boys,” Jason said with a wide smile.
They stopped abruptly when they noticed Charlotte and Carrie, their eyes huge and questioning. Suspicious.
“These are my friends, Charlotte and Carrie,” Jason said, motioning toward them.
“They’re girls,” one of the pair muttered.
“I noticed that myself,” a tall, athletic man said as he strode toward them. He was wearing the same uniform as Jason. Charlotte didn’t need an introduction to know this was his brother.
“This is Paul, my oldest brother,” Jason said, tucking a couple of baseball bats under his arm, along with his mitt. The task appeared to demand a great deal of attention.
In the next five minutes, Charlotte was introduced to Leah, Paul’s wife, who was five months pregnant and chasing after a toddler named Kelsey. Jason’s younger brother, Rich, his wife, Jamie, and their two children, Bethany and Jeremy, arrived shortly afterward, and there was another series of introductions.
Charlotte’s head was spinning with all the names and faces. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Openly curious, too. Carrie, who loved children, was delighted when Rich’s daughter wanted to sit in the bleachers with her.
The men were on the diamond warming up when Jamie sat next to Charlotte. Leah joined them, sitting on her other side. Charlotte smiled from one to the other. Their curiosity was almost visible. As the silence lengthened Charlotte frantically sorted through a number of possible topics, but try as she might, the most inventive thing she could think of was the weather.
Oh, what the heck, she decided. “I imagine you’re curious about me,” she said. After the morning she’d had, she wasn’t up to a game of Twenty Questions.
“We didn’t mean to be so blatant about it,” Leah, the shorter of the two, murmured. She had one of the nicest smiles Charlotte had ever seen.
“You weren’t,” Charlotte lied.
“Yes, we were,” Jamie said with a laugh. “We can’t help it.”
“Ask away,” Charlotte invited.
“How long have you known Jason?” Rich’s wife asked without hesitation.
Charlotte found Jamie Manning to be a study in contrasts. Rich, Jamie’s husband, was probably one of the best-looking men she’d ever seen. Definitely GQ material. Yet, at first glance, his wife seemed rather plain. Charlotte soon learned how misleading first impressions could be. Five minutes with Jamie, and Charlotte was awed by her radiance. She had an inner glow that touched those around her.
“I met Jason about a year ago,” Charlotte answered, when she realized both women were staring at her, waiting for her response. “My daughter and I live in one of his apartments.”
“A year,” Jamie repeated, leaning forward so she could exchange a wide-eyed look with Leah. “Did you hear that? He’s known her a whole year.”
Charlotte felt she should explain further. “Actually, I met him a year ago, but we’ve only recently started to, uh, know each other.”
“I see.” Once again it was Leah who spoke, wearing a subtle smile as though she was amused and trying to disguise it.
“You’ll have to forgive us for acting so surprised, but Jason doesn’t usually bring anyone with him on Saturdays,” Leah elaborated.
“Or any other day for that matter,” Jamie added.
“So I understand. I … I take it he doesn’t date often?” Charlotte asked. In some ways she was hoping they’d tell her he went through women like water. But in her heart she knew it wasn’t true. If anything, it was just the opposite. Charlotte didn’t want to hear that, either, didn’t want to know she was special, because it made everything so much more difficult.
“Let’s put it this way,” Jamie answered, crossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees. “We’ve been coming out here for what, two, three summers now, and this is the first time Jason’s ever brought a woman.”
Charlotte drew in a slow, deep breath.
“I don’t remember Jason bringing a woman to any family function, ever,” Leah said, looking positively delighted. Her eyes sparkled. “I’d say it was about time, wouldn’t you, Jamie?”
“About time, indeed,” Leah’s sister-in-law said with a grin.
From his position on the diamond, Jason could see his two sisters-in-law on either side of Charlotte. No doubt they were pumping her for information, wanting to know every minute detail of their relationship. The distance was too great for him to be able to read Charlotte’s expression.
If he had half a brain, he would’ve realized what he was doing before he invited her to join him. Why had he asked Charlotte to this game? Clearly he needed his head examined. Only an idiot would thrust a lamb like Charlotte into a pack of hounds without warning.
He’d told her his family would probably be curious about her, but he’d said it casually in the parking lot after they’d arrived. It wasn’t like he’d given her much advance warning.
His family was far too nosy. By the end of the afternoon, Charlotte would be so sick of answering questions, she’d never want to go out with him again.
He pitched the ball to Paul with enough force to make his oldest brother remove his mitt, shake his hand and cast Jason an odd look.
Jason was angry. But it wasn’t the way Leah and Jamie had surrounded Charlotte that had set him off. He’d had no business inviting Charlotte and Carrie to this game. For one thing, they were playing the league leaders and likely to be soundly defeated. If he was going to ask someone to come and watch him play ball, it should be against a team that’d make him look good, not like a bunch of fools. The outcome could prove to be downright embarrassing.
Not only were they likely to get their butts kicked, but Charlotte was going to spend the entire time being interrogated. First by Jamie and Leah, and then, when the game was over, by his brothers. They wouldn’t be subtle about it, either. The first woman he’d cared about in years was going to come away thinking his family had been trained by the CIA.
Even now, Jason wasn’t sure what had prompted him to ask Charlotte to come. But he certainly remembered the night he’d done it….
They’d been sitting in the car outside the apartment the night of Higgins’s surgery. She’d been shaken by the accident, struggling to hide how much. He had known when he dropped her off that he was going to kiss her again. She’d known it, too. His lips had brushed hers. Lightly. Briefly. He had sensed she was still frightened—of him? Of their mutual passion? Of her own desires? Until she was at ease with him, he was content to proceed slowly. He’d never indulged in any kisses more sensual or seductive than those he’d shared with Charlotte.
He could tell she was a novice when it came to lovemaking. That surprised him because she’d been married. He’d never asked about her ex-husband, preferring to wait until she was comfortable enough to talk about it on her own. But from what Carrie had told him the day she’d come to his office, the marriage had been short and disastrous.
Jason was convinced Charlotte hadn’t realized how much he enjoyed their kissing sessions. How much holding her satisfied him. How she left him feeling dizzy with need.
The same magic that had made him kiss her that night had encouraged him to risk inviting her to the ball game. Only now did he understand what he’d done. He’d dragged Charlotte into an impossible situation. Carrie, too. He was glad they were with him, but he wished he’d thought of some other way of introducing Charlotte and her daughter to his family. Some other time, when he’d be at her side to ward off their curiosity.
“Jase!” Rich’s voice shot past his ear two seconds after a ball nearly creamed the side of his head.
Stunned, Jason took two steps backward.
“What’s