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Lucy watched Aaron and Tim leave the briefing room together. Since Aaron became Tim‘s aide, they seemed to be spending a lot of time together, and she felt a little jealous. Because she was riding solo, she did not have to wait for another officer, but she wanted to see if Tim would look over at her as he exited the briefing room. It sounded pathetic, but she craved eye contact with him since returning from UC School, considering he avoided her pretty much all the time. Eager for him to recognize her presence, she stared him down, and maybe he could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t look in her direction. He was ignoring her, and it was MADDENING.
“Wanna sign up for the LAPD versus LAFD softball game?” Angela asked and shoved a clipboard in Lucy’s face, momentarily distracting her from looking at Tim.
Lucy’s first reaction was to say “no”. She had not played softball in a while, and it seemed like a game she would rather watch than compete in, but before she replied, she looked at the sign-up sheet and read:
LAPD SOFTBALL TEAM
TEAM CAPTAIN: SGT BRADFORD
On second thought, maybe playing softball wouldn’t be so bad.
“Sounds fun,” Lucy said happily and took the clipboard from Angela’s hand. She scribbled her name on the sign up sheet just below Lopez’s name.
“Fun? This isn’t going to be fun. This is a battle against the LAFD. Have you ever even played softball?” Tim asked from a distance as he walked over to her, having overheard Lucy’s conversation with Angela despite his best efforts to act aloof.
She paused for a moment; she was stunned that he was actually talking to her.
“When I was younger,” she answered, weakly.
“You can’t be on the team. We need to win,” he shook his head.
“Anyone can be on the team!” Angela insisted.
“Yeah, anyone can be on the team!” Lucy echoed.
He finally looked into her eyes and his features softened slightly. Anyone who doesn’t know Tim the way Lucy does might not have noticed, but she did.
“If you’re gonna be on the team, we’re gonna practice after shift tonight. The game’s tomorrow, so we don’t have a lot of time,” he huffed.
“I’m in,” she shot back, trying to conceal her joy at the thought of seeing Tim outside of work.
“I could actually use some more practice, too,” Thorsen chimed in.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine tomorrow,” Angela said with wide eyes and looked back between Tim and Lucy. She hoped Aaron got the message.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he replied, awkwardly as he inferred what Angela was trying to say with her eyes.
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Lucy arrived at the baseball diamond as the sun was setting; it cast a beautiful pink and purple glow over everything, including Tim.
He was mindlessly throwing the ball up in the air with one hand and catching it in the mitt strapped onto his other hand. With black sweatpants, a deep navy blue long sleeve t shirt, and a focused expression to complete the look, he looked HOT. She was trying, and failing, to stop staring at him and checking him out, but lately she was finding him increasingly more attractive, and it was hard to focus on anything but that singular thought.
“Chen, let’s go!” Tim called. He sensed her presence and did not understand why she was just standing there. Finally, he challenged himself to look over in her direction. She was wearing black and white track pants, white gym shoes, and a burnt orange hoodie. She was slowly tying her hair into a ponytail, and he wished she would leave her hair down. He loved running his fingers through her hair…but he had to remind himself that that’s not why he was with her tonight.
“I’m ready,” she guaranteed, sounding nervous as she neared him.
“Let’s start with playing some catch. I brought an extra mitt for you to wear. Put it on, and I’ll throw you the ball. You catch it with the mitt and use the other hand to throw it back to me,” he instructed.
“I know how to play catch,” she sassed and slid her hand into the mitt.
He gave her a little look of annoyance and created some distance between them to start throwing the ball in her direction.
She didn’t miss a single toss, and she threw pretty strongly, too.
After silently playing catch for about thirty minutes, he said, “You’re not bad at this.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I didn’t know you could throw.”
“I’ve got a few skills you don’t know about,” she flirted with a cheeky grin and threw the ball to his mitt. She didn’t mean for it come out flirtatious, but maybe subconsciously she did.
