Hard Ball (Stadium Series Book 1) Read online

  “Baby, you know that meant nothing…” he says while taking a few steps toward me. I step back. “She meant nothing.” Like I believe a word that’s coming out of his fucking mouth.

  “She meant nothing? You really expect me to believe that?”

  He shrugs as if he truly believes that what he did was not a big deal. “We only ever got together to take the edge off.”

  He’s not wrong. It was. But he didn’t walk in on me spreading my legs for any and every available man in the room.

  “Plus,” he continues before I can get a word in. “Claire and I have the same sexual taste.”

  Eww. Disgusting. I do not want to hear what Claire likes when she’s fucking my boyfriend.

  “Same sexual taste? What are you, a nympho?”

  He eyes me with confusion, as I hold in the laughter that threatens to break through my chest. He’s definitely not the brightest bulb in the shed. “If I remember correctly, I asked you a million times to try something new, to spice something up, but you refused.” That condescending smirk emerges, and I know he’s about to say something stupid.

  “You’re so innocent, baby, I wanted to protect you.”

  Yup, there’s the stupid.

  “Bull. Shit. You’re just a coward, using me as a way to excuse your behavior. Grow the fuck up.” I turn, starting to walk down the sidewalk toward the street, hoping to catch a cab before I turn around and decide to beat him to a pulp. Even after turning away, walking as fast as I can down the street, he is still there, following me like a lost puppy.

  “What are you doing?” I sputter, stopping in front of a closed barbershop and turning only to see his smug smile. “Just leave me alone, I just want to go home,” I whisper that last part like a prayer, digging through my purse trying to find my phone so I can call an Uber and get the hell out of here.

  “I’ll take you home.” Fuck me. He can’t take a hint to save his life.

  “Nope. Never happening again.” I finally find my phone, pull it out and start dialing when Cole’s fingers grip my wrist.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to talk to you? Because you disgust me? How about because the sight of you makes me want to throw things against a wall? Any of those reasons are fair and just as to why I do not want you to drive me home.” Fuck. How I wish I could throw something right now, specifically at his head or anywhere near him. Maybe I should go back into the bar and grab those darts because apparently, I have a knack for hitting people with them.

  “Don’t be like that, Harper, it’s not becoming, and it makes you sound like a bitch.” He sneers, gripping my wrist even tighter.

  “Harper?” I hear from behind Cole, and like an angel from heaven, Josh steps into view and stands there looking like my personal savior.

  “Who the fuck is this?” Cole spits as Josh makes his way over to where we’re standing.

  I use this as a distraction to get my arm out of his grip, sending me closer to Josh in the process. His arm wraps around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side as a sigh of relief escapes.

  “Are you okay?” Josh whispers, his breath lightly brushing against the exposed skin of my neck. I nod, that sense of calm washing over my entire body once again.

  “Answer the fucking question, Harper. Who the fuck is this?” Cole demands, Josh’s arm tightening at his tone.

  “None of your business. I told you I never wanted to see you again and I meant it. Please leave me alone.”

  Josh tenses beside me, making me wonder the thoughts going through his head right now.

  “You’re going to throw away two years together because of one mistake?” His voice gets louder, more people are leaving the bar and all eyes are on us, making me tense.

  “One mistake? Cole, you slept with someone else and never once apologized for it. To me, that’s a big fucking mistake.” My head tilts as Josh’s eyes meet mine. I expect to find his gaze filled with pity, but I find the exact opposite. Yet when his eyes shift back to Cole, they darken, pure rage radiating off every inch of him as his fingers dig into my hip.

  “We were never going to work, you know that.” I’m being too nice. It’s what Mel always says whenever I get mad at someone. I’m too nice. I don’t like burning bridges, I don’t like causing someone else pain and yet apparently, I let others do that to me without a second thought.

  “Fine. You wanna play it like that? Go ahead,” he growls in our direction. “You were a lousy fuck anyway, why do you think I went searching for something better?” he sneers as he walks away.

  I know he’s saying it to piss me off, to make me feel the pain he’s feeling right now, but it doesn’t hurt any less. Was I really that bad? I shake the thought away before it takes root and settles deep within my subconscious.

  “Hey,” I hear softly whispered from beside me and as I tilt my head back, Josh’s eyes smile down on me. “Don’t listen to him, okay? He obviously shouldn’t be trusted since he let you walk away.” He’s being sweet, and it’s been a very long time since someone has been sweet to me, but the reality is he has no idea if what Cole said was true or not.

  “That’s sweet, but you never know, it could be true.” I shrug my shoulders, trying to feign nonchalance when inside I’m screaming.

  “I promise, Sunshine, he’s lying.” The way he calls me Sunshine sends a warmth through my chest. But when his fingers lift my chin, I’m met with that megawatt smile. “Let me take you home?”

  I start to shake my head when he places the palms of both hands on either side of my face, stopping me.

  “Please?”

  Before I know it, he’s leading me toward the parking lot and away from the street. In the distance, I see a black pickup truck sitting alone near the back of the lot. I chuckle softly.

