Getting Wound Up: A Sapphire Falls/ Love Between the Bases Novel-- PART ONE by Erin Nicholas Page A

tough. The heat from where her knee was pressed between his traveled up her thigh to the spot that had been secretly aching for him ever since bumping into him in the bathroom doorway last night. Then there were those piercing blue eyes boring into hers.
    “Okay, third pitch,” she said, replaying it in her mind. “You released too late.”
    He nodded. “I did.”
    “And on the eighth pitch, you didn’t stride out as far as you should have.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Okay.”
    “And there was one…” She thought back. “Maybe like twelve, where you—”
    “Okay,” Eli cut in. “Got it. I made some mistakes.”
    She started shaking her head. “No. You had the best tryout of the day. If they don’t sign you they’re crazy. Because in spite of those minor things, you were throwing hard and accurate and—”
    The waitress arrived with their plates just then.
    “I’m going to hit the restroom.”
    Eli slid off the stool, his legs tangling with hers for a moment, before he got free and stood.
    Caitlyn watched him retreat and felt like a complete failure in the area of cheerleader and general supportive friend.
    She picked up a fry and nibbled on it, but her appetite had disappeared. Instead she reached for her second shot and tipped it back. Then she reached for her phone.
    A moment later her brother picked up. “Hey, how’d it go?”
    “He did great.”
    “Sounded like it,” Bryan agreed.
    “You heard?”
    “We all heard. We were with Chip. I made my famous cheese dip.”
    Caitlyn grinned. Of course Sapphire Falls had turned Eli’s tryout into a party. She loved that. This tryout wasn’t just about Eli’s family—it was about everyone who loved him and knew he deserved this.
    “Well, he doesn’t think so,” she said.
    “You gotta convince him.”
    “I’m trying. I was wondering…what would you do if you were here?”
    She wasn’t just failing Eli here. Bryan had trusted her to get this done because he couldn’t. He’d told her “You’re my legs, Cait. You gotta get Eli to Kansas City”. She didn’t think her brother actually realized how his words had stabbed her in the heart.
    This whole kidnapping plan was Bryan’s idea. It was exactly the kind of thing Bryan loved. He would have made the road trip into some huge adventure and he and Eli and Ty—because of course Ty would have come along—would have gone out on the town tonight and partied and they would have helped Eli forget any doubt about how great he’d done today.
    But a truck had crossed the centerline on a mountain road where Ty and Bryan had been biking a little over a year ago, and now Bryan spent part of his time in a wheelchair and all of his time with two legs that didn’t do all of the things he needed and wanted them to do anymore. The spinal cord injury was incomplete and Bryan had come a long way in the sixteen months since he’d been thrown down the side of the mountain, but the fact remained that he’d never be one hundred percent. Coming with Eli to Kansas City would have required the wheelchair. Bryan hated the thing, and in the past couple of months had started simply avoiding things that would make him rely on the chair.
    It killed her a little bit each time she watched him do something that was harder than it should be or took longer than it used to.
    “I’d take him out and get him drunk and laid,” Bryan said.
    Caitlyn felt her stomach flip. Well, they were working on the first and as for the second…
    “But that’s probably what I would have done even if he was in a celebratory mood,” Bryan said. “I’m sure there are other options.”
    “Well, we’ve each already had two shots of Jäger,” she said. “So you and I are not totally on different pages.”
    Bryan chuckled. “Jäger? You? Even after New Year’s?”
    Caitlyn made a disgusted sound. “You have to admit that Eli is a better option than Tim for Jäger-kissing.”
    She held her breath. What would Bryan say to that? To even the