Getting Wound Up: A Sapphire Falls/ Love Between the Bases Novel-- PART ONE (6 page)

Twelve minutes later, Eli was out of the room, his hair damp, a sexy day’s worth of stubble on his jaw. He was back in jeans and a simple blue t-shirt that brought out his eyes and made her sigh.

But this was about being a cheerleader, not a drooling fangirl.

“Now what?” he asked, spreading his arms wide.

God, those shoulders, and that chest, and those abs…

She shook her head and gave him a smile. “We can walk. Let’s go.”

While he’d been showering and changing, she’d scoped out fun local bars. Then thought better of it. She didn’t know Kansas City and even with GPS, she didn’t want to worry about getting them back to the hotel. Plus, she needed a drink. She had an edge to take off too.

Thinking about Eli and what it would mean for him, and everyone else, if he got the call, what it would mean if he didn’t get the call, why she was really here, all of the things she really wanted to say to him but knew she couldn’t, had her so wound up she didn’t know how she was going to keep up the charade of good-friend-and-chauffeur-only for another twenty-four hours or so.

Bottom line—she wanted them to
both
relax and have fun.

So they were going to
walk
the two blocks to the closest bar.

Eli fell into step beside her as she started east across the parking lot.

“Sorry I was an ass at the tryout,” he said after a few minutes.

She looked over. He had his hands tucked into the front pockets of his jeans.

“I’m sorry I got everyone on the phone. Or that I talked to the scout. Whatever you’re upset about.”

He gave her a sideways smile. “How about both?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Both. Sorry, I was trying to be supportive.”

He bumped her shoulder with his. A friendly gesture he’d done a million times in her life. And her heart dropped a bit. It was a
friendly
gesture. As were all the other gestures and words and looks and smiles he’d ever given her.

Except for the delicious groping in the dark last night in the bathroom doorway.

Her body heated at the memory and she swallowed hard.

“It means a lot that you’re here,” he finally said.

She laughed lightly. “Like I gave you a choice.”

She led him up the walk to the front door of
Eddie’s,
the bar and grill she’d found on her phone while she waited for him. It didn’t look bad. The parking lot was about half full and well lit, all the bulbs in the sign worked, and the familiar aroma of burgers and fried food made her stomach rumble.

Eli pulled the door open for her. “Honestly,” he said as she passed him. “I much preferred your good-luck kiss to the ones I would’ve gotten from Ty and Bryan.”

She snorted, surprised by his banter. “Like
you
gave
me
a choice on that one.”

He moved in behind her as she stopped inside the door and surveyed the room.

“Yeah, what was that about?” he asked.

She glanced up at him. “What do you mean?”

“I had to
take
my good-luck kiss? Shouldn’t you have been
giving
it to me?”

Caitlyn tried to study his face but a shadow fell just right so that she couldn’t discern the emotion in his eyes. But he had to be teasing her. Surely.

“Are you going to try to tell me that you didn’t do as well as you wanted to because of that kiss?” she asked lightly.

He shrugged. “I prefer to blame my performance on anything
but
myself.”

She knew that wasn’t true. Eli was a hard worker, no matter what work he was doing, and was his own harshest critic. He would never try to excuse anything he did.

“I’m not talking about the tryout anymore until I’ve had a shot of Jäger,” she said, turning away.

The bartender caught her eye and waved her in, indicating they could sit wherever they wanted to. Caitlyn headed for a tall round table for two along the wall across from the bar.

“Jäger?” Eli asked, taking the stool across from her.

The table was small and with his long legs, his knees bumped hers as they both got comfortable. Even after a few seconds of shifting and turning, Caitlyn had to accept the fact that their legs where going to be touching throughout their dinner.

“Jäger. Definitely.”

He shook his head. “Even after New Year’s?”

She didn’t love the taste of Jägermeister, but she did love the buzz it gave her. Typically she stuck with sweeter, fruitier drinks, even shots. Butterscotch schnapps, peppermint schnapps, peach schnapps—really anything with “schnapps” at the end. But when she wanted a quick, warm buzz, Jäger was her go to.

She knew Eli liked it too.

“Especially after New Year’s,” she said.

The New Year’s party in Sapphire Falls was one of many holiday traditions—hell, it was one of many traditions period. Sapphire Falls loved their festivals and parties and customs. The New Year’s party started at the community center with a band and a dance and tons of food, potluck of course. Then, around eleven-thirty, everyone made their way to the town square—regardless of the weather. They had hot chocolate and hot cider and coffee and everyone snuck in their favorite spirit to add to the cups. Though since everyone did it, and everyone knew that everyone did it, she wasn’t so sure that it was really “sneaking.”

They all gathered around the tall homemade replica of the tower and ball in New York’s Times Square as they counted down the minutes to the new year. Then, cliché or not, they all sang
Auld Lang Syne
and kissed their dates.

And anyone else who would pucker up.

Which was why Eli was asking.

She and some friends had taken Jägermeister in their flasks and had started tipping it back early. Her rationale had been sound—it had been freezing cold this past year and peppermint schnapps in cocoa just wasn’t going to cut it.

Consequently, she’d kissed Tim Watkins. Three times. And they hadn’t been pecks. Tim, who’d had a crush on her since the sixth grade, had recognized that she was…ahem…feeling
friendlier
than usual and had taken full advantage.

The photo of her being dipped back and full-on, open-mouth-with-tongue kissed had run on the front page of the Sapphire Falls paper and was the first photo that popped up on the town’s website under “Winter Fun.”

“Especially after New Year’s?” Eli repeated, eyebrow up. “Tim made you rethink your stance on dating smug bigots who can’t keep their mouths shut?” He tipped his head. “I think I got that quote right. That’s what you called him in ninth grade when you declared he better not ever get within five feet of you or you’d knee him in the balls, right?”

