In retrospect, Carter should have warned her how the date would probably go.

In his defense, it had been a while since he had been on a bona fide date. And make no mistake, folks, this was a date, complete with meeting the parents. Carter smiled at the memory of it.

The flowers had been a sudden spark of inspiration. He liked the way tulips looked and thought it might just nudge him closer to Jordan’s good side. He had a feeling it had worked.

Despite his over the top performance, Carter really had enjoyed himself with Jordan’s family. It was refreshing to see all the sentiment he’d only ever seen in movies and TV actually come to life in front of him. Good natured teasing. Inside joking. Laughter. Love. Even the critical scrutiny of her mother had given him the warm fuzzies. Jordan had grown up with the sort of family Carter could only dream about. In the 20 minutes he had spent in their presence they had made him feel more at home than he had ever felt with any of his own family members.

He couldn’t remember the last “date” he’d actually been on. College? High school? Once he had hit the majors, girls—women—just seemed to be a little “fly by night.” Obviously, more than a few had tried to get him to wife them up, but he had always been far more interested in looking for the next best thing.

He’d meet them in bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, maybe take them back to his huge house in River Oaks, if that was where the night was going—and it usually was.

Right now would usually be about the time he should be thinking about what was around the corner—after hitting it and finding a way to finesse out of it. But all he could do was focus on those big, brown eyes and dimples that made an appearance every time someone dropped by the table to congratulate him or shake his hand, which had been all night.

And now he was reluctant to let her go.

Beat that.

The craziest part was that he wasn’t even thinking about sex. Well, that was a lie. Of course he was thinking about sex. But, there was something more here.

They were walking back to his truck. As he opened the door for her, she turned to him with a smile that advertised just how many margaritas she’d had.

A wee bit tipsy there, aren’t we sweetheart?

“Well, thank you for dinner Carter.”

“Like I said, we’re not done yet.”

She blinked rapidly in response. He duly noted her eyes flit down to his crotch and then back up to his face with a note of panic in them.

He laughed.

“No, not that,” he said. Then he leaned in, crowding her into the passenger side of his pick-up truck. “Unless of course you want to come back to my place.”

Her expression changed. “See, there you go. And it was going so nicely—”

“Hold your horses,” he said, laughing again. He grabbed her gently by the shoulders and reversed her escape into his truck. “As much as the idea appeals to me,” he couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming down the sundress she had worn tonight, ”I have something else in mind. It’ll give us a chance to actually talk. Trust me.”

She considered him for a moment, then shrugged. He let go of her shoulders and watched as she stepped up into the truck. As she bent forward to duck in, he had a lovely view of her round backside underneath the thin, pinkish-orange fabric of her dress.

Oh sweet Jordan Douglas.

No sense going down that road…yet.

He closed the door after her and jogged around to his side of the truck and got in.

The idea had struck him as soon as they were finishing up their meal. Jordan in that dress was just killing him. Those dimples of hers were killing him even more. There was no way he wanted to let her go so soon. Other than his place, which he obviously would have been more than happy to take her, the only other idea that sprung to mind was one that had been put on the shelf long ago. He figured this one would be an easier sell.

“So, are you going to leave me in suspense?” she asked, actually giving in to a smile as he started the ignition.

“I think I might,” he said, grinning back at her.

“Should I be scared of you?” A tiny edge of trepidation crept into her voice.

“Always, darlin’.”

She was just on the right side of tipsy to laugh at that.

They sat in silence as he made his way back onto US-59. When he finally exited, Jordan looked around.

“The museum?” she asked, looking at the clock in his front panel. It was well after 11:30 p.m. “I think it’s closed.”

“Close, but no cigar,” he said, making his way around the curve to the parking lot for Hermann Park.

“What’s going on? Where are we going?”

“Boy, you just don’t like surprises do you?”

“Depends on what kind,” she responded, that trepidation creeping in just a bit more.

Carter pulled the truck into the near empty lot and turned off the engine. He reached in back and grabbed the extra-large, clean towel he packed in case he preferred to shower at home instead of in the Sluggers’ clubhouse and didn’t want to get the seat of his truck funky.

He responded to Jordan’s confused look with a smile as he walked around to open her door for her. He crooked his elbow, offering it to her, ever the gentleman. Might as well go full throttle on this little ride he was taking her.

Jordan rolled her eyes with a smile. Then she took his arm and bowed her head graciously, playing along with it. They both laughed as he led her toward the huge grassy hill on the other side of the Miller Outdoor Theatre seating area. Any concert that had been there was long over and they had the area mostly to themselves.

The inspiration for this adventure had happened purely by coincidence after some charity event a year ago at the Museum of Natural Science, which was right next to the park. After his obligatory round of schmoozing and hand-shaking, Carter had just wanted some alone time. It had been a dark night so he had been able to wander around outside anonymously. Strolling along, hands in the pocket of his tuxedo, he had seen a couple lying there on a blanket looking up at the sky. They were completely oblivious to him, and he’d watched them for a good 10 minutes while they stared up and smiled, heads together, whispering to one another. He was a professional athlete with a 4-year $25 million contract, doing exactly what he loved most for a living…and he’d never been so envious in his life. Nothing but the night sky and a beautiful woman lying next to you.

He hoped Jordan was worth it.

He unfurled the towel onto the grass. The towel was meant for two people but when you were Carter Fox’s size it got a bit crowded, even when he made a point of positioning himself right on the edge, long legs stretched out as he leaned back on his hands. He patted the space next to him, encouraging her to take a seat. He watched the debate play out in her cautious eyes before they came to a decision and had her shrugging as she finally plopped down next to him, tucking her legs underneath her in an endearingly ladylike fashion.

