Curveball: A Second Chance Romance (Double Play Series Book 1) Read online

  Curveball:

  A Second Chance Romance

  ***

  Double Play Series

  Nicole Rodrigues

  Table of Contents

  Curveball : A Second Chance Romance

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Going Home Sneak Peek

  Curveball

  A Second Chance Romance

  Their young love ignited rapidly but diminished in the blink of an eye. A heart wrenching, second chance romance, that will make you believe, that everything happens for a reason.

  Charlotte Daniels is still as sassy as I remember her eighteen years ago, but now, she has a bite to match that bark. It doesn't help that she grew into an irresistible woman, that I can't keep my hands off of, not that I ever could.

  Except now, there are two, very good reasons to keep my hands to myself. Yep...sometimes when people say they do something, they don't.

  A mistake I thought we made, comes barreling back into my life, but the way I'm looking at it now, it doesn't seem to be a mistake. It seems like a blessing, like the raft that could pull me out of the deep waters, that have been dragging me down for a very, long time.

  ***

  I've always been sure of two things:

  1. Passion is dangerous. It will suck you in quickly. It will make you feel euphoric but then burn you; slowly and painfully until you're left empty and abandoned.

  2. Gabriel Gavinwood was my passion.

  I've cut him out, not wanting to watch the train wreck, that replaced the boy I loved all this time. Fate has other plans though, and now our lives collide and there's no going back.

  When life throws me another curve ball and I run into said boy, literally, can I ignore that passion that once consumed us? Should I even try? Can we move on from our toxic past, build a future together and have our happily ever after?

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you for all support I received from friends and family, sharing my page and my first two novels. Thank you to everyone that bought them and enjoyed reading them. I want to thank the amazing reviewers who took time out, to read the ARC’s and leave reviews! You all are the real MVP’s!

  Thank you to my husband, for pushing me to continue on, even when the beginning was slow. Thank you for being my sounding board and listening to my rambling about fictional characters throughout the day and night. Thank you for teaching me the ins and outs of baseball and for having a bootylicious toosh.

  About the Author

  Nicole Rodrigues is a high school English teacher turned romance author who lives outside Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, three kids and one fur baby, She enjoys hanging with her family, attempting Pinterest projects, reading other steamy romance novels and coffee…lots and lots of coffee.

  Her other series, Always in Your Corner and Pinky Promise are out now and available for Download on the Amazon Kindle App.

  Prologue

  Gabriel

  “I can’t believe we’ll be in high school tomorrow. I’m so freakin’ scared,” says Charlotte leaning against my kitchen counter.

  Everyone is outside in my backyard for a cookout, but I asked her to come in and help me with the drinks. I walk over to the fridge to get out some of my mama’s sweet tea and walk over to her as I lean against the counter.

  “We’ll be fine. You got me, remember?” I say smiling as I rub her cheek.

  She blushes, and I know our friendship is changing. I’ve known her since we were born. Our mamas were best friends in high school, and somehow managed to get our dads to marry them and get them pregnant around the same time.

  I’m six months older than Charlotte, but her maturity trumps my older age tenfold. We may have known each other since we were little, but there sure was nothing little about Charlotte Daniels anymore. We were treading in dangerous territory and more and more I keep picturing what it would be like to make her my girlfriend.

  “My hero,” she says laughing while wrapping her arms around my neck for a hug.

  I have to make sure our bottoms weren’t pressed together because I didn’t want her to feel how badly I wanted her and make her run away scared.

  My hands rest on her lower back and I squeeze her in a tight hug. We break the hug, but I have to find out, I have to test the waters and I have to taste her. I couldn’t go to the first day of school tomorrow with other guys seeing her, and wanting her, and lose my chance.

  I put my hand on her cheek and slowly move my lips to brush against hers. She gasps and pulls back while slapping me right across the face.

  “Gabriel Gavinwood! What the hell was that for?” she blushes.

  “I just...I…”

  She then stops whatever I was going to say by crushing our lips together. She pulls her body flush against mine, and when her thigh connects with my hard-on, she gasps again.

  Instead of pushing me away, she pulls me closer and sweeps her tongue in my mouth. I run my hand up and down her back until we hear voices approaching the door. We break away quickly as our mothers approach the kitchen, looking at us.

  “How’s the sweet tea comin’ along?” Mama asks me curiously, looking from me to Charlotte.

  “Sweet,” Charlie says while looking at me and smiling.

  She gives me a quick wink and walks to the backyard leaving me in the kitchen with both our mama’s, some sweet tea and a hard-on. If I wasn’t in love with her before, I was now.

  Charlotte

  “How was the first day? I’m glad we have English together, at least,” Gabriel says, as he holds my hand and we walk home together.