Her words distracted him enough that he failed to notice the ball sail beyond his mitt and roll into the sand behind him. He blinked hard to refocus and chased after the ball.
“I think that’s enough catch. How are you with a bat?” He asked and then tried to correct himself. “I mean, do you know how to hit the ball?”
Lucy felt the warmth in her cheeks intensify as she noticed that he seemed flustered. Tim Bradford did not get flustered…usually, but she was starting to see a different side of him lately.
“I don’t know,” she tried to respond evenly, hoping her face would not betray her by smiling.
“Okay, let me show you,” he responded, snapping back into his normal direct tone. He picked up the bat and stood in the batter’s box. “Alright, so hold the bat like this. Put one of your elbows out and the other down. While your arms swing out, I want you to turn your hips into the swing,” he narrated as he motioned his softball swing a few times.
She was not paying attention to his form, but she noticed that his arm muscles bulged out slightly against his shirt the way he was swinging the bat, and she quite enjoyed the view.
“You try,” he said and held the baseball bat out to her.
She reached out to accept it and stood in the batter’s box where his feet had been a few seconds ago. When she thought he had stepped far enough away, she tried swinging the bat the way she remembered him doing it.
“How was that?” She asked.
“Try again,” he said simply and shook his head. He didn’t want to admit that he was paying no attention to how she was swinging the bat and only staring at the way her butt filled out her pants.
She swung the bat again, but her swing was terrible.
“No, Lucy, elbow out,” he instructed and stepped over to look at her face and away from her backside.
She tried again. “Like that?” She asked.
“Almost.”
Lucy tried again with a pinched expression on her face indicating she was trying her best. It was cute…not cute Tim tried to correct himself…but there was no better word he knew to describe it. Still, she was swinging incorrectly.
“Don’t forget about your hips,” he reminded her.
She attempted to move her hips with the swing.
“Swing THROUGH the ball,” he urged.
“I don’t know what that means!” She responded, sounding a little frustrated. “Can you show me again how to do it?” She asked, the exasperation clear in her question.
He nodded and crossed over to stand behind her back. Hesitantly, he extended his arms out to guide hers into the proper position.
“Try again,” he whispered at the back of her head.
She felt the way his breath stirred a few hairs on her neck, and she thought her breathing might have hitched.
She swung the bat again, trying to remain attentive.
“Almost. Move your hips this time,” he instructed quietly.
“How?” Lucy questioned. She felt like she was disappointing herself and Tim somehow, and she didn’t want to.
He put his right hand so lightly on her hip she shouldn’t have been able to feel it, but the blood in her veins started crashing like waves, and she thought she could hear a ringing in her ears.
“Swing again, and I’ll move your hips,” he instructed gently.
It was unfair that he was standing so close to her, and talking to her, and seemingly completely comfortable with this situation when Lucy felt like she might have stopped breathing.
“Lucy,” he coaxed. He could sense she seemed a little distracted, and he needed her to pay attention before he did something he would regret. He hoped she couldn’t feel that the palm touching her hip was sweaty, and he wanted to move his hand away and dry the sweat, but he didn’t want to let go of her.
She swung her arms, and forcefully, he guided her back hip to swing with her arms. His grip had tightened, and she wanted to cover his hand with hers and keep him there.
“Got it?” He asked, hoping he could move away before his resolve completely melted.
“One more time,” she replied, not ready for him to let go.
“Yeah,” he said, trying to convince himself it wasn’t a big deal.
She put all of her power into this attempted swing while Tim’s hand continued to set her body ablaze.
“How was that?” She asked.
“Good. Now I’m gonna throw the ball, and you’re gonna swing just like that,” he explained, but he did not move.
Keeping her legs planted in the proper stance, she turned her head to look behind her, hoping to see if this was effecting him the way it was effecting her.
