She lifted a shoulder.

“Which you don’t agree with,” he guessed. “Because you’ve managed to avoid such hurt.”

“Not entirely,” she reminded him.

“Right. Asshole Alex.”

She choked out a laugh but fell silent.

“And if you were pregnant,” he said after a long moment. “I’d want to know.”

She looked at him. “Why?”

“Why?” He stared at her, stymied by the question, which he thought was obvious. “Because you shouldn’t do it alone.”

Her eyes chilled. “I could handle it. I can handle anything.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Jesus.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I just meant . . .” What, genius? You’d meant what? “That no one should have to do it alone.”

She was running the grass through with her fingers, ignoring him, and he sighed. “There’s one more thing.”

“What?” Her voice was frosty as she lifted her gaze to his.

“I’d want to know,” he said quietly. “Okay? I’d want to . . .”

“Run like hell?”

“Hey, give me a break here. New territory.”

“Certainly.” She rose to her feet, brushed off her hands, then cupped them around her mouth. “You guys about done? I’m springing for ice cream.”

“Holly—”

She didn’t hear him over the cheers. That, or she ignored him, which was more likely. Pace just looked at her, the woman who could do anything she wanted all by her damn self, and wondered how the hell it was that when he was with her, he sort of wished she needed him, just a little.

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire’s eye or on the ball.

—Jim Murray

Pace slept like crap and woke up before dawn, wishing he could skip the next few hours.

Surgery day.

To give himself a few quiet moments before facing that, he read Holly’s latest blog entry. She’d written about the players’ support teams—the wives, girlfriends, and significant others—and the pressures these people faced alongside their famous mates. She’d written about how those pressures led players to do things to keep up with other players that they normally wouldn’t do.

Things like steroids and stimulants.