Catching His Heart (Love And Baseball Book 1) Read online

  I watched him until his taillights disappeared. I sighed and put my hand over my heart before going back inside. Kami was sprawled out on the couch, so I sat down on the floor in front of her. She started running her hands through my short curly hair; paying specific attention to scratching my scalp with her nails. I closed my eyes and leaned back.

  We talked about random things for a while until she finally got around to talking about what she really wanted to know. We started talking about how everything went down between me and Carson. Finally, a hush came over the room and I turned to look at her. She had something she really wanted to ask.

  “So, what does it feel like to be getting everything you have ever wanted,” she asked as she grinned.

  “I don’t know that I’m getting everything I want right away, but there’s at least the possibility to get it.

  She leaned forward and kissed my cheek before smirking. “So, what’s it feel like to kiss one of the hottest guys in school?”

  “Like nothing I’ve ever felt before,” I said with a huge grin.

  After a little bit we got up and decided to go to sleep early since we had class tomorrow. After we changed into comfy clothes she crawled into bed with me and we proceeded to talk until she was almost asleep. Before she fell asleep though she turned to lay on her side and stared at me.

  “You look happy,” she said sleepily.

  “I really am Kami,” I said.

  She snuggled down into her pillow and proceeded to fall asleep. An hour later my phone dinged with a text, so I got up and walked out of my room to go sit on the front porch. I immediately knew it could only be one person as I opened the text from Carson.

  Made it home firefly.

  I see you. Kami just fell asleep.

  Cool. I’m coming over, he texted back immediately.

  I heard his footsteps as I put my phone down. I couldn’t help the smile that had broken out across my face. I looked up and he was smiling, but he hadn’t walked up the porch steps. I immediately knew what I wanted to do, so I got up and stood on the top step, staring at him.

  “Did you miss me,” I asked with a grin.

  “So much! I actually wanted to tell you something,” he said seriously.

  Before he could get his words out I launched myself into his arms. He laughed and caught me. His lips found mine before he put me down. He ran his hands through my hair as the look on his face turned serious.

  “Seriously babe, listen. You were right to worry when I was leaving. I almost got in a wreck, and I would have if I hadn’t been driving more cautiously because of you. I was driving slower than usual, and this drunk guy flew past me, and then tried to get over, but the person in front of me wasn’t going fast enough to avoid the drunk. He got hit, and I had been far enough back to avoid hitting him after he got hit. You kept me safe babe,” he said as he held me close.

  Chapter 3

  After hearing that he could have been hurt, my chest tightened. My arms tightened around him before I let him go to look him over. I know he said he was okay, but I needed to see it for myself. He took a step back and held his arms out, letting me look and touch until I was sure he was okay.

  When I was satisfied I laid my head against his chest and just held him tight. In that moment it hit me, he could have gotten hurt or I could have lost him. I felt myself start to shake, and before I knew it I was crying. I was so emotional today, and this wasn’t helping.

  “Hey, shhhhh. Sweetheart, I’m okay, I promise,” he said as he stroked my hair.

  “I know, but you could have gotten hurt. I could have lost you Carson. Do you realize that you could have gotten seriously hurt? What’s even worse is you could have died and I would have never gotten to see you again,” I practically sobbed.

  He didn’t waste any time trying to tell me that it was okay, he just picked me up bridal style before putting me on the tailgate of his truck. He stepped between my legs and held my face in his hands. I tried to look away, but he was having none of it.

  “Hey, you listen to me Alara Jane. I’m not going anywhere. You aren’t going to lose me. I could never leave you here without me. Besides, I can’t die yet, I haven’t gotten my date,” he said with a smile.

  That got a laugh out of me. Somehow, he always knew what to do to make me feel better. I looked up and realized that we were alone, and I wanted to tell him that I love him so badly. I opened my mouth to do just that, but then his mom turned on their porch light and stepped out.

  I internally cursed her poor timing, but on the outside, I wiped my tears away and smiled at her. She narrowed her eyes at her son and walked over to me. She pushed him out of the way and took me into her arms. I burrowed into her before she pulled away.

  “What the heck did you do Carson,” she asked angrily.

  In that moment, I realized how much I loved his mom. I busted out laughing when Carson’s face fell, looking appropriately chastised. I hugged her tight and smiled. It was good to know she was on my side.

  “This idiot went and did what I told him to. He was careful,” I said when she looked back at me.

  “Okay, I sense a story, start talking,” she said with a sigh.

  “Okay, so I had this bad feeling earlier when he went to drive Reed back to his car. I told him he needed to be careful and he promised he would.”

  “Yeah, and because I listened to her I was careful and avoided getting in an accident. A drunk driver hit the guy in front of me. The guy was fine, a little banged up, but overall okay. That easily could have been me and it could have been so much worse. Mom she kept me safe,” he said with a grin.

