Game Clincher Read online

  Game Clincher

  A Triple Play Curse Novella, Book 3

  Lori Ryan

  Game Clincher

  by Lori Ryan

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  Copyright 2015, Lori Ryan.

  All rights reserved.

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  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

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  ISBN: 978-1-941149-92-8

  Acknowledgments

  I have had a blast writing these novellas and am so excited to get them out to my readers. There are a lot of people I want to thank for their support and help.

  To my critique partners, Jesse Winters, Kate Baray, Ruby Meritt, and Kay Manis, your feedback and harassment—I mean, constructive criticism—on everything from plot, to characters, to the writing itself, helped shape everything so much. Thank you!

  Thank you to my incredible beta readers, Dianne Wagner, Shari Drehs Bartholomew, Ashley Hampton, and Sara Smith, as well as to my fantastic street team, and to Anne Welch for coming up with the dirty joke I needed for book two. I’m always amazed by the support you guys give me. Amazed and humbled.

  Thank you to Dianne Wagner for making the amazing tile coasters of my book covers for my release party. Truly, so cool!

  And, speaking of covers, I’m absolutely in love with these covers. Thank you Viola Estrella of Estrella Cover Art. They are so beautiful!

  And, last, thank you to Lea Burn for your fabulous input and editing. It’s been a pleasure working with you!

  Chapter One

  Gage Collier sat in the locker room of the Strikers’ clubhouse. They’d finished practice and had an hour before the game. Some of the guys lounged in the large leather chairs that lined the room, watching the wide screen TV. Others were in with the coaches or listening to headphones, tuning out the rest of the guys. A few stood around the long table of food in the center of the room, snacking on fruit and nuts or eating one of the protein and fiber loaded cookies that his teammate Aiden Kyle’s fiancée now cooked for the entire team every game day.

  Gage lifted his foot to meet the back of his thigh, tugging steadily with his hand on his ankle to keep limber for the game as he talked with Aiden. As Gage was the Strikers’ catcher and Aiden their pitcher, the two were probably closer than a lot of the players on the team. They had the need for an almost unspoken communication between them whenever they were out on the field.

  Aiden raised a brow at Gage when he answered his cell phone. Gage mouthed “Mom” to Aiden, drawing a laugh. All the guys knew Gage was a bit of a mama’s boy. He couldn’t help it. The woman had raised him on her own, with no family support or help from his absentee dad. She deserved to be the only person whose call he would take right before a game. That didn’t stop Aiden from mouthing back “wuss” before Gage turned his chair toward his locker, blocking out his friend.

  “Hey, Mom,” Gage said, lowering his voice so the rest of the guys wouldn’t hear the entire conversation. Of course, his mother had other ideas. Her voice came through the phone loud and clear.

  “Hi, baby! Tell my boys I say hello and good luck,” she all but hollered into the phone and he knew ‘her boys’ meant the whole team. It didn’t matter if a player had been a part of the team for a day or for years. Once you were a Striker, you were one of Barb Collier’s boys.

  Gage switched the phone to his other ear now that he could no longer hear out of his left. He rubbed at his left ear as he laughed at his mom.

  “I will, Mom. I gotta go soon, though. I need to keep stretching so I don’t tighten up.”

  Normally, he’d talk on the phone and stretch, but he didn’t want to talk for his mom too long today. He just wanted to be sure she didn’t need him for something, and then he’d get off the phone as fast as he could. She’d been all over him lately about the Triple Play Curse, as she and the columnist who was spreading the story liked to call it. Gage cringed every time he heard the words.

  Brian James, a guy who was equal parts gossip columnist and sports analyst, was doing his best to ensure that all of San Francisco knew about the curse currently plaguing the Strikers. It wasn’t the first year they’d faced this curse, and all of the unmarried players on the team were unhappy about it. Any year one of the Strikers’ players got either engaged or married during the season, the curse was triggered and two more players would end up falling in love and getting married or engaged. He wouldn’t think it was so bad if it weren’t for two other facts. One, every time the curse was in play, the team suffered from the distraction. They’d end up with either an unprecedented number of injuries or errors, or they’d lose the pennant race or any number of other things that could plague an American League baseball team.

  And, two, Gage had absolutely no interest in being engaged or married. None.

  His mother, on the other hand, desperately wanted him to be the third player to fall.

  Hence, his efforts to keep the conversation short. He was tired of her dropping hints that he should make an effort to meet ‘the right girl.’ She’d stepped up her usual attempts at matchmaking to a gargantuan effort, and he had a feeling this phone call would be headed the same way. He wasn’t disappointed.

  “I’m just calling to let you know I set up some interviews for you tomorrow,” she said, as casual as could be.

  Well, that was new. Now she expected him to outright interview women for the position of ... of what? Girlfriend? Wife?

  “Um, what?”

  “Interviews, Gage. It’s time you got some help at your place. It’s a pigsty every time I come over. Laundry all over, no food in the refrigerator, your plants all die.”

  Well, at least she was trying to disguise her efforts, this time. Thinly, but she was trying anyway.

