Caught (Men of the Show Book 3) (14 page)

Shannon walked through the backdoor and into a large gourmet kitchen with tan stone floors, a massive center island finished in the same mahogany as the cupboards and burnt reddish granite capping the countertops. The appliances sparkled and glistened under the bright kitchen lights, making her wonder if they’d ever been used.

Shannon trailed Matt as he showed her around, the place resembling a model home more than one lived in. Everything appeared picture perfect without a speck of dust. Apparently, Matt had even trained Buddy to shed outdoors as Shannon didn’t see one strand of blond dog hair.

When he finally walked into the master bedroom, which actually had a sitting room, she felt she’d seen it all. In the middle of the room sat a king-sized dark wood four-poster bed facing a fireplace situated in the opposite wall encased by black marble. At the far end, French doors opened out to a private patio overlooking a pool and the spectacular view of the mountain range in the background.

Shannon stopped at the doors. “This is beautiful. You weren’t kidding when you said you were all about the views.”

“I told you, there’s nothing better than a great view out your own private window.”
 
Matt stopped next to her. “I never get tired of it. I don’t know how you guys deal with all that flatness.”

“We have a lot of water,” she said giving him a side-glance.

“Ah, yes. That we don’t have,” he agreed with a smile.

Shannon strolled over to the shelves lining both sides of the fireplace to study all the awards and knickknacks on display. In the middle of huge silver bats, golden gloves and large plaques sat multiple baseballs and wood bats, some with writing on them and some not. She inspected each one, but didn’t touch in case they held value other than personal.

Matt walked over to her. “Checking out my stuff?”

“What’s all this?” she asked.

Pointing to the large silver bats, he said, “Those are Silver Slugger awards. They give those to best offensive player at each position.”

“You have four,” she pointed out.

“Yes,” he answered with a shy grin.

She counted the gold gloves. “And seven Golden Gloves?”

“Best defensive player at each position.”
 

“And you’ve won for catcher seven times.”

He nodded.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Shannon asked with a teasing smile.

He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know. I don’t want to sound like I’m telling you how awesome I am or something because, you know…” He stopped and lifted his large shoulders again.

“But don’t these do that for you?”
 
She waved her hand at them. “I mean, I’m assuming you don’t award these to yourself, and your teammates or whomever voted for you. So, not to stroke your ego or anything, but essentially they say that you are. Right?”

“I guess,” Matt mumbled and his cheeks reddened a bit.

She pointed to a large octagonal plaque. “What’s that one?”
 

He cleared his throat. “American League MVP.”

“Look at you. Most valuable player,” she teased.

“Okay, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”
 
Matt pulled her to him and looped his arms around her waist.

“Why?
 
You should be proud of all this.”

“I am, but just not someone pointing out each one and counting them.”

“What’s that one up there?”
 

He sighed. “MVP in the All-Star game.”
 

Shannon eyed him over her shoulder. “How many All-Star games have you played in?”

“Uh.”
 
His eyes rolled up to the ceiling, counting in his head. “Six, I think.”

Her lips twisted. “Baseball stud.”

He grinned with a huff of laughter, but still reddened.

“What are those?
 
Autographs of your favorite players or something?” she asked.

“Some of them are. Some have more personal meaning.”

“Like?”

“Like…that bat up there.”
 
He indicated one in a case on the top shelf. “That was the first wood bat my dad got me.”
 
A couple shelves down, he nodded at a ball in a case. “That was my first home run ball in the pros.”

“What’s that one up there?”
 
Shannon pointed to another one on a high shelf.

“That was the first one I hit off a tee,” he said with a soft laugh.

She laughed with him. “That must have been something to see.”

“I ran around the bases like an idiot. In my head, I looked like all the big leaguers who hit a walk-off for the win, but really, I just looked like an idiot. It wasn’t even really a true home run. I just ran faster than the kids trying to field and they kept dropping the ball, but my mom still asked for the ball. The coaches weren’t too happy about it, but my mom promised to buy a replacement.”

“Aw. I’m sure you were adorable.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I was obnoxious.”

Matt turned her, and she placed her arms around him as she smiled up at him. “All little boys are obnoxious.”

“Just little boys?” he asked with an arched brow.

“Well, there are those men who are still,” she said as she leaned in to touch her lips softly to his. “But you don’t qualify.”

“Good to know,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her languidly, but thoroughly. When he pulled back, warmth flushed her skin from head to toes.

“As much as I would like to continue the rest of the tour, which includes a personal demonstration of my bed, Caitlyn is still sitting in the other room.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’d be up for that part of the tour,” Shannon joked.

“Stop,” Matt said as he stepped away with a shudder. “Do not include my sister and sex in the same conversation, even joking.”

She chuckled as he walked out of the bedroom. Looking around again, she sighed. She sincerely hoped walking away was going to be possible at the end of the trip. If someone asked her right now, however, she wasn’t so sure, which petrified her as she stressed over the choices she’d made. In fact, she had the terrifying thought she absolutely didn’t know who she was anymore and that scared her the most.

*
 
*
 
*

Matt pulled into his parents’ driveway and shut off the engine to his truck.

“You ready?” he asked Shannon as he squeezed her knee.

She took a deep breath as she studied the house in front of her. She swallowed again, he guessed in an attempt to steady her nerves, when Buddy popped out between the seats and snuffed her ear.

Shannon squirmed away with a giggle, which made him smile. “He’s invited inside as well?”

