coach,” I grumbled.

Colton called out to the boys and they came rushing over. In a matter of minutes, he had them all separated into groups and ready to go. With their parents watching, the kids were especially eager to get started. Trying to appease them, I wasted no time getting my crew ready for my first pitch. After handing out a few pointers, I grabbed the ball and was about to throw it when I spotted her sitting in the bleachers.

Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a tank top that hugged her curves in all the right places. Looking at her was like staring at the sun: I knew I shouldn’t, but it gave me the most intense feeling of light and warmth that I couldn’t turn away. She glanced up, and when her eyes locked with mine, a peculiar look crossed her face. The chick sitting next to her leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and her expression quickly changed into a scowl. With a dramatic shake of her head, she returned her attention back to her book, spending the entire practice doing her dead level best to ignore me.

As soon as practice was over, the parents came flooding out of the bleachers. Colton quickly called them over for a meeting, letting them know that the rest of the practices would be closed. I could see that some of them were disappointed, but I was relieved he’d done it. You would’ve thought that after two years I would’ve gotten used to the attention of overenthusiastic fans, but the fact was, I hadn’t. Kids were one thing. They were cute and non-threatening, but adults were a different matter altogether. It was like they forgot that I was just a regular guy who put their pants on just like they did. Nothing was really special about me: I was just a guy who liked to play ball—and while far from the best, I was pretty damn good at it. Maybe I was lucky, blessed even, but I was still just me.

When one of the mothers started in my direction with her platinum blonde hair and low-cut t-shirt, I cringed. I could tell she was on the prowl by the amount of cleavage she was sporting—and from the look on her face, she was hungry too. Batting her long eyelashes, she said, “I just wanted to tell you that I think it’s really sweet of you to come out here and work with our kids like this.”

“Thank you. It’s been my pleasure.”

I took a step back, trying to keep the distance between us, but she simply inched forward as she purred, “My name is Claire. If you need anything while you’re in town, just give me a call.”

With a provocative wink, she handed me a slip of paper with her number on it. I let out a deep breath as I took the paper and shoved it in my back pocket, having ever intention of throwing it away later. “Thanks, Claire. I appreciate that, but I better get going. It was nice meeting you.”

“It was certainly nice meeting you. Now, you be sure and call if you need anything. Day or night.”

With a nod, I quickly turned around. I was about to head towards the dugout, when I slammed face first into some guy’s chest. Slightly dazed, I looked up at him and said, “Wow, man. Sorry about that.”

He was a big dude—almost a foot taller than me and weighing at least three hundred pounds. As he towered over me, he extended his large hand and said, “No problem, Tucker. I’m Dan Green.”

“Hi, Dan. It’s nice to meet ya.”

“I … was hoping that I could talk to you about my boy for a second.” He pointed to a short, chubby kid who was sitting in the bleachers eating a bag of peanuts. Just like he’d been the entire practice, the kid was in a world of his own. “I think Tyler’s got the potential to be a really great ball player, Tucker. I really do. I’ve been working with him since he could walk, and the kid can knock the hell out of the ball—clear out of the park if he sets his mind to it. And he can catch, too. I don’t know if you know this, but I was the catcher in high school. Actually, I was pretty damn good, but Tyler’s even better. With a little work, I think he could really go far.”

“Umm-hmm.” Tyler was a sweet kid, and while he came to practice and gave it his best, it was clear that he had absolutely no interest whatsoever in the game of baseball. The kid was smart, but all he would talk about was his electronics and the games he liked to play. I understood why Dan wanted his son to play ball. For a kid like Tyler, it would be a great way for him to get exercise and make friends, but even with the best coaching in the world, I was doubtful that Tyler would ever make it very far. I didn’t want to be the guy who broke that news to a hopeful father, so I said, “Tell you what … I’ll keep an eye on him while I’m here and see if I can give him a few pointers.”

“That would be awesome, Tucker. Thank you so much.” The corners of his mouth turned up into a big, cheesy grin, and he shook my hand again. “This is going to mean so much to Tyler.”

By the time we were done talking, most of the kids had gathered up their gear and were leaving. Like the previous day, Kaden was standing alone by the fence while everyone cleared out of the dugout. I walked over to him and said, “Another good practice, kid. You made a really good catch out there.”

“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”

“Oh, yeah? With your sister?”

“Nah. By myself. She had class yesterday.”

