Pitching for Her Love Read Online Free Page A

readers would really care about, but it felt taboo.  It was as if bringing it up would show I had interest in him outside of the interview, which was preposterous. I’d never had a problem asking people about their relationships before.  Luckily, he brought it up himself.
    “I threw myself into the charity when my ex and I split. She was much more involved with the social aspects of my life.  She’s still very good friends with a lot of the wives and girlfriends of my teammates, so I took myself out of that situation and became much more involved with the community.  I think I’m a better person for it too,” he said when I asked how he got started with his philanthropy.
    “If you don’t mind me asking,” I began, “how did the relationship end?”
    He gave me a weak but sincere smile and nodded, as if he’d known the question was coming.
    “Sometimes two people just aren’t right for each other.  It turns out that we wanted different things, but I do wish her all the best and hope that she finds exactly what she is looking for,” he said.
    Wow, I thought. What an eloquent and charming way of not answering the question at all. But I didn’t press the matter, sensing that this was all I was going to get from him.  I decided to end with a fun question, one our readers always seemed to love.
    “So Grayson, we’re about out of time, but I have one last question for you,” I said.
    “By all means,” he said graciously.
    “Now that you’re living the single life, can you tell us anything about your ideal woman?” I asked.
    He took a moment, and his dimpled smirk came back to his face, his eyes lighting up ever so slightly.
    “Now that I’m a little older, thirty-two, I’m not into the club and bar scene as much anymore, so I need a girl who is okay with lying low.  I’m also very attracted to confidence and independence; that’s sort of been my downfall in the past.”  He stopped, but I didn’t say anything.  The way he paused made it seem like there was more there and something else he wanted to say.
    His eyes had a far-off quality that made me wonder whether he even saw me at all anymore, as if they were lost in a memory that I and my readers would never have a chance of seeing.  Right as I was about to thank him for his time, his eyes found mine again.  He was back.
    “And I love a girl with curves,” he said, winking.

Chapter 3
    I had been so flustered after Grayson’s comment that it barely registered when he asked if I would be accompanying him to the photo shoot.  I nodded yes absentmindedly and then followed him and Stan, who had been sitting only a few rows behind us during the interview.  Stan was chattering on about something a few paces ahead of us as we walked down the baseline and into the dugout.
    Had he said that on purpose?  Was the wink I saw real?  It couldn’t be.  This was a man who was incredibly attractive, that point was undeniable, despite the fact that he wasn’t my type.  I had never been self-conscious about my curves, but his comment made me very aware of them, as if he was saying that because of that, I was his type.  It made me a little uneasy, especially considering everything he had said about his ex made me think that she and I would have gotten along very well.  I too loved to go out and have a good time and engage in the social benefits of my connections.
    And yet, here I was, walking stride for stride with him to the outfield to witness his photo shoot.  There was something else about him, a certain maturity and feeling of at ease he had that seemed at odds with other men I knew.  The way I avoided the games men played was by dating casually and never getting close and always appearing distant enough to be aloof and not fall prey to their deceit.  It seemed that Grayson’s approach was to not play games at all.  It made me feel immature, though I somehow knew that wasn’t how Grayson saw me.
    “How did I do?” he asked.  It was the