She has no idea who I am. I immediately like that about her. The gorgeous woman who sat down at the blackjack table beside me and asked me to teach her to play doesn’t recognize me as the third baseman who played pro baseball for seven years. I tell her I’m in town for a job offer when the truth is my buddy just asked me to leave my quiet existence in San Diego and unretire so I can lead the new Vegas Heat expansion team to the championship. She simplifies my career dilemma down to doing what will bring me the most joy, and as I spend the weekend with her, I realize she is bringing me more joy than I’ve experienced in years. Twelve years stand between us, but we agree it doesn’t matter as much as our feelings do. And as she takes me out to the middle of the desert to stare up at the stars, I know this is the place I’m meant to be. I agree to play. I agree to move to Vegas so I can explore whatever this is with her. But life is about to throw me a curveball I never saw coming.

It was over as quickly as it started…or at least I thought it was. But as it turns out, I can’t stay away. Life keeps throwing us together, and it seems like she’s everywhere all at once. She’s in the same house as me, in the bedroom next to mine as I dream about what she’s doing in there. She’s interning at the baseball stadium when I’m there to focus on the game, and her boss has assigned her to shadow me as we work on a project together. She’s out at the same bar with her friends when I’m out with mine. And don’t even get me started on the guy sitting next to her… I can’t keep fighting against this thing between us, but the fastballs keep flying at me, and I don’t think we have a choice. FASTBALL is the second book in the VEGAS HEAT: THE EXPANSION TEAM series. This series must be read in order.

Fighting against our relationship turns into keeping it a secret…most importantly from her father. At first it’s fun sneaking around, but then it feels like every time we’re close to coming clean, something happens to stop us. And then life takes another detour as the reminder that life is short plows into me. It’s moments like these that make me think long and hard about the future. For the first time, the twelve years between us start to have some meaning as I wonder whether I’m robbing her of the future she deserves. Just like all flyballs, all this is going to come crashing down to the ground.

Our team is assembled, and the Vegas Heat is ready for our first season. Life is perfect except for one thing. I can’t tell anybody about the love of my life. The more time passes, the more people find out. It’s only a matter of time before her father learns the truth, but it has to come from us. If it doesn’t, our relationship will become like a groundball that’ll eventually roll to a stop…but there won’t be anyone there to pick it up.

I was issued an ultimatum between the two loves of my life: her or the game. No matter what I choose, I have to give up something I love. Spring training is my first chance to show the world that Cooper Noah is back after the elbow injury that took me out of the game. It’s the stage I stand on to prove I’m the starter the Vegas Heat is paying big bucks for. But my heart isn’t in any of it. My heart can’t be in it when it’s broken. There’s no way I can have both, but I’ve made my choice. It’s time to play hardball.