Coming Back To You (18 page)

As they approached the softball diamond,
Karma spied Mark warming up with Lisa and frowned. Her best friend
was consorting with the enemy. Lisa should know better than that.
They tossed a ball back and forth, and Mark looked as at ease with
softball as he had playing basketball when she’d visited him in
Chicago last summer. The guy was built for sports. And damn, his
arms were ripped. Looked like Mark had been seriously working out
in his year away.

Jasper and several other members of the team
were already warming up, too. As usual, she and Brad were the late
arrivals. Brad could never seem to pick her up on time. There was
always some last-minute crisis at work he had to tend to.

“Hey, Karma!” Lisa waved.

Mark turned, caught her eye, and then his
gaze quickly jumped to Brad.

Let the awkwardness begin.

“Hi.” She waved back at Lisa, briefly met
Mark’s gaze again, then knelt beside her bag along the dusty
sideline.

She fished out her mitt, grabbed one of the
balls from the equipment duffel, then she and Brad trotted out to
the field, setting up a few feet away from Mark and Lisa. Standing
about twenty feet from Brad, she tossed the ball his direction.

The white ball landed in his leather mitt
with a familiar
thwack
.

Back-and-forth, they tossed the ball, getting
a good, easy rhythm going.
Thwack…thwack
.

For five minutes, she focused on the flying
white orb, forcing herself not to look at Mark. But she could feel
him. He was right there, barely ten feet away. It was like the guy
had invisible tentacles, and they were caressing her from head to
toe, sending her awareness into the stratosphere.

With only a couple more minutes until the
game started, all the players made their way to the bench.

“Looks like tough competition.” Mark nodded
toward the opposition.

“They’re from Methodist Sports Medicine.”
Jasper dropped his mitt on the bench and grabbed his water.

“That explains it.” Mark glanced at her and
held her gaze a second longer than necessary as he sat beside
her.

Brad sat on her other side. He reached across
her body, hand outstretched toward Mark. “By the way, I’m
Brad.”

Mark hesitated for a fraction of a second as
if sizing up his competition. “I’m Mark. I’m Karma’s new boss.”
Karma didn’t miss the possessive tone in his voice, even if it
passed right over everyone else’s head. But she knew him more
intimately than the others, and right now, he was a rooster
strutting around the hen, trying to intimidate the other
roosters.

“Karma didn’t tell me she had a new boss.”
Brad gave her a quizzical look.

She felt her cheeks flame to life and waved
her hand dismissively. “It just happened. Besides, it’s no big
deal, and you’ve been busy.” She rubbed her arm against his
affectionately. Probably too affectionately. “Mark worked at Solar
last year as a consultant, so it’s kind of like he never really
left.” She shot Mark a pointed glance. Because, clearly, he
had
left. And when he did, he’d given up any right to stake
a claim over her, which he was clearly trying to do now by preening
his feathers in front of Brad.

“I’m here to stay this time,” Mark said, his
gaze boring into Brad’s in a way that sent all kinds of
my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours vibes.

And, honestly, Mark’s dick was bigger than
Brad’s, but jock size wasn’t how she measured the worth of a
man.

Brad looked between her and Mark then
narrowed his eyes and smiled. “I see. Well, it’s too bad my
fiancée
hasn’t mentioned you.”

Uh-oh. Sounded like Brad had picked up on the
verbal challenge. The way he slid his hand into hers and wove their
fingers together proved it. Brad wasn’t into displays of public
affection, but faced with what he perceived as another suitor vying
for her attention, he must have cast aside his aversion to make
clear exactly who she belonged to.

Thankfully the umpire called the first batter
to the plate, ending the covert cock fight she was smack in the
middle of. The first two up to bat got base hits, then Jasper got a
double. Then three outs in a row. But they had scored two runs. Not
bad for a first inning at bat.

Karma grabbed her mitt and jogged out to
right field. The testosterone coming off Mark and Brad was almost
like another player. Hopefully neither of them would do anything
stupid. Such as actually whip out their penises and argue about
which was bigger.

The first batter for the other team knocked a
hit into left field, which Jasper caught for an out, but the second
batter looked like a pro. What were these sports med guys doing
playing in the slow-pitch league? They looked like minor
leaguers.