  “That’s because they’re your plants, Mom. You buy them and then abandon them at my place hoping I’ll be able to keep them alive. It should be clear to you by now that I can’t.”

  “Pfft. Nonsense. Anyway, it’s time for you to have some help. I put an ad in the paper and online for a housekeeper and cook for you. Whoever you choose will come in and clean and cook for you four days a week. I prescreened most of the applicants,” she went on, and he knew that meant she’d weaned out anyone ugly or too old for him. “I couldn’t get to a few of them, but on the whole, you should have some great applicants coming by.”

  “Mom,” he tried to cut in, but she was gone.

  Aiden had apparently heard enough of the conversation to laugh while Gage banged his head against the edge of his locker.

  “Come on, it might not be so bad. You could meet the woman of your dreams,” Aiden taunted. “And, if not, you at least won’t be living in a dump anymore.”

  Gage just glared at Aiden. Aiden had been the second Striker to fall in love this season. His game had suffered for it, too. His batting average had sunk lower than it ever had while he and his fiancée, Lily, were dating. Now that they were engaged and had, at least, decided to put off the wedding until after the season, his game was coming back, but the team had had some stressful weeks where they were playing with what seemed like half a pitcher.

  “Hey,” Aiden said, “don’t knock it till you try it. You might actually like falling in love."

  Gage shot him a look and started out of the clubhouse and up the tunnels toward the dugout. He didn't care what Aiden or his mother or anyone said. Marriage was not on his agenda this year.

  Barb Collier smiled as she turned to he
r new friend, Lucia. “We're all set. I've got you booked for ten in the morning. By the time he sees some of the women scheduled before you, he'll be so eager to hire a woman who's not going to be a temptation to him that I'm absolutely sure you'll get the job.”

  Lucia laughed. “I guess I wouldn’t be much of a temptation to a young man like Gage, but thanks for the boost to my ego just the same, Barb.”

  Lucia was in her late forties and very happily married. She and Barb were both banking on Gage's desire to avoid any woman who might tempt him into a real relationship. Or, as he put it, lure him into the curse.

  “Sorry,” Barb said with a grin. “I guess that did come out a bit harsh, but you know what I mean.”

  Lucia nodded and took a sip of her wine as Barb continued with her plan.

  “Then, just wait a week or so before you have your accident and send Talia in.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Barb?”

  “Absolutely. I don't know if the curse is real, but I'm willing to gamble. I'm ready for my grandbabies and he's not going to give me any without a push. I knew the minute I met Talia, she’d be perfect for him. They’re just too right for one another for this not to work.”

  Lucia nodded, a resigned look on her face. “I’m not in a rush for grandkids yet, but I would sure love it if Talia found love.” She nodded again, this time more firmly. “All right. I’m game.”

  Chapter Two

  His mother had seriously gone over the edge this time. All the way over the edge. Gage shook his head as the third twenty-something-year-old woman with virtually no experience in cleaning a house or cooking left his apartment with a pout on her face. This one had gone so far as to shake her behind for him as she sashayed to the door. And he almost broke and called her right back to him. But he knew better than to have a woman as alluring as her around right now. In the middle of a season where the curse was active, no freaking way was he going anywhere near a woman. And if he did go near a woman, it would be a one-night stand he picked up in a bar. Someone who didn't know where he lived. Not someone he had to see four days a week on a permanent basis as his new housekeeper.

  "Excuse me, Mr. Collier. Are you ready for me?"

  Gage looked up and saw the woman behind the voice. And she was a vision. Exactly what he needed. He wasn’t sure how she’d gotten past his mother’s screening when she clearly wasn’t what his mom had in mind at all, but she fit his needs perfectly. She was likely in her late forties, and still an attractive woman with just a little touch of grey in her black hair. She wasn’t anywhere close to Gage’s age and, most importantly, she sported a gold wedding band on her left hand. Jackpot.

  She must have been one of the applicants his mother hadn’t been able to prescreen. When he only stared at her, grinning like a fool, the woman walked further into the living room where he’d been holding his interviews. She glanced around and an indulgent, motherly smile crossed her face.

  “Yes, I can see why you’re in need of some help, Mr. Collier. Cleaning doesn’t seem to be your thing, huh? That’s all right. We all have a weakness somewhere.”

  Gage snapped out of it and stood to shake her hand, then gestured toward the couch opposite him. “Sit, please. And, it’s Gage. Call me Gage.”

  “Thank you, Gage. I’m Lucia Aguilar.” She handed over a sheet of paper listing references and previous jobs, but Gage just smiled at her. She was perfect.

  “So, Lucia, would you be the person coming to do the cooking and the cleaning?”

  “Yes, Gage. It’s just me. Well, I have backup to fill in if needed, so I have coverage for you if I do get sick or something, but I was only sick two days last year. I’m quite reliable.”

  “You’re hired!”

  “What?” She looked a little confused, but Gage just laughed.

  “You’re perfect. Just what I need. You’re hired.”

  “Uh, Gage, you didn’t even read my references or check on anything. Don’t you want to know about the work I’ve done in the past? My previous clients? What I can cook?”

