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One teen pointed in her direction, and Jeff’s head turned toward her. A smile split across his face, and he lifted his hand in acknowledgement.
He said something to the teens, then the group disbanded, and the youth began gathering up their equipment. As Jeff walked toward her, Kia’s heart pounded in her chest. The closer he got, the more her heart thumped.
Good Lord, he was a good-looking man, with his muscular body and sandy blond hair curling out beneath his ball cap. Her sister hadn’t been wrong when she said baseball might be worth watching if she knew the players looked like that. The Hawks were really missing the boat not having billboards of Jeff all over the city.
Ticket sales would skyrocket.
God, between lack of sleep and nerves, her brain was mush that she was even thinking something that stupid at a time like this. What was wrong with her?
Jeff smiled when he got close to her. She sucked in a breath as her eyes landed on the pronounced dimple on his right cheek that looked just the same as the one Max had. She hadn’t even remembered he had a dimple.
“Hey, Saskia.”
“Hi, how are you?”
His brow wrinkled, the confusion evident on his face. “I’m good. What are you doing here? Where’s Max?”
She took a deep breath. “He’s at daycare. I was hoping we could maybe talk.”
Jeff glanced behind him at his group, then at the surrounding fields. “Yeah, sure. We just finished up our game, so I’m done for the day.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Was it? Shoot. She wasn’t ready to talk now. When she’d come here, she’d been expecting him to be busy and need to schedule something on another day. She wasn’t prepared. They couldn’t have this conversation here, but it’s not like she could explain why it would be best to go elsewhere. Shit, shit, shit.
Jeff cocked his head to the side as he studied her. “What’s up? Something going on with Max? Is he having troubles?”
“No, no, not at all. He loves everything about coming here.” She smiled as she thought of her son. To most people, she was a screwup, but no one would say that when it came to her son. Max was the best thing she’d ever done in her life. Nothing was more important to her than his happiness, which was why she needed to do this. Now. “He’s been talking about you for weeks. Smitty this, Smitty that. I didn’t realize he was talking about you until the other day. I had no idea.”
“He’s a cool little guy.”
“Yeah, he is.” She smiled at a couple of teens who eyed her as they walked past.
“Thanks, Coach,” the taller of the two youths said.
“No problem. Good job today, guys. Thanks for putting the stuff away. Appreciate it.”
Jeff turned back to her. “You want to talk here, or did you want to grab a coffee or something?” He studied her. “You sure you even want to talk to me? You’re kind of freaking me out with how nervous you look.”
She laughed and okay yeah, even to her own ears she sounded nervous. Real smooth.
“Saskia, talk to me. What’s going on?
“I go by Kia now.”
His smile ticked up in the corner of his mouth as he watched her. “Kia, I like that. It suits you.”
Her heart thumped again. Damn it. She wasn’t supposed to still be attracted to him. She had a boyfriend. A great one…Well, good…Ok, at least. This was about Max. Nothing else mattered. She took a deep breath. “I wanted to call you after seeing you the other day, but obviously I didn’t have your number. I came by here to ask for it, but the staff wouldn’t give it to me. I guess they thought I might be some crazed fan or something.”
He laughed. “You do look a little sketchy.”
An overly loud, uncomfortable laugh burst out of her. God, she really was a hot mess. So much for being relaxed. When she glanced at him, heat rose to her cheeks.
Jeff stepped a little closer to her. His blue eyes trailed slowly down her body. “What’d you want my number for?” His tongue dipped out, then swept across his bottom lip like he was imagining doing all kinds of things to her.
“Oh god, not that.” She held up her hand. “I have a boyfriend. But um…”
“Just thought I’d check. With how nervous you are, this felt like some weird booty call or something.”
“God, no, definitely not.” With a shaky hand, she pushed her hair back from her face. She eyed the empty bleachers and flicked her wrist toward them. “You want to sit?”
