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EXCERPT:
“You know,” he said, spreading his knees. “You should be playing baseball with an arm like that.”
“I used to,” Rebel mumbled as he flipped over the piece of paper he’d been given and filled out the back side.
“No kiddin’. College?”
“I played pro.” He crossed out a line and scribbled above it without bothering to look up.
Kai raised a brow. Arlene hadn’t said much about her boss, though Kai didn’t mind getting to know him one-on-one. As long as he could keep him talking he could see where this was going—and God how he hoped it would go somewhere.
“For who?”
“Couple of indie teams in the Midwest. Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio…nothing big.”
“Were you a pitcher?”
Rebel finally looked up. “Nah. Played mostly in center field,” he answered. “Though I pitched once when we went through our bullpen.”
“Do any good?”
“The batters were looking for some fancy stuff, but I didn’t have the speed to make them work for it. My fastball clocked in at like sixty-five.”
Kai cocked a brow. “Wow, and they didn’t send you up to the majors immediately? That’s almost faster than my grandma can pitch.”
“I know, amazed me too when I didn’t get the call.”
“So was hitting off you like batting practice?”
Rebel sat up a little straighter. “They didn’t know what to do with me out there, so I ended up striking out the last two batters. And you know what? The last guy was a former major leaguer hitting almost four hundred. You should have seen his face when the ump made the call and he walked back to the dugout.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Excitement rang in his voice and Kai had a feeling Rebel had completely forgotten about his ankle. “We ended up winning thirteen to eleven in fourteen innings. I don’t think I slept at all for two days after that game. I was awesome.”
“So besides being modest, you were pretty good at being a utility player?”
Rebel made a face. “Call it dumb luck. Out of seven years in professional ball, I still have people mention that one inning. Maybe I should have been a pitcher after all.”
“Whatever wins the game, right?” He took the opportunity to sit forward and look into Rebel’s dark chocolate eyes. It didn’t matter what he said as long as those perfect, full lips continued to move.
If they’d been alone in the middle of the night, he may have dared to slide a little closer and place his hand on Rebel’s knee. With one gentle squeeze, Kai was certain he would have known if Rebel was interested, but this wasn’t the place. He wasn’t much of a public affection kind of guy and he knew better than to make a move out in the sticks. In the seventy-three miles he’d driven toward The Sanctuary, he’d seen two dozen signs about morality, Godliness, and faith, none of which accepted his sexual preference. Touching Rebel here, now, was practically suicide.
“Mr. Wirth, I’m going to need your insurance information,” the front desk clerk said as she returned with his driver’s license. She didn’t bat an eye at his foot, which was currently covered with a white towel. Kai assumed the towel was for the comfort of other ER patients and their waiting families rather than to keep bacteria away from an open wound.
Startled, Rebel dropped the clipboard and half the waiting room turned to stare at him.
“Do you know how much longer this is going to take?” he mumbled as he fished his wallet out of his pocket and exchanged his license for his insurance card.
“Sorry, I don’t.”
“Not even ballpark?”
The nurse frowned. “I’m just in charge of entering information.”
Kai lifted his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “Not even for a celebrity?”
The girl’s eyes narrowed and gave Kai a suspicious glare. “What celebrity?”
Ah ha. Now he had her wondering. He nodded at Rebel and smiled at the cute dark haired nurse with her hair up in a bun and her black frame glasses to the tip of her nose. She looked like a cross between a naughty librarian and a sassy nurse, which he hoped meant she had a bad girl side just begging for some attention.
“Do you follow baseball?”
She shook her head.
Thank God she didn’t follow baseball, because he was about to feed her a string of lies. “Well, Miss…Keri, is it?” He waited for her to give a slow nod, the kind of gesture that told him she wasn’t ready to bite just yet. “This here is Rebel Wirth and he’s one of the best pitchers the Midwest has ever seen.”
“Is he?”
“He is. Imagine, right here in your ER you have one of the greatest pitchers to ever play in the Midwest indie leagues.”
“This isn’t the Midwest, sweetheart. This is Texas, and down here we consider the Midwest just Northern Texas.” She shifted her weight and planted her hand against her hip. “Let’s just say I’m not yet impressed by your famous friend.”
“Do you know how fast he can throw a pitch?”
“I haven’t a clue.” And it didn’t sound like she cared.
“Sixty-five miles an hour, thank you very much,” he said, making it sound impressive even though he was pretty sure kids in Little League were pitching faster than Rebel these days. What she didn’t know wasn’t going to hurt her. “He saved his team from certain defeat with speed like that. He’s so good he’s played for four different states. Can you imagine seeing a guy pitch that fast? That’s like a speeding train.”
She looked down her nose at him. “Choo. Choo,” she said sardonically. “We’ll get to Mr. Baseball as soon as we take care of the most urgent patients.”
With that she walked away and Kai sank into his seat.
“Nice try.” Rebel grunted and shook his head.
“I thought I had her when she said she didn’t know anything about baseball.”
Rebel shrugged. “She must know your kind.”
Kai feigned surprise even though he was secretly happy to be thought of as a “kind.” If nothing else, it meant Rebel was beginning to notice him. “You mean the tall, strong, and irresistible type?”
“She walked away, didn’t she?”
He’d always hated when things went exactly as planned and Rebel seemed to have no intention of making flirting easy. That was fine by Kai, even if it left him with an aching dick. In all of his past relationships he’d learned the harder the chase, the more satisfying the relationship.
“Mr. Wirth.” The naughty nurse returned and turned Rebel’s wheelchair around. She issued a tight smile to Kai before patting Rebel on the shoulder. “We have an open room for you where I think you’ll be more comfortable.”
Rebel shot Kai a look of surprise as the nurse wheeled him around the plastic chairs and toward the exam rooms.
With a shake of his head, Kai chuckled to himself. “That’s my kind all right.”