Pitch Please (There's No Crying in Baseball 1)

He was my favorite player in the league and I read every single article about him that came out. Surely, if his brother was in the military, that would be something flagged front and center in the news.

“His brother is friends with my husband,” she smiled. “He’s proud of Hancock.”

Now that didn’t surprise me. I was proud of Hancock, too. He’d come a long way in the six years he’d been playing professional baseball.

When he’d first entered the major leagues from the minors, it had been with a Texas-sized chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

It’d taken him three games to prove it, and he’d gone from the backup catcher to the starting catcher in that short amount of time.

Unfortunately, it was his inability to control his temper when it came to trash-talking the opposing team’s players that made it difficult for him to hang on to the position.

Until suddenly, one day, he wasn’t acting on his temper anymore.

That wasn’t to say that he still didn’t get into fights every once in a while. But that was completely normal for any player.

Then there was Crouse, the catcher for the Las Vegas Vikings.

He was the one man who could get under Hancock’s skin every single time they played, and this game was just the beginning of the series.

“I’m sure Hancock is pretty proud of his brother,” I offered.

“I am.”

My belly flipped, and I turned to look over my left shoulder.

“Uhhh,” I hesitated, finding Hancock standing there in jeans and a white t-shirt.

Hancock grinned. “I don’t mind that you know about my brother, but I’d appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. We try to keep the fact that I’m hot shit private so the bad guys don’t think to use him for ransom in case he gets captured or something.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You’re serious?” I asked in alarm.

He nodded his head.

Then a thought occurred to me.

“Is that why you don’t take pictures?” I whispered.

Except the whisper came out just as loud as my normal voice, causing Hancock, as well as Ember, to start laughing at me.

“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t like pictures because I don’t like pictures.”

“Oh,” I leaned back in my chair, then suddenly jumped up. “Are you okay?”

He held up his hand.

“Sit back down,” he ordered me.

I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m not hurt. Nor do I need your services.”

Ember snickered at my side, and I shot a glare in her direction.

She held her hands up in acquiescence. “Sorry, sorry.”

Hancock’s eyes went to her.

“And you are?” he drawled.

I was just about to retake my seat when I jumped back up, grabbing a hold of Hancock’s hand and dragging him to stand in front of Ember.

“Ember,” I dropped his hand. “This is Hancock Peters. Hancock, this is my good friend, Ember. She and I attended college together.”

Hancock offered his hand, and I had the irrational urge to slap Ember’s hand away, even though she was married to a very sexy exotic-looking man named Gabe. Happily married with two kids.

Get control of yourself, Sway!

Ember took his hand for only the barest of seconds, and then looked back at me.

“I’ve heard a lot about you over the last couple of weeks,” she smiled. “You know you’re Sway’s fav…”

I interrupted my good friend before she could decide to spill the beans. It wouldn’t do to give the man a bigger head than he already had.

“Then why are you in my office, Hancock?” I blurted.

He looked from me to Ember, and then back to me, before he smiled and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he mumbled. “Just wanted to see if you’d go to breakfast with me.”

“I’m leaving!” Ember exclaimed quickly.

Too quickly.

It was more than obvious that she hadn’t originally planned on leaving.

In fact, she’d stopped to get donuts to bring with her.

Donuts that I was trying really, really hard not to shove into my mouth.

Hancock’s gaze went to the untouched donuts on my desk, then moved to Ember. He grinned widely.

“You said your husband knows my brother?” he asked.

She nodded emphatically.

“He does.”

If I didn’t know better, I would say that Ember was a little starstruck.

“I’d love to meet him some time. Does he come to games?” he asked.

Ember’s eyes widened. “Every once in a while.”

He smiled. “I’ll drop two tickets at the gate for you. I’d love to meet him.”

Ember started to nod somewhat frantically.

“I think he’d like that,” she gushed.

I rolled my eyes, and nearly laughed when she rushed to gather her things.

“I’ll see you tonight for the party?” Ember asked hopefully.

I looked over at Hancock, then back to Ember.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll be there once the game is over.”

Ember was backing out of the room when she suddenly stopped.

“If you’d like to bring Hancock, that’d be super,” she whispered to me just before she left the room completely. “Good luck tonight!”

***

Once we arrived at Waffle House of all places, Hancock went back to the interrogation.