Playing Catch: A Baseball Romance (26 page)

“Just about.” Jay scoops up his duffle bag, folders, and tote bags. A pen slips from a folder as he hooks a long finger through his goodie bag. One of the plastic handles break and food and sports supplement samples spill onto the carpet.

I dive for a yogurt container right when he bends for it. His duffle bag swings around and crashes into a arrangement of lilies. I try to catch the flowers, but the pot slips through my fingers and lands upside down. A juice box explodes under my flip-flops and sprays my bare legs as I tumble to the ground, my face planting in the lump of potting soil.

A child’s voice says, “Daddy, look at the clown. She knocked down the flowers.”

“Ha, ha, ha, that was good.” Jay claps. “Is this what they call vaudeville?”

My jaw slams to the ground. I need some help here and he’s laughing along with the children?

I sit up on my haunches and dust my face. The juice splattered over me makes the dirt sticky, and I’m sure my white shorts are Hawaiian punch colored.

“Need some help?” Jay reaches for me.

“About time.” I take his hand. Bam, his lethal duffle bag swings like a battering ram into my face.

A crowd of children shriek with laughter. One boy grabs the upended plant basket and smashes me over the head. Stalks of lilies tangle in my hair, and potting soil water drips over my eyebrows.

“More, more, more,” the children chant.

“Show’s over. Thank you, thank you.” Todd takes my hand and lifts it. “Take a bow.”

What else can I do? I have potting soil in my eyelashes and I’m marinated in fruit punch. I bow and manage to escape while Todd waves his bandana signals and throws candy into the crowd.

So much for the sexy siren act or at least the perky intern come-on. I settle for fruit punch dirt queen and duck for the service stairs.

I don’t know her
, G whistles in the wind.
She’s not with me.

Shut it. I’m trading you in for a goddess who’ll help.

I stomp down the hall. I’m halfway to my room when I hear footsteps. “Tigress, wait up.”

What now? Does the rookie of the year need a babysitter?

Jay catches me, leaving a trail of coupons and flyers. Fumbling in his orientation folder, he says, “I can’t find my keycard, and I need to use the bathroom. Sixteen hours is a long flight.”

Gah. Don’t tell me he hasn’t peed since Korea.

“Come with me.” I yank the folder from him and powerwalk to my door.

Jay rushes in as soon as I slide the keycard. There’s a man scream and a thump, followed by a door slam and the sound of fluid hitting the toilet bowl.

“Who’s that?” Preston Jook, the guy who’s pretending to be my boyfriend, points at the closed bathroom door, then grimaces as he takes in the dirt and juice I’m bathed in. “And what the hell happened to you?”

“Long story. How’d you get into my room?”

He waves a keycard. “Easy. I showed them we were in a relationship on Facebook and they gave me a card.”

For the fourth time in the last hour, my jaw scrapes the floor. “But we’re not really in a relationship. It’s Facebook only. They can’t be handing out keycards to anyone who walks by.”

He flashes me a cheesy grin, looking as strained as a constipated child. “Lesson eight. I flirted with the receptionist. Mastered the art of charm. I complimented her clean good looks and how this hotel excels in customer service. She was eating it up, telling me how she scored the highest in all rubrics. Of course, the highest scoring service agent couldn’t turn down my woeful tale about wanting to surprise my girlfriend with an engagement ring.”

Part of me’s proud of Preston’s achievement. The middle child of an academically enriched family, he was so lacking in polish and charm that his father hired me to improve his image. Three months ago, he could never have pulled off a keycard heist on the strength of a Facebook relationship status.

“Good for you.” I pat Preston’s back. “I’ll write this up in my report for your father. Now you have to leave since I’m a mess and there’s a famous baseball player in my bathroom.”

The bathroom door opens, and gulp. The ballplayer, major league pitcher to be exact, fills the entire door frame.

“Jay Pak!” Preston squeals. “I love you. 2.49 earned run average, a 97-mph fastball. And you’re here in America. Squee!”

[To read more, please pick up
Playing the Rookie
.]

P
layed by Love
, A soccer star dons nerd glasses to score a anime fangirl who won't date jocks.

Playing the Rookie
, A rookie pitcher and a sports intern on the rebound connect to get over their exes.

