Read Throwing Heat: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel for Free Online Page B

for his britches now that he’s got a woman?” Drake said.
    “Yeah, I know. But I don’t blame him. Sonny is seriously foxy.” He looked around Drake to JP. “You lucked out, dude.”
    The player flashed a grin. “True that.” Then he stood up and moved to the dugout entrance. It was his turn in the hole. “You should find something real, hoss,” he said behind him to Paulson. “Then maybe you wouldn’t feel the need to take a breather.”
    “ Pssh ,” the veteran waved him off. “I’ll leave the love crap to you boys. It ain’t my thing.”
    Something in the tone of his voice sounded off and Peter narrowed his eyes. He knew the smell of bullshit. Mostly because he specialized in it. “So you say now, bro. But you aren’t immune.” His hand waved toward the men sitting on the long dugout bench. “The best of them fall at some point or another.” He ended with a nod toward Cutter.
    Drake pegged him with a deep brown stare. “What about you? You haven’t gone down yet.”
    An image of Leslie came to mind and he shoved it aside, plastered on a smile. “What can I say? It just isn’t in my cards.”
    “Maybe you should get a new deck.”
    No thank you. “Yeah, maybe.”
    What the hell? Where’d that come from? The words had popped right out of his mouth before he’d even known they were there.
    He didn’t want a new deck. Nope. He was happy with the one he had.
    So why had he said that?
    Leslie popped into his head again. This time she was topless and splayed out over a cream cotton comforter. Her body was willing and supple, but her eyes were filled with shadows as a tear slipped down her cheek.
    What the fuck?
    Peter shook his head hard enough to make his brain hurt. Why had that memory come back to him now? He didn’t want it there. He wanted new ones to replace the old. That way he wouldn’t have to remember anymore what it had been like to see Leslie Cutter fall apart.
    More, he wouldn’t have to remember how it had felt.
    “You thinking about that new deck already, bro?” Drake broke into his thoughts.
    Peter shook his head and looked at the field just as JP hit a grounder and made it to first base. “Nah.”
    Drake laced his fingers behind his head and stared straight ahead. “Yeah, me neither.”
    “H EY, L ESLIE . C AN you hand me my soda down by your foot?” said her sister-in-law, Lorelei Cutter, as she sat back down in her seat. “Sorry that took forever. The line for the bathroom is outrageous.”
    Leslie glanced at her sister-in-law from behind her Ray-Bans. “Are you feeling okay, hon? You don’t look so hot.” Her normally tawny skin was super pale and she looked worked.
    The brunette shook back her long hair and sighed. “I’m not sure, actually. I’m afraid I might be fighting something. My stomach has been off for a few days now.”
    Leslie handed her the soda, all concern. “You think it’s the flu?” Seemed to her the wrong time of the season for it, but who knew? Stranger things had happened.
    Lorelei shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m not feeling achy and I don’t have a headache. It’s just my stomach.”
    Huh. Maybe it was a virus. “How’s Mark been feeling?” she asked and scanned the field, looking for her brother. She found him on deck and about to bat. As she watched he strode up to the plate and prepared for the pitch.
    Glancing back at Lorelei, Leslie found her staring at Mark with a silly grin on her face. “He’s been fine,” she said, her eyes glued on her husband. “Healthy as a horse.”
    Thinking that her soda looked pretty darn good, Leslie nabbed it from her and stole a sip. “Thanks, love. I was parched,” she said as she handed it back.
    “If I didn’t adore you so much I’d clock you for swiping my sugary caffeinated beverage.”
    Leslie grinned at her, knowing the woman didn’t mean a word of her threat. “Wow. Somebody’s feeling a wee bit bitchy today too.”
    Lorelei blew out a breath and slouched in her