  “Nope. You seem great and I hate interviewing. I have several of my meals delivered by a service and only need you to cook dinner each day. I’m sure whatever you cook will be fine. We good?” He held out his hand to her. She stared for a moment then shook his hand at the same time she shook her head.

  “I generally work in the mornings from eight to two. Will Monday through Thursday work for you?”

  “That’s fine. I’m flexible.” Gage walked to the kitchen and pulled a key from a drawer. “Here’s a key. I’ll give you the alarm code so you can let yourself in. I usually don’t wake up until about seven thirty, but then I work out and I’m in either the gym or the pool until ten, so you can just come in. I won’t hear you ring the bell when I’m working out.”

  “You have a gym here?” Lucia asked.

  “Yup. Follow me. I’ll show you around.” Gage sent the rest of the interviewees waiting in the hall home and then showed Lucia around his Nob Hill condo. The tour included the kitchen, the master and guest rooms—each with their own en suite bathroom—his fitness gym, and a one-lane lap pool out on his patio. She’d already seen his living room and the dining room that opened off of it through a wide arch.

  And, that was that. Gage now had a housekeeper, something he never thought he’d have. But, his mother was probably right. As he looked around the room, he knew she was right. He’d had a cleaning service come to do a basic cleaning every other week, but that wasn’t really enough.

  Gage finished his last lap and pulled himself up and out of the pool before toweling off. He’d always looked forward to the end of his morning workouts, but never more than he did nowadays.

  Four days a week, he could walk to his kitchen and find breakfast ready and waiting for him when he got there. He hadn’t asked for it. Lucia just seemed to pick up on his needs. Within a day or two, she had figured out he always finished working out at ten thirty, and she had a scrambled egg white omelet ready for him. She would always throw in a different mixture of vegetables and top it with her homemade salsa. She’d also have a big plate of fresh cut fruit for him.

  But, what he loved the most, was the way his house smelled when she was there. She would cook a big meal for him every morning that he’d devour when he got home later that night from the baseball field.

  The mouthwatering smell of some kind of mixture of chicken and rice or enchiladas wafted through the condo to him now, drawing him to the kitchen before he’d even thrown a t-shirt on. Hell, she’d outdone herself today. He didn’t know what he’d find on the stove, but he did know he’d have a hard time resisting the temptation to dig into it now instead of after the game. It wasn’t unusual for Lucia to have to beat him back from the stove with one of the wooden spoons she’d stocked his kitchen with when she discovered how little he had in the way of pots and pans and utensils.

  Gage looped his towel around his neck and called out to Lucia.

  “Hey, beautiful, what are you trying to do to me? Make me gain twenty pounds this season? I won’t be able to move if you keep this up.”

  But it wasn’t Lucia who came out of his bedroom with his dirty laundry in her arms. It was a ... hell, he didn’t know what she was. A goddess, at the very least. Her laugh matched Lucia’s to a tee, and her long black hair and fiery eyes were almost identical as well. But, she was younger and had a body that screamed out to him. Gage took a step back as she came into the kitchen. His hands felt like magnets, just pulling him in, begging him to take ahold of those round hips of hers and yank her body in close, tight against his.

  She just smiled at him, her eyes sparkling with humor, seemingly unaware of the effect she had on him.

  “You call my mother beautiful?” She put the laundry basket down on one of the counters and cocked her head at him.

  “Your mother?” he echoed, stupidly. She raised a brow, then laughed again.

  “My mother. Lucia?”

  “Your mother?” he asked,
yet again, not because he didn’t understand by now that this woman was Lucia’s daughter, but because his mind seemed to be stuck on repeat. Like a skipping record.

  She was laughing as she shook her head, and reached for the plate with his omelet and fruit to hand to him, but he didn’t miss the puzzled look she gave him.

  “You’re Talia?” he asked, finally, breaking loose of the hold she’d had on him and reaching for the plate. Lucia hadn’t told him much about Talia. She was Lucia’s only daughter, that much he knew. That was about the extent of it.

  “You can’t be here,” he said now, still not touching his omelet.

  That stopped her smile. “What?”

  “Your mom is supposed to be here. Where is she?”

  Now suspicion clouded her gaze and he felt like a jerk. Again. No, not again. Still. It hadn’t stopped. Because he’d been a jerk from the minute he’d seen Talia. She wore a long skirt that flowed loosely down around her ankles, taunting him. It seemed to dare him to find out what was hidden underneath. Her snug fitting shirt accentuated her full breasts, the only thing that had drawn his eyes away from those magical hips as they spoke.

  “She hurt her back,” she said, cold now, all trace of her previous humor gone. “I’ll be filling in for her for the next couple of weeks. The doctor said she needs to take it easy for two weeks, or she might end up needing surgery and physical therapy.”

  And, now he felt lower than low. “Is she okay? What happened? Was she in an accident?”

  He thought he saw a flicker of softness cross her face again, but then she erased it, as though she wasn’t quite ready to forgive him yet. He didn’t blame her.

  “Does she need anything?” Gage asked.