Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Hi, Madden,” she said, climbing into the back seat. “That bird wasn’t for you.”
She watched his profile for that signature lip twitch, her stomach turning over when she got it. “Good morning, Skylar.”
“Why doesn’t Madden get flipped off?” Elton complained while pulling into traffic. “You’ve known him too long to be polite.”
Heat crawled up the back of Skylar’s neck, carrying into her cheeks, so she ducked down to lace up her sneakers—and hopefully hide her infatuation at the same time. “I don’t know. It probably has something to do with the fact that he’s a decent human being. You should be taking notes.”
“Take note of this.” Elton hit the brakes and Skylar almost tumbled off the seat.
“Hey!” She rubbed her noggin where it had connected with the back of the driver’s seat. “Are you trying to injure me right before the season?”
“That was too far,” Madden said evenly. “She could get hurt.”
Elton continued to drive, unperturbed. “You’re right. Then who would pitch this morning?”
Madden grunted.
It took all of Skylar’s concentration not to hurl herself down onto the seat in a full body swoon. And to keep her eyes from cataloging the breadth of Madden’s catcher shoulders, that little whorl where his dark hair ended just above the nape of his neck, the utter stillness of him. The solid dependability he’d projected from the moment he arrived to live with their next-door neighbor when Skylar was fifteen.
Elton and Skylar both lived in Boston now, but they’d lived most of their lives in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The summer she earned her learner’s permit, the elderly Irishwoman who lived beside their two-story colonial had knocked on their door to introduce her grandson, Madden, who’d come all the way from Belfast to visit her in Cumberland for the summer.
For some reason, he’d never actually left Rhode Island.
Or her heart—which he’d owned since the moment his guarded eyes met hers.
“Um.” She ordered the fluttering in her chest to cease its torture. “Are you going to explain why we’re randomly playing ball with a pro hockey team?”
“If you insist.” Elton sighed. “Couple weeks back, I took Bubba to the dog park.” Bubba was her brother’s beloved bichon frise, which he’d inherited from an ex-girlfriend who’d realized after adopting Bubba that she was allergic to dogs—and Elton, too. “While I was at the dog run, I met this girl.”
“I had a feeling this is where our story would begin,” Skylar inserted dryly.
“Things were going well—or so I thought. She gave me her number. Then four hockey players showed up and started hassling me about it. Fine, whatever. She’s taken. I get it.” Elton rolled to a stop at a red light, glanced back at Skylar over his shoulder. “Then they start talking shit about baseball.”
Skylar turned to stone. “Excuse me?”
“They said it’s boring. Easy. Not a real sport. Background noise for a nap.”
She opened her mouth, but the outrage prevented actual words from coming out.
“I know,” her brother said, regardless. “Naturally, I challenged them to a game.”
“Who else is coming?”
“Few of our old teammates from Brown, plus a couple of guys I met at spring training last week in Florida.” Elton and Madden had both played baseball for Brown and were now preparing to enter the minor leagues in May. “They were driving distance and pissed off enough by my story to give up their Saturday.”
“I haven’t thrown a baseball in a few months. Only a softball.” Skylar stretched her fingers in her lap. “Not since the last time we were home.”
“That’s why we’re getting to the field early. So you can warm up that arm.” Elton chuckled. “I can’t wait to see their faces when you throw your first pitch.”
Madden made a sound of agreement that sent a wave of warmth through her chest.
“Speaking of going home . . .” She strove to sound casual. “Madden, you’re coming to Rhode Island for spring break, right?”
He turned his head just enough to send her a sidelong glance. “You think I’d miss the Page Stakes?”
“No.” She laughed breathlessly. “Of course not.”
She ignored her brother’s watchful gaze in the rearview, schooling her features and quickly tightening her ponytail. On the inside, though, was another story.
A full week with Madden.
Anticipation sparked in her wrists, her fingertips.
Maybe Madden would finally start looking at Skylar and see more than Elton’s tomboy younger sister? Please, universe? After all, she was now a senior at Boston University and dude, she cleaned up nice. Pretty nice.
Decent, at the very least.
There had been times over the past six years when she’d thought maybe, just maybe, Madden was looking at her as if he found her attractive, but she usually just had ketchup on her face. The annual Page Stakes might be the perfect opportunity to show her brother’s best friend that she’d become a capable woman, not the nosy tagalong from days of yore. Maybe she could even convince him to be her teammate at the yearly competition?