Roxanne St. Claire – When the Earth Moves (страница 6)

“And marriage isn’t one of them?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He took another sip of his beer, then set the cup back on the ground. “What’s a safe bet is that I’ll never get married.”

Welcome news, in this case. But how could he be so sure? “Why is that?”

He looked at her the same way he had when she didn’t know who played shortstop. “I think you know enough about my personal history to answer that yourself.”

She frowned. What was she missing here? “Do you mean because of your parents?”

“Not my parents,” he corrected quickly. “My mother. She sort of soured me on lifelong relationships.”

His mother? She’d been forced to leave and had tried for years to rekindle a relationship with her husband and sons. They’d shunned her. Was it possible…he didn’t know that?

The crowd roared again, but he surprised her by pulling her a little closer and pointing toward the field. “Now just look at that, sweetheart,” he said with an easy chuckle, his gaze focused on the field. “Tell me there’s anything dull about that brilliant pickoff.”

What was brilliant was his change-of-subject technique. But that was fine. She didn’t want to delve into his past if he didn’t. The less said about it, the better. However, she didn’t want him to go too far off topic.

“I need to get to Kennedy by ten-thirty at the latest,” she reminded him.

He glanced at the time on the scoreboard. “That’ll be tough.”

Her heart squeezed. He couldn’t do this. He had no reason to deny her his signature. It was obvious he didn’t care about his mother, and surely he didn’t want the responsibility of a eleven-month-old baby. “You are going to sign that document, aren’t you, Cameron?”

He tightened his hold on her ever so slightly. “What will happen if I don’t?”

A child’s world, and Jo’s, would collapse again. “You will.”

“What will happen if I do?”

“I’ll leave. I can get a cab myself. I promise never to darken your doorstep again.”

A slow smile revealed straight white teeth. “Then I’m going to take every possible minute I’ve got.” He leaned right into her ear and whispered, “And you’d like my doorstep. It’s in a great part of town and professionally decorated. You’re welcome to darken it anytime.”

Every feminine cell in her body betrayed her, dancing to attention and making her tingle. The very thought of what he was suggesting made her legs feel a little weak. Great. Just great, Jo. She hadn’t counted on having to fight herself to get what she wanted.

She tried the deep-breathing technique Katie had taught her when she was in her yoga phase, but it came out like an anxious shudder, and his grin widened at the sound.

“Don’t be nervous,” he said with a soft laugh, patting her thigh just intimately enough to leave an imaginary burn mark. “We’re only down by one. And the Sox are cursed…usually. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

They both knew she wasn’t worried about the game.

Three

The seventh inning was a killer. Boston scored four runs, and the Yanks needed not one but two pitching changes. Things didn’t look good.

At the stretch, it was past nine-thirty. Cam knew they’d never see the end of the game if he was going to get Jo to the airport for an eleven-thirty flight to the West Coast.

Anyway, the Yankees were so deep into the bullpen that this one might be a goner. He still had questions. A lot of questions.

Not that he really gave a rat’s ass what happened to Christine McGrath. But his brothers had just been babies when she drove off like Thelma without Louise. They had a right to know. Especially Colin. Cam’s youngest brother had always blamed himself for their mother’s abandonment, but the little monster had been barely old enough to say his own name when she’d disappeared. He owed the information to Colin, and to Quinn.

He took Jo’s hand and squeezed it, liking any excuse to touch her. “It’s time to go,” he said softly.

Her coppery eyes lit with surprise, then she frowned. “You want to stay for the bottom of this inning, don’t you?”

It was his turn to be surprised—that she’d even make the offer. “Yeah. But I’d rather you didn’t stomp me with one of your cowboy boots for missing your flight.”

They stood, he said his goodbyes to all the box neighbors he spent so many nights with every summer, and he walked her toward the tunnel.

He heard the crack of the bat behind him, knowing by the sound of the crowd that it was a line drive. When he didn’t pause, she looked up at him expectantly.

He gave her a sly grin. “You really don’t think I’d let you be late, do you?” The announcer called a double. Double damn.

