Free Vegas Two-Step by Liz Talley Page B

trying not to sound like the librarian she was.
    “Bullshit. That’s your man, isn’t it?”
    Nellie felt her heart flinch. “No. This is a fling. Remember?”
    Kate slid her glasses down and met her eyes. “Oh, I remember. Do you?”
    “Of course I do,” Nellie snapped.
    Kate smiled as she refocused on the field. “Still, he invited you. Miss Look-at-my-tight-ass needs to know her place. Go out there and claim him, Nell.”
    “Are you insane?” Nellie ripped her eyes off the blonde in Jack’s arms and turned to her friend. “I will do no such thing. We shouldn’t have come. I don’t know why—”
    “Don’t worry. You look classy compared to that.” Kate gestured toward the blonde before her attention was stolen by a player sitting on the bottom bleacher unlacing his cleats.
    She and Kate had headed out to Henderson after she’d mentioned to the girls that Jack had invited her to watch him play softball. Trish had elected to follow up on a deposition, which had pissed Kate off, and Billie had napped. Only Kate had wanted to go with her. Nellie was certain it had something to do with guys in tight baseball pants who might potentially rip their shirts off. She was just glad to have her friend with her.
    She crossed her legs, tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned back, propping her elbows on the bleacher behind them. She liked her outfit—clingy white sleeveless shirt that buttoned only so far down, white shorts that made her legs look tanned, plucky leather thong sandals and a chunky gold bracelet she’d borrowed from Billie. It was a good look, a look that said, No big deal.
    “Elle.” Jack’s voice interrupted her mental playing-it-cool checklist.
    “Good God, I’d like to lick his stomach,” Kate whispered.
    “You are so sick,” Nellie returned out of the corner of her mouth.
    But she knew what Kate meant. Jack had shrugged off the blonde and headed toward the bleachers. He looked like every woman’s dream. It was everything she could do to not leap from the bleachers, tackle him and have her way with him. When had sweat become sexy?
    “You came,” Jack said, propping his arms on the fence.
    “I’ll bet,” Kate whispered.
    Nellie tried not to laugh. Or turn red. “Yeah, I told you I would try to make it. Sorry we missed the game. We got lost.”
    His eyes slid over her and made her tingly. Then he smiled and her heart raced. Nellie knew she was falling for him. Hell, she’d already fallen. It was more Game Over, Love wins.
    She licked her lips. “Jack, this is—”
    But Kate wasn’t beside her any longer.
    “Where’d she go?” Nellie asked, shocked she hadn’t felt her friend slip away.
    Jack’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. He jerked his head toward the dugout. “Hamm took off his shirt.”
    Nellie glanced at the dugout. Sure enough, Kate stood next to the Adonis who’d been unlacing his shoes. He no longer wore a shirt. “What the—”
    “Don’t worry. They all do that when he takes off his shirt. Girls can’t resist his six-pack.” Jack’s ball cap perched backward on his head and the faded Texas Longhorn shirt molded itself to his body like a second glove. He looked sweaty, hot and ready to grace the cover of a fitness magazine.
    “I resisted,” Nellie said.
    “And I appreciate that, Elle.” His gaze met hers and held. They remained that way for a full minute. Just holding each other’s smile, content to have no words mar the moment.
    “Wanna get out of here?” Jack asked.
    “Yeah, but I came with Kate.”
    “Kate looks busy. I don’t think she’ll mind.”
    She looked over at Kate. Her friend had waylaid Adonis with a smile of invitation. Then she cocked her head to the side and walked her fingers up the man’s chest. Kate. She was nothing if not obvious.
    “Still, let me talk to her a minute.”
    Nellie slid from the bleacher, grabbing Kate’s ridiculously expensive handbag. She tried to move slowly, as if she weren’t in a hurry to escape the