Read From Left Field: A Hot Baseball Romance (Diamond Brides Book 7) for Free Online Page A

stories came in right before the game started. There are rumors that your manager, Jason Reiter, is under investigation for financial wrongdoings. Any truth to that?”
    Holy shit . How did stories leak that fast? Who’d set him up—the cops they’d talked to that afternoon? His agent wouldn’t hang him out to dry. His lawyers either.
    “No comment,” he said.
    “But Mr. Reiter is the Executive Director of the Sartain Foundation, isn’t that correct?”
    “No comment.”
    “Come on, Adam,” Parker insisted. “That’s a matter of public record. Isn’t it true that Jason Reiter—”
    “Whoa, guys!” Adam looked up, as surprised as the bloodthirsty reporters that someone had interrupted the feeding frenzy. Zach Ormond was shouldering his way into the pack. The former catcher was management now, a special assistant to the team’s owner. That gave him some degree of gravitas as he said, “It’s a long season, gentlemen. Don’t blow all your questions two games in. Let my left fielder get out of here and go home for the night.”
    The guys got the message, but they weren’t happy about it. Rebellious mutters rose above the crowd as they slouched out of the locker room.
    Adam shook his head. Jesus Christ, this would be hell. He was one day into the Reiter disaster, and he already felt like he was twenty games back. He clenched his teeth and said to Ormond, “Thanks.”
    The former catcher met his eyes. “Eh. They’ve got papers to sell. You okay?”
    Adam started to shrug but thought better of it when his obliques screamed. Goddamn wall. “I will be.”
    Ormond nodded toward his side. “You need to get that wrapped?”
    Adam shook his head. “Nothing a handful of Advil and a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”
    It was Ormond’s turn to shrug. The guy knew what it was like to play the game hard; he’d had more than his share of injuries on the field. “Suit yourself.”
    By the time Adam made it out to the players’ parking lot, the stadium was deserted. He settled into his car and tried for a land speed record on the way home.
    Once he was standing on his own front porch, he shook his head and tried to convince himself he was tired enough to drop into bed, to fall asleep without rehashing every minute of the worst day he’d ever had. He looked across his lawn at Haley’s place. The light was on in her bedroom. She was probably in bed, reading or something. Wearing that T-shirt she’d had on last night…
    He was not going there. In fact, he’d do better not to think about Haley at all. Not when the rest of his life was in the toilet. She didn’t deserve that, cleaning up his mess.
    He marched himself down the steps and around the corner of his house. He stuck to the stepping stones his father had set twenty-five years ago, like they were the only safe path through a dangerous sea. When he climbed the stairs up to his deck, he sucked in his breath against his bruised side. The cold spring air wasn’t doing him any favors, but it felt good, clean in a way that managed to wash away a little of the shit from the day. Gingerly, he lowered himself to one of the chaise lounges.
    From there, he had a clear view of the Reeves farm. His mother had always said the farm was the thing that had sold her on their property, forty years ago. She could look out the window while she was washing dishes, and it felt like she was a million miles away from Raleigh.
    Well, Raleigh had grown a hell of a lot in the last forty years. There were condos and townhouses miles past Reeves’ farm. People drove for an hour just to get to their jobs downtown, and the entire metropolitan area was thriving.
    There was a crapload of money in real estate. Money Adam didn’t have any more. Money he could only possibly recoup if he tracked down Reiter.
    He’d listened to his lawyers that afternoon, heard their first pitch at a game plan. They’d get the FBI involved and Interpol if necessary. There’d be criminal prosecutions,