Slipping her arm through his, she rewarded him with a million-dollar smile. “Thank you, Cam.”

Aw, hell. That smile was worth missing a grand slam. “No problem. As long as you’re willing to admit the truth now.”

Her step slowed. “The truth?”

He pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward the field. “Dull as dirt?”

“Well…” She dragged out the word and squeezed his arm, the intimacy of the gesture hitting him like a blast of heat. “Your enthusiasm could be contagious.”

He laughed and pulled her closer, noting that her step seemed to lighten and her smile seemed genuine. She could sense she was getting what she came for, and that obviously made her very happy.

“You know, Jo,” he said as they left the stadium and stepped onto the streets of the Bronx, “I gotta tell you something.”

“What?”

Maybe it was the elusive, clean fragrance of her hair, or the feel of her slender arm wrapped through his. Maybe it was the odd companionship he’d felt with the first woman who didn’t try to fake that she understood baseball, but was willing to learn. He didn’t really know what the hell it was, but he felt like telling her exactly what he was thinking. “It’s too bad we had to meet under such bizarre circumstances.”

“Why’s that?” She looked up again, her lips parting slightly, her ridiculous but adorable cowboy hat casting a shadow over her delicate cheeks. “Because you think you could have made a baseball fan out of me?”

He froze in his spot, the desire to kiss her hitting him as hard as that line drive he just missed. “Yeah,” he said, taking off her hat so he could get closer. “And I could, too.”

Face to face, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, he curled his arms around her waist and she did the same around his neck. Their heights were damn near perfect, he thought. Her eyes at his mouth, just a simple head tilt apart.

“You’re going to sign the paper, aren’t you?”

He nodded once. With her gazing up at him with that engaging look of gratitude on her face, he just had to dip his head about three inches…open his mouth to meet hers and…

He kissed her.

She tasted like salt and beer and mint. Her lips were warm and soft and when they opened to him, he skimmed the delicate inside flesh of her mouth with his tongue. His head buzzed with the instant pleasure, and he tensed his arms around her, angling his head to make the kiss more intense and longer.

And it lasted just long enough to start a fire in his body.

Slowly she pulled away. Her eyes were closed, but that beautiful mouth formed a smile. For some reason, that pleased him more than anything. She hadn’t yanked away and called him a jerk who’d forgotten the serious reason she’d come to him. She looked like she thoroughly enjoyed being kissed by him.

“I’ll tell you what,” she whispered, her mouth still close enough to almost feel the movements of her lips.

“What?”

“I’ll teach Callie baseball and I’ll even buy her a Yankee baseball cap. Okay?”

A million clashing emotions rushed through him, but he tamped them all down.

“You do that, sweetheart.” He slid his hands over the curves of her waist and up the sleek, tight muscles of her back.

Then she lifted her face toward him again, a victorious light in her magical eyes. “You have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”

This time she leaned into him and initiated the kiss, all that happiness translating into an instant connection between their mouths.

He slanted his head to taste more of her, cupping her face between his hands and then tunneling his fingers into her magnificent hair. He felt himself stir into hardness against her stomach, the flare of desire shooting through his veins like liquid lightning.

He had to get control or she would most definitely miss her flight. Pulling away, he stroked her lower lip with the tip of his finger, resisting the urge to slide that finger into her mouth, where his tongue had been.

“Nothing like a little baseball to warm a lady up,” he said with a smile.

She just smiled and pulled farther away, not contradicting him on the reason for her sudden light and lusty mood. She’d won her game, and they both knew that accounted for her surprising display of affection.

“Come on, sweetheart.” He tugged her toward the cab stand he knew was around the corner of the stadium. “Let’s get to the airport.”

As they reached the stand, he opened the door of the first available waiting cab. “After you.”

But she didn’t move. “No, Cam, you don’t have to go all the way to the airport. Just—” she glanced at his pocket “—sign.” She gave him a heartbreaking look. Half pleading. Half regretful. “Just sign the paper and I’ll be on my way.”