Off the Hook by Laura Drewry Read Free Book Online Page A

then.”
    Jessie snorted softly. “Little bit, yeah. So tonight let’s relax, because once we get going tomorrow, it’s not likely we’ll see a day off until the end of the season.”
    “Okay. Sounds…uh…great.”
    After a second, they both laughed quietly, then Jessie nodded toward Kate’s bowl.
    “What do you say after supper we grab a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie in the great room?”
    “Sure!” Unless Kate was off her mark, Jessie was the one who called most of the shots around this place, so it’d probably be best to stick close to her.
    “What about you?” Jessie asked, tipping her chin toward Liam.
    “No thanks.” Lifting his dishes, he pushed back from the table and headed to the kitchen behind the bar, leaving a bubble of silence behind him.
    “It’s not you,” Jessie said. “He needs to do his therapy and throwing after dinner.”
    Kate nodded as that settled over her. Well over a year since his last game and he was still throwing? Surely he didn’t expect to pitch again, did he?
    Apparently he did, because a little while later, when Kate went to refill her water glass, she saw firsthand how determined he was. The kitchen window looked out on the back corner of the yard behind the lodge, and there, under half a dozen dangling trouble lights, stood Liam. From a mound made of snow, wearing clunky grippers over his boots, he stared down at the ground for a second, then slowly went into his windup and hurled the ball into a huge piece of net strung up around what looked like a crudely cut-out home plate.

    He seemed to study the now-empty air space the ball had just hummed through, then reached into the bucket behind him and pulled out another ball.
    “Finn’ll catch for him when he gets back,” Jessie said, her quiet voice making Kate jump. “But I won’t. Screwed-up arm or not, that boy throws hard.”
    “How long does he stay out there?”
    “Depends on his arm and his mood.” Giving Kate’s elbow a nudge, Jessie laughed quietly. “I’m guessing he’ll go awhile tonight.”
    Yeah, Kate mused. But it wasn’t only because she was there. She’d seen that look on his face before and knew exactly what it meant: He was going to do whatever it took to get back on a team. It was just a matter of time.

Chapter 3
I am convinced that God wanted me to be a baseball player.
—Roberto Clemente
    As he walked past Kate’s still-dark cabin on his way to the sweatbox early the next morning, Liam couldn’t help but shake his head. From his bedroom window last night, he’d watched her slip and slide from her cabin to the lodge, darting looks over her shoulder every couple of steps, which meant it was a safe bet Jessie hadn’t given her the bear-aware talk yet. While the two of them had settled in to watch what he assumed was going to be a chick flick, he’d pulled a couple of flashlights out of the storeroom, dropped one inside Kate’s yellow boot, and left the other one at the front door of her cabin.
    He’d have to remind Jessie to educate the city girl on the do’s and don’ts of living at the Buoys. Actually, he could remind Jessie right now, because the lights were on in the sweatbox, which meant she’d beat him to the treadmill again.
    Pulling the door open, Liam stepped inside and stopped dead in his tracks.
    Not Jessie. Kate.
    Kate in black spandex thigh-length shorts and a bright-pink T-shirt.
    Shit .
    She had her earbuds in and her eyes closed as her feet pounded the treadmill, so it took a second for the cold gust to hit her and then another second or two to regain her balance once she opened her eyes. How the hell did she run with her eyes closed anyway? He’d tried it once and almost broke his frickin’ neck. Hell, even a prolonged blink would send him ass over end off that treadmill.

    “Hey.” Balance regained, she pulled out one of her earbuds and gestured toward the treadmill’s display. “I still have another five K to go.”
    “It’s fine,” he lied. “Take