His lips were slightly parted as his eyes seemed to burrow straight through her. Then, he cleared his throat and jogged over to the dugout where he picked up a bucket of softballs. He placed them beside him in the pitcher’s mound and got ready to throw the ball.
She was biting her bottom lip, and he momentarily remembered grazing his teeth against her top lip…he wanted to do that again…but he couldn’t.
“I’m ready,” she called.
It was enough to make him recollect himself and pitch a perfect strike. She swung too low and missed it.
“Come on, Lucy!” He called back.
She knew she could do better, so she dug her feet deeper into the sand and readied herself for the next pitch.
She missed the next few.
“Lucy, you can do this,” he assured her and nodded his head trying to show her some support. She nodded her head in return and tried to focus.
The next pitch came, and her bat made contact. The ball didn’t go very far past Tim on the pitcher’s mound.
“There you go!” He cheered.
Her eyes lit up from the praise, and she wanted to do even better next time.
She hit every single one of the next 10 pitches, and most of them were pretty straight and pretty powerful.
“Alright, last one and then we’ll take a break,” he announced, noticing the sweat glistening on her face.
“I don’t need to take a break. I gotta keep practicing,” she replied, firmly.
“You never listen to me,” he sighed and threw the ball.
Maybe it was her slight annoyance with Tim or the fact that she was finally getting the hang of it, but she slammed the bat against the ball and watched it shoot well beyond Tim’s head into the outfield.
“That was awesome!” He cheered and threw his hands up in the air. Pride overwhelmed every other feeling warring inside of him.
Her smile was so big, and his chest felt so tight at the sight that he thought he might have to gasp for breath.
“Let’s get some water. You earned it,” he said, trying to distract himself from Lucy’s effect on him.
Lucy set the bat down and strode over to her bag. After rooting through it, she pulled out her water bottle and took a few big gulps.
“I knew you were thirsty,” he pointed out and sipped some water from his own bottle.
She almost choked on her water. Was he flirting with her? She couldn’t tell, so she focused on hydrating.
He checked his watch. “It’s getting late.”
“Yeah, now that I’m basically Duke Snider, we don’t have to keep to practicing,” she joked.
“How do you know who that is?”
“How could I not know that Duke Snider has the most home runs in Dodgers history?”
He was a little shocked. “You said you don’t follow baseball.”
“But I listen to you. You told me about Duke Snider once,” she reminded him.
“I did,” he recalled as he beamed at her, unable to believe the words she was saying.
“Guess we should call it a night.” She hoped they could keep hanging out. Lucy had missed talking to him after weeks of getting the cold shoulder.
“Guess we should.”
“Tamara is trying a new recipe from ClipTalk. You can come over for dinner and try it,” she offered, trying anything to keep him around.
“I…I gotta go home and walk Kojo.”
“Right,” she felt guilty for pushing the boundaries of their fragile relationship.
“Maybe some other time,” he suggested simply and slung his bag over his shoulder.
“Some other time,” she repeated quietly.
He started walking away, but then she looked back over at the baseball diamond with the softballs littered all over.
“Tim! We gotta clean up,” she pointed at the field. Then, she started moving towards the furthest softball in left field.
He was so eager to get away from her before he did something he couldn’t take back that he forgot to pick up the softballs. Wordlessly, he gathered the balls and threw them towards the pitcher’s mound. Lucy bent over and dropped each softball into bucket next to the pitcher’s mound.
His aim was a little too good, and one ball whooshed into the bucket while her hand reached in, and she winced a little.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized as he darted over and quickly dropped to his knees beside her.
“It’s okay,” she promised him, noticing that the skin on the back of her hand was slightly red with irritation where the softball grazed against her hand, but it barely hurt.
He gently cradled her injured hand in both of his as he inspected it. “Are you sure?” He inquired worriedly, still looking closely at her hand.
“Tim, I’m fine,” she wanted to assure him. He softly moved the tips of his fingers over her knuckles and the bones of her hand just to make sure nothing was broken or bruised. “Really, I’m okay,” she finally said as she watched the way he was inspecting her hand.
