Catch of a Lifetime: A Cricket Creek Novel by Luann McLane

Author:Luann McLane
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, General
ISBN: 0451235495
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2012-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

15

Terms of Endearment

“Buster?” Logan straightened up from picking up the key and her purse and gave Bella an amused look. “Really?”

“Pain is shooting from my thumb and short-circuiting my brain. Give me a break . . . buster.”

Logan’s smile faded and he stepped back for her to enter, and then walked in and flicked on a light. “Does it really hurt that much?” As an athlete, Logan was no stranger to injury, especially his damned elbow, and he was used to sucking it up. But he couldn’t stand the thought of Bella hurting. She stood there so tiny and so gorgeous, and he wanted to pick her up and carry her, for some insane reason.

She shrugged her slim shoulders but cradled her hand, and it bothered him. “Look, I am, admittedly, a complete wimp when it comes to pain.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll live,” she insisted, but swallowed hard. “I’m acting like a damned drama queen. My poor mother used to work a full day and then come home and create her jewelry. I used to play up anything remotely painful to get her attention. I’d wail at a simple paper cut or a stubbed toe. Old habits die hard.”

“Well, at least let me make you an ice pack.” Logan sighed as he walked over to the kitchen counter. Luckily, he located a plastic grocery bag. He filled the bottom with ice and tied it shut. “Have a seat,” he said, and he was relieved when she sat down without protest.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m just being a big old baby.”

“Well, let’s see.” He knew her admission was meant to minimize her injury, but damned if he didn’t picture her as a little girl craving the attention of an overworked single mom. Logan’s heart went out to her even though he couldn’t exactly relate. His father was on him like white on rice, wanting to know his every move from what he ate to when he went to bed each night and everything in between. All Logan ever wanted was to escape and play some Nintendo with the other kids in the neighborhood.

And pain? Pain was supposed to be overcome. Logan wished he had a dime for every time he had been told to walk it off, suck it up, and get back in the game. And the irony of it all was that doing just that might have ruined his career and his father’s dream of seeing his son pitching in the major leagues. Instead, here he was in Cricket Creek, Kentucky, tending to a woman he barely knew yet who managed to bring out protective, tender feelings that he didn’t even know he was capable of having. And the even crazier part about it was that he was beginning to like it way too much.

Logan sat down and scooted his chair around to face Bella. “May I take a look?”

“You promise not to yank on it or anything?”

“I promise.”

“Really?” She looked at him with wary brown eyes.

“Your opinion of me might not be high, but my word is always good.

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