Read Online Fastball by V. K. Sykes - Free Book Online

way she clutched it to her body that she was
getting cold. Taking off his jacket, he offered it to her with a
mock-gallant gesture. She hesitated for a moment before accepting
it with a nod of thanks. Once she had it on, she looked down at
herself, her eyes widening. The jacket swallowed her, coming nearly
down to her knees, the sleeves reaching several inches below the
tips of her fingers. She started to laugh, and Jake couldn’t help
joining in.
    “God, I must look like a six-year-old wearing
her daddy’s jacket on Halloween,” she said. “There’s enough
material in here for a whole new wardrobe.”
    She was the farthest thing from a little kid
he could imagine, and her sweet laugh utterly captivated him.
Maddie had the whole package. Girl-next-door wholesomeness and lots
of smarts packaged in a scorching hot body sure to give any
red-blooded male a permanent hard-on. The more time he spent in her
company, the more Jake hungered to wrap his arms around her and not
let go for a very long time.
    And the release of tension after the jittery
ending to their interview eased the awkwardness between them.
    “Hey, Jake,” Maddie said with a shy smile,
“Do me a favor, would you? Let’s move under that light over there.
You can stand next to me and I’ll try to capture the moment, as
they say, with my cell phone. I’d like to have it as a memento of a
very unusual evening. And whenever I need a good laugh, I can pull
it up for reminders.”
    He liked that she wanted a reminder of their
evening together, one of the first of many, he was beginning to
hope. “Sure thing.”
    Maddie extracted her phone from her bag as
Jake moved in beside her, sliding his arm around her waist. She
made no move to pull away or protest. Instead, she even inched a
bit closer as she held the phone in front of her, trying to
maneuver it at full arms-length to catch them both in the shot.
Jake tried to be subtle, tightening his arm around her waist as she
moved the phone up and down, squinting at the tiny screen. Damn, he
liked the way she felt against him.
    She finally shook her head, blowing out an
exasperated breath. “I can’t get enough of us in the picture. I
either cut off your head or everything below my neck. Here, you try
it. With those gorilla arms, you should be able to get a lot more
of us in the frame.”
    “Gorilla, huh? You sure know how to make a
guy feel good, Maddie.”
    She gave a delicate little snort of laughter
as he took the phone and held it out in front of them. He squeezed
the camera key several times, hoping that one of the shots would do
the trick. When he finished, Maddie retrieved the phone and peered
at the small screen, tilting it under the light of the streetlamp
for a better view. Her face lit up with fiendish glee, and she
broke into laugher again.
    The sexy sound of her laugh, the delight on
her gorgeous face made him want to tip up her determined little
chin and devour her with hot, endless kisses. Christ, she
intoxicated him, and he couldn’t remember the last time a woman had
done that. But was it too soon? Was she feeling anything like the
hot rush of energy that coursed through his body? He didn’t know
her well enough yet to read her, but every cell in his body urged
him to find out the answer to that question.
    As her laughter subsided into giggles, he
acted on the impulse. He gently turned her toward him, tilted her
chin up with a finger, and leaned into the kiss. Her eyes grew wide
with surprise and her mouth parted in a slight gasp. A split-second
before their lips touched, Maddie’s hands flew up to his shoulders,
holding him off.
    “Jake, I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She backed
out of his loose embrace, looking confused and flustered. “We both
know we can’t let this happen. Please, let’s just walk, okay?” She
ducked her head down and lifted a hand to her cheek as she turned
and began walking again.
    With spiraling frustration—and an ache in his
groin he’d remember for a long