Double Play (15 page)

Then
again, New York was a long way from here.

 He
held her hand until they were nearly to the front door. It felt good to hold her
this way. It felt good to show her off to his hometown.

She
stopped outside the entrance and touched him lightly on the arm. Her touch
burned his skin. “I appreciate you doing this, J.D.,” she said.

He
could hardly face her, could barely trust himself not to pull her into his arms
and tell her everything his heart wanted to say. She was so sweet and so real,
yes, real. As real and simple and pure as a woman should be.  “Ain’t nothin’,”
he murmured.

 “I
know you don’t want me here,” she insisted.  “I know you don’t want to share
your hometown with me…”

“Aw,
hell.” He pulled her into his arms and covered her sweet mouth with his own,
drinking in the taste of her like life giving nectar. She resisted at first,
then her body relaxed and she eased into the kiss. For just one minute he
forgot about the Federals, about his contract and all the lies he’d told.

A
round of cat calls and hillbilly yelps resonated from inside. A big lumbering
man busted through the double screen doors. “We heard you was gettin’ hitched!”
he bellowed. The man pulled Halee into a bear hug and planted a rough kiss on
her cheek. “Got yourself a real sugar queen here, J.D.!” he shouted.

“How
you doin’ there, Fat Jimmy?”

Fat
Jimmy smothered J.D. in a hug that lifted him off the ground. “I knew you
wouldn’t forget your homeboys,” he said with a belly laugh that shook the
ground. “Come on in, Superstar. The Sooners are ahead by three and the
barbecue’s on me.”

Halee
looked a little shaken. “You sure you don’t mind?”  J.D. asked tentatively.

“Of
course not,” she said with a wide grin.

He
wrapped her small hand in his and pulled her through the double doors. The
crowd erupted.

J.D.
turned on Fat Jimmy. “Did you plan this?”

“Hell,
yeh! Faye called ahead. You been home four days now and not one of us has seen
ya. Sit your skinny ass down and tell us what it feels like to be a major
leaguer.” Fat Jimmy pulled a wooden chair over to the booth and sat straddled
at the edge of the table. “Wanda!” he called to the waitress. “We need a couple
pitchers and a couple big plates over here!” He turned back to J.D. “You can
start by introducing us to your fiancé.”

J.D.
hesitated. Wanda slid two pitchers and six glasses on the table, reached down
and gave J.D. a big kiss on the cheek. “Congratulations, Honey! I always knew
you’d be the one to get out of this Godforsaken town.”

“Don’t
write me off yet, Wanda. I’ve been at the realtor’s office all morning trying
to work a deal with old Hank and get me a ranch.”

Wanda
grinned ear to ear. “Well, wouldn’t that be wicked revenge!”

 He
stretched his neck toward the back of the room. “Is that Trevor Henshaw back by
the washroom? Looks too skinny to be Trevor.”

“Yup,
that’s Trevor.”

“Thought
he went to Afghanistan.”

“Got
discharged for some kind of medical reason,” said Wanda. “Got himself a
government job over in Oklahoma City. Comes back to visit his mama almost every
weekend.”

“I’ll
have to drop by and see the both of them.”

Fat
Jimmy shook his head. “He ain’t always so ill-mannered, is he?” he asked Halee.
“Hey, J.D. We’re waiting for you to introduce your fiancé.”

J.D.
continued talking to the long line of people waiting to see him.

Halee
laughed. “I’m Halee, Halee McCarthy.”

“Pleased
to meet ya, Halee,” said Fat Jimmy. “Don’t let him get away with nothing,” he
said, pointing to his friend. “He’s just a kid from Kadele, Oklahoma, no matter
what he tells ya.”

J.D.
turned back toward the booth. “Ain’t she a beaut?” he asked, placing a
protective arm around Halee’s shoulders.

“Don’t
come prettier,” Jimmy agreed. “You’re the gal from Texas, right?”

“Chicago,”
Halee corrected between bites of barbeque.

“Don’t
look nothin’ like your picture.”

J.D.
cleared his throat. “You still umping, Jim?”

“Mhmmph,
and I got stories to tell ya, too. You remember Cal Barnum, used to chase every
woman in town, including his mama’s friends?”

J.D.
laughed. “Yeh, I remember him. Think he made a pass at Faye once or twice.”