  “What?” he asks as we approach the truck, stopping at the passenger side door, waiting for my answer.

  “This is yours?” I ask, not believing this is actually something he would drive. It’s not new. I can tell from the scratch marks on the side, the worn tread on the tires and the fact that it needs a good wash that this isn’t a truck of a man that makes millions a year. “It’s not what I pictured for you.”

  “What did you picture?” The teasing tone makes me smile as I lean against the door.

  “Jocks usually go big or go home when it comes to cars and trucks, and it’s usually meant to overcompensate for something a little… smaller.” My eyes drift down on their own, leading to dangerous territory. He places that finger under my chin again, bringing my eyes back up to meet his.

  “Trust me, Sunshine, I have nothing to overcompensate for.”

  5

  Josh

  The look on her face is priceless. I would give anything to make her blush like that all the damn time. Yet when I open the passenger door, she stiffens, her eyes catching mine and I notice they’re filled with apprehension.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” she whispers. “I just met you and for all I know, you could be luring me away to kidnap me.”

  A laugh bursts through my chest as her hands find their way to her hips. She’s so cute when she’s feisty.

  “One: you do know me.”

  She arches a brow, but I continue.

  “I’m pretty famous around here.” I wink, loving the small smirk that graces the edge of her lips. “Plus, if I kidnapped you, would that be such a bad thing?” He swats my arm as we both break out laughing, the tension breaking between us.

  “I want the record to show that I did oppose you taking me home.”

  My eyes soften at her clear attempt to separate herself from the women that usually surround me. Little does she know she’s already leagues ahead of them. There is no comparison.

  “Duly noted,” I say, motioning to the open door. “Now get in there, gorgeous.” The blush returns when I call her that name, and so I make a mental note to call her that more often. The way she looks right now, casual and yet sexy as hell, makes every limb o
n my body itch to touch her.

  I get into the car, starting the engine before I turn and face her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Her eyes narrow, confused.

  “With what I saw back there, it didn’t seem like a good time.” Harper seems like a strong woman, I could tell from the way she handled that group of women earlier that she’s no pushover, but that doesn’t mean what happened with her ex didn’t freak her out.

  “I’m fine.” Her answer is curt, and I know I should take the hint and leave well enough alone, but of course my mouth opens before I can stop it.

  “Are you really? Because that guy looked and sounded like an ass.”

  She just nods, saying nothing, yet screaming loud and clear that she doesn’t want to talk about it. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon after I left the bar.”

  I chuckle at her attempt to change the subject and at her subtle way of fishing for information. It’s adorable.

  “Decided to head home early. You know, so I can work on my swing…” I tease, loving the flush that rises against her neck.

  “Why do I have such a big mouth…” she murmurs, and I can tell she never meant for me to hear it. But before I have a chance to tell her it wasn’t a big deal; she beats me to it. “Sorry about that, I was trying to get a rise out of you.”

  Well, she’s done one hell of a job, I think, hoping a certain part of my body doesn’t alert her to just how much she got a rise out of me.

  “I really hope I didn’t ruin your night. That wasn’t my intention.” I can’t get over the fact that this girl still doesn’t see herself as worthy of my time. How is that possible? How a woman like Harper, who is smart, sexy, and hardheaded feels anything less than worshiped is baffling to me.

  “No, you didn’t ruin my night. I’m actually glad you did what you did.”

  Her eyebrow raises in question.

  “It made me realize that I would rather be somewhere else.” That blush returns and I’m beginning to crave it. “So darlin’,” I start, laying the southern charm on thick as I put the truck in drive and turn to face the road. “Where are we headed?”

  She tells me where she lives, and we lapse into silence as I head out of the parking lot and onto the highway. I can sense the nervous energy washing off her the longer we sit without talking, and although I just like being near her, I can tell she’s getting more and more uncomfortable the longer we’re in the car.

  “So, you like being pro?” she groans after she asks the question and places her head in her hands, shaking her head. “Urgh, that was such a stupid question. Don’t mind me, I’m going to crawl into a hole and die.”

  I keep my eyes on the road, trying to hide the smile as she continues to hide her face in her hands.

  “I just hate awkward silences.”

  “I never found this awkward,” I admit, turning my head as she lifts her eyes to mine and I smile. She deflates, sitting back in her seat. “But to answer your question, I love being a pro. I get to do what I love and get paid well to do it…” I hesitate, trying to find the words to describe what my life is like outside of the fantasy that the media portrays.

  “But?”

  “But there are always good and bad aspects of anything. And unfortunately, the bad can be pretty bad.” I wonder if I should elaborate, but when she nods, a dark cloud fills her eyes. I don’t know what she’s thinking about, but I know it had nothing to do with me.

  “It helps that you’re good at it,” she says, shaking herself out of wherever she just went. “Except for the swing.” She winks, her lips lifting as I try not to stare too long, memorizing them, fantasizing about the way they would look wrapped around my cock. “All joking aside. You do have an innate talent that I wish I had. I’m twenty-six and still have no idea what I want to do with my life.”

  “That’s not a bad thing. Not everyone knows what they want to do by the time they graduate high school. No shame in that.”

