Playing the Field (Hot-Lanta Series) (13 page)

             
He looked at her with sleepy eyes and cleared his throat. “Thank god I’m wearing a cup so no one can see the excitement in my pants right now. Remind me to pay you back later for that tonight.” He said with a wink.

He walked away as the guys joined him
, giving him playful punches and making kissing faces in his direction.

             
“Oooeee girl, I’m all hot and bothered from just watching the two of you. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling inside.”

             
“Just think of a volcano. That man is irresistible” said Jane.

             
“What did he whisper in your ear? Promises about the night ahead?”

             
“Oh crap, I got caught up in the moment. I almost forgot. He wanted me to text Lucy to see if she was alright. Apparently something happened between Austin and Lucy and Brady wanted me to make sure she was ok.”

             
Jane pulled out her phone out of her purse and sent Lucy a text message.

Jane: Hey Lucy, Brady told me you and Austin got in a fight and wanted me to make sure everything was ok
.

              Jane put her phone down and drained the rest of her beer while she and Albert discussed the different patterns of grass on the field. They both agreed on liking the crisscross pattern the best when Jane’s phone beeped at her. She got a message form Lucy.

Lucy: I’m doing alright. Thanks Jane and tell Brady I said thank you.

              That was it? She was not going to elaborate? Should she press Lucy a little and ask what happened? She was her boss so Jane could demand it from her, right? No it was Lucy’s personal life. She decided not to pry.  Jane sent her a quick text back.

Jane: No problem. Please let me know if you need anything.

              The game was getting close to starting. They were calling out the lineup. When the announcer called Brady’s name Jane and Albert stood up and cheered for him as well as all the other girls in the stadium. Usually Jane would be a jealous person but she was the one with the ring on her finger, she was the one he looked at and she was the one who would be going home with him...every night for the rest of their lives.

He looked at Jane and pointed at her, she blew him a kiss then her phone beeped. She
sat down sipped her second beer and read the text from Lucy.

Lucy: If you wouldn’t mind, I don’t think I can be around Molly anymore. I will do whatever it takes for the wedding but afterwards, I would rather not hang out with her.

              What the hell? She was baffled. What the hell was going on? She knew something happened in the dressing room when the girls were trying on bridesmaid dresses but she didn’t know what exactly because they tried to cover it up so they didn’t stress Jane out. Now she wanted to know what the hell was going on. Jane shared the information she had with Albert real quick before Brady went up to bat.

Whenever he was batting
, Jane sat in her seat with her hand over her eyes, peeking through her fingers. She was always so nervous watching him.

             
She went to sip her drink when she heard a crack of the bat. She looked up and saw the ball flying to the outfield. Albert was shouting next to her as well as the entire dugout. The ball hit the wall and bounced into the field. Brady rounded first and slid into second as the umpire called him safe. Jane stood up and cheered. Maybe she should kiss his bat every game.

             
Albert turned to her when they sat down and said, “Now back to this little soap opera. I think you need to talk to Lucy in person and get the full story. She is your employee and Brady’s friend, she deserves to be listened to. I love Molly but lately she has been bitchy and I can see her doing something to hurt Lucy.

             
Jane thought about that. Albert was right. Molly was Jane’s best friend but Lucy was also very important to Jane and she deserved to be heard and supported. Jane sent her a text back.

Jane: Monday morning we will be talking about this over some coffee and my cinnamon chip scones. If you need anything over the weekend do not hesitate to call.

              Jane hoped Lucy took her seriously and opened up to her on Monday. Jane wanted to get to the bottom of this. She didn’t like her friends not liking each other, especially a couple weeks before her wedding when everything should be moving around like clockwork.

Chapter 6

              Lucy had not heard from Austin since she kicked him out of her apartment. She didn’t expect for him to come flying back into her arms and beg for her forgiveness but she thought maybe their friendship meant something. Apparently, she was wrong. She was not going to mope around about it though. She gave herself a day to cry and be sad but that was it.

             
Lucy did not want to talk to Jane about what happened but she probably didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was nice of Brady to have Jane check on her. She wondered how he knew something went down. Would Austin actually tell the guys about their little escapade?

             
Lucy decided to go to her favorite outdoor restaurant, Mossimos, to clear her head and some “me” time. Jane introduced her to the little hole in the wall and Lucy could not get enough of the Greek food.

She put on a pair of worn out jean capris
, boat shoes and a tight white t-shirt. She loved being able to just dress casually and didn’t get much of a chance since she worked all week and a lot of weekends. She parked herself at an outdoor table under a shade tree, ordered a Greek wrap and opened her Kindle. She loved getting lost in her books. They allowed her to escape from her reality for a couple of hours.

             
Her food was delivered and she took a nice size bite of her wrap when a carrot flew out of nowhere and hit her in the head. What the hell?

She looked up and saw Winnie, Molly’s daughter sitting across from her tossing carrots. Was she by herself? Molly was not that bad of a mother that she would leave her daughter
by herself…was she?

Lucy looked around and started to get worried that Winnie was in fact by herself when an extremely attractive man popped up from under her t
able scaring the living daylights out of Lucy.

             
“Jesus! You scared the crap out of me.”

             
The man was average height, sandy blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes with a day old of scruff framing his face. He looked oddly familiar but she couldn’t place his face.

             
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He said while running his hand through his hair, showing off his nicely sculpted biceps. “I was trying to pick up the carrots this little hellion of a girl was throwing around.” He looked down at Lucy’s plate and saw a carrot sitting next to her wrap. “Did she throw that at you?” He asked pointing at the stray carrot.

             
“Yes, she got me right between the eyes. For almost being one years old, she has a pretty good arm.”

             
The guy looked at her a little confused. “You must be a mom yourself if you know the age of a child from just looking at one.”

             
Lucy laughed out loud. “Oh no, not a mom not even a wife not even a girlfriend for that matter. That’s Winnie, I know her mom.”

             
Why did she feel it was necessary to give the strange man a detailed report on her dating life? She was nervous, when she was nervous she babbled. Wonderful.

Who was this guy? Was Molly using him too? Lucy tried to divert her awkwardness.

              “Are you with Molly?”

             
“With Molly? No, why would you say that?” He looked at Winnie. “Oh, because I have Winnie with me today?.” He laughed. “No, I’m her uncle.”

             
Lucy didn’t know Molly had a sibling, she thought she didn’t have any living family.

             
“I didn’t know Molly had a brother.”

             
The guy looked down and said, “No, I’m not Molly’s brother, I’m Luke’s brother.”

             
Damn, she felt like an idiot. No wonder the guy looked familiar, he looked like Luke. They both had that rugged just-popped-off-the-surf-board kind of look.

             
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Lucy said awkwardly. “I didn’t know him too well but what I learned from our friends, he was an amazing guy.”

             
“Thanks, he really was.” The man stuck his hand out and said, “Connor Cartwright and you are?”

             
“Lucy Reynolds. I work for Jane, Molly’s best friend.”

             
“Oh yes Jane, I had such a crush on her for a while. She’s now engaged to Brady Matthews from the Braves right? He proposed right before a game on the pitcher’s mound”

             
Lucy couldn’t help but giggle. “Wow, you sure do keep up with your star magazines, don’t you?”

             
“Hey a girl has to keep up with the times.” He said while acting like he was flipping his hair.

             
Lucy laughed. “See, I knew you were too good looking and put together to be straight.”

             
Connor grabbed Winnie from her highchair and pulled out the chair sitting right in front of Lucy. He didn’t even wait for an invitation, he just made himself at home. She didn’t mind though, she found him quite interesting.

             
“Nah, not gay just very comfortable with my feminine side. Not every guy can say that you know. They walk around the streets puffing their chests out, stuffing their pants with socks and flexing every chance they have an opportunity. Not me, I sit back and let my natural beauty attract all the ladies.” Connor said with a devilish grin. Yup…he didn’t have to do much to attract the ladies, that was for sure.

             
“Or you bring your niece out to lunch and let her throw carrots at innocent single ladies to get their attention so you can swoop in and apologize for the little rascal. Then you make your move and cleverly sit down next to said lady and woo her with your charms.”

             
“Man, nothing gets past you, although in that little statement of yours I did notice you added the fact that you were single. Was that for my benefit?”

             
Damn he was so cute holding Winnie and staring at her with those piercing blue eyes. Boy was she in trouble.

             
“What’s it to you?”

             
“Well, if you are in fact single, that would be a great thing for me because when I saw you sit down earlier, I did in fact hope that Winnie’s carrot tossing skills would come in handy for me. I hoped one might land near you so I could strike up a conversation with the mysterious Kindle reader under the tree. Winnie did me one better and nailed you between the eyes giving me the opportunity to beg for your forgiveness and apologize by taking you out for dinner to make up for the attack of the killer carrot.”

             
Damn, he was smooth.

             
“I see.” Lucy said while taking a sip of her diet coke. “If you really wanted to apologize you would have sent Winnie across the street to buy me an ice pack for the soon to be carrot shaped shiner on my head.”

             
“You see I thought of offering such assistance but knowing Winnie, she would have bought some beer to go with that ice pack and how would that look on me? Letting my niece drink on a Sunday? That is just teaching the children of today ghastly ethics.”

             
“You wouldn’t want to do that now would you?” Lucy asked trying to contain the ridiculous grin popping up on her face.

             
“No, could you imagine the riots that would start? For a new guy just moving to this lovely city, the last thing I need are angry mothers picketing my house. That is just asking to be quarantined, especially when I’m trying to win the pretty girl at Mossimos over.”

             
“Pretty girl at Mossimos? Did you forget my name already?”

             
Connor laughed. “How could I forget the name Lucy Reynolds? No, ever since you shook my head and said your name its been engrained in my brain. There is no way I can forget it. So what do you say, can I apologize for my niece and take you out to dinner?”

             
“I don’t know, I’m a pretty busy girl. When were you thinking?”

             
“Tonight” Connor said with authority.

             
“Tonight? My goodness what’s the hurry?”