Love of the Game by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online

it all mean? So what if he achieved the pinnacle of success? Without Dylan, the dream was sawdust in his mouth.
    But without the dream, what else was there?
    He’d worked his entire life for this. Dylan had cheered him on, been his biggest fan, his strongest champion. Letting go of the dream now would be like letting Dylan down in the most fundamental way. Betraying his beliefs.
    Axel leaned over and opened the drawer in the coffee table, took out a undersized baseball glove closed around a baseball, a soft cleaning rag, and conditioning oil. The glove was so small that he could only wriggle three fingers inside.
    Gently, he rubbed the leather, felt his heart pump hard with every stroke, and knew he had no choice. He had to do everything in his power to reach his goal. If that meant resting, that’s what he’d do.
    In memory of his son.
    Axel blinked, swallowed, and with the tip of the cleaning rag wiped away the single salty tear that had fallen into the pocket of his dead son’s glove.

C HAPTER 4
    P er arrangements with Rowdy, Axel arrived in Stardust on Wednesday evening, May eighteenth. Gentle therapy sessions with Kasha were to start in the morning, and then the following Thursday he would return to Dallas for Dr. Harrison to reexamine him and determine if Kasha’s “take it easy” plan was working.
    In the meantime, Axel was stumped.
    What the hell was he going to do out here in the sticks? Granted, there were plenty of distractions in Rowdy’s house—big-screen TV, recordings of innumerable baseball games, state-of-the-art video technology for video gaming, heated swimming pool, hot tub, a class-A home gym, and even a zipline that ran down to the edge of the lake.
    But Axel was an extrovert. He needed people around. Stimulation. He met the live-in caretakers, Boston and Zelma Creedy, but they weren’t big talkers, and after they showed him around the place, they took off on a golf cart to their cottage several acres away.
    Leaving Axel twiddling his thumbs.
    He prowled the grounds. What was he supposed to do? He’d been in the house for only one night, and already he was bored out of his skull. He had nothing to think about but the constant ache in his shoulder, and how far he was falling short.
    At eight o’clock on Thursday morning, Kashashowed up with that smooth, butter-don’t-melt-in-Iceland look on her face, a tablet computer tucked under her arm, and an efficient snap to her step.
    Her glossy dark hair hung down her back in its customary braid, and she wore her uniform—blue chinos and a green polo shirt with the Gunslingers logo. The outfit didn’t look good on anyone, but on her, somehow it did. Her exotic sloe eyes locked onto him with a determined sense of purpose.
    â€œGood morning,” she said crisply. “Let’s get to the gym.”
    Without waiting on him, she turned and headed for the sliding glass door that led to a garden courtyard, and the detached home gym beyond. For a second, it stumped him how Kasha knew the gym’s location, and then he remembered she was Rowdy’s sister-in-law.
    He ambled after her, rotating his shoulder and wincing against the pain. On the opposite side of the swimming pool stood the glass building that looked like something out of an architectural magazine.
    Axel had worked out in plenty of commercial gyms half this size. Through the glass walls, he could see Kasha heading toward the massage table in the far corner. When he pushed through the door, classical music floated out to greet him.
    â€œUgh.” He crinkled his nose. “Could we put on some Kanye instead?”
    â€œNo,” she said. “Mozart stays.”
    â€œSnooty.”
    â€œNot snooty,” she corrected in an even tone. “Soothing. Soothing music soothes tense muscles.”
    â€œYou gotta be kidding.”
    â€œOn the table.” She patted the massage table. “And take off your