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by another and another.
    “I can’t talk about this right now, Brady,” she whispered. With one last look, she climbed into her car and drove away, avoiding her rearview mirror. She was leaving him behind, again.

Chapter Four
    She smiled as she heard him approach her from behind. The musky scent of his cologne tantalized her nose as she her shoved books in her locker and replaced them with different ones.
    “ Good morning, love,” he whispered in her ear, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I missed you this morning. Where were you?” Turning in his embrace, she stood on her toes to place a chaste kiss on his mouth. “I overslept.” He raised a brow before lacing his fingers with hers and leading her down the hall. “Really? Hot date last night?” She snorted. “No. Just up late with homework and stuff.”
    Nodding his head in greeting to a couple football players passing them, he turned his green eyes on her. “Everything okay?”
    “ Of course,” she answered quickly, avoiding his eyes. She definitely did not want to tell him she’d spent the evening taking care of her drunken father.
    They reached her classroom before the warning bell rang. He pushed her gently against the wall, brushing his lips over hers. She melted into his body, nearly dropping her books.
    When he broke the kiss, a smirk slipped over his lips. “I gotta get to class.” He started to walk away but spun back around, smacking his forehead. “Oh, do you mind if Jason and Amanda go to Prom with us?”
    “ Prom?” she asked, totally confused.
    He stepped closer to cup her cheek. “Yeah, Prom. You didn’t think I’d take anyone else, now did you, love?” He kissed her again, only tearing away as the warning bell rang.

    She bolted upright, sweat beading on her forehead. Holding a hand to her chest, she caught her breath and glanced at the red numbers of her clock. Only a little after four in the morning.
    With a groan, she flipped the sheets back and swung her feet to the floor. No use trying to sleep anymore. Each time she tried, the same images invaded her dreams.
    Locating her laptop, she took it to the living room where she got comfortable on the sofa and opened it. She’d started her story on Brady as soon as she'd gotten home, but his parting words had haunted her relentlessly. Giving up, she'd saved what little work she'd had and slammed her laptop shut.
    She drew in a deep, cleansing breath and threw herself into the story, consulting her notes often and recalling some of the things his teammates had told her about him.
    He had played on the farm team with Kyle for a few years. Kyle had been called up and sent back down a number of times but now it seemed like he was a permanent fixture. Well, as permanent as one can be in the world of professional baseball.
    Brady had only received his call recently. Mitchel Randalph, the team’s veteran second baseman, had broken his leg during an awkward slide into home. Although the season was still young, Mitchel figured he wouldn’t be back at all this year. Besides, he’d been hinting around about retirement since the end of last season.
    Taylor had spoken to the other guys at the cookout and was surprised to find that they knew Brady pretty well already. Alex had explained that the team had invited Brady to spring training camp the previous two years and since he and Kyle were friends, they'd all gotten the chance to get to know him.
    Taylor often thought that she knew more about sports than the average girl, but after spending an entire afternoon with a group of baseball players, she realized that she was quite the rookie. She’d never thought before about the hopes and disappointments they went through in their efforts to finally make it to the big time. Kyle had described to her how thrilled he'd been when he was called up the first time and how he’d telephoned everyone he knew, sure it was finally his moment. But after only a couple weeks with the team, he was sent back down