I was just giving him some ideas on how to practice alone when the hot, little number who was sitting next to his sister came over and asked, “Hey, buddy. Do you need any help getting your stuff?”

“No. I’ll get it,” he told her as he headed towards the dugout.

“Hi. I’m Jess.”

“Hi, Jess.” I smiled. “You a friend of Kaden’s?”

“I’m Kaci’s roommate. I think you met her the other day.”

“I did.”

“I thought so. Well, anyway, I just came to keep her company for a little while. By the way, I think it’s really awesome that you’re helping out like this.”

“Thanks. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

“Are you going to be in town long?”

Shaking my head, I replied, “No. Just a couple more weeks.”

She glanced over to the parking lot where Kaci was waiting by the fence, then she turned back to me with a mischievous look on her face. “Well, if you’re interested, we’re all going to Mulligan’s on Saturday night. They have karaoke and half-price drinks before eleven. If you don’t have anything planned, you should head over. And um … Kaci will be there, too.”

“Oh. Okay. Sounds like fun.”

“Great.”

She turned and went into the dugout to help Kaden gather the rest of his things. Just as they were leaving, Colton came up next to me and asked, “You ready to go?”

“Yep. Did you get everything?”

He lifted his duffle bag and replied, “No thanks to you.”

As we got to the parking lot, I noticed that Kaci was parked next to Colton’s car. Kaden was already sitting inside while she was putting his equipment in the trunk. She hadn’t noticed that we walked over, and I startled her when I asked, “How’s the book?”

With a surprised look on her face, she peered up at me and asked, “The what?”

“The book you’ve been reading. Is it any good?”

A light blush crept over her cheeks and she cleared her throat. “Umm … It’s okay, I guess.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “Oh.”

“What?”

“I just figured it would’ve been better than okay if it kept your full attention for the past two hours.” I shrugged as I continued, “But … what do I know!”

Her beautiful eyes flashed with what seemed like annoyance before she replied, “I’m surprised you even had time to notice what I was doing with all you had going on. I mean … you had to deal with practice and all those kids running around, and as soon as that was over, you needed to tend to all your adoring fans … get their phone numbers … dish out some advice … You’re a busy man, Tucker Michaels. A very busy man.”

“You noticed all that, huh? I thought you were too busy reading.” I teased—which ended up being a mistake.

With an exaggerated eye roll, she slammed the trunk and walked over to her car door. As she got inside, she snarled, “Goodbye, Tucker.”

“See you Saturday,” I told her just as she was shutting her door.

She didn’t even look at me as she started her car and drove off. Colton just shook his head as he watched me limp over to his car. The aches were really starting to set in, and I was ready to get home. For the most part, I hadn’t been able to drive, but I was making progress with my rehab and hoped it wouldn’t be long before I was back behind the wheel again. As we started towards the house, Colton’s cell phone rang.

Without looking to see who was calling, he answered, “Yeah?”

As he listened to the person on the other end, his eyes narrowed and the muscles in his jaw grew tense. I could feel the anger radiating off of him as he growled, “I’ll take care of it.”

There was another brief pause before he said, “I know, and I get that. I can handle this, Langley. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?” He let out a deep breath as he listened to her response. “Good. Now try not to get too worked up about this, and I’ll handle everything as soon as I get back to the office.”

He hung up the phone and tossed it into the cupholder. “Damn it.”

“What’s going on?”

“A vindictive guy is trying to use his kids as pawns.” He sighed with aggravation. “Just when you think a man can’t be any more of a dick than he already is, he goes and proves you wrong.”

“That bad, huh?”

“You’ve got no idea. He’s got Langley pretty freaked out.”

Even though I knew better, I asked, “So, who’s this Langley chick?”

“She’s my legal assistant.”

“Oh. So, this ex you’re dealing with is hers?” He nodded as he grumbled under his breath. It was obvious that he was upset with the guy, so I said, “In that case, go for his jugular, man … especially if he’s giving your girl a hard time.”

“She’s not my girl, Tucker.” As we pulled up at Dad’s, he turned to me and said, “And like I said, I’ll take care of it.”

I nodded as I opened the door. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“I do. Thanks, Tucker. Oh, tell Dad I said hey. I’d come in, but I really need to take care of some things at work.” I nodded and got out of the car. As I started for the door, I heard him shout, “Practice Thursday … don’t be late.”