He hit a grounder right toward Brad. He
scooped it up and tossed it toward first base, but not before the
runner was called safe. The next batter popped one into center
field, which sailed over Lisa’s head. By the time she retrieved it
and threw it toward second, the first runner was rounding for home.
Mark reached to catch the ball, but Brad jumped in front of him to
catch it instead.

What the hell?

Mark flung out his arms in obvious
exasperation as Brad turned, adjusted, and threw the ball toward
home plate. But he couldn’t get the ball there fast enough. The
other team scored while the runner rounded second to third.

“What the hell was that?” Mark shouted. “I
could have gotten two outs.”

Brad shrugged as if he didn’t care then bent
and rested his hands on his knees in anticipation of the next
hit.

This was a side of Brad Karma had never seen.
It was one thing to be competitive and to want to show Mark who she
belonged to, but what he’d done just now had cost them not only a
run, but also an out. Mark was justifiably upset, as were the rest
of the members on the team.

“Shake it off!” she yelled. “Come on, shake
it off. We’ll get the next one.”

The next hit beamed straight for Mark. Easy
out. Except…Brad ran for the ball.

No, Brad! No!
Karma cringed and threw
her hands in the air as if that would be enough to make Brad stop.
No such luck.

Brad flung himself toward the ball. It grazed
the front of his mitt, deflecting away from both him and Mark.

Mark rushed after it, leaving second base
uncovered, which meant Brad should have covered the base. When Mark
jumped around to throw him the ball, Brad had returned to
shortstop. Mark had to double clutch and dart back to the base, but
not before the runner got there first.

Appearing frustrated, Mark shot her an
exasperated glance as if this was all her fault then tossed the
ball back to the pitcher.

God, this was turning into a nightmare. Brad
was behaving like a six-year-old, and from the frustrated
expression on Mark’s face, he was only just barely holding his
tongue.

Somehow, they managed to get three outs, but
not before the other team scored five runs.

At the bench, she quickly pulled Brad aside.
“What was that all about?” she whispered hotly, pointing toward the
field.

He scowled and turned away. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? You cost us at least three runs,
Brad.
At least
.”

“I don’t like that guy.” He glowered at Mark,
who was sitting on the bench, drinking from his water bottle.

“What?” Karma tried to sound confused even
though she knew exactly what Brad meant. “You just met him.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like how he looks at
you.”

Karma pulled back. “How he looks at me?”

“Yeah. He looks at you like he owns you.”

She forced herself to laugh. “You’re
imagining things.” She had never known Brad to be the jealous type,
but here he was, wigged-out over another man. Yes, she and Mark had
a history with one another, but she had made her choice, and her
choice was Brad. Seeing him so jealous was unnerving.

“Am I?” Brad gave her a hard look then
marched past her to warm up. He was next in the batting lineup.

She plopped onto the bench.

“Your boyfriend needs to learn how to play
ball,” Mark said under his breath.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my fiancé,
remember?”

“Yeah, I remember, but he still needs to
learn how to play.”

She glanced around to make sure no one was
within earshot. “What he needs is for you to stop showing your
ass.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” She glared at him. “You and your
macho bullshit. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”

“Hey, I’m just here to play ball.”

“Then play and quit trying to wave your dick
in Brad’s face. I’m with him now.
Him
. Not
you
. I’ve
made my choice. And you…aren’t…it.” She pushed off the bench and
left him to stew on her words while she grabbed her favorite bat
and took a few practice swings.

For four more innings, nothing further was
said about Brad’s incompetent playing, but he did begin to play
more sensibly. Karma took her place in right field and chattered at
the batter with her teammates.

“Hey batter, batter, batter…swiiiing
batter!”

And swing he did, dinging one into right
field, straight for her. That’s what she got for taunting. The hit
wasn’t just a pop fly. It was more like an arcing missile. She ran
up on the ball but couldn’t get to it in time. It hit the ground
and bounced like a laser-guided bullet right toward her face. She
saw the damn thing coming but couldn’t duck in time, taking a hit
right in the eye.