“I really am sorry,” he apologized again.
“Don’t worry about it.” She stood up and he stood up with her. One of his hands reached for the handle of the bucket filled with softballs while he realized that his other hand was still holding onto hers.
She did not want to move. She just wanted to see their hands together. The way his hand completely enveloped her much smaller hand. The way his thumb was pressed on her palm in a way that she wanted to wrap her fingers around it, but she knew that if she moved, he would register that he was still holding her hand, and he would let her go.
But they couldn’t stand on the pitcher’s mound holding hands all night…or could they?
“You’ve gotta get home to Tamara. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he finally sputtered out as he swiftly pulled his hand away from her.
Before she could form a response, he moved past her and towards the dug out to grab his bag. He didn’t look back as he reached his truck. She just stood there on the pitcher’s mound wishing he would have turned around. Wishing he didn’t leave.
The truck’s headlights flashed in her direction as the engine revved to life. He was driving away from her, and her heart started to ache again, already missing him.
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Lucy carefully styled her hair into 2 French braids that crowned her head and landed at her collarbone.
“You look cute. Any particular reason?” Tamara asked smartly.
“Shut up,” Lucy retorted, unable to come up with a better come back, because maybe she did want to look cute for Tim. Thankfully, her phone chimed, and she read the notification. “Angela is here. I gotta go,” she announced and picked up her bag.
“I’ll try to come after my study group.”
“It’s okay if you can’t make it. School comes first.”
“You think I wanna miss out on watching you drool over Sergeant Zaddy?” Tamara asked coyly.
“Goodbye,” Lucy replied, stifling a nervous laugh while trying to leave.
“Maybe you should ask him for a good luck kiss,” Tamara called after her roommate as she shut the apartment door, leaving Tamara alone to smile at herself in amusement.
The first few minutes of the car ride to the softball game with Angela were an easy silence.
“So, how was practice with Tim last night?” Angela asked, smugly.
“Good. Good,” Lucy replied, recalling the feeling of Tim standing close to her with a hand on her hip.
“Mhm,” Angela hummed looking over at the sparkle in Lucy’s eye. “You know, you’re a detective now, so Tim isn’t your superior officer anymore?”
“Y…yeah…I know that,” Lucy said, shifting her weight in her seat now that she felt uncomfortable with Angela’s line of questioning.
“So…what exactly are you waiting for?” Lopez wondered aloud.
“Not sure what you mean,” Lucy tried to speak evenly and bit at the inside of her mouth.
“Detective Lucy Chen, turn in your gold shield if you don’t see that there’s something between you and Tim.”
“Nothing is going on between Tim and I,” she promised, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice, but her words were careful. She didn’t ADMIT to any blooming feelings between them just the fact that they weren’t ACTING on those feelings. Sure she wanted something to happen with Tim, but the last time something almost happened, she found Chris bleeding out on her couch.
“Yeah, and whose fault is that? I love Tim, but he’s an idiot. He needs a little HELP,” Angela urged, over-exaggerating the last word. She sensed Lucy’s deflection from admitting that they like each other.
Lucy started feeling incredibly nervous, so she played with the sleeves of her long sleeve henley.
They reached the parking lot of the baseball diamond and Angela threw her car in park before snapping her head to look Lucy squarely in the face. “When Wes and I started dating, we had our problems, and Jackson was the one to give me advice and help me get over myself to put our relationship on the right track. And if Jackson were here right now, I’m sure he would tell you to stop acting like a bunch of dummies and MAKE A MOVE, so if you’re not gonna make a move for me, make a move for Jackson,” she advised, feeling a mixture of emotions as she mourned her friend while passionately wanting to help bring her other two friends together.
Lucy swallowed hard and blinked away the tears stinging her eyes. “We should get going,” she choked out and left the car.
