Free High Heat (Hard Hitters #1) by Linda Morris Page B

them as he went. As he moved along, each kid continued to throw, until about six kids were all throwing simultaneously. The rest of the kids shifted back and forth, fiddling with their gloves and watching with wide eyes as they waited their turns. As he worked with a ten-year-old girl in pigtails, Sarah frowned at the boy in the green shirt he’d started with.
    “Something the matter?” Sarah startled, surprised to see Tom’s eyes locked on hers. He’d been concentrating so fiercely on each kid, she hadn’t realized he’d been paying her any attention.
    “That boy you were working with. He’s holding the ball too tight. That may be why it’s still going in the dirt. Maybe you should tell him?”
    Tom looked back at the kid, watching him for a moment. “Huh. Maybe you’re right. Tell him yourself.”
    Sarah’s eyes narrowed, trying to read him. It wasn’t easy. Was he annoyed with her for offering advice? He didn’t seem to be, but who knew? That type of remark from her certainly always sent her father over the edge.
    “All right then.” She took a breath and went over to the boy, taking the ball from him and showing him the proper grip. She found herself copying Tom’s style, joking and praising the boy. He responded, taking the ball back from her and carefully copying her.
    This time, the ball sailed into the net with authority. “All right!” She applauded and gave the kid a high five.
    She looked up to catch Tom watching her with a look on his face that she couldn’t name. An assessment, definitely, mixed maybe with the pleased surprise of surpassed expectations?
    Whatever it was, she was pretty sure she’d worn the same look when she heard Tom tell a dispirited young pitcher he was just like Greg Maddux.

Chapter Seven
    “I’m starving,” Tom said after they’d finished the clinic and packed everything away into the trucks for the interns to haul away. “Any place to eat in this town?”
    She checked her watch. “Yikes, it’s nine. Almost every place will be closed.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    “You’re not in Miami anymore. You can’t roll up in your Beemer to South Beach at nine o’clock at night and get carryout from Joe’s Stone Crab. In Plainview, it’s Steak ’n Shake or nothing at this hour.”
    He shrugged. “That sounds fine. A good greasy burger is all right with me.”
    “If it’s any consolation, you can probably blow off your training regimen for a day or two, since you’re suspended and all.” She gave him a honey-sweet smile.
    “That’s no consolation whatsoever, but thanks for pointing it out.”
    “No problem.” She gave him directions to the Steak ’n Shake, Plainview’s only twenty-four-hour restaurant. They hit the drive-through.
    “You want something?” He turned to her. “It’s on me.”
    “Wow, you are a big spender. No wonder you do so well with the ladies.”
    He winked. “Sorry, but that’s not why I do so well with the ladies.”
    She would
not
rise to the bait. She suspected she knew part of the secret to his success, and although it was in his pants, it wasn’t his wallet. She cleared her throat and studied the menu. She really shouldn’t eat this junk, but the heavenly aroma of seared beef and crispy fries wafting out from the drive-through window overcame her scruples.
    She gave him her order and took the paper bag that he handed her minutes later, noticing the goggle-eyed stare of the fast-food employee at the big leaguer in a BMW coming through her drive-through. She’d tell everyone she knew about this, no doubt.
    Great. Being spotted at a PR event with him would be seen as work-related, but she had no excuse for hitting a late-night drive-through with a player on the Thrashers roster. Sarah slunk down in the leather upholstered seat and wished for a Harry Potter–style invisibility cloak.
    In a gossipy town like Plainview, this would get back to her dad in a flash.
    “Where can we go to eat this?”
    She looked at