“Well,
he’s got two kids now, mean as shit. Pardon my language, Halee,” he said
quickly. “The little buggers are always trying to get away with something, and
Cal’s always in my face when I call ‘em on it.”

“Nobody
in their right mind gets in your face, Fat Jimmy,” said J.D. He poured a beer
and set it in front of Halee.

“I’d
better not with the baby,” said Halee, pushing it away.

Fat
Jimmy slammed his beer on the table. “Well, I’ll be damned! J.D. here’s got a
bun in the oven!”

Another
round of cat calls went up. J.D. and Halee both shifted nervously and glanced
toward each other. Halee started to protest but J.D. quickly covered her lips
with his own, trying to think up some way out of this while he kept her quiet. Scenes
flashed through his head of Halee pregnant with his child, of towhead babies
who looked like her and dark haired babies who looked like him, of little boys
riding horses on their ranch, their pretty mama riding alongside.  He heard Fat
Jimmy announcing rounds on the house and sank deeper into the kiss, losing his
hold on reality every minute his lips touched hers. Slowly he dragged her
across his lap, and then followed the curve of her neck with his lips. “I
wish,” he whispered against her ear.

He
felt her tense. “What are you doing?” she whispered back.

J.D.
snapped out of his spell. He sat straighter and cleared his throat.  “I just
want you to know that Fat Jimmy here still holds the all-time highest batting
average for Kadele High School,” he announced, chugging down half a bottle of
beer. He had no idea what he was doing, but it felt right. Better than right.

“J.D.
took up baseball so he could meet girls,” said Fat Jimmy.

J.D.
gazed fondly on Halee. “Worked, didn’t it?”

“It’s
good to see you in love, J.D. All those other girls were just practice for the
real thing. So when you two gettin’ hitched?”

J.D.
locked eyes with Halee for several minutes. Brad Paisley crooned a love song
across the speakers.  “Come on,” he said, leading her onto the wooden dance
floor. He took her into his arms and swept her across the floor, just like the
night on Sam’s boat, the night everything had changed.

“Barbeque
and dancing before noon,” she said. She leaned against him, molded to his body
like she belonged there. “Plus a whole new string of lies.”

“They’ll
know the truth soon enough.”

“If
you don’t stop lying soon, you might lose track of the truth.”

“Don’t
you waste time worrying about me.”

“I’m
not. I’m worrying about me. One minute you’re hot, the next you’re cold. You’ve
got me spinning, J.D. I can’t go on like this.”

J.D.
danced on in silence, brooding, wondering what to do next.

“It’s
like a sauna in here,” he said finally. “Let’s go.”

He
said his goodbyes to Fat Jimmy and the others, all the while holding onto her
hand as if he might lose her for good if he let go. She climbed into the steamy
truck beside him and he headed down a different dirt road, past a series of ranches
with lazy dogs and lazier cattle until they reached a patch of woods that
lasted several miles. The windows were down on the truck and her hair blew free
from her flushed face. She’d kicked off her flip flops and parted her legs,
allowing the warm breeze to blow up her skirt, stirring up J.D.’s already hot
blood. They drove on in silence, J.D. wondering how he’d gotten into this mess
and just what he was going to do about it. Right now he was working on a double
play, living with a woman he could hardly stand and doing his best to break
free from a woman who rocked his world at every turn. Seemed to him things were
reversed, just like the rest of his life.

Another
quarter mile and the road dead ended in a crystal blue lake. J.D. cut the
engine. “This is a secret swimming hole,” he said, dropping his eyes to her
yellow dress. “You gottta swear on your life you won’t  tell nobody I brought
you here.”

“I’ll
ruin this dress,” Halee protested. “It’s not mine.”

“Then
I guess you’ll have to take it off,” said J.D. with a wicked grin. “Or I will.”
 He slid out of the truck and pulled his tee shirt over his head. The hot sun
immediately set to baking his shoulders. “Let’s get wet,” he said.

He
marched toward the water, kicking off his boots, unzipping his jeans. When he
got to a big rock, he stopped and pulled his jeans from his long legs, then
dropped his drawers. He didn’t care who saw him or what they thought about what
they saw. The cool water was calling.

