Silver Bracelets: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance by Sandra Chastain Read Free Book Online Page B

There’s an extra cap in the van and a couple of bats. I hope the shoes fit. They belonged to my dad. Fortunately, you don’t have to have cleats. We don’t take this very seriously.”
    Asa glanced at his watch. “Isn’t this early for a ball game? Even the chickens don’t get started before noon.”
    “We’re playing in the end-of-the-year tournament. The league winner goes to the state finals. They’ve already been playing for hours.”
    “And I can just come in and play without having been a member of the team?”
    “Yep. We’re allowed to add three people to the roster for the grand finale.”
    Oh, great, he was part of the grand finale, substituting for a player who’d broken an ankle. Somehow that seemed to be an omen. Until he looked at Sarah’s confident expression and felt her smile melt all his hesitation.
    Officer Paul Martin was the Smyrna Smart Guys’ pitcher. Asa recognized Jake Dalton,the young mayor of Smyrna, as the catcher. Sarah played shortstop and more or less directed everyone. Two other women and seven men completed the mixed roster. They welcomed Asa and after a few warm-up tosses, the game got underway.
    Though it had been years since he’d been on a field, Asa gave it his best. After he endured two strikeouts and missed three fly balls in a row, Sarah took pity on him and suggested he keep score and man the water buckets. Asa agreed with gratitude. Someone called his name. He looked up and nodded at a fellow county police officer who wandered up.
    “Canyon, didn’t know you were playing on Sarah’s team.”
    Damn. He’d hoped that nobody would recognize him. “Neither did I,” Asa said with a warning in his voice. “It just happened.”
    “Yeah, Sarah’s hard to turn down. She’s a good person, Canyon,” he said, and wandered off.
    Hard to turn down? Watching Sarah’s long legs as she ran across the infield and scooped up a ground ball made Asa uncomfortably aware of what playing with Sarah could mean. Like some teenager with a crush, he studied her, fighting the threat of an erection with every move she made.
    At one point when the Smart Guys were up to bat, Sarah glanced at her watch, came over, gave him a hug, and asked, “You okay?”
    “Sure. Why?”
    She didn’t answer. She just smiled and took the field after the third out. It took Asa a few minutes to figure out that Sarah had just wanted to make him feel better. And he did. At least he felt something that promised infinite possibilities. That is, if he was into promises.
    A moment later, when Asa noticed that the right fielder was playing too deep, he yelled, “Move in, move in.”
    The batter made Asa’s call look good by dropping a soft fly ball just over the first baseman’s head. When the outfielder made the catch, Sarah gave Asa a thumbs-up sign. By the next inning, Asa was moving the players around the field as if he’d been appointed coach and they were playing the World Series.
    It wasn’t until Sarah came and sat down beside him that he realized she was distressed.
    “What’s wrong, Sarah? We’re winning.”
    “Yep, but the guys aren’t accustomed to being managed by someone so serious about winning. They just like to fool around, do their own thing, you know? No pressure. Relax.”
    “But you’re good, really good. Don’t you want to win? These guys you’re playing signal what they’re going to do. Why not take advantage of it?”
    “Because that makes it too serious, Asa. I tell the others what to do sometimes, but this is mostly just for fun. If we miss a ball, we don’t care. If they hit it over our heads, fine. We’ll get it next time.”
    Asa bit back a retort. She was serious. They didn’t care whether they won or not. Twice Jake Dalton sat down and watched the ball bounce around behind him while he laughed at his own lack of skill. With a little organization Sarah’s team could probably beat any of the teams he saw playing, but they’d rather goof off. He continued to keep