She flew backward and fell, covering the left
side of her face with her mitt as pain erupted in her cheek and
nose. She rolled to her side in the grass, instinctively shielding
her injury from further harm.

“Karma!” It was Mark’s voice.

Within seconds, the rest of the team
surrounded her, abandoning the ball and letting the other team
score.

“Are you okay?”

She blinked through stinging tears at Mark’s
concerned face. Genuine worry coated his expression.

“Karma? Hey, you all right?” Brad practically
shoved Mark out of the way and took her hand.

Mark took off for the sidelines, and Jasper
called an injury time-out.

“Yes. I think so. Just…hurts.” It felt like
her face was swelling and pain throbbed like a heartbeat in her
cheek.

“You took quite a hit.” Brad helped her up,
wrapped his arm around her waist, and led her toward the bench.

Mark approached holding a cold pack from the
team’s first aid kit. “Here. Put this on your eye.”

She took the pack and pressed it against her
tender face, wincing.

“You should go to the hospital.” Mark reached
for her arm.

Brad knocked his hand away. “Don’t be silly.
She’s fine. Right?” He turned toward her. “You’re fine. Just a
little bump.”

Mark frowned. “She could have a concussion or
a broken nose.” Anger splashed over his words. “She needs to get
checked out.”

Brad ignored him and guided her to the
bench.

“How’s it look?” She lowered her mitt to
reveal the battered side of her face.

Brad blinked and raised his eyebrows.
“Well…”

“Like you need to go to the hospital,” Mark
said, kneeling in front of her.

Brad huffed. “She doesn’t need to go to the
hospital. It’s just a little black eye.”

Mark scowled at Brad, shaking his head. “It
might be, but it’d be better to find out for sure.”

Brad was probably right. It was probably just
a black eye. But Mark was also right. He was clearly worried. Did
her face really look that bad?

“Let me take care of my own fiancée, Mark,”
Brad said, glaring. “I think I’ve got this.”

Karma needed to defuse the situation. She
held up her free hand between them. “If it gets worse, I’ll go to
the hospital, okay?” She glanced from Brad to Mark and back again.
“But I think I’ll be okay. It’s just a little bruise.”

Mark glanced from Brad to Karma. What
appeared to be frustration mixed with hopelessness crossed his
face, and then he grabbed his mitt and stood. With his jaw
clenched, he backed away then tore his gaze from hers and returned
to the field.

Brad scowled after him then returned his gaze
to Karma’s as he placed his hand over hers on the ice pack. “It
looks fine. A little swollen. You’ll probably have a black eye. But
you’re still sexy.”

Sexy? How could a swollen, blackening eye be
sexy? Really, Brad shouldn’t try so hard to one-up Mark. The
machismo didn’t look good on him.

“Can you play?” Jasper asked.

“Of course she can’t play,” Brad said. “Look
at her eye.”

She pushed out of Brad’s hold. She didn’t
need him speaking for her. “I’m fine. We’ve only got a couple more
innings. I can play.” She turned toward Brad. “You can nurse me
after the game.”

The injury really wasn’t all that bad. Her
pride was more bruised than her face, which probably looked worse
than it felt. But hey, if she played her cards right and milked her
battle wound and Brad’s guilt for all they were worth, she might be
able to cash in on a rain check or two tonight.

Chapter 21

Karma sat beside Brad at the Stacked Pickle an hour
later, a half-eaten burger and fries in front of her and a Ziploc
bag of ice wrapped in a towel pressed to her cheek. Half the team,
as well as most of the players on the opposing team, had stopped in
after the game for food and drinks.

Brad stuck to her side like glue. Apparently,
he didn’t want to leave her alone where big bad Mark could swoop in
and steal her away. The attention was nice but left Karma a little
discombobulated. She’d gotten used to Brad’s standoffish,
I-don’t-like-displays-of-public-affection demeanor, and now she had
to shift gears to keep up with his change in direction.

But he really needn’t have worried about
Mark. He’d taken up flirting with a lean, busty brunette from the
other team. They were sitting together at the next table over,
laughing and sitting much too closely to one another. The brunette
reminded her of the woman in the picture with Mark on New Year’s
Eve.