  He kissed me in school today and told people I was his girlfriend, which is all I’ve been focused on. I’ve never felt like this for a boy before, I’m only 14 and I feel absolutely crazy. We have been friends since we were kids and I never really looked at him in any other way.

  I noticed his body this summer when we were swimming in the lake one day. He has definitely filled out, probably from all his baseball workouts. His arms got more muscular and he has ridges on his abs that I don’t remember ever being there. I noticed the bulge in his pants when I took off my coverup and jumped into the lake in my bikini. I want to see it up close, without his bathing suit covering it and that scares me. What is happening?

  “I…yeah, it’s good. Great. It was great,” I stutter.

  He stops walking and looks over at me.

  “What happened? Did someone do somethin’ to you?” he asks, his southern voice laced with a possessive tone.

  “No...no,” I say quickly.

  Gabriel has always been a hothead, especially when it comes to me. Now that we are dating, I know that if a boy in school even looked at me the wrong way, Gabe would rip his head off.

  He visibly relaxes and pulls me closer to him.

  “Then, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothin’ is wrong just...I...”

  “What?” he asks, moving a strand of hair out of my face and putting it behind my ear.

  The movement has his fingers brushing against my skin and some
thing inside me bursts. I grab the back of his head and plunge my lips forward onto his. He grabs me by my shoulders, steadying us and pulls back.

  “Charlie…”

  “I don’t know what’s happenin’ to me,” I say, shaking my head looking down. “I’m sorry…” I start to walk away, and he grabs me by my wrist.

  “It's natural, Charlotte. Don't be embarrassed.”

  “It’s not, it’s a sin. I'm...all I thought about all day was...I need to go home, okay? See ya tomorrow.”

  “For the record,” Gabriel says, “I've thought about it, too. But we can wait. I'd wait forever for you, Charlotte Daniels.”

  I smile, shyly, looking away, and we walk the rest of the way back to my house, hand in hand. When we get to my front porch, he kisses me softly on the lips. I walk through the door and shut it, slumping against it with a smile.

  “Y'all been doin’ a lot of that?” my dad says, startling me out of my daydreams.

  “Daddy, you scared me! Doin’ what?”

  “Kissin’. Ya know what happens after kissin’, Charlotte. The Lord-”

  “I know, Daddy. We ain't...we’re just kissin'.”

  I shake my head and walk upstairs to my room. I put my backpack down on the floor and reach in my back pocket for my phone.

  Charlotte: Dad caught us kissin’. Gotta be more discreet next time.

  Gabriel: Oh yeah? So, I'm gettin’ a next time, huh?

  Charlotte: I hope so. You're my boyfriend, ain't ya?

  Gabriel: Don't forget it, baby cakes.

  Charlotte: Baby cakes? Not so original there, Gavinwood.

  Gabriel: You're my baby, and you're soooo delicious, like a cake. Baby cakes.

  Charlotte: How do ya know I'm soooooo delicious? Ya only tasted one small part of me.

  Gabriel: If that small part was a preview of the rest, we’re both in a heap of trouble. I wouldn't ever let us leave the house.

  Charlotte: Down boy, I do actually wanna get to heaven, contrary to my sinnin’ behavior this afternoon.

  Gabriel: Wait until marriage?

  Charlotte: We’ll see how it goes, but not anytime soon. No matter how much I want ya to test your delicious theory. ;)

  Gabriel: As long as I can still kiss ya, I can wait until you're ready. I don't need a road to heaven, you bein’ my girl, is heaven enough.

  Charlotte: Swoon. Stop it, Gavinwood, I'm tryim’ be a good Christian girl. See ya tomorrow, handsome.

  Gabriel: Night baby cakes. ;)

  6 months later...

  I'm ogling Gabriel from across the church pew and his gaze snaps to mine, sensing my impure thoughts. He smirks, while winking at me and I feel my cheeks redden.

  Every day is a struggle, to keep our passion at no more than touching and kissing. It's driving me completely insane.

  It hasn't always been up to us, though. Our parents have effectively teamed up behind our backs to keep our dates PG. We never seem to be alone, and all our goodnight kisses are cut short either by the porch light flickering on and off or my father just walking right on out.

  “Father Stan is in front, not to the right,” my father hisses to me.

  I huff out a breath and focus my attention back to the front of the church. He finishes his sermon and church finishes up. I bounce on my heels, waiting for Gabriel to come take my hand so that we can walk out like we always do, every Sunday.

  “Hello sir. How are ya doin’ this fine Sunday?” Gabriel says to my father.

  I try to hide a laugh at his brown nosing.

