It was alarming, actually, because he knew it had so much more to do with the fact that her mother couldn’t be too far behind. AJ had apparently misunderstood the coach. When he said they were meeting him in Toronto, AJ thought he had meant for the entire series.
Since Clair was still in school, they couldn’t make it out until Saturday’s game. Sunday would be the team’s travel day with no games scheduled when coach and his family were headed out to Niagara Falls.
“Yeyo couldn’t make it out here with us,” she said as soon as she reached him.
“Who’s Yeyo?” AJ asked, feeling strangely nervous about what her answer might be. Make it out here with them?
“He’s Papa’s brother. He was supposed to fly out to see Niagara Falls with us, but his blood sugar got so high this past week he had to be admitted into the hospital. He got out last night, but the doc wouldn’t sign off on him being well enough to fly yet.”
AJ nodded, once again shaking off a relief he shouldn’t be feeling, relief that Yeyo wasn’t a friend of her mother’s, who hadn’t been able to make it out with them.
“So guess what?”
“What?” AJ smiled at the sight of his little buddy’s big bright eyes.
“The tour passes to Niagara Falls tomorrow are already paid for and non-refundable, including Yeyo’s. So we have an extra pass. Papa said it’d be okay for me to invite you to come with us.”
The invitation and what it meant had barely sunk in—he’d be spending an entire day with Clair and her mom—when AJ saw Addison walking toward them, looking even more amazing than he remembered, despite how much more covered she was this time given the weather.
She wore a long-sleeved thermal under her jersey this time with jeans and furry brown boots, and her hair was down again. Only this time instead of the playful loose curls, it was straightened, giving her a sleeker smoldering look, making AJ swallow hard, unable to take his eyes off her. As he got a closer look, the Padres beanie she wore softened the sexiness, giving her more of an adorable warm cozy look. She looked positively snugglable. Any excuses he’d already begun to spin in his head about why he wouldn’t be able to join them tomorrow were squashed. He’d be an idiot to pass Clair up on her offer.
He glanced down at Clair’s pleading eyes and smiled. “That sounds cool actually. I’ve never been.”
“You’ll come with us?” she asked excitedly.
Before he could change his mind, he nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. I don’t have any plans for tomorrow.”
“Yes!” she said then turned to her mom. “He’s coming with us tomorrow! I’m gonna go tell Papa!”
Clair took off, and AJ stood there staring into the most beautiful pair of eyes. “You don’t have to, AJ,” she said, glancing away in Clair’s direction. “I know how few days off you guys ever get between games. I’m sure you had other plans, and I know Clair’s puppy dog eyes are hard to resist, but I don’t want you feeling forced into this.”
“Not at all,” he said with a gulp, as their eyes met again. “I really don’t have plans. I was just going to relax in my hotel room tomorrow.”
“You still can. I know you guys don’t get enough days to do that either.”
“Yeah, but how often do I get the chance to see Niagara Falls?” His eyes dropped to the two silver initials hanging on the silver chain around her neck. “I like your necklace,” he said, feeling the smirk tug at the corner of his lips. “Should I be flattered?”
Addison glanced down at the “AJ” pendant that hung from the silver chain around her neck, touching it and shaking her head. When she peeked back up at him, her tinged cheeks made him smile. “No uh”—she cleared her throat, as her face turned a deeper shade of pink—“I didn’t even realize when I put it on today. They’re my initials, too.”
Seeing the shy side of Addison warmed him, and he felt himself doing something he rarely did—smiled silly. “Yeah, I remember Clair saying something about us having the same initials. I’m curious now. What is your middle name?”
“Jewel,” she said with a small smile. “We have a thing in our family about honoring our parents by naming our kids after them. Addison and Jewel are the names of my two grandmothers.” She shrugged, her smile making him breathe in deeply and feel like a sap. “I think I lucked out. Unlike a lot people who are named after someone, I really like my name.”
“I like it too,” he said as their eyes met again. Feeling the need, he inhaled even deeper before adding. “It’s very pretty. Suits you.”
“Thank you,” she said with a timid smile.
Her face going pink again had him smiling even bigger and feeling completely enthralled. It replaced the irritation he’d begun to feel that he was acting just like one of his pathetic teammates. But the moment was fleeting. Travis walked up behind her, touching her or doing something that made her flinch. Her smiling even bigger when she turned to see who it was had AJ regretting not just the compliment but agreeing to Niagara Falls tomorrow.
What the hell was wrong with him? He’d dealt with enough women in his life. A few smiles and blushes from the coach’s sweet daughter shouldn’t have him ignoring his better judgment and allowing himself to feel so captivated by someone he had no business feeling that way for.
“You just get here?” Travis asked Addison.
“This morning.”
“You never called.” Travis smirked playfully until his eyes met AJ’s icy glare and that overconfident smile flattened.
“I’ve been busy,” she said, not noticing the exchange between AJ and Travis.
Even if she had noticed their exchange, AJ wouldn’t have cared. He’d never liked the guy, and he almost hoped she’d ask him why. AJ would gladly tell her exactly why. Maybe then she wouldn’t smile as big as she did every time she saw Travis. The fact that she hadn’t bothered to call the idiot gave AJ hope that maybe his first impressions of her were unfair—way off.
Luckily for Travis, he picked up on the fact that his interruption was not a welcome one. AJ didn’t even bother addressing him. Instead, he glanced away when he was sure he’d made his unspoken message loud and clear. Back the fuck off.
AJ began working on getting his chest protector snapped up in all the right places, glad to hear Travis say he had to talk to one of the other players and walked away.
Unable to slip back into the smiling mood he’d been in just before Travis’s interruption, AJ glanced up at Addison. The flicker in her eyes followed by the pinch in her brows wasn’t missed. Like Travis, the irritation AJ was incapable of masking hadn’t gone unnoticed by her either.
Coach Lara and Clair walked up to them. The coach placed his hand on AJ’s shoulder. “I hear Clair Bear worked her magic on you this time.” He chuckled. “Glad to hear you’ll be joining us tomorrow. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t been able to convince you to stick around for the tour at the zoo.”
AJ forced a smile as he and Addison exchanged glances, but she turned away too quickly. “Yeah, I had prior commitments that evening.” He lied, annoyed that the reminder of Miranda had been inadvertently resurrected.
He’d been glad to hear that Addison’s responses to Travis then and maybe even today were likely just her being polite. She never called him. But he didn’t need her being reminded of the plans he’d lied about that evening, about his night with Miranda—the groupie. God damn it.
“Otherwise, I would’ve made it,” he said, turning back to face his coach. “And I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’ve never been. Thanks for the invite.”
They spoke of the trip for only a few minutes before they were interrupted: Coach Lara by a journalists asking for a quick interview before the game and AJ by fans wanting his autograph and pictures taken with them.