He
took ten steps into the pond and dove headfirst toward the muddy bottom. The
water felt good, silky against his naked skin. He came up for air and turned
toward the truck. Halee had made her way to the big rock and was leaning
against it with a wide grin on her face.

“You
gonna take off that dress or what?”

Halee
glanced around.

“You
know you want to.”

“I’ll
just watch you,” she said, pushing some dirt around with one foot.

“Come
on. Live a little.”

She
smiled a shy little smile, kicking up his desire one more notch. He started to
walk to shore. He watched her eyes lower to his waist then his hips as he
emerged from the water. She bit her lip. He thought he heard her sigh.

She
held her ground until he was inches away, close enough to drip water on her bare
feet. “Need help with that dress?”

She
nodded.

He
reached up and slid one strap over her shoulder, then the other. The dress fell
to the ground. She didn’t move. She simply watched his face as he snapped the
front clasp on her bra and shoved it away.

“You
are one beautiful woman, Miss McCarthy.”

“What
are you going to do about it?”

J.D.
widened his grin. He liked that low sexy voice she used when she wanted to make
love. He could feel his body responding, getting ready to enter forbidden
territory.

“Any
suggestions?”

“Let’s
get wet.”

She
didn’t have to ask twice. Before she could protest, he had her up over one
shoulder, heading for cool water. She kicked, giggling so hard she nearly lost
her breath. “J.D.!” she cried. “You’re going to hurt your shoulder!”

J.D.
took advantage of her position, gently spanking her perfect derriere while he jogged
for the deep end. Once there, he slid her down across his eager body, face to
face, and kissed her soundly.

The
water lapped up around their shoulders. He rubbed his wet nose across hers and
gave her another quick kiss. “Now don’t that feel nice?”

“Not
as nice as this,” said Halee, reaching between his legs.   

A
rocket of desire blasted from his groin to his head. She wrapped one leg around
his waist, then the other, rising enough from the water for her naked breasts
to graze the surface, dangerously close to his eager mouth.  Her nipples were
taut, teased by the lapping waves. His tongue grazed each one in turn. She
moaned. He held his breath, afraid he’d be finished before he got started. This
woman had him on edge every time she entered a room. But here, skin to skin, it
was almost too much for him to bear.

“Baby,
let’s go slow,” he heard himself say.

“I
want it fast and hard,” she replied.

“Lord,
have mercy.”

Within
seconds he was deep inside her, so deep he thought he’d reached paradise. She
moaned, dragging her cool lips across his shoulders, his neck, and his back. Every
sweet sensation built upon another, higher and higher till he thought he might
explode. Her full breasts taunted him, her firm thighs pulsed against his
tender flesh like a Siren. He had to have her, today, tonight, and tomorrow. She
was his addiction, an obsession so sweet he could think of nothing else. She
bucked against him, rocking his world. With one last thrust he filled her with
his seed, marking her as his own for now and forever. She shuddered against
him, catching his cries with her mouth, blending them with her own deep
guttural song of satisfaction.

“I
like your secret place,” she whispered against his neck.

“I
like yours, too.” He closed his eyes, memorizing the way her body fit against
his.

The
wind picked up and the sun retreated behind a bank of growing storm clouds. Her
teeth began to chatter. “Time to hit dry land, my beautiful Siren.” He took her
hand and led her to shore. He watched as she squeezed the water from her hair. “Didn’t
think to bring a towel or nothin’,”  he said.

Silently,
she slid the dress back over her head. He stole one last look at her gorgeous
body and felt himself getting hard again. Turning away, he slid his jeans back
on and pushed back his disappointment.
You can’t have her all day
, he
told himself.
You can’t be acting like a dog in heat.

He
sure felt like one.

They
walked slowly back to the truck, hand in hand.

“J.D.,”
she said, turning to face him, “I need to know what this means.”

He
hesitated, studying the sunburned hand wrapped in his own. “I got plans…”

“And
they don’t include me.” It wasn’t a question. Halee sighed. “I can’t do this
anymore, J.D. I don’t want to see you anymore. I don’t want to make love with
you. I can’t…” One tear slipped down her flushed face. J.D. reached up to wipe
it away, but she pushed his hand aside. “Don’t.”

She
dropped his hand and walked to the truck with her head hung low. His heart sank
as he watched the woman he loved walk away.