LITMIR.BIZ

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polite excuses for never spending a single second with him alone.

      “You okay?” Karen asked, studying her worriedly. “You look a little flushed.”

      “It’s hot out here,” she said with an unmistakable trace of defensiveness.

      “It’s cloudy and barely seventy,” Karen pointed out.

      “Do you always have to take everything so literally?” she grumbled.

      Karen grinned. “Ah, this is about Cole, then. I should have known.”

      “Oh, go suck an egg.”

      “Can’t. I’m next up to bat. If you want to get in the lineup, see Emma. She’s managing the team.”

      Despite herself, Cassie chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?” Despite the rough time they had given her, Emma had always taken charge. Now that she was a big-shot attorney, no doubt she was more of a control freak than ever.

      Cassie glanced at the field and reacted with amazement when she saw that Lauren was on second base. “Lauren got a hit?”

      “No,” Karen said, chuckling. “The pitcher got so flustered when she started moving her hips up at the plate, he walked her. She stole second when the catcher got distracted by her moves down at first. I think she’s going to be our secret weapon to win this game.”

      “Men are so predictable,” Cassie noted.

      “Even Cole? I thought he’d always kept you guessing.”

      “Unfortunately, he’s the exception.” She sighed. “I could really do without an exception in my life right now.”

      “My advice? Go with the flow. Let the man make up for lost time if he wants to.”

      “And then what? Wait for the fireworks when he discovers I’ve spent the past nine years keeping him from his son? I don’t think so. Besides, he’s offered to help with my mother’s medical expenses. She’ll probably pitch a fit, but I don’t see that we have any other choice. I can’t risk having him change his mind.”

      “He would never renege on that commitment, and you know it.”

      Cassie glanced across the field and spotted Cole. He’d taken his place at second base, but he was actually ignoring the Hollywood superstar who was standing on it.

      “He’s really oblivious to Lauren, isn’t he?” she said to Karen, feeling ridiculously pleased.

      “Because there’s only one of us he’s ever had eyes for. That’s you, honey. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the possibility of getting back together with him.” Her gaze narrowed. “Unless you don’t love him anymore. Is that it? Have you stopped loving Cole?”

      “Honestly?”

      “Of course.”

      She did a little soul-searching, then thought of the kiss they’d just shared and almost touched a finger to her lips. “I don’t know what I feel anymore.”

      “Then keep an open mind and find out.”

      “Hey, Karen, do you intend to bat anytime today?” Emma called out impatiently. She tapped a pen against the hastily scrawled lineup on her legal pad.

      “She brought a legal pad with her to a picnic?” Cassie murmured.

      “Oh, yes,” Karen replied. “And her cell phone. And her day planner. I think there’s an entire set of law books in the trunk of her car.”

      Cassie gazed at Emma with dismay. “Sweet heaven, the woman’s going to have a heart attack before she hits thirty.”

      “I’ve mentioned that. I’ve also reminded her that she has a little girl to think about.” Karen shrugged. “She stares at me as if I’m speaking Swahili.”

      “Karen!” Emma’s tone was sharp.

      “Coming!” She winked at Cassie. “If I don’t get a hit, I’m dead meat.”

      “Yes, I can see that. I think I’ll go find myself a nice shady spot and rest. All this fun you’re supposedly having sounds a little too stressful for me. I can’t be around Emma when she gets that manic, winner-take-all glint in her eyes.”

      She cast a last, lingering look at Cole, but he was busy taunting Karen, trying to distract her just as the pitcher threw the ball. Cassie laughed when Karen slammed the ball in a little blooper that sailed right past him and dropped into center field. Karen reached first base, turned to Cole and stuck out her tongue.

      “Way to go,” Cassie shouted, then wandered off in search of shade and a little peace and quiet to recover from the traumatic news she’d received the night before. She doubted she would actually sleep, but even a few minutes alone sounded good.

      Unfortunately, it seemed as if she’d barely closed her eyes and taken a deep, relaxing breath, when noise erupted from the ball field and everyone began trailing back in search of drinks and food.

      “Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” Cole said, dropping down beside her.

      “I wasn’t asleep.”

      “Oh, really?” he said, his expression amused. “How many innings of ball have we played since you took off?”

      Cassie glanced toward Karen, but there was no help there. She was feeding plump strawberries to her husband. “I wasn’t paying attention,” she finally conceded.

      “Five,” he said. “And you slept through every one of them. You missed my home run and Emma’s tantrum when Mimi Frances failed to touch third base and was declared out.”

      If she had slept, it hadn’t done any good. She certainly didn’t feel rested. “Who won?”

      “The women, of course,” Lauren said haughtily, sitting down beside Cole.

      “Only because you used that body of yours shamelessly to distract us,” Caleb accused.

      “You’re married. You’re not supposed to be looking at Lauren’s body,” Karen chided, but there was amusement dancing in her eyes.

      “A man would have to be dead not to notice the way she was wiggling around,” he retorted.

      Lauren feigned innocence. “I did nothing of the kind. I just took my turn at bat like everyone else.”

      “I haven’t seen hips move that much since Marilyn Monroe strutted across a screen,” one of the other men said.

      “Are you complaining?” Gina inquired. “Seemed to me like you were all but drooling.”

      “I was not,” he protested.

      Cole leaned down and whispered in Cassie’s ear, “I have no idea what all the fuss was about.”

      She risked meeting his gaze and saw the twinkle in his eyes that was at odds with his pious expression. “Oh, really?”

      “I only have eyes for one woman here,” he insisted.

      “Oh? And who would that be?”

      “You.”

      A shiver washed over her, despite herself. “Cole, don’t.”

      “I just want you to know where I’m coming from.” His expression sobered. “There’s unfinished business between us, Cassie. You know there is. I think it’s about time we dealt with it.”

      “I can’t think about that now. I can’t think about you,” she said fiercely, scrambling to her feet.

      “Where are you going?”

      “For a walk.”

      “I’ll come with you.”

      “No,” she said, her scowl keeping him in place.

      “I’ll still be here when you get back,” he

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