7. Baird
CHAPTER SEVEN
BAIRD
The last time I’d been this nervous before a game was my first match after recovering from my injury.
I suppose that variety of nervousness had never gone away, but I’d found a way to compartmentalize those feelings.
This was different. These nerves had nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the fact that Maia was coming to see me play for the first time. It was a qualifying home game against Kingston United and would determine if we made it into the final against Dalmarnock. It was a big game.
And yet I was still more nervous about Maia. I’d gotten her VIP access so she could come meet the gaffer and we’d tell him we’re engaged.
First, I had to give Callan and John the skewed version of the truth we’d decided to give everyone other than our parents. The locker room was not the place to do it, so I had them follow me into one of the empty offices.
“What’s going on?” Callan crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. I knew his concern came from love, but man, I was getting sick of seeing that expression on his face.
Just blurt it out. Rip it off like a Band-Aid. “Maia split with her bloke a while back. I took my chance, proposed, and she said yes.”
It was mostly the truth.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell them the whole truth because it would mean asking Callan to keep a secret from Beth, and I didn’t think that was fair.
“Is this a joke?” Callan’s arms dropped to his sides.
“Nah. Never been more serious.” I pulled the ring box out of my back pocket. “Asked my mum for Aunt Sigrid’s ring.” The lads knew all about it and had taken the piss out of me for years because I hadn’t shown any signs of ever getting serious enough with a lassie to use it.
“You’ve never been in a serious relationship,” John said, taking the thought out of my head. “How the hell do you go from screwing around to engaged?”
“Aye? Can you not just date for a bit? Why the need to jump right in?” Callan demanded.
I snorted. “Mate, you proposed to Beth six months after you met. I’ve known Maia for over a year.”
“Technically, Beth and I have known each other since we were sixteen. We were dating for six months before I proposed. Unless Maia’s all right with you showing up in tabloid photos with half-naked women, I’m thinking there’s a plot hole here.”
Bloody Callan. Too smart for my own good. “Fine. She broke up with Will a while back, but I only just got up the courage this past week to propose. She said aye. That tells you everything. That’s all that matters. I’m not going to stand here and explain myself. It’s happening. That’s final.”
Callan stared at me like I’d grown three heads. “You’re serious? Have you been in love with her this whole time?”
I side-eyed John, and Callan followed my gaze. John gave him a tight-lipped nod and then sighed. “Sorry, buddy. But I promised Baird I wouldn’t tell you. He didn’t want you to have to keep a secret from Beth.”
“I’m in love with Maia,” I confessed.
Callan closed his mouth. I waited.
And waited.
Then my best mate nodded slowly as he processed all this new information. “Okay. Well, I … I’m happy for you, man. But I think getting engaged right away is a mistake.”
“Callan—”
“Nah. I’m worried about you. You’re doing a complete one eighty from sleeping with everything that moves to proposing to a lassie. Your behavior is … erratic.”
“So was yours when you were falling in love with Beth and didn’t want to man up and admit it,” I snapped back.
“Okay, okay. None of that.” John stepped between us calmly. “You guys need to chill.”
“He needs his head sorted.” Callan pointed angrily at me.
“Aye. I do.” I nodded, my words taking the wind out of his sails. “But did it ever occur to you that Maia might be the one who can help me do that?”
My best mate’s shoulders slumped.
Then, “Well … fuck.”
I curbed a smug response.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m cautiously offering my congratulations.”
My amusement fled. “You can stick your judgmental cautious congratulations up your arse.”
“For fuck’s sake, Baird. People who care about you are allowed to be concerned for you.”
“Well, I’m sick of it. I’m a grown man. I can handle myself. This is what I want. This is who I want, and that’s that.”
Callan peered at me for a few seconds. A few more and I was out the door. Thankfully, his expression relaxed, and he rounded the table to embrace me, giving me a manly thud on the back. “Congrats. I’m always here for you.”
“I know, bud. Sorry for being a prick and making you worry. I’m all good.”
John was next to embrace me. “Thank the ever-loving gods she loves you back. I was worried you were going to pine your life away.”
Callan huffed. “How the hell did I miss this?”
“Because his pining looks a lot like how he flirts with everyone.”
“Fuck off,” I replied good-naturedly, even as guilt and unease rode my shoulders. It was one thing evading the details with half-truths but another entirely to perpetuate a lie.
And the fact was that Maia wasn’t in love with me.
Not yet, anyway.
Minutes before we left the locker room for the field, Maia texted to let me know she’d arrived. Her presence was like a shot of adrenaline. I went out there with my game face on.
Kingston United might have kicked our arses if I hadn’t had Maia in the back of my mind.
She fired me up.
Our opposition was determined to take us down, and our defense was apparently asleep on the job. There were about twenty goal attempts from Kingston. A few of them went so wide I barely had to bother. The others, I saved like the machine I was. Nothing was getting past me today.
They awarded me Player of the Match.
Caledonia United were into the final.
“Oan yersel!”
The lads smacked me on the back, trying to climb me like a tree, as we strolled into the locker room after the press line.