  She sighs, telling me she feels otherwise. “Oh, I knew what I wanted to be when I was in high school.”

  “What did you want to do?” The longer I sit in this truck, the longer I’m surrounded by her strawberry scent, and the more she talks, the more I want to turn us around and go to my place so I can show her just how much I want her.

  “I wanted to be a sports medicine doctor. I wanted to be near the sports I loved without having to actually play them.”

  “And how did that go?”

  She laughs, her head leaning back against the headrest and tilting so she’s looking out the window.

  “I failed everything. Apparently, you need to pass a math class to graduate and my brain and math just don’t compute.” She doesn’t say anything for a minute then continues. “When I was little, I wanted to be the first female pro pitcher, but that dream died long before college. Hence me thinking sports medicine was the next best thing. I just wish I could have done it, you know? Graduate and made him proud,” she says that last part as a whisper, and when her eyes get big and her face turns toward me saying, “Shit. I didn’t mean to say that last part out loud.” Her fingers play with the holes in her jeans again as she opens her mouth to say something but then closes it again.

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Harper.” I’m hoping to make her more at ease, but when that pain behind her eyes hits me like a ton of bricks, I wonder what this girl has gone through.

  “I know…” At first, I think she’s just going to stay silent, but then she takes a breath and continues. “My dad died when I was young, we watched a lot of sports together.”

  Fuck. I know there’s more to the story, but I don’t push because what she just said was enough.

  “Sunshine, that’s awful. No one should go through something like that.”

  She gives me the slightest nod, her eyes gliding toward the window. “I got over it,” she admits, then after a beat corrects herself. “Actually, I didn’t, but I learned to deal with the pain in a way that wasn’t harmful.”

  I don’t say a word, because what do you say to that? Her vulnerability in this moment sends warmth through my chest and all I can think about is the fact that I want to spend all my free time with this girl. I want to know her deepest darkest thoughts, I want to see her on her good days, her bad days, and the in-between days.

  “When I decided to leave school, my uncle offered me a job running his gym, so I took it. I guess being close to family made me feel like I was close to him on another level, you know?”

  I don’t, but I nod anyway.

  “What works for you, might not work for someone else,” I say, hoping I can offer something of substance to this conversation. “When I was little, my mom always used to tell me that we all have talents, and that some are just more subtle than others.”

  “That’s a great way of saying that,” she says just as she points out her building up the street. “That’s me.”

  I pull into the parking lot and shut off my truck, sitting there hoping I can get another chance to see her. I don’t want this to be the last time I see her.

  “Can I see you again?” I blurt out, not really thinking before the words leave my mouth, and from the wide-eyed look she gives me, she wasn’t expecting it either.

  “I can’t,” she whispers, avoiding my eyes.

  “What do you mean you can’t?” The words King used earlier start to haunt me, so I make a move, placing my hand on her thigh, hoping to get some kind of clue if this rejection is based on hesitation or something else. But the second my hand touches her jeans, she recoils, jerking away, grasping the door handle, and jumping out of the truck.

  Fuck.

  “I don’t date baseball players,” she says when I open my door and jog around the front to meet her on the street as she walks toward her front door. The second those words hit my ears I know King was right, it wasn’t just him.

  “You don’t date ballplayers? You’re lumping all of us into one stupid category?” I can’t hold the irritated ton
e out of my voice because I’m pissed. This girl has gotten under my skin, taken over my mind and now she’s saying there’s no chance because of what I do for a living? I have seen the desire in her eyes, I know she feels the same pull I feel whenever we’re near each other, So the question of the decade is, why?

  “I know you’re not all the same, but it’s more complicated than you realize.”

  I eye her with a confused expression, because none of this makes sense to me.

  “I still can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She steps into me, getting on her toes and lightly kissing me on the cheek.

  Her lips on my skin will haunt me for the rest of the night, because I know that as she walks into her building, this might be the last time I see her.

  6

  Harper

  His lips travel down my neck, past my breasts as a moan escapes my lips. His teeth graze my skin, lightly biting the softness of my stomach. How did I go so long not knowing what this felt like?

  “Sunshine, your skin is so fucking soft…” he mumbles as his hands lightly trace patterns on my skin, sending all of my senses into overdrive.

  My nipples tighten at the sensation and my back arches off the bed as his mouth attacks my breasts. His tongue licking, sucking, and flicking over my sensitive tips. Could I come from just this? Is that even possible? Fuck, I hope so.

  “God yes!” I scream the lower he travels, his mouth stopping at my clit. My hands make their way into his hair. It’s so fucking soft. “Please, God, please…” I beg, trying to get his mouth on me, but he just looks up and grins.

  “You need me to touch you, Harper?” he asks, almost breathless, and all I can do is nod because all words fly out of my brain.

  The only thing my brain can comprehend right now is the way his fingers feel tightening against my hips. I am wound so tight that I know all it will take is one touch and I’ll explode into a thousand pieces, his head dips, his tongue lightly flicking over my pussy and everything goes blank. This feeling cannot be real, he can’t be that good.