Caitlyn felt her cheeks heat and her grin spread at the same time. “He was a bully and an idiot who had been picking on Melissa Cotter when I said that,” she said.

“But he was definitely within five feet of you on New Year’s,” Eli reminded her.

“Yes,” she nodded. She regretted that. Not because the kissing had been bad. Apparently even big-mouthed smug bigots could turn into decent kissers. But because Tim was still a bully and an idiot. She gave Eli a smile. “But so was Wade Frederick.”

“You kissed Wade too?”

“And a couple of others. And Wade kissed
me
, by the way.”

Eli leaned in. “I didn’t see you kiss Wade on New Year’s.”

She frowned. “So? You think you saw everyone I kissed?”

“Yes. I mean, I…well, I think… Bryan would have noticed.”

Caitlyn watched Eli stumble over his words, warmth spreading through her. “You were paying attention to who I was kissing?” she asked.

“I…” He sighed. “Apparently not as closely as I thought.”

“You were watching on purpose?” She wasn’t sure what to think about all of this.

Eli didn’t respond right away, but after a few seconds he met her gaze directly and said, “I was trying to decide if I could get away with stealing one from you myself. Figured New Year’s was the perfect opportunity.”

It would have been. Anything went when everyone was tipsy and huddled close in the always-cold mid-winter air. “But you didn’t,” she pointed out.

“No.”

“Why not?”

He hesitated and Caitlyn held her breath. Maybe he—

“Tim was kind of monopolizing you,” he said with a half-smile. “And you weren’t pushing him away.”

Okay, he was going to joke about it. Fine. She grimaced. “Yeah. Maybe Jäger is a bad idea.” She grabbed one of the menus leaning against the wall behind the ketchup bottle.

“You think you might end up kissing someone you’ll regret?”

Her head came up. Was he teasing? Joking? Fishing?

Suddenly she was tired of wondering.

“I figure if you won’t kiss me even when you’ve been drinking and have the perfect excuse, then I’m not too worried about anything happening between us tonight, Jäger or not.”

His jaw tensed for a moment and she saw his fingers grip the menu he held tighter. Then his eyes narrowed. “Then let’s do Jäger shots. If we have nothing to worry about, what the hell?”

He was challenging her? Really? “Fine.” She’d take the dare.

He gave their order to the waitress—four shots of Jäger and two beers—and told her they’d also be ordering food after they looked over the menus.

Caitlyn tried not to study him.

But geez, he needed to
relax
. Maybe more so now. She wasn’t looking at him and she could swear she could
feel
the tension coming off of him. Good grief. She’d always thought of Eli as pretty laid-back. He was focused and driven and responsible to a fault and…

Her thought trailed off. Why had she thought he was laid-back? He really wasn’t. He was friendly and had a quick smile and everyone liked him, but that didn’t mean he was blasé. That was Bryan. Bryan had always been the good-time guy, the party guy, the go-big-or-go-home guy. Ty Bennett too. Ty was more disciplined than Bryan and had a scary-intense focus when it came to training but he worked hard and
played
hard.

Eli wasn’t like that. She glanced at him over the top of her menu. He was studying the food options with a glare.

Yeah, he wasn’t carefree. Not even a little bit.

The waitress brought their drinks and took their food order. Caitlyn was going for the grilled chicken sandwich and fries while Eli wanted the sirloin, baked potato and salad. As soon as the other woman moved off, he lifted a shot glass, the look in his eyes a clear challenge.

Caitlyn did the same. “To the start of your incredible baseball career,” she said, before he could make a toast.

He shook his head. “No.”

She frowned. “Yes. This is the beginning of great things, I can feel it.”

He refrained from clinking his glass against hers and shot the black-licorice flavored liqueur back.

She sighed and did the same.

He took a long draw of beer. “So you have a thing for Wade.”

She did not have a thing for Wade. Wade was good looking and a great New Year’s Eve kisser. But she did not have a thing for him. Because she had a thing for Eli. A big, oh-shit-this-isn’t-good thing that made other men pale in comparison.

Come to think of it—having Eli leave Sapphire Falls would actually be a
good
thing. A really good thing. She could actually pay some attention to the other great guys in town and not constantly hold them up against her ideal man. Because said ideal man would be in California.

As the burn from the liquor spread from her stomach out to her extremities and, most importantly, her head. Yes, Eli in California would accomplish so many great things. He’d have the career he’d dreamed of and deserved and
she
would be able to move on.

“I can’t wait until you get that phone call,” she told him. She took a big drink of beer and swallowed. “I’m so going to say ‘told you so’ when you do.”

“Stop it.”

“I’m serious. Your tryout was great. You’re going to get it.”

“No way. And stop getting my hopes up.”

She frowned. “Well, where are hopes supposed to be? Tamped down under your pillow? Hidden in your sock drawer? Tucked in your back pocket? Hopes are supposed to be
up
, Eli. Up in front of you, leading your way.”

He was staring at her. She licked her lip wondering if she had something on it. But she’d only been drinking so far.

“What?” she asked

“You’re kind of amazing, you know that?”

Caitlyn felt her eyes widen. “What?”

“You’re so optimistic, so positive. Jesus, it’s nearly impossible not to believe everything you say.”

She couldn’t help but grin at that. “Well, good.”

“And you’re sweet and bubbly and…you really want this for me, don’t you? Like
for me
.”

She wrinkled her nose. What was he talking about? “Well…
yeah
. We’re friends. I want you to have whatever you want.”

Strangely, that didn’t seem to make him feel better.

“Makes it worse,” he muttered and took his second shot.