Angela groaned as she watched her fellow detective walk towards the baseball diamond. “Idiots,” she said under her breath and locked her car behind her.
Lucy’s cop instincts to scan her surroundings flew out the window when her eyes found Tim. The light grey baseball pants hugged his legs perfectly and the baby blue jersey made his eyes pop even while they were shaded under the baby blue baseball cap. He looked good is all she could think.
“Here’s your jersey,” Smitty said and tossed a jersey at Lucy who caught it with cat-like reflexes despite being distracted by Tim.
“Thanks, Smitty,” she replied and dropped her bag on the floor of the dugout.
Tim was trying not to look at Lucy directly but kept her in the corner of his eye. She was wearing tight black leggings and a long sleeve black henley that made the muscles of her arms and legs very pronounced. Plus, the shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way up, revealing just the beginning of her cleavage. How could he resist the urge to look? He’s only human. But, nothing stunned him more than the braids starting at her middle part and cascading down the sides of her head to end just past her shoulders. He hadn’t seen her wear braids like that since she was a rookie. His stomach betrayed him with a lurch as he thought about how she had wormed her way past his icy exterior and directly into his heart starting from day one of her career as his boot.
He watched Nolan present a baseball hat to Lucy who accepted it with one of her genuinely beautiful smiles. The kind of smile that made him want to smile, too…but he was in public, and he schooled his expression to remain neutral.
“Let’s get on the field and warm up!” Tim called to his fellow officers in the dugout. Smitty knew he was the catcher, so he took his spot behind home plate. Nolan darted directly to first base.
Lucy jogged right over to Tim, unsure of which position she was assigned. “Where do you want me?” She asked.
He wanted to say: “In my arms”…but instead, he held back from saying anything until he could fully collect himself. “Second base. If I miss catching the ball, I trust you to get it right behind me” he explained.
She nodded in understanding and stood near second base. Although she appreciated the faith he had in her, she was pretty annoyed that she was standing right behind Tim with his backside perfectly on display for her. This was going to be a long game.
The warm up went surprisingly well, and Tim’s confidence in LAPD’s victory heightened.
First up to bat was Bailey, the captain of the LAFD baseball team and a firefighter captain. Tim knew not to underestimate her and threw his best fastballs.
Bailey’s third swing made contact with the softball with a crack. Tim watched the ball speed past him, but Lucy jumped to catch the ball as though it was meant to fly into her glove.
The officers all cheered, but Tim seemed to cheer the loudest, at least in Lucy’s ears. His smile was bright in a way she didn’t tend to see, but when he’s competing and winning, she always sees how happy it makes him.
Warmth coursed through her body at the sight of his unabashed joy…but there was no time to lose focus. The next firefighter stepped up to the plate.
Tim struck him out easily.
Then, the third firefighter walked up with the bat in a tight grip in his hands. Tim could recognize that firefighter from anywhere- Emmett. Lucy’s ex-boyfriend. The one who broke up with her over text.
With an evil smile, he knew he was going to throw his trickiest curveballs to strike Emmett out. No question. It was the least he could do to avenge Lucy. He couldn’t resist the satisfied smirk playing at his lips watching Emmet strike out and go back into the dugout with his head hanging low.
Seven innings later, the LAPD was winning 7 to 5. First at bat was Lucy. She hit a great 3 base hit and cheered Nolan on as he stepped up to the plate.
“Your girl is pretty good at baseball,” Angela pointed out admiringly.
“She’s not my girl,” Tim amended with a sigh.
“Really? Then how did you know who I was talking about?” Angela tripped him up.
“I…w…” Tim’s mind short circuited, struggling with what to say next.
“Remember, there’s no lying in baseball, Tim,” Angela retorted.
“The phrase is ‘there’s no CRYING in baseball’,” Tim corrected.
“Okay, but is kissing allowed?”