Roaring Hot
!
A playboy motorcycle racer hires an aspiring actress when he is challenged by his grandmother to bring a real girlfriend to her birthday party.

Playing Without Rules
, A ballplayer's girlfriend hides his daughter from him because she fears he's like his abusive father.

Intercepted by Love
, A quarterback hiding from his Super Bowl losing interception meets a small town librarian with an active fantasy life.

The Remingtons: Leap, Laugh, Love
, A pro surfer on holiday after being attacked by a shark gets tangled up with an Army Ranger on leave with a mission.

Playing Catch
, A baseball catcher meets his match with a troubled bartender who can’t seem to keep her panties on.

The Remingtons: Blush of Love
, A hot New Year’s Eve date with bad boy Gunner Gibson leaves Safire wondering if it’s love at first blush.

Broken Build
, Build engineer Jen Jones falls in love with the man whose life she ruined.

Hidden Under Her Heart
, A young nurse, Maryanne Torres, struggles with a difficult decision over an unwanted pregnancy.

Knowing Vera
, Playgirl Vera Custodio belatedly discovers that her father might have killed her boyfriend's mother many years ago. [2015 Angie Ovation Award Winner]

Taming Romeo
, Medical student Evie Sánchez is recovering from heartbreak when she runs into the boy she left behind.

Claiming Carlos
, Restaurant manager Choco Sanchez finds herself caught between two hot men, an epic food fight, and a war to save the restaurant.

Whole Latte Love
, Carina Chen, a career-oriented young woman, has no time for distractions—especially the sexy, guitar-playing barista she rooms with.

A Father for Christmas (A Veteran’s Christmas #1)
, Sweet romance between a homeless veteran and a single mother whose daughter asks Santa for an unusual gift. [Gold Award Winner, 2015 Readers’ Favorite]

A Pet for Christmas (A Veteran’s Christmas #2)
, A veteran suffering from PTSD fights to return from Afghanistan and give his family their Christmas wishes.

Christmas Stray
, A couple grieving for their son is snowed in with a stray puppy and a little boy. Is there room in their hearts for a Christmas miracle?

Christmas Lovebirds
, Can two little lovebirds and Christmas cheer open Melisa’s heart to giving Rob another chance?

Christmas Flirt
, Bad girl Lacy Reed gets more than she bargained for when her naked selfies turn up on her boss’s phone.

Santa’s Pet
, A brilliant girl genius plays elf to a substitute Santa and turns both their lives upside down when he is charged with a sex crime and she loses her company to hackers.

Valentine Hound Dog
, A fashion designer and her basset hound puppy convince a burned ex-firefighter that beauty is never skin deep and neither is love.

Michal’s Window
, The young Princess Michal loves her father's enemy, the upstart David who becomes king.

J
eanine’s story
wrenched my heart because of the unimaginable horror she endured. It was definitely not easy to write, and I do hope that I’ve portrayed her realistic enough, but also victorious.

I’m grateful to my team of beta readers and members of my reader’s club who helped me through the writing and revising of this story. They gave me good feedback and some shared their experiences with me.

Many thanks to: Amber Douglas McCallister, Corissa Palfrey, Chantel Rhondeau, Evelyn Nathalia, Terri Merkel, Leanna Wallace, Lillian Maddocks-Cummings, Kris Woltzen, Angelica Berglund, Jessica Avancena Cassidy, Deborah O'Connor, Maria Cantu, Kelley Kidder, Dana Anderson, Patricia Conley-Shepard, and Sherelle Ellis.

Much appreciation goes to my awesome proofreader, Kimberly Dawn, who always manages to find the tiniest error.

Finally, I thank all the readers who spent time with me through my stories. It makes my writing truly rewarding.

R
achelle Ayala is
a bestselling author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes big-hearted. She writes sweet and funny stories, and believes in the power of love and hope. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2015 Angie Ovation Award for best Multicultural Romance with
Knowing Vera
and the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award for best Christian Romance with
A Father for Christmas
.

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C
opyright
© 2015 by Rachelle Ayala

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real events or real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

All trademarks belong to their respective holders and are used without permission under trademark fair use.

Cover Creation: Rachelle Ayala Publishing, LLC

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