Page 1 of Home Run

ONE

MILLIE

I don’t knowit yet, but today is the day I get pregnant.

It stands to reason, seeing as the last twenty-four hours had absolutely sucked, that I was standing outside Grand Central Station in the pouring rain holding a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a rapidly disintegrating box filled with some of my most precious memories, while I figured out what to do.

In true New York style, the second the heavens opened, the cabs disappeared. To top it all off, the most annoying human being I know had just pulled up to the curb, popped his trunk, and jumped out, totally oblivious that he was blocking the road with his giant Escalade. But that’s Tanner Simpson for you.

The cacophony of honking increased tenfold.

“There’s the most beautiful girl in the world.” Tanner grabbed my suitcase, flashed me one of his signature smiles, and opened the passenger door. “Mills, get in the car, it’s raining.”

“Where’s Radley?” I asked, not moving from the spot where I’d transformed into a wet, bedraggled mess.

I’d been expecting my best friend to pick me up. I’d called her twenty minutes ago, and she said she would hurry. Ineededher to come and get me. I needed to download the last twenty-four hours of my life to her because only she would understand.

Tanner wrestled the duffel bag off my shoulder and tossed it in the back of the car with the suitcase. “She was in the middle of baking with Lux, so I volunteered. And she comes with Secret Service, so I saved everyone a ride. Plus, Iwantedto come.” He grinned. “Seriously, why aren’t you getting in the car?”

I yanked my box out of his reach before he tried to take that from me too. There’s no way I was giving the box up, he’d have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Tanner’s brows shot up. He placed one hand on the door frame, and stared at me with those blue,blueeyes of his. You could get lost in them if you weren’t careful, therefore I wasalwayscareful. A droplet of rain fell off his baseball cap and hit one of those sculpted cheekbones, before disappearing into the short stubble hiding a dangerous pair of dimples.

He might be the most annoying person I’d ever met, but he was easily the most handsome too. Top three most handsome, without a doubt, which only made it worse.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, because if I opened my mouth to say yes, I knew I’d start crying. Maybe he wouldn’t notice, though; it was raining enough.

“Jeez, why’s everyone being so loud this morning?” Heturned around, uncharacteristically snapping, but it worked to raise a little smile on me. And release some of the tension jammed in my throat.

“Because you’re blocking the road.”

Tanner frowned, like he’d only just realized he was stopped at an angle and cars were having to go around him.Hewas the cause of the noise.

“Oh. It was only two minutes, people need to calm down,” he replied, his head quirking. “Now, you wanna make it three, or are you getting in?”

I had a choice. I either stayed here, getting soaked through while he drove off with most of my stuff, or I sucked it up. What’s the worst that could happen? He’d talk my ear off for twenty minutes. I could cope with that if it meant I could get out of the rain.Just.Ducking under his arm, I stepped up into the warm, dry car and Tanner slammed the door behind me.

As he jumped into the driver’s seat, a towel was tossed at me. “Here, I think you need this.”

“Thank you.”

He pulled out into the traffic as I went about drying myself, wringing out my hair and soaking up all the rain dripping down my neck. It was as I ran it over my face that I caught the scent of the fabric softener; clean and fresh, mingled with that earthy indeterminable boyish odor. It lingered in the air, it was the scent I always associated with Tanner, whether I wanted to or not.

“You can dry off properly in the apartment. We saved pancakes for you. Weren’t you supposed to come over way earlier? In fact, wherehaveyou been? And why do you have so much stuffwith you?”

I should have said thank you. Thank you for coming to get me. Instead, I slowly placed the towel on the box resting atop my knees and burst into tears.

I knew Tanner had turned to me, even though I was staring down at the individual threads on the towel, trying and failing to suppress the sobs heaving from my chest. I could feel his eyes on me, just like I could always feel them.

“Mills? Are you crying?”

The car swerved right, causing more wrath from New York’s drivers, and screeched to a stop. Tanner hit the hazard lights and turned to face me.

“Millie, what’s wrong?”

“Noth…nothing.” I sobbed, my face buried in the towel, hoping Tanner would stop looking at me, but my luck had long run out already.

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