Center Stage: A Hot Baseball Romance (Diamond Brides Book 8) by Mindy Klasky

Author:Mindy Klasky [Klasky, Mindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: baseball romance, reunion romance, sports romance, sports hero, secret baby, instant family, alpha male hero
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2014-10-03T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Lindsey recognized that look on Zach’s face. It was the same one she’d seen when Grace had sneaked in after prom, coasting down the driveway in the dark with the front fender of the old Chevy crumpled. It was the one he’d given Rachel when he’d caught her and Tommy Markowitz giving each other tonsillectomies up in the attic one Christmas break. It was the way he’d stared down Dane, when her brother had admitted his girlfriend was pregnant, even though they’d used protection, even though she’d promised she was on the Pill. It was the way he’d glared at Beth a million times, after a million disappointments.

She barely resisted the urge to reach behind her, to twine her fingers with Ryan’s.

That wasn’t going to help. Instead, she told herself to breathe, to take a step forward, to move away from the comforting warmth of Ryan’s chest, from the trembling alertness she felt in every line of his body that pressed against hers. She glanced over her shoulder and jerked her head toward the locker room. “Go ahead,” she said.

“I’ll stay.”

“I’m fine,” she asserted.

“I know that.”

Men! Lindsey almost screamed the word out loud. Instead, she turned to Ryan, making sure their eyes met. She read the fierce determination in his gaze, the absolute certainty that he would protect her, that he would keep her safe.

But Zach wasn’t any threat to her safety. He never had been. He never would be. He was the older brother who loved her, who shielded her, who nurtured her when she needed someone who absolutely, unequivocally had her best interests in mind. Even if he was as stubborn as a mule.

She raised her hand to Ryan’s jaw, letting her fingertips tingle against the rough growth of his new beard. “Please,” she said.

And he listened to her. He clutched his own fingers tighter in his orange-stained jersey; she felt the movement ripple up his arm, through his shoulder, into the tight line of his clenched jaw. But he turned his head to the side, brushing his lips across her palm. And then he stalked off toward the locker room, not looking back.

Zach’s voice was steady as he said, “You’re not supposed to be down here.”

“I was just leaving.”

He let her take three steps before his voice shut her down. “Don’t do this, Lindsey.”

She whirled back. “Do what?”

She thought he might back down if she confronted him directly. But he didn’t. Instead, he sighed and shook his head, looking more like their father than she’d ever seen him before. “Take some time for yourself. Figure out what you want. Don’t go jumping in to some new relationship before—”

“Before what, Zach? Before I’m ancient and dried up and grey?”

“You’re twenty-five years old, Linds. You’ve got time.”

Dammit! She wanted him to react. She wanted him to get angry. She didn’t want him to sound all calm and understanding and logical. “I’m a big girl, Zach,” she said. “I can do whatever I want to do.”

“Yep,” he agreed. “But I don’t want to be the one to pick up the pieces.

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