Free From Left Field: A Hot Baseball Romance (Diamond Brides Book 7) by Mindy Klasky

And they’re planning a BUNT gala, even as we’re talking.”
    Which was the truth, even if he didn’t give a damn about the dinner dance right now. He’d hired the best party organizer in Raleigh, about five minutes before he’d headed out of town. Monique would organize the whole thing, and all he had to do was show up.
    “Ooh,” Haley cooed, as if she were impressed. “ Minions . I bet they take care of everything for you. Aren’t you the big man around town.”
    Jesus. Minions couldn’t take care of his hard-on right now. Minions couldn’t take care of the image he had, of Haley’s arched eyebrows, of her snort of disdain. He forced himself to answer, to say something that sounded remotely normal, even as his cock told him to finish up the conversation now . “One week from tonight. At the Claibourne, in the Grand Ballroom. Wear your dancing shoes, and bring your checkbook.”
    She snorted. “Adam Sartain, have you ever seen me in dancing shoes?”
    His breath came faster. He closed his eyes, imagining that it was Haley’s hand on his cock, her tongue that licked his lips, imagining she was hot and sweaty beside him, beneath him. He grunted, “What are you wearing now?”
    Her guffaw shocked him back to reality—to a New York hotel room, a glass of watered-down booze, and a cell phone that burned against his ear. “Does that line ever work with women?”
    As his dick wilted, he forced himself to match her laugh. “I thought it might with you,” he said.
    “Hello? Have we just met? I’m Haley Thurman, your next-door neighbor? The girl you’ve known for more than thirty years?”
    He blew out a breath and gulped the last of the Scotch. “Okay, so you won’t be wearing dancing shoes. But you’ll come to the gala?”
    “To help you raise money so you can buy the Reeves farm out from under me.”
    He shook his head, lips pulling down at her acid tone. “Pretty much. Yeah.”
    She sighed and said, “I’ll be there.”
    He lay on the bed for a moment, trying to think of something else to say, something to keep the conversation going. Haley took away the option, though. “ You should get some sleep,” she said. “And I have the end of a movie to watch.”
    “Haley—” he started, even though he had no idea what came next.
    She made some sort of questioning sound, giving him permission to go on.
    “I just… I wanted…” What the hell was he going to say? I was hoping for some scalding phone sex, so I made this long-distance booty call? Yeah. Right. He swallowed hard and said, “Congratulations on the bake sale. It looks like it was a good start.”
    “Sure,” she said, her teasing tone make him go hard all over again. “Go ahead and humor me. But you won’t be laughing when I show up at Sam Reeves’ front door with the winning check.”
    He couldn’t think of a smart answer to that. Instead, he settled for, “Dream on.” He shoved down all the things he wanted to say, all the things that would change their friendship forever. He followed up with, “Get a good night’s sleep.”
    “You too,” she said.
    He didn’t want to be the first one to hang up. But it seemed like Haley didn’t have similar qualms. He was left staring at a scorching phone, an empty glass, and the sorriest excuse for a hard-on he’d ever seen in his life.

CHAPTER 5

    Haley made a last-minute check in the bathroom mirror at the Claibourne Hotel. No mascara smeared under her eyes—check. No lipstick on her teeth—check. Single strand of pearls that had been a Sweet Sixteen gift from her grandmother—check. Little black dress not slipping off her shoulders, bunching under her boobs, or otherwise preparing to embarrass her—check, at least for the moment.
    That just left the shoes.
    Haley owned precisely one pair of shoes that had a prayer of elevating her simple knit dress from casual wear to evening attire. Girlfriends had assured her multiple times that the three-inch heels really weren’t that daring,