the inning. Then he struggled again in the sixth inning.
“Is he tipping his pitches?” Coach Schultz asked me sarcastically.
“Not that I can see,” I replied in an emotionless voice.
Coach Schultz grunted as if he had made a point.
Later that night I sat in bed in my hotel room, reviewing the game footage. It was nice being able to confirm what I had seen with my naked eyes, as well as notice new things that I couldn’t see from the dugout during the game. Soon I had three pages full of notes to give Coach Schultz and was beginning to fill a fourth.
Then a knock came at my door.
“Rafa?” I asked when I opened it. The pitcher stood in the hallway, looking like a nervous guy picking up his prom date. He was wearing the same clothes as when we had worked together today, and he smelled like the ballpark—fresh grass and sweat.
“Hey Natalie. Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything…”
“No. Not at all.”
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve got a big delivery of wings coming in ten minutes. You want some? It’s better than the hotel food, and you probably don’t know anyone else here. This way you wouldn’t be eating alone.”
“You don’t have to take pity on me,” I said carefully.
He shrugged his massive deltoid muscles. “Not a big deal. Just offering.”
I watched him walk down the hallway and disappear into his room.
After being at the ballpark for most of the day, it was nice to sit alone in my hotel room and decompress. Some peaceful silence after the chaos of spring training. Then again, the invitation probably entailed more than just food. There was an implicit question there. Come back to my hotel room so we can fuck.
And that intrigued me. I still couldn’t stop thinking about last night. The way he had fucked me from behind, gripping my waist with the same hands that threw a baseball ninety-seven miles per hour…
I quickly changed out of the sweatpants I had been wearing and shimmied into my best pair of jeans. The ones that made my ass really pop. I spent a few minutes teasing my hair until I gave up and pulled it back into a ponytail, then touched up my makeup. Just enough to accentuate my best features.
After exactly eleven minutes—I didn’t want to seem too eager—I went down the hall and knocked on the door. But instead of Rafael, it was the tattooed slugger Darryl who opened the door.
“Huh,” he grunted when he saw me. “You come to criticize my boy’s pitching again?”
I froze. Did I have the wrong room?
“Chill out, I invited her,” Rafael called from inside.
Darryl made a face, then stepped aside to let me enter. The room smelled like buffalo wings and beer, which I had to admit sounded much better than the four pre-chosen items I was allowed to order from the restaurant downstairs. Rafael was sitting at the hotel room table, and the blond boy-next-door Joel was on the bed with his legs stretched out.
So much for a sexy night together, I thought.
“Hey, Natalie,” Rafael said. “Glad you came.”
“Are you sure I’m not intruding on guy’s night or something? I can easily get dinner downstairs…”
“Hell no. We’ve got a shitload of wings,” he answered. “Plus, we eat together pretty much every night.”
I took a seat next to Rafael at the table. Darryl sat on the edge of the bed and picked up his plate while watching me.
“We don’t have any boneless wings or chicken tenders,” he warned. “So if you’re afraid of getting your fingers messy…”
I took a wing from the big aluminum tray and immediately bit in, not caring that I smeared buffalo sauce on my lips. I felt all three eyes on me as I chowed down.
“What?” I asked. “I grew up on wings.”
Joel chuckled and shook his head.
“Natalie was right about my pitching motion,” Rafael said while we ate. “I was tipping my pitches. That’s why I got shelled yesterday.”
Darryl shrugged.
“Sorry if I was all skeptical yesterday,” Joel said. “Didn’t mean no disrespect. It’s just that pitching coaches are always old men, like Coach Schultz. They’re never so young, and…”
“They usually don’t have boobs?” I finished.
“I dunno about that,” Joel grinned. “Coach Schultz has some man-boobs. What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry if I wasn’t exactly welcoming.”
I put down the bones from a finished wing and picked up another. The sauce was tangy and full of flavor. “It’s alright to be skeptical. I would be