Chasing Forever (The Forever Series #1)(28)

She sighed. “Fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Lucas. I’ll take you to lunch, but only because I don’t want you to tell people I flaked on our not entirely real bet.”

Lucas glanced at his wristwatch. “Great. Meet me in the lobby in twenty minutes and bring your gym shoes.”

“Are we walking?”

“Something like that,” he replied as he walked out of her office humming.

***

“What’s that?” Regan asked as she stepped off the elevator pointing at the brown paper bag in his hand.

Lucas lifted it up slightly. “Lunch.”

Regan frowned.

“What’s wrong now?”

“Two things actually,” Regan answered as she stopped next to him. “I thought I was supposed to buy you lunch and I was kind of looking forward to getting out of the office for a while. I don’t want to eat in the lobby.”

“Well, you’re in luck then,” he said placing his free hand on her lower back, guiding her toward the exit. “I have no intention of eating anywhere near the office. I need some fresh air.”

She stopped walking. “Wait. Where do you think we’re going? I’m not going anywhere with you until you explain exactly what we’re doing.”

He leaned toward her, his hot breath next to her ear. “You’ll have fun. I promise. I didn’t plan anything nefarious or inappropriate.”

She didn’t shiver. Nope. She was cold, freezing actually. “Can you give me a hint?”

“Hmm…” He held open the glass lobby door for her and then followed her. “Let’s just say our lunch is very relevant to our bet.”

She rolled her eyes. “Are we taking a cab?”

“Nope. I parked my car out front.”

Ten minutes later, Lucas stopped his car next to a park.

“We’re having a picnic?” she asked, reaching for her door handle and stepping out of the car.

“Not really.” He handed her the bag of food and walked to the trunk of his car.

“You’re getting a shovel so you can hide my body.”

“Good guess, but not today.” He pulled a duffel bag out of his trunk and tossed the strap over his shoulder. “We’re going to play baseball.”

Regan stopped walking. “Excuse me.”

He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her toward the baseball diamond. “Last night while I was lying in bed, I was thinking about our bet.”

Did he have to phrase it that way? Now she couldn’t stop picturing him in bed thinking about her. “It wasn’t a real bet, and you know it,” she responded, trailing in his wake.

“Whatever. Anyway, about our bet—” He turned to look at her and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Don’t look so scared. It’s going to be fun.”

“If you say so,” she remarked sarcastically.

He shook his head. “The bet, back to the bet. Remember how you told Richard that hitting a baseball didn’t take any athletic ability and you pretty much called baseball players a bunch of talentless losers.”

“I did not.”

“No?” He cocked his head to the side. “Well, close enough. I thought we’d have lunch at the park, and I’d pitch you a few balls so you can have an informed opinion about baseball. In the end, you may still be of the opinion that it’s a sport for talentless people, but at least you can speak from experience.”

Regan dropped the brown bag on the faded gray bench. “I’ve played before so this isn’t necessary.”

Lucas opened his black duffel bag and started pulling out a couple bats. “When was the last time you tried to hit a baseball?”

“Um…” Regan couldn’t remember. No one ever accused her of being athletic. She ran three times a week, and she actually ran track in high school, but she never played an organized sport that involved coordinating actions with running. She winced when she remembered her last experience with baseball or softball. “I think I played in gym class in sixth grade.”

“And how did that go?”

She tried to keep her lips from twitching, but she failed. “Not too bad, given my age and other things.”

“Oh, okay. Care to elaborate?”

She looked toward the baseball diamond. “Not particularly.”

He put his hands on his hips. “You’re not getting off that easy, especially when I can tell it’s a good story. Explain,” he demanded.

She sighed. “Fine. I might or might not have ducked when the ball came in my direction, and I think I might recall the sudden movement causing the bat to slide out of my hands and hit my gym teacher in an unfortunate location.” She shrugged. “I could be wrong. My mind is a little fuzzy.”

He grinned, his amber eyes startling against his thick black lashes. “Just a little fuzzy.”

She held up her thumb and her index finger about an inch apart. “Just a little, but I think I recall the gym teacher falling to his knees. He may or may not have been cupping a certain body part.”

He grabbed the baseball out of his bag and tossed it back and forth between his hands. “Well, this is really unfortunate. I’m not sure I want to pitch to you now. I’m rather fond of all the locations on my body, particularly those that might suffer a similarly regrettable hit.”