“So what’s this?” she asked, giving a small laugh and looking around as she sat facing him, leaning on one arm. “You want to make out in the park?”

“Well, my intention was to get to know you a little better, but if you want to get down and dirty,” he leaned over and shoved his stubble covered chin into her neck.

“Carter!” she yelped in surprise. He felt her laugh and cringe away from the prickliness of his chin.

“Jeez! you really are bad,” she laughed, slapping him on the chest and shaking her head.

“That’s why they love me.”

She just kept shaking her head as she looked away toward the museums across the street. He noted that the smile remained on her face. That was a good sign.

“So what did you want to know about me?” she finally asked.

“What makes Jordan Douglas tick?” he asked his voice laced with a hint of mockery.

“Oh come on! What a lame question, and so cliché. I mean, how would you answer if a reporter asked you a question like that?”

“Baseball,” he said simply. He lay back down on the towel, resting his body on one elbow as he faced her. “It’s the one thing I’m good at.”

“I have my doubts about that,” she said. “You seem pretty capable in a few other areas.”

He just chuckled as he took that in. “But really, tell me something about Jordan Douglas that might surprise me.”

He sensed a pause and then a sigh. “Really? Work and school, school and work. Like you, my life orbits around a tiny sphere of things I’m really good at.”

“I too have my doubts about that,” he replied.

She gave a small chuckle, then she squinted one eye giving him a thoughtful look. That tongue of hers rolled around in her cheek. Perhaps it was the margaritas, but eventually, the choice to speak her mind won out.

“Okay, but you have to promise not to laugh,” she finally said. “Actually, you have to promise to laugh.”

“Now I’m just confused, but go ahead and tell me anyway.”

“Off-color jokes,” she said in a huff. “Not too dirty of course, but, well, I’ve got a bunch of them.”

That was the last thing he would have ever expected and blurted out a loud laugh.

She laughed and slapped him on the arm. “I haven’t even told one yet!”

“Okay fine, shoot.”

She did a little wriggle of anticipation—which caused a part of him to wriggle with anticipation as well—then took a deep breath.

“What do you call babies born in a whorehouse?”

Carter twisted his lips with thought, having no idea what the punchline was. He grinned and gave her a shrug. “What?”

“Brothel Sprouts.”

It was so bad he couldn’t help but laugh, throwing his head back with a steady stream of guffaws.

“Oh come on,” she chided, not sure if he was teasing or legitimately laughing at the joke. He couldn’t have told her one way or the other.

“Okay,” he said, recovering. “That wasn’t even in the universe of dirty. You want dirty I can show you dirty.”

“I’ll bet,” she said, a little sauce in her tone.

Carter filed that one away for later. “But I’ll give it to you, you did make me laugh. Though I’m not sure if it’s with you or at you.”

“I said they’d be dirty, not good,” she replied, matter-of-factly.

“You can do better than that,” he goaded.

Jordan pursed her lips—which only made him want to suck on them—as she debated it, then chuckled. “Okay. How many perverts does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

A slow smile came to Carter’s face and he shrugged.

“Only one, but it takes an entire ER team to get it back out.”

This time his laugh was for real, and Jordan joined him.

“Okay, dirty and funny,” he said after his laughter died down. “You win that one.”

“Speaking of which, what’s your super-secret thing, mister?”

Instead of answering, he fell onto his back and once again patted the towel next to him.

“Come lie down here next to me.”

She just looked down at him with a wary expression.

“I promise I won’t try anything.”

She bit back a smile then fell back next to him with a dramatic plop. Her body felt tiny next to his. He brought one large arm around and nudged her head until she finally lifted it so he could place it under her head. Then he brought her closer so it was resting on his shoulder instead.

“There, now isn’t that better?” he drawled.

“Just don’t try anything, tough guy,” she warned.

“Relax, I’m not going to try anything. I just want to show you something.”

She laughed lightly against his chest and it felt like heaven. He wondered what those two love birds that were the inspiration for tonight’s little imitation had talked about. Were they just beginning to get to know each other as well?

“Look up at the sky. See that bright white dot there?” he pointed to it.

“The star?” she asked after a moment.

“It’s not a star. It’s Venus. Goddess of Love.” He nudged the back of her head with his shoulder as he said it and was rewarded with a small chuckle. “Did you know that it spins in the opposite direction from the other planets? It also rotates so slowly that a day on the planet is longer than a year.”

There was a short silence from her before she spoke up.

“How do you know so much about Venus?” she asked and he was pleased to note the admiration in her voice.

“What little boy grows up in the home of NASA, and doesn’t want to be an astronaut? I used to devour books about space, still do. I even have a telescope in my bedroom at home.”

“Tell me some more facts about space,” she prodded, snuggling in closer to him.

Carter smiled, loving the fact that she was curious about something he loved. “Well, space is huge, beyond what you can even imagine. Just to show you, the sun is big enough to hold over a million Earth-sized planets inside of it…and some of those stars you see up there are big enough to hold a million suns…and some of the largest known stars in the universe are big enough to hold a million of those stars.”

He heard her give a heavy sigh. It was something he could fully appreciate, the enormity of everything he’d just said. Here they were, Carter and Jordan, two tiny little blips on the map of the universe. It could make even a man his size feel small.

“It’s all so amazing,” she breathed with wonder, moving in even closer.

“It is,” he agreed.

They stared up at the blanket of lights above them in silence.

Oh yeah, Jordan was definitely worth this.