A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

Julian could swear that Tony looked straight at Nina and winked. He looked between the two and finally shook off the absurd notion.

Mitch struck out the next batter and the Tide was up to bat. Nina clutched her hands like an anxious mother. Todd Cameron, the lead off, looked up at Nina as he headed to the plate, grinned and waved. Nina waved and blew him a kiss.

Julian stared but didn’t say anything. Things just got stranger and stranger. He was willing to put the first off as a fluke, but when the third batter came up and gave Nina a thumbs-up, he wondered what the hell he was missing.

After the batter flied out to center field, advancing the two runners on a sacrifice, Julian leaned over, intending to ask Nina exactly what he was missing out on, but she put her hand on his arm and squeezed hard.

“Just a minute. Tony is up!” she said excitedly

Her fingers dug into his arm like little daggers, but he didn’t pry her away. He was too interested to see what would happen when Tony Parker came up. And, too, he was interested to get a close up glimpse of what he hoped would be his company’s golden PR boy.

Tony’s face was drawn in concentration as he began the walk to the plate. He swung the bat a few times then stopped, two inches out of the box. He turned and glanced first to the right of Julian and Nina and dipped his head in acknowledgment. Then he turned and scanned behind home plate until his gaze lighted on Nina.

He lost the look of intense concentration, and his face relaxed into a smile. He gave her an exaggerated wink and then held up his fist.

Julian’s mouth fell open as he glanced between the two. Nina’s hand tightened further on his arm when Tony took the first strike.

“Come on, come on,” she whispered.

The next two were balls. Then he swung at the second strike. If he didn’t hit soon, Julian was going to lose the feeling in his arm.

The next pitch, Tony fouled back. The next was a ball, making it a full count.

“I can’t watch,” Nina whispered.

The pitcher wound up, threw a fastball and Tony swung. The bat connected with a sweet crack that to anyone listening signaled a smash hit. The ball sailed over the center-field wall into the upper deck. Three-run homer to start the game.

Nina lunged to her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs. “Did you see?” she yelled at Julian. “Did you see?”

“I saw, I saw!” he said

He laughed as she continued to bounce up and down. Tony rounded the bases, taking high fives from the first-and third-base coaches. He met his teammates at the plate, where the group jumped up and down and pounded on Tony.

Tony looked up at Nina and pointed. She leaped to her feet again and pointed back, her smile so wide Julian was sure she’d hurt something.

Then she glanced over in the direction that Tony had first looked when he’d come up to the plate and then back down at Julian.

“I’ll be right back, okay? I’ll just be a second.” She said.

She hurried up the row of seats and then cut over to the section that adjoined the home-plate area. Julian watched as she hugged two young men, but he didn’t really see their faces clearly. They glanced over in Julian’s direction once but then didn’t look back as they chatted with Nina.

A few minutes later, she returned and took her seat beside Julian again. He was beginning to think he’d been dropped in an alternate reality. Was there anyone here she didn’t know?

When she’d offered Tony to him on a virtual silver platter, he’d only assumed that she’d contacted him through his agent and offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse. He hadn’t considered that she had such a connection to his team. And what connection that was had Julian insanely curious.

He leaned over so she’d hear over the still insanely celebrating crowd. “What am I missing here?” he asked her.

She smiled. “I’ll explain later. Just enjoy the game.”

Mysterious little wench. He’d make her pay later when he had her alone. The rest of the game followed a similar pattern. Nina seemed to know every damn person on the team. He began to have uncomfortable thoughts, like whether or not Nina was involved with Tony Parker. It would certainly explain how she’d been able to get him to agree to the endorsement deal.

But it also brought up a lot of questions. Like whether she was using Julian to further her career. He glanced sideways at her. No way. It would take someone pretty diabolical to have a man like Tony Parker on the line and then sleep with Julian to secure his business. Why would she even need it if she was involved with Parker? The man made a lot of money, even without the million-dollar endorsement deals. He was one of the highest-paid baseball players in the league.

Before he could get carried away with thoughts that would only enrage him, he made himself back down and quit speculating. He’d find out before the end of the day.

One way or another. And then he’d decide what to do about Nina. And his account.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

When the game ended after the visiting team failed to score the necessary runs to overtake the Tide in the ninth inning, Nina stood, her cheeks flush with excitement.

“We’re going to have an awesome season. I just know it!” she said.

He stood beside her unsure of what would happen now. Nothing had gone the way he’d anticipated.

Sure enough, she grabbed his hand and began pulling him toward the exit. “Come on,” she said.

But they didn’t leave the stadium. Instead they went down to a restricted area, where Nina flashed a pass he hadn’t seen up to this point. He shouldn’t be surprised. But when they stopped outside the players’ locker room, he was.

They waited a good while. Several members of the press came and went. Finally one of the players stuck his head out the door, looked up and down and then his eyes brightened when he saw Nina.