Page 1 of Caught Looking

PROLOGUE

Everett

Every once in a while, I stopped to take it all in. I was playing professional baseball. At the highest level. Pitching better than I’d ever pitched in my life. It was the life I always pictured when I was a kid, but never truly believed would happen.

Well, it happened. In all the unexpected ways. I had to give it to the universe, the moves it took to get me here were not anything I could have predicted.

I took in a breath and held it. Sunshine Stadium had its own scent. A mix of turf, cement, clay, and popcorn. So much popcorn. Even when they weren’t popping it.

“You gonna stand there all day, sailor?” Seth Butler, one of my oldest and best friends, jogged past me in the outfield. It had been set up like a soccer field for practice because we were hosting the Tampa Bay Tangerines. It was supposed to be a fun day for good media optics. The men’s baseball team and the women’s soccer team working out together and trading tips all while smiling for the cameras.

It all came together because our center fielder, Rhett Ryan, had a cousin on the team. Annalise Ryan looked like a supermodel. Well, if supermodels were athletes. I suppose she was far too muscular for that profession. But other than that, she had the long blonde hair and knockout features of a movie star. She made for great marketing. But more than that, she was a true athlete. I watched as she jogged around the outfield as if she were born to be constantly in motion. Her eyes lit up when she saw Seth trying to dribble a ball.

She smelled blood in the water.

Next thing I knew she was running circles around him. Taunting him.

“That all you got?” She poked the ball between his legs and took off down the field. Seth chased her but after a quick burst of speed, couldn’t keep up. She had him beat—by a long shot.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Rhett came to stand beside me, folding his arms over his chest as he sat back on his heels, comfortable in his outfield.

Because let's be clear: it washisoutfield.

“What is?”

He nodded towards Seth gasping for air. “Seeing Butler put in his place.”

I didn’t talk to Rhett, our gruff center fielder, as much as I talked to the rest of the pitching staff, but we were friendly. I turned back in time to see Seth double over. Damn, he really was out of shape. These last few months had kicked his ass and it showed. “You do know we’re old friends, right?” We played on the same team in college. But it was more than that. Seth, our friend Willa, and I were the very best of friends. My older brother, Isaac, who was now our team manager, was also part of our crew even though he’d only been one of us for a year before he graduated.

“I’ve always wondered how you can stand the prick. Was he always like this?”

Like the asshole, womanizing, fame-chasing buffoon he’d become? “No. Once upon a time he was a really great guy. He still is.” I shrugged. “It’s just buried under a metric ton of shit.”

Annalise—or as her teammates called her, Ryan—darted around Seth one way while her teammate dodged the other way. Jeri MacNeil was our other connection to the Tangerines. The team captain was best friends with Kate James, our team’s public image doctor and Isaac’s girlfriend—my future sister-in-law, the way things were quickly heading.

Jeri was, to say the least, having just as much fun as Annalise. The only person not having any fun was Seth, who was now bright red from trying to keep up. “Bet he’s looking forward to batting practice.” Would he end up admitting defeat and slink away like he had during spring training, or would Seth finally pull it together and get past this funk?

Rhett chuckled. “It’s the only damn thing he’s good at right now. I’ll see you out there.” Rhett happily joined the massacre while I kept taking it all in.

I played baseball. Professionally. This stadium was my home. That bullpen was my playground. The pitching mound was my workshop. I had never been so happy in my life. There was only one thing missing.

“Everett.”

I spun around, a stupid grin on my face. “Willa Cooper. As I live and breathe.” With her here everything was right. Her long brown hair hung to her waist in soft curls. Her light green eyes flashed with a mix of excitement and nerves. But it was the smile on her face that made me feel whole again. Life without Seth and Willa had been damn lonely.

But we were back. All three of us in the same place at the same time.

She arched one pretty eyebrow. “Don’t I get your hugs anymore?”

Fucking hell.My feet came unglued and I scooped her right up into a hug just like I used to. She was so much smaller than me that it was fun. I could put her on my shoulders or swing her around as easy as anything. She wasn’t an athlete like Seth and me, but she tagged along on every one of our adventures, keeping up like a pro.

She laughed as I set her down. “Make me one promise, Everett Anson.”

I nodded once, ready to give her anything she wanted for putting up with my silence while I worked through the yips.

She wagged her finger in my face. “Never shut me out ever again. You can take time away, you can get mad or sad or whatever you need to feel, but if you cut me out, I’ll cutyou.” She made a swiping motion with her hand.

Willa would never inflict bodily harm on me, but her point was made. I pulled her in for a bear hug. “Never again. Promise.”

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