Before Tim could even try to stammer out a single word, Lucy ran up to him from behind with hands raised for a high five from Angela and Tim after scoring another run.
“Great job, Lucy,” Angela congratulated with a mischievous grin.
“Yeah,” Tim added and weakly gave her a high five.
“Thanks,” she replied, only staring at Tim whose eyes looked anywhere EXCEPT at Lucy. She wondered why he was acting strangely, but she didn’t know how to breach the subject now with everyone around, so she made her way to an empty spot on the dugout bench and took a sip of water.
Unfortunately, the game was turning out to be CLOSE. The score was 7 to 8 with LAFD winning at the bottom of the ninth and 2 outs; Lucy was up to bat and their last hope. She looked at Angela who was eagerly ready to run from her spot at third base.
She bit down on her lip. If she could score at least a base hit, both teams would be tied, but if she got out, the game would be over, and they would lose, which would mean the steady grin on Tim’s face would melt away. She wanted to win for Tim, but it was a lot of pressure.
Looking at the bat, she reached out to grab it.
“Hey,” Tim stopped her and made his way from the other end of the dugout over to her.
She looked at him curiously, unsure of what he was about to say. Suspecting some last minute strategy or a stern reminder of what’s at stake, Lucy held in a deep breath, readying herself to listen.
“I don’t care if we win or lose. I’m proud of you,” he said softly, just loud enough for her to hear.
That was the only thing she didn’t expect him to say. “Since when do you not care about winning?”
“Since I don’t want you to feel pressure. Just go out there and do your best,” he guaranteed with a little smile and softened eyes just for her.
Maybe it was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to kiss him, but in this moment, she was just about to give in.
“Are we gonna play or what?” Emmett called from his position at second base.
Lucy snapped out of her daze and went over to the batter’s box.
Everyone was cheering, but the only voice she heard was Tim’s saying: “You got this, Lucy.”
She swung and missed the ball on the first pitch.
“It’s okay,” Tim encouraged.
Second pitch came, and she felt the bat make contact with the ball; the contact was so strong she felt a vibration coursing through her fingers up to her elbows. The strange pain didn’t distract her, though, she took off running so fast. She stepped onto the first base while quickly pivoting to ram through the second base and then the third base. She didn’t look around. She didn’t know if someone was throwing the ball to get her out or if Angela had been tagged out. All she could do was run.
She heard footsteps behind her and assumed someone was trying to chase her to tag her out, so she slammed into the sand head first to touch home plate.
“Safe!” The umpire shouted.
The LAPD team shouted in victory and ran over to celebrate with Lucy. She was given hugs and high-fives, and her ears were slightly ringing with all of the hollering in her ear. The only person who stayed back from congratulating her, who rested himself against the fence of the dugout watching her with a measured glare, was Tim.
After Bailey, as the LAFD team captain, shook hands with Tim and congratulated Lucy, the rest of the LAFD team packed up quickly and left. A few officers were making plans to get drinks at a nearby bar, and everyone wanted to buy Lucy a shot or a beer for her home run that scored the two winning runs, but she wasn’t paying attention. She just kept looking at Tim who gave her a blank stare back.
“You were awesome!” Tamara congratulated as she hugged Lucy. A few officers squeezed past them to leave the dugout and start driving over to the bar.
“Thanks!” Lucy replied appreciatively. She was so grateful that Tamara came to the game even with all of the schoolwork she was working on.
“I’m gonna crash at Lexi’s tonight. We’re staying up late to study for our Statistics exam tomorrow, so the place is all yours,” Tamara said playfully and looked over at Tim then back at her roommate.
“Good luck on your exam,” is all Lucy could muster with a sideways glance at Tim.
She didn’t know how long she watched Tim pack up the equipment, but she suddenly realized they were alone. The sky was completely pitch black and the lights shining onto the baseball diamond felt blindingly bright. She watched him kneeling on the ground zipping up the last equipment bag, and she didn’t want to get any closer out of fear of startling him, but her feet carried her closer to him anyways.