Even having to face tabloid arsehole Craig Bennet as he asked me whether my performance was an attempt to stop the owner killing my contract didn’t bother me.
“Nah, mate. I’m just phenomenal at a job I love.
” I grinned at him like I didn’t want to punch his scummy wee face and moved on to the next interviewer.
We were all glad to get back to the locker room, though. The gaffer patted my shoulder in a fatherly gesture. “Brilliant, McMillan. Brilliant, lad. More of that in the final, eh, and we might just win this thing.”
I was not averse to a little positive attention, and I was fucking made up that we were in the Cup final, but I also really wanted to see Maia and give her the ring. The nerves wouldn’t abate until I did that and there was no going back on our plan.
Unsurprisingly, I was the first bloke out of the showers and locker room.
I said hello to some of the lads’ partners waiting in the family room.
Maia stood by herself, looking around, shifting her weight from one leg to the other like she was uncomfortable.
I frowned, wondering if anyone had approached to welcome her.
It was a damn shame Beth hadn’t been at the game to keep her company.
Maia’s face lit up when she noticed me, and my heart turned over in my chest.
She was so stunning I didn’t think there would ever come a day when she didn’t knock the breath right out of me.
“You owned it, Baird!” Eric’s lass, Katrin, yelled happily from within the circle of her cluster of WAGs (wives and girlfriends).
I gave her a chin lift because I was annoyed Maia was standing on her own. When someone was on their own and you had people around you, it was up to you to make that person feel welcome. Sometimes this crowd was cliquey, and it bugged the shit out of me.
As soon as I reached Maia, I swept her into my arms and she let out a squeak of surprise as I lifted her off her feet.
She laughed softly and embraced me before I lowered her. Maia grinned, those violet eyes shining brightly. “I’m definitely going to call you Bear from now on.”
I wrinkled my brow on an affectionate smile. “Bear?”
“Aye. I swear when you were defending the goal at one point, you looked like a hard-bodied grizzly bear towering over the other players. Then the first thing you do when you see me is bear-hug me.”
I chuckled at the imagery. “I like the addition of hard-bodied.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re not exactly soft like a bear.”
“No, I am definitely not soft.”
She glanced shyly away. I’d never seen My react shyly to anything I’d said. It was absolutely, incredibly adorable. “Anyway … you were amazing. Congrats on getting into the final. It’s phenomenal.”
“I was showing off for you,” I replied honestly.
Maia shook her head with a laugh like she thought I was teasing.
“Come with me.” I grabbed her hand and led her past everyone, not giving them the time of day. I had a mission to complete.
“Where are we going? Am I allowed down here?” Maia hissed uncertainly, tugging on my hand as I led her through doors and down corridors.
“You are if you’re with me.” The office where I’d broken the news to Callan and John was free, so I pushed in and shut the door behind us.
That’s when the nerves kicked in again.
Maia glanced around the clinical space, tucking a strand of silky dark hair behind her ear. Christ, even her ears were cute and perfect. She wore classy little diamond studs that winked in the light. I hoped the diamonds weren’t from Will or we’d have to replace them pronto.
“And we’re in here why?” My asked, arching an eyebrow.
Here goes nothing.
I tugged the ring box out of my pocket. “If we’re going to do this, you need to dress the part.” I opened the box.
Maia’s jaw dropped. “Where?” she wheezed out. “How? What?”
I snorted. “Give me your hand.”
Maia gaped. “Huh?”
Shoulders shaking with amusement, I reached for her manicured left hand and slipped the ring onto her ring finger. It fit. Perfectly.
Meant to be.
An unexpected flush of arousal shot through me seeing the ring on her. My dick started to harden.
Fuck.
Kaito’s naked arse. Baumann’s naked arse. That time the team tried to make me eat sheep balls. The gaffer’s naked arse. Ugh. Aye, that did it.
I cleared my throat. “It was my aunt Sigrid’s engagement ring, so it’s vintage. Mum said it’s a violet sapphire. I thought … it’s kind of perfect for you. Cannae believe it fits.”
Maia looked up from the ring. “It’s stunning, Baird. I can’t … I can’t wear this. It’s too special.”
“We need a ring, and I happened to have this one. I know you’ll take care of it.”
“I will.” She clasped it to her chest, eyes a wee bit bright, like she was fighting back emotion.
I reached for her other hand. “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s not … you didn’t. I just …” Maia lifted the ring into the light. “When Will … when we ended our engagement, I was genuinely heartbroken. But lately, there are things that make me question our relationship. Like the engagement ring he gave me.”
Our eyes locked, and I trembled against the need to kiss her, soothe her, make her realize I would hand her the world.
“This is a ring I’m supposed to wear for the rest of my life. It should be exactly the right ring for me. Yet Will chose this huge diamond that was showy and obnoxious. I felt awkward when people would comment on it. But this … this is perfect for me. How do you know that and he didn’t?”
Because I know you. I love you. Not who I want you to be. I held back the desperate words. “Because I pay attention, My. Maybe you’re starting to realize Will the Prick didn’t pay attention.”
Her answering laugh sounded like a half sob. “Aye, I think you’re right.”
I tugged her into a