  “Great, Gabriel. Can I expect my daughter home before 8 this time ‘round?”

  “Daddy,” I gasp, lightly slapping his shoulder.

  “8:05 ain’t 8,” he complains.

  “Yes, sir. I'll do ya one better, 7:55.”

  My father narrows his eyes, wondering if Gabriel is being a smartass or polite, and I'm wondering the same.

  “Keepin’ an eye on y'all. This town talks,” my father says, kissing the top of my head, and walking towards my mother.

  Gabriel grabs my hand and we walk towards town. He texted me this morning, that he wanted to grab a sandwich and eat lunch by the lake today. It's private by the lake, the spot all the kids go to fool around and make out, and my hands are clammy just thinking about it.

  “Why are ya shakin’?” Gabriel asks, eyeing me out of the corner of his eyes.

  He spreads the blanket down on the grass and motions for me to sit, putting our sandwiches to the side.

  “I'm...I'm not,” I stutter.

  “Charlie, I ain't the big, bad wolf. What's the matter?”

  He moves closer, putting a strand of hair behind my ear.

  “Nothin’. I just...I keep thinkin’ about us. Ya know...doin’ more than just kissin’ and touchin’. I know it's wrong, but I kinda wanna...I…”

  I'm at a loss of what to say. What do I want? We shouldn't take our relationship further than what we have, but I so desperately want to.

  “Charlotte, you tell me what ya want. You know what I want, but I ain't gonna push ya. If kissin’ and touchin’ is all ya wanna do for now, I'll kiss and touch ya till my lips turn purple.”

  He smiles, cupping my cheek and I close my eyes. His touch feels so good, too good. I move my mouth to his, lightly brushing our lips together. His kiss electrifies every cell in my body, and before I know it, I'm straddling him, shamelessly grinding my body into his.

  “Oh Gosh, what am I doin’?”

  I move back quickly off him, falling to the blanket and landing on my butt.

  “Easy,” Gabriel says, rubbing my back. “We didn't do nothin’, don’t stress, okay?”

  I nod and sit back, away from his grasp. I swear if he touches me, I'm going to lose all my self-control.

  “Can we...let's just eat, okay?”

  “Whatever you want, baby cakes.”

  He smiles, taking a big bite of his sandwich and my gaze zeroes in on his hands. They're massive, how have I never noticed them before? His thick sub looks minuscule in his big paws, and I want them all over my body. Stop it, Charlotte, you're only 15.

  I focus on my sandwich, putting all dirty thoughts of Gabriel, and what his big strong hands are capable of, in the back of mind.

  6 months later…

  “Can I ask ya somethin’?” I ask my best friend Savannah, who just happens to be Gabriel's twin sister.

  “What's up?” she asks, perching her glasses on top of her head.

  “Do you...have you ever, ya know...done anything with a boy?”

  “Oh no, don't tell me ya did the nasty with my brother. Brother/sister code trump's best friend code. I don't wanna hear this,” she says putting her hands over her ears.

  She twists her face in disgust and I laugh, throwing my pen at her.

  We're in her room doing homework. There is just a thin wall between us and Gabriel. The Gavinwood’s have the, ‘no closed door with the opposite sex policy’, so when I hang out with Gabriel, it's different than when I hang with Savannah. Her door is closed but I know the walls are thin. Thin enough for Gabriel to hear our conversation if we talk loud enough.

  “Stop,” I hiss. “We didn't...we haven't. We just kiss and touch, nothin’ more. You know as well as I do that our parents would have us both drowned in holy water if we do anything.”

  I shake my head, getting more and more frustrated every day. If we wanna make love, I don't see why we can't. I'm having a hard time believing these days, that people waited all the way until they got married, to have sex. Or maybe that's why people got married so young, they couldn't wait.

  “If ya ask me, it's a load of bologna,” Savannah says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  “What is?”

  “The no sex till marriage thing. Ya ain't killin’ nobody, what's the difference?”

  “Have you?”

  “Nah. I ain't found anyone worth it yet, but when I do, I sure as hell ain't waitin’. I'm gonna do what I feel like doin’, not what everyone wants me to
do.”

  “I know it's weird to talk about but, all I been thinkin’ about, is how bad I wanna. Gabe does too, but I'm nervous. Ya know what they say, Sav.”

  “Screw what they say. Ya wanna bang my brother, go bang my brother. Just...don't do it when I'm around. And don't tell me the details. Y'all gross me out with all that kissin’ as it is,” she says, shaking her head.

  I laugh and shake my head too. She puts her glasses back on her head and goes back to her homework. Even if Gabriel and I did want to take that next step, it's going to be impossible to get rid of our security detail, aka our parents.