Tim rose up and spun around to see Lucy only a few inches away from him.
“We won. I thought you’d be happier,” Lucy said quietly, studying his face.
“I am happy,” he responded and looked over at the empty baseball diamond and away from her.
“You’ve barely said anything since we won.”
“Do I look like the kind of guy who’s about to make a victory speech?”
“Guess not,” she stifled a small chuckle and backpedaled to where her bag remained on the dugout bench.
“If I was planning on making a victory speech, I would say that you were our MVP tonight. You made some great catches and that last home run was very impressive,” he smiled.
Lucy stopped in her tracks. Suddenly all of her limbs felt heavy…and was she feeling dizzy?
Tim took a few steps to stand in front of her. Just holding her gaze for a moment. Then, he gently swept away some sand on her forehead. Frozen, all Lucy could do was stare at the focused way his eyes were scanning her face for more sand that he seemed determined to clear away. He found a little more at the back of her jaw almost on her neck and tenderly brushed that sand off of her skin with his thumb. His hand stopped moving. Although his thumb stopped busying itself with cleaning her face, it remained pressed against her jaw. He seemed distracted, and she wanted him to look at her again. To feel his eyes piercing her soul the way only he knew how.
She carefully covered his thumb on her face with one of her own and lazily rubbed it back and forth. He watched the movement for a second before his eyes found hers.
“Talk to me,” she pleaded, but it came out as a whisper.
“I wanted to give you a high five and tell you how well you played in front of everyone, but I don’t trust myself. I don’t trust myself to do something or say something…I don’t want anyone to think…”l
“Think what?” She finally asked. Hoping he would start to make sense.
“We should head to the bar,” he said dismissively and pulled away from her. He stood over the two bags of helmets and bats, but before he could bend down to pick them up, her words stopped him.
“Don’t walk away from me, Tim!”
“It’s the right thing to do,” he replied, honestly, even if he sounded a little upset, as he put the two bags over his shoulders.
“Right thing for who?” She asked to the back of his head as she followed him.
He didn’t respond. He walked over to his truck, threw the bags onto the flat bed, and opened the driver’s side door without a word.
“Tim,” Lucy croaked, feeling her throat begin to dry up. The last two days had been the most he had spoken to her since returning from UC School, and she couldn’t bear the thought of him shutting her out again.
“Please, Lucy. Now’s not the time,” he still could not look at her, but he couldn’t climb into his truck either.
“Well, let’s make it the right time.”
“Fine!” He slammed the door angrily and spun on his heel to flash her a mad glare. “You kissed me TWICE and told me it was just ‘basic biology’ or whatever. Then, we got back from undercover, and we almost slept together. We almost cheated on Chris and Ashley, and I don’t ever think cheating is okay, but I considered it to be with you…but it doesn’t matter, because you’re with Chris. You’re with Chris, so you can’t keep looking at me like that or wanting to have conversations with me. It’s not fair!” He said it louder than he intended, but after weeks of barely speaking to her, he let out a lot of pent up rage.
“I know what we almost did. I know we almost cheated. That’s why I broke up with Chris, because I realized that I don’t want to be with him.”
“You…when?” He asked, trying not to sound hopeful.
“A few days ago. I…I tried to tell you, but you’ve been ignoring me. That’s why I signed up for this stupid baseball game in the first place. I knew you were playing, too, and I figured you would finally stop ignoring me.”
“We played softball not baseball,” he corrected.
“Does that really matter?” She asked lightheartedly, finally feeling a small smile crack the tension in her jaw.
“No,” he replied softly and noticed the minor tremble in her bottom lip. He wanted to reach out and steady it with his hand, but that would have been a bad idea.
