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“That I did.”
“Loretta’s is too far away.” In a perfect world I would kiss Kate right out in the open. In front of everyone. Instead I promised to be a perfect gentleman, even when we were alone.
That was a damn stupid promise.
“You better get back to practice, Captain.” She saluted me with a forced smile.
I nodded but didn’t move. Instead I watched her walk away, appreciating the sway of her hips and the way the fabric perfectly cupped her ass. When I finally shook myself and stepped down into the dugout Everett was waiting for me, arms crossed and one eyebrow cocked.
“Don’t.” I tried to walk past him.
“Don’t what?” He became a wall.
“Just…don’t.” My brother was my best friend, but he could also be a giant pain in the ass.
“What? I liked her at Reds. I liked her last week when I had my interview. I like her even more now that I know you’ve still got the hots for her.”
The hots? Who talked like that? “There’s nothing there.”
“Oh,” he laughed, “there’s something there. And it sounded a lot like you have a date planned.”
“We work together.”
“And you flirt with her and have a date planned. What’s your point?”
Why wouldn’t he move? “What do you want me to say?”
Everett’s eyes wandered over me as he grinned. “This is supposed to be our fresh start. Both of us, remember?”
“I also remember swearing off women for the season.” Another stupid promise to make. I was full of them lately.
“Put aside the silly stuff, Isaac. We both walked away from baseball. And not because we couldn’t hack it. You know you would have been one of the greats. You should be on the back end of a legendary career, headed for the Hall of Fame. Instead, we did what we did. I can’t say it was the wrong decision because it’s the only one you and I will ever know. But I can say it wasn’t working anymore. You never attach yourself to anyone and I’m even worse. Do you really think we’re destined to run a marina alone together for the rest of our lives?”
Fuck no. That sounded…awful. And not because I thought running the marina with Everett was awful. Life on the island was mostly stress free. I loved it. But I had all this potential I never used, and that…that was awful. “No.”
“Exactly. So here we are, second chances at the lives we could have had, and you’re twisted up in knots and pretending you’re not losing it over Kate. I’m here trying to do things different. But to me, it looks like you’re just the same song, different verse.”
“Ouch, Ev.”
He shrugged. “If you’re going to waste a chance with the doc, maybe I’ll take a shot.”
If he wanted to piss me off, he succeeded. “Would you like to see if I can still throw a punch?”
But that just made Everett grin bigger. “That guy right there. He’s the one we’ve been missing. Let him out of the cage, big brother. Let him out and see where he takes you.”
13
Kate
Isaac was a natural on the field. The clothes hung on him just right. He barked orders and murmured to coaches like he was born to it. He was in his element. I found it absurdly attractive.
“Did I do any better?” Eli asked. One of the reasons we traveled south was so he could speak with the part of the marketing team that was testing products at the games this week.
“You did.” I didn’t want to be overly critical. Men like Eli tended to take criticism of their work in stride, but not as well when it came to interpersonal communication. And Eli…he needed a lot of work when it came to that.
So I took a gentle approach.
“But?”
