Off the Hook Read Online Free Page A

“she’s my ex-wife.”

Chapter 2
It was all I lived for, to play baseball.
—Mickey Mantle
    Ten years, that’s how long he’d gone without saying a word about Kate or what had happened in Vegas, so Liam didn’t wait around to hear what Jessie had to say about the bombshell he’d dropped. He and Kate had made a huge mistake back then and he’d corrected it.
    He’d been right to do what he did—he never doubted that; he’d just done it the wrong way, is all. And then he’d made it worse by never working up the balls to call her after it was all done. Not even once.
    The sound of Jessie’s too-big boots made him glance up from the rotting deck he’d been ripping apart on the front of the Orange cabin. This late in the day, the weak spring sun was already behind the mountain; he should have waited until tomorrow to start this job. But the indoor jobs all required more of a gentle hand, and all he wanted to do right then was smash things.
    “For the love of God, woman, are you ever going to get boots that fit you?”
    “What for?” Jessie frowned as if she didn’t understand why he’d even suggest such a thing. “These are fine.”
    They weren’t fine—they were an old pair left behind by either a former guest or an employee—but Jessie had never been one to waste money on anything when she could make do with something else. Standing there in what used to be Da’s old black-and-gray wool sweater and a tight black toque, she looked a damn sight more at home than Kate did in that ridiculously thin raincoat and red dress. He hadn’t even seen the whole dress, just the hem poking out below the jacket, but going by the shoes she had clutched in her hand, he’d given his imagination free rein on what the dress looked like, and, well… whew .

    And as for those yellow gum boots…he should have thought they were as ridiculous as the raincoat, because they obviously weren’t built for work, and yet on her, shit, they added a huge layer of cute to a look he already knew was sexy as hell.
    Clearing his throat, Liam tossed one of the spindles from the railing into the growing pile to be burned. “Don’t suppose she had a change of heart and called in a Helijet?”
    “Nope, but she did opt to stay in one of the A-frames, I’m guessing so she won’t risk running into you every five minutes.” Her response didn’t overly surprise him, but he could have lived without the derisive snort that followed. “So are you going to fill me in here or what? I mean, jeez, Liam. Married? How did I not know this?”
    “It was a long time ago,” he said, suddenly tired. “We were young.”
    “I’m guessing stupid, too. Do Ro and Finn know?”
    “No.”
    “God help me.” Lifting her face skyward, Jessie gripped her head between her hands and sighed, long and loud. “Start talking, because I need to know what I’m working with here.”
    Liam swiped his sleeve across his cheek, a habit he’d picked up standing out on the mound when he needed a second to catch his breath. From the second he’d realized it was Kate walking toward the lodge, he’d been fighting to breathe normally, and it was getting harder by the minute.

    “It was like ten years ago,” he said slowly. “A couple guys on the team and I took a road trip to Vegas at the end of the season, and she was there with some friends.”
    He could still see her standing at the far roulette table inside the Bellagio, cheering on her friend, who was being incredibly unimaginative by betting red twenty-one over and over again.
    She looked great—Kate, not the friend—in those skintight jeans and black lacy tank top, which he later discovered had two rips in the right seam, both of which were held together by strategically placed safety pins. He’d watched her for a couple of minutes, fascinated by the way she moved and the sound of her laugh, before he finally went over to talk to her. They were both Canadian, both from B.C., and both single. She was