She inched imperceptibly closer to him. “We didn’t do anything wrong, but I wanted to. I probably shouldn’t admit that out loud, but I did. And, you came into my apartment. You walked inside, and I would have never invited you in if I knew you would start acting like this. Pushing me away. I can’t live like this,” her confession came out with agony dripping from every word.
“What do you want me to say?” He hated seeing her furrowed brow. The tension in her jaw. The lost look in her eyes. Pain written all over her face. It made him sick to see her like this.
“The truth,” the words came out evenly but her eyes were pleading. Lucy wanted to reach out and touch him, but she kept her hands at her sides.
Of course she would give that answer. He rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t seriously just roll…” she began, but the rest of her sassy response was drowned out by Tim’s lips slamming into hers. He wanted their next kiss to be gentle, not that he thought too much about having a “next kiss” with Lucy, but the second he looked down at her lips, he felt desperate. Desperate to kiss her. Desperate to taste her. Desperate to scrape the inside of her mouth with his tongue. Desperate to feel her soft lips against his own.
Without thinking, he reached up to her hair that was tightly braided against her skull. He buried his fingers into her scalp beneath the braid to bring her face even closer to him as he continued to put every ounce of his energy, his desire, his anguish, his everything into their kiss.
With every passing moment, she felt a little more lightheaded, and the only way to ground herself was to hold onto Tim. One hand remained firmly wrapped around his hip with her fingers digging into the hem of his jersey and the beginning of his jeans where they sat on the small of his back. The other hand grabbed at a handful of his jersey just below his collarbone and could feel the way his heart was slamming in his chest. If she could feel her own heartbeat, she would assume it would sound the same.
Every fiber of his being wanted to keep kissing her until the end of time, but his lungs betrayed him. In need of air, he pulled his mouth away from hers but tilted his head so that their foreheads rested against each other.
He stared down to see her smiling slightly while her eyes remained trained on his lips.
“How’s that for the truth?” He joked.
She couldn’t help but laugh a little, feeling all of the tension evaporate from her body. One of his large hands cradled her face with an almost impossible gentleness she didn’t expect from him after the way he kissed her.
His thumb stroked at the corner of her smile. He loved seeing her smile, especially if he is the one that put her growing grin on her face.
Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but she heard Tim‘s phone ring. With an annoyed huff, he fished the device out of his pocket. Both of them stared down at the screen to see Angela’s name flashing.
“What’s up?” Tim asked into the phone, hoping his voice sounded neutral despite the way his head was spinning.
“Where are you?” Angela asked over the crowd surrounding her at the bar. The volume was loud enough that Lucy could hear.
“I’m…” he looked down at Lucy’s lips and back into her eyes. “I’m on my way,” Tim replied.
Lucy pulled the phone away from Tim’s ear. “Tell everyone we’re not gonna make it tonight,” she said into the device and hung up on Angela.
Tim looked like he was about to ask a question, but Lucy didn’t really care what he had to say. She figured his lips would be more useful if they were kissing her, so she bridged the small gap between them to open her mouth against his.
If undercover kissing was a 10, Tim would rate kissing Lucy after a softball game at a 25.
“Lucy…” he whispered, feeling intoxicated.
“Angela drove me here, so wanna give me a ride home?” She asked.
“Are you planning on inviting me in?”
She gave a small nod in reply with a devious grin.
“We probably don’t want to bother Tamara…and I’m sure Kojo would be happy to see you if you came to my place,” he offered.
“Aww I can’t say no to giving Kojo kisses,” she beamed and walked around to the passenger side of his truck. He gracefully slid into his seat, but because of how much shorter she is, he loved watching her get into his truck with some effort.
“So, you’re coming to MY house to give MY dog kisses? What about me?” He asked, pretending to be hurt.
“Maybe if you’re a good boy, you’ll get a kiss, too,” she joked.
He put on his seatbelt with a pout. “Unbelievable.”
She leaned over to his seat and kissed his cheek. “Drive,” she ordered sweetly and settled back into her seat.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, smiling wide and started the car.