King of Diamonds (All About the Diamond #2), стр. 47

of the TV in time for the second inning to start. I preheat the oven and put the take and bake pizza in to bake between innings. We’re comfy in sweats and T-shirts, snuggled together on the couch to watch the game. Stray is behind the plate tonight with Tommy pitching. There’s no score after the third inning, but in the bottom of the fourth Cross hits a home run with Mason and Tommy on base. Martin hits a double. Stray hits a double, bringing Martin around. Lucky gets a single, pushing Stray to third. Rock hits a home run bringing in Stray and Lucky Lucine. We could do no wrong in the fourth inning, it was a continuous line of hitters taking turns getting hits and RBIs. The end of the fourth inning and the score is 9-0 Seals. I worry about games like this because of the false sense of security. There are still five innings left and anything can happen. Nobody scored in the fifth inning. Nobody scored in the sixth inning. Top of the seventh and Houston had a run like our fourth, scoring eight and taking the score to 9-8 Seals. Bottom of the seventh and the Seals respond with thunder, Martin hits a grand slam and Rock hits a double bringing in Stray. Lucine gets tagged out at home and Tommy hits into a double play. Score at the end of seven 14-8 Seals. It’s insane! We never play high scoring games! Top of the eighth, Houston scores two more. Bottom of the eighth, bases loaded and we can’t score to save our life. Top of the ninth, bases loaded and Houston gets a grand slam. The game is tied at 14 and we go to the bottom of the ninth hoping for a walk off win. It doesn’t happen. The game goes into extra innings and as much as I love baseball, let me be clear, I’m anxious for our late night picnic adventure and we aren’t going until the game is over. This game needs to hurry up already! The game is still tied at 14 and going into the fourteenth inning, current game time is 4 hours 50 minutes and it’s almost midnight. The players are tired, the silly mistakes start to happen and I hope Houston loses it first. Bottom of the fourteenth inning, Kris Martin hits a solo homer off Houston’s seventh pitcher of the game and we get the walk off win 15-14 Seals. I cheer out loud and Rick shakes his head.

“Should we get ready for our picnic adventure?” I ask ready to find out what he has planned.

“It’s later than I thought. We can do it another night.” He sees my frown, “Actually later might make it better. Go get ready.”

“Yay!” I smile and start a fresh pot of coffee to put in the backpack. I take off for the bedroom to get ready. I change into my jeans and put on my black combat boots with thick socks. I brush out my hair and put a hair tie around my wrist. I pull on my long sleeved black top that laces up at the neckline and leave the laces loose. I look in the mirror and I’m happy. I pour the coffee into a thermos and pack it in the backpack. I pack the sandwiches and grapes, and package up the baseball cookies. Everything fits into the backpack easily and I pull the frozen water bottles from the freezer, dropping them into the wine bottle spot in the backpack. Rick walks out, ready to go. He’s wearing jeans, black combat boots and a black long sleeve waffle-knit shirt that’s stretched deliciously across his chest. We kinda match. I hand Rick the backpack, proud of the spread I’ve put together.

“Are you ready to go, my queen?”

“Yes, I just need to grab my jacket.”

“You don’t need a jacket. I’ve got that covered.”

“Okay.” I glare at him funny, pretty sure I’m going to freeze my ass off.

“Just you, you don’t need money or keys or anything else.” He smiles and now I really want to know what we’re doing. Rick locks the door and we walk out to his car. He pops open the trunk, but rather than putting the backpack in the trunk he starts pulling things out. He pulls out a lime green leather jacket with a black stripe and white reflective trim and he hands it to me. “Put this on.” He pulls out another jacket that’s exactly the same, but larger from the trunk and puts it on. It fits him like a glove. He reaches for me and zips mine up, it’s snug in all the right places. “So, have you ever been on a motorcycle?” He hands me a matte black helmet with custom lime green paint on the back at the neck that reads “My Queen”. I look around and see there’s a motorcycle parked in front of Rick’s Challenger, sharing the parking space. It’s a cool looking matte gray Yamaha motorcycle with lime green wheels. It looks fast.

“Yes. I rode dirt bikes when I was a kid and I’ve ridden with friends before.”

“Are you up for this adventure?”

“Anything with you, my king.” I smile at him knowing he has a plan. “Um, how many women have you called your queen?”

Rick laughs, “Only you, Sherry. I bought the helmet and had it done custom for you. I had it linked to mine, so we can talk and listen to the same music while we’re riding.” He shows me his helmet matches and has custom lime green paint just like mine, but his says “Catch Me”.

I smile at him, custom car, probably custom bike, custom matching helmets and matching leather jackets. I’m his queen. “My queen. I love being your queen.” How was I not aware my fantasy baseball player boyfriend rode a motorcycle? This seems like something I would’ve heard about on an interview or something. Then again, it’s Rick Seno