“Of course,” Matt said with a playful scowl. “Buddy and I go everywhere together.”

Shaking her head, Shannon grabbed for the door handle. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Matt met her at the front of the car and took her hand in his, noting the clamminess of her palm. He understood the reason behind her nervousness and wished he could somehow help her relax and not worry. He gave her a squeeze. “It’s going to be okay. Totally casual.”

 
She nodded and tried to smile bravely, but failed. Buddy trotted up to the porch and waited patiently for Matt to open the front door. Another dog raced toward them, tail wagging eagerly, as they stepped in.

“Buddy’s sister, Sadie.”
 

“Ah.”
 
Shannon eyed Buddy and Sadie as they danced around each other in excitement before running off into another room.

“Well, if Buddy is here, then I have to guess he brought my son with him,” his mom said as she rounded the corner. She threw her arms open and went up on her toes. “There you are!
 
I’ve missed you!”

Matt leaned down and gathered her small frame against his. After holding Shannon so much lately, he’d forgotten how tiny she was and gentled his hold, not wanting to crush her.

“You cut your hair. It looks good.”
 

“And you’ve gotten bigger, somehow,” she said as her arms gave another tight squeeze before stepping back. Her deep brown eyes lighted on Shannon and she smiled as she held out her hand.

“Hi, you must be Shannon. It’s so nice to meet you,” she said.

Shannon smiled. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Buck.”

“Oh, please. Call me Lisa.”

Matt glanced up when his dad entered the room with Caitlyn behind him.

“Hey, Dad.”
 
Matt gave his father a quick hug. His father stood almost as tall as Matt did, but his frame seemed thinner. “You losing weight on me?”
 

“Just getting old,” his dad answered with a wry smile. “Hair is gray now too.”

“Dad, this is Shannon,” Matt said as he held out his hand toward her. “Shannon, this is my father, Michael Buck.”

“Shannon. My pleasure,” his dad said.

“Thank you and the same.”
 
Shannon nodded at Caitlyn. “Hi again.”

Caitlyn smiled as the door opened behind them and Jason stepped in.

“Whoa!
 
Everybody’s waiting for me,” he said.

Matt chuckled. “Waiting on pins and needles, bud.”
 
He leaned around Shannon to give Jason a one-armed hug. “How you doing, man?”

“It’s about time you got here.”
 
Jason slapped his back and then turned to hug both of Matt’s parents. “Hi, Mom. Dad.”

Shannon gave a puzzled frown at Jason’s familiarity with his parents, reminding Matt he needed to fill her in on Jason’s story, but he’d save that for another day. After Jason had given Caitlyn a quick squeeze, he turned to Shannon and gave her a swift study. His friend’s eyes brightened in obvious approval before his gaze perused down her long legs. Jason was a huge flirt and so Matt knew exactly where his thoughts went. When Matt caught Jason’s attention, he didn’t hesitate to give him a silent warning, which Jason acknowledged with a big grin.

“Jason, this is Shannon. Shannon, Jason,” Matt said.

Jason gave her his most charming smile. “It’s really nice to meet you. I’ve been hearing so much from Matt about you.”

“Really?” Shannon asked.

“No, not at all,” Jason said with a laugh. “Matt’s been strangely quiet about you and I’m starting to wonder why.”

“All right, all right, all right,” Matt said, stopping the conversation before Jason said any more. The evening was going to provide Jason ample opportunity to embarrass him in front of Shannon, and he didn’t need the ribbing to start right off the bat. He put his hand on Shannon’s back to steer her toward the dining room. “Please tell me dinner is ready, Mom. I’m starved.”

“Of course it is,” she said as she led them to the table. “I know how your and Jason’s appetites work.”
 
She glanced over at Shannon. “When they were both growing up, I swear there was never enough food in the house. I would go to the grocery store almost every day.”

Shannon smiled as she sat down. “I didn’t realize Jason lived here with you guys.”

Matt’s entire family turned to him in surprise. “What?
 
I’m sorry I don’t spend all my time talking about that asshole.”

“Matthew, language,” his mother chided.

“No problem. I understand you don’t want her to be more interested in me than you.”
 
Jason turned to Shannon. “That happens. A lot.”
 

“Yeah, that’s definitely it,” Matt said dryly.

“Well, since he didn’t tell you, I will.”
 
Jason sat down across from Shannon. “I grew up here. These guys took me in when my father died and my mother didn’t care anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Shannon said, her eyes softening with sympathy.

Jason shrugged. “I’m not. My life is definitely a helluva lot better because of it.”

“He and I played on the same little league team, which is how I got to know him. He was a walk-on.”
 
Matt glanced at Jason and the two started to laugh.

“What does that mean?
 
What’s so funny?”
 
Shannon asked.

“It means one day Jason walked by the park where we played, and a ball was hit toward him in the outfield,” Matt told her as the scene replayed in his head. It was something he would never forget. “One of the coaches asked Jason to roll the ball back onto the grass so one of us could pick it up. But Jason, the showoff that he is, picked up the ball and threw a strike all the way into the infield with a beautiful throw. The coaches’ jaws dropped, and they immediately asked him to join the team. When he didn’t have the money, my mom forked it over. She knows a good arm when she sees one.”

“I sure do,” she said with a smile at her boys. “Even though we didn’t know it, Jason became my son that day and I’ve never regretted it.”

“Aw, shucks. You’re embarrassing me, Mom.”
 
Jason winked at her. “Just don’t tell Shannon what you told me the other day.”