Page 52 of Double Play

“It happens when it’s given a chance.”

My mouth falls open, preparing to say something when I don’t know how to respond.

“Don’t blow the one given to you.”

I wasn’t intending to blow anything, I just didn’t know if love was what India would call what we were doing. We weren’t a gardening or food metaphor. We were having sex. Incredible sex. But I did ask her to date me, even if it is only in private, because it isn’t only sex between us.

It’s history. It’s lost opportunities.

It’s . . . a second chance.

twenty-two

. . .

[India]

After the third game in the series, in which the Terrors lose to the Chicago Anchors, I’m on the gravel track around the field wrapping up my final interview when I notice Declan near the dugout. A group of young women surround him. College-aged girls who are old enough to admire a man just below their father’s age.

Like an intern and a married man lusting after one another.

When one co-ed touches Declan’s forearm while he’s signing something for her, I see red.

Before I give myself a second to think, I rush toward my cameraman, drop my mic, and follow Declan who is disappearing into the tunnel leading to the locker room.

“Coach,” I cry out, knowing I’m in foul territory. Media isn’t allowed to enter the tunnel like this. We have a separate entrance for press rooms outside the privacy of the player’s space.

He doesn’t turn around.

“Declan,” I call louder, as if he didn’t hear me in the narrow space, his name echoing off the cinderblock walls.

He turns and approaches me so quickly, I stumble backward, and he reaches out to catch my upper arm before I fall over.

“What the hell are you doing?” His voice is hushed as he glances over my head toward the open field and then toward the dark hallway leading to the underbelly of the park.

“Why was that girl touching you?”

Declan’s brows lift so high, his forehead furrows. “What girl?”

“That cute little college co-ed touching your arm while you were signing an autograph.” Or was he handing out his phone number? I’m being irrational. I know I’m not thinking straight. This is Declan.

He isn’t a cheater. He isn’t sneaking around. He isn’t . . . tied to me.

His mouth slowly twists, and he spins me so my back hits the cinderblock tunnel wall. Glancing left and right once more before addressing me, he looks me directly in the eyes. “Have I given you any indication that I’d be interested in a twenty-something year old?”

“No,” I snap. “But I don’t know you now.”

Declan sighs, keeping his hands on my shoulders. “But you know me well enough to know that is not something I’d go for.”

“Because Montgomery is so close in age?” His daughter is only a few years shy of entering college.

Declan narrows his eyes. “Because my sights are set on someone a little closer to my own era.”

I stare up at him as he towers over me. With my head tipped back and his eyes so intense, I swear he’ll kiss me, right here, right now, in this tunnel. Where I’m forbidden to be present, and he shouldn’t be looking at me like I could be his next meal.

Slowly, he releases my shoulders and stands to his full height, putting some distance between us. “This isn’t really about me, though, is it? This is about him.” He practically growls.

He’s referring to my ex and he isn’t wrong. The streak of jealousy that bolted through me forces me to hang my head.