It almost made her smile. Almost made her want to slide up her phone and type back the words I’m sorry, too …
Almost.
But she put the phone down.
Placed her hands behind her head and stretched.
Darrell had missed his chance. She’d call him in the morning and tell him all about it.
Then she’d call Leroy and ask him over for breakfast.
And maybe, if she chose to, they would do it all over again.
The Night Game
Patt Mihailoff
It was a summer day that started off brutally hot and extended into a steamy, irritating afternoon that ended in a white-hot night.
Jaleel, or Jai as he liked to be called, watched Nyrah Manning with annoyance as she moved her sometimes jiggly, sometimes not, body around the dugout—talking to, but most often yelling at, a youngster preparing to go out onto the field. If he was to go for a heavy-breasted sort of woman, his tastes leaned more in the line of Star Jones after the surgery.
Jaleel wasn’t happy that, in the interest of political correctness, Nyrah had been chosen as the assistant coach of the Haverford Middle League alongside him. They were always butting heads about who had the best strategy on the game or what position a certain kid should or should not play. Now the team was vying for the state championship, and he did not want to hear anything from this mouthy bitch.
It was the third inning and the bases were loaded. Jai whistled and called out encouragement to his team, noticing that Nyrah glared back at him as though he was disturbing their brooding concentration.
A loud pop sent the ball flying through the air. Everyone was cheering as the fleet-footed youngster ran around the bases. Jai had been watching a series of approaching clouds and hoped that any rain would hold off until the game was over. No such luck! A large, angry, gray cloud rushed in and let go a downpour so swift and so hard that they all grabbed as much gear as they could and ran for cover under the dugout.
With two teams and a bevy of sideliners who hadn’t made it to their cars huddled in, everyone was scrunched together in soaked clothing, pushing back as even more teammates and parents rushed in.
Jai found himself right behind Nyrah and raised his eyes upward with exasperation. He hoped she wouldn’t turn and begin castigating him, in front of everyone, about what she thought proper Little League protocol was. Bitch! he thought unkindly.
Nyrah chastised two boys who were trying to shove each other out into the downpour.
“Stop it, you knuckleheads!” she said, leaning forward to tap them both on the shoulder.
Her ample backside rubbed ever so slightly against Jai’s middle and he tried to move back, but there was nowhere to go because he was already flat against the back wall.
“I said, stop it right now!” she yelled.
But the boys continued laughing and shoving each other and, when she leaned over farther to try to separate them, her plump ass rubbed right into Jai’s crotch.
Shit! he thought and willed himself not to have an erection. He kept thinking that even if it did happen, it would have less to do with her, and more with his need for the sex he wasn’t getting lately. Think about something else! Worms, dogs, ice cream. It wasn’t working. Worms were long and squiggly, dogs were in heat, and ice cream was thick and creamy just like …
He shook his head to clear it of the sexual comparisons and tried to think of less tempting things. But that ol’ sex goddess tramp, Venus, was in a teasing mood and his dick leapt to full and solid attention. He didn’t move but his cock twitched like it was palsied against the softness of her ass cheeks. As much as he didn’t care for the brassy woman, he had to admit this didn’t feel half-bad. He saw her stand up ramrod straight, but she didn’t turn around. He could only imagine the shock that must have been on her face. After all, they really didn’t like each other and their only interaction had been arguing over something that happened during the games.
The fickle California rain slowed to a drizzle and everyone began leaving the dugout, hurrying to their cars before it started again.
He couldn’t imagine why, but he was a little put off that Nyrah hadn’t looked back, even to give him her best bitch-witch glare. She left the dugout area screaming at her two boys who were horsing around on the muddied field to get their gear and move it!
• • •
Alone in the emptied dugout Jai shook his leg and clenched his fist to try to alleviate the ache in his almost pained, rock-hard balls, hoping the thought of what a total bitch Nyrah was would help to ease his raging hard-on.
Slowly and thankfully, it began to ebb. Good! Because I don’t want her—or anyone like her. He preferred the elusive, faceless cyber partner he chatted with who could make him come with the mere sound of her voice during their secret bouts of phone sex and exchanges of titillating emails.
He looked up in time to see Nyrah collect her kids and hurry to her van. The shapeless blouse she wore was now soaked from the rain, clinging haphazardly, and he could have sworn he glimpsed her large, dark nipples pouting through it. Again, his dick betrayed him. “Will you behave,” he murmured, looking down at it.
• • •