Slow Heat

Then John was back on the other side of the door. “Chinese?”

“No, thanks.”

“I thought your wallet would be filled with condoms.”

Wade didn’t bother to answer.

“In fact, I sort of pictured your house filled with women. I thought I’d have to fight them off with a stick. Don’t you ever have this place filled with women?”

“Almost never.”

“Really?” John sounded disappointed.

“I don’t have the life you seem to think I do, Dad.”

“Well, damn.” John was silent for another beat. “Pizza?”

“No.”

“What, have you gone all metrosexual on me? Watching your diet?”

Wade flopped to his bed spread eagle and stared at the ceiling. He was a free man again. There were a ton of places he could go tonight and none he wanted to go to.

Except maybe one.

“You getting fat in the middle?” John asked through the door. “A double chin? Is that it?”

Wade closed his eyes. “A meat lover’s special,” he said. “Extra large.”

After two days off, the Heat flew to New York for a three-day series. Sam brought Tag, the both of them hoping he’d get to see his uncles, but they didn’t come. Jeremy still hadn’t called Tag, who was doing shockingly well in spite of the odds.

Sam was not.

She’d been swamped with work and hadn’t had a moment to breathe much less miss Wade.

Or so she told herself.

But she had no idea where they stood. And she hated not knowing.

In the guest clubhouse before the game, she kept herself busy with reporters, with Tag, with… “John?” She looked at Wade’s father in surprise as he grabbed a bottle of water.

“Hey, darlin’.”

“You came to a game,” she said, happy to see him, hoping it meant good things for his and Wade’s relationship.

“Well, Wade’s gone all the time.” He ruffled Tag’s hair fondly. “Coming along is the only way I can irritate him.”

“Have you tried not irritating him?” Sam asked dryly.

John smiled. “I’m working my way up to that.”

In the stands, it was Ladies Day, so the place filled up. Tag inhaled his typical mountain of food, and Sam and Holly assisted.

“So,” Holly said. “Your month is up.”

Sam sipped her soda as if they were discussing the weather. But discussing the weather had never given her a stomachache before. “Yep.”

“That’s it then?”

Her heart executed a somersault but she didn’t answer because she didn’t have one.

On the field, Wade pulled his mask down and went into a crouch to catch for Pace. His hair was a couple of weeks past needing a cut, curling from beneath his headgear over his ears, down to his collar in back.

Pace threw, and the ball snapped into Wade’s glove with a thwack that Sam could hear from the stands. Rising, Wade nodded as he called something to Pace. His eyes were shadowed by his cap, and though his mouth was slightly curved, she sensed a tension in him. The muscles in his arm flexed as he made his throw, the movement of his body tightening his jersey across the muscles of his back.

Though Sam believed in a woman going after what she wanted, she also believed in self-preservation. Wade didn’t know what he wanted. Well, he wanted her body. She knew that. Just the thought brought hers to life. But she wanted him to want more.

She wondered how he was dealing with his father, if he was doing okay. If he was fully recovered…

He turned back to the plate, and looked right at her as he did. She couldn’t see his expression, or even his eyes, but heat slashed through her anyway.

“Whew,” Holly said. “I recognize that look.”

Yes. So did Sam. So did Sam’s body.

Tag was being very quiet, minding himself, which was so odd, she stopped watching Wade and looked at him.

He had her binoculars out and was using them. Not on the guys on the field warming up, but in the stands.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

“There’s a bunch of girls in bathing suits painting on each other.”

She and Holly and exchanged a glance, and then Sam took the binoculars. Yep, he was right, the bathing beauties were painting on each other, writing their favorite players’ names across their bodies.

“There’s a girl with Wade across her butt,” he said. “Can I have the binoculars back now?”

“No.” Sam lifted the binoculars up to her face, and look at that, they focused right in on Wade. Bad binoculars.

“What are you looking at?” Tag wanted to know. “The players?”

“Yes.” Well, one player…

“And how is that different?” he wanted to know.

“I’m old.”

Tag sighed, and beside her, Holly laughed softly.

Chapter 27

Baseball is an island of activity amidst a sea of statistics.

– Author Unknown

Pace pitched a no-hitter, and Wade had a two-run double in the eighth. It added up to a nice win for the Heat, ending their losing streak.

That night in the hotel, Tag went to Santos’s room. His kids and wife had traveled for this series, and Tag was off playing with the boys. Restless, Sam looked at her empty suite. Funny how last season she happily spent every night alone in her hotel room, and now she had one single night to herself and she was feeling lonely.

Tag had more than grown on her. She loved him. She wanted to keep him. And that wasn’t all. Wade had grown on her as well. And truth was, she loved him, too. And would like to keep him…

And yet she was alone.

Even worse, soon Tag would leave.

And Wade was already out of her life.

Dammit. She grabbed her key card and went downstairs in search of something chocolate. To her surprise, she found Wade in battered jeans and a T-shirt in the lobby. He was surrounded by a group of women seeking autographs and probably his body as well, but she told herself it was no longer her problem.

He’d served his sentence, he was free.

She started to walk on, but something made her turn and take another look at him.

He was smiling and talking easily. But… but she knew him now, maybe better than just about anyone. His smile