  I looked at her and saw that she was feeling the same things I felt. We could have lost him, and that thought terrifies us both. She squeezed me as tight as she could when she started to cry.

  “I know, we could have lost him,” I said quietly.

  “Oh mom, come here,” he said as he pried her off of me.

  She squeezed him even tighter and I saw nothing but love in his eyes as he held her. I smiled and closed my eyes to capture the way he looked right then. I knew that if I could ever get him to look at me that way then I could die happy.

  When his mom calmed down she turned back and looked at me. “Thank you. You kept my kid safe, and that is all I could ever ask for.” She came back and wrapped her arms around me. I leaned into her ear and whispered, “You know I always will, I love him after all.” She leaned out and nodded, smiling like crazy. I looked up at Carson and he had a glorious smile on his face. He winked at me and, as usual, I blushed.

  “On a happier note, guess who has a date tomorrow mom!”

  “Oh really? Tell me about this girl,” she said as she narrowed her eyes.

  “She’s super smart. She’s studying to be a therapist. She’s also funny and she’s beautiful.”

  “How’d you two meet,” she asked suspiciously.

  “We’ve known each other forever mom and you just so happen to love her.”

  She raised her eyebrow and he grinned. “Well I mean you are hugging her right now, and you’re looking at me like you are going to kill me for going on a date with someone besides her, so I’m assuming there is some love going on.”

  Her eyes flew to me and I smiled and nodded while my blush became a deeper shade of red. She screams out the word “finally” before letting me go and tackling him. He was laughing, but his eyes were serious as he looked at me. When she let him go he held out his hand for me and I gladly took it. He pulled me close and kissed me right there in front of his mom.

  “Have I told you how happy I am that you said yes,” he said with a grin.

  I couldn’t stop the insane blush that took over. I shook my head and he cupped my cheek. He kissed me again, this time softly and slowly.

  “I’m so glad you said yes sweetheart, and I’m gonna prove to you that this is a good idea,” he said as he pulled away.

  His mom was crying again, but this time they were tears of joy. I couldn’t focus on anyth
ing except that she looked like everything in the world had gone right all at once, leaving her awed and overjoyed. All the sounds and smells had drifted away, leaving just us three in that perfect moment. “It sure did take y’all long enough! I’ve been waiting for this moment for years,” she said happily.

  Carson laughed and I smiled. I kissed his cheek and hopped down off the tailgate. His arms immediately wrapped around me, keeping me from leaving. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet and I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t want to go any more than he wanted to let me.

  “I should go,” I said as the sadness of leaving him hit.

  “How about you don’t. How about you stay right here with me,” he said hopefully.

  “I would if I could, but we’ve both got class in the morning and we need some sleep,” I said before laying my head on his chest.

  He kissed the top of my head and I pulled away. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he squeezed me tight. After that I waved goodbye to his mom and turned to go. He grabbed my hand before I could get away and pulled me to him for a heart stopping goodnight kiss.

  “I’ll see you in class in the morning,” he promised before letting me go.

  He was pouting before I turned away, and I felt like I was on cloud nine. “Try not to miss me too much,” I called over my shoulder.

  “Too late, I already miss you,” he said with a laugh.

  I laughed too and walked up my porch steps and right into my house. It was still quiet, so I figured Kami was still asleep. If she wasn’t she would be down here asking me a million questions. I walked upstairs, smiling when I saw my best friend curled up and heard her talking in her sleep. I crawled into bed beside her and nearly laughed when she rolled over with her back to me and pressed against me. I draped my arm over her hip and she snuggled closer and whispered Reed’s name.

  I smiled to myself. I knew she really liked him now, the question is; will she be enough to get him to stick to one girl? I used my other hand to smooth her hair away from her face. She hated when her hair was in her face while she sleeps. She says it gives her weird dreams about being trapped in a tall field of grass and then getting out only to end up in a cornfield getting chased by a serial killer. Yeah, go figure, my best friend is weird.

  I woke up the next morning excited to get through the day. I know that I was the one who thought this date thing was a bad idea but that didn’t stop me from being excited to be getting something I have always wanted. I stretched, checked the clock (It was 10:00), and realized my bed was empty. I heard clanging from downstairs, so I got up, and found Kami making pancakes.

  I kissed her cheek before putting on a pot of coffee. When the kitchen smelled like pancakes and coffee she moaned and took the coffee I offered her. She split the pancakes onto two plates, putting them on the table.

  “You are the best wife ever,” she said with a smile.

  “No, you are,” I said with a wink.

  We ate in companionable silence, only commenting on what our schedules looked like for this week. After we finished I walked her to the door and waved goodbye, promising to see her soon. I walked upstairs and went straight to my room to get dressed but before I could I noticed Kami had opened my blinds.

  For the first time, I could really appreciate where my window was located. My window was right across from a certain hot guy’s. As I went to close my blinds I saw Carson getting out of bed in only his boxers. My mouth went dry and all I could do was stare. God, he looked fantastic without a shirt on!

  I managed to tear my eyes away and close the blinds before he could look out his window and see me gawking. God, I was going to dream about how good he looks for the rest of my life. I checked the clock and swore. I was going to be late if I didn’t get dressed right now. I slipped into my favorite pair of white skinny jeans (which make my butt look fantastic), a strapless bra, and a black tank top. I turned on my computer and played Red High Heels by Kellie Pickler while I looked for my red heels (my one weakness!). Okay, yes, I’m not girly, but I have a love for shoes. These heels just so happened to be my favorite shoes.

  I finally found my heels under my bed and I slipped into them. I always felt so amazing in this outfit and I knew I would wow Carson. I looked in the mirror before smiling and grabbing my bag which already packed for today. I grabbed Carson’s jacket because there was no doubt that I’d be cold in at least one of my classes. I ran down the stairs, grabbed my keys, rushed out the door, and quickly locked up. I hopped in my car and sped to campus. I was just barely going to make it. I luckily found a parking spot right by the building my first class was in, so I got out and ran inside, making it with only one minute to spare.

  I flopped down next to Kami who had saved me a seat like a good best friend. She looked me up and down before grinning. She knew I had dressed up for Carson. Of course, being the amazing friend she is, Kami commented on how awesome I looked.

  “Honey, you look all types of fierce today. That boy isn’t going to know what hit him,” she said with a laugh.

  “That’s the plan,” I said with my own laugh.

  I pulled out a notebook to take notes on whatever we were learning today. I hated English, so I usually zoned out during this class. Don’t get me wrong, I try to pay attention, I really do, but at some point I just zone out. My brain is hardwired for science, not English. Kami on the other hand loves English. She’s doing so well in this class and her being in there with me is probably the only reason I’m not failing it.

  It took me all of fifteen minutes to zone out today, so an hour later Kami shook my shoulder and brought me back to the world. I blinked and looked up at her. She shook her head with a laugh and led me out. She had class in an hour, but I only had 30 minutes until my next class, so she walked with me across campus to my next class. I was excited, because Carson was in my next class.

  When we were almost to the room I took off Carson’s jacket and fluffed up my curly hair. Kami looked me over and gave her stamp of approval, indicated with a double thumb-up and a wink. When we got to the room I saw Carson standing outside waiting for me. He took a step towards me, and I wanted to launch myself into his arms, so I handed Kami my bag. We moved towards each other with an intense type of need: the need to be wrapped around each other.

  I jumped up and he caught me, spinning me around. He put me down and looked at me. He seemed to be having trouble with his words, so I kissed him to fill the silence. My kiss seemed to unlock his words because he held me away from him and smiled. His eyes went to my shoes, the clear starting point for the journey his eyes were about to make.

  “I love when you wear those heels,” he groaned.

  “Oh really,” I said with a grin.

  He took in the rest of my outfit and sucked in a breath. “God you’re so freaking gorgeous Alara,” he said as he pulled me to him by my belt loops. “That’s gonna make this so much harder,” he groaned.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “It turns out we have an away game today. We won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

  “Which means we have to postpone our date,” I said glumly.

  “I know, I’m sorry baby. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  “You better,” I mumbled.

  I really hated baseball in that moment. I just wanted one night with the guy of my dreams, is that so wrong? I wanted our date to be perfect because I never thought that it would happen, and it seemed like baseball was trying to step in and take that away. I knew my eyes had to be giving away all of my disappointment and sadness, because he sighed and looked at the ground. He hated disappointing me, and it seemed like it was physically hurting him to make me unhappy.

  He wrapped a hand in my hair and pulled me closer for one of his heart stopping kisses. We both pulled away, panting. It took us a second, but after we caught our breath we leaned back in for more, only to be brought back to reality by the sound of Kami’s voice.

  “I’m so sorry,” he breathed against my lips, sincerity fil
ling his eyes.

  I could tell he hated the situation as much as I did. He just wanted our night, because he never thought it would happen either. He carefully untangled his fingers from my hair and rubbed his thumb over my cheek. I loved when he would do that because it made me feel so cherished and special.

  “Guys, you have to go to class,” Kami said with a giggle.

  Carson sighed and took my bag from Kami. He took one last look at me before holding his jacket out for me to slip in to. I didn’t put it on right away, instead, I stared at him. I didn’t plan to put it on I just wanted to drive him crazy for a little while.

  I walked into the classroom he followed closely behind. One of the guys from Carson’s baseball team saw me and waved before his mouth dropped open. After a second he whistled and I laughed. Carson turned me around and held out the jacket again.

  “Oh, come on firefly. Please, for me,” he begged.

  I could never say no to him when he begged. I waited a few more seconds before I agreed because he had to suffer a little bit. He let out a relieved breath and I could tell he was truly happy. He was acting like he was jealous but there was no way that was the case. I mean, didn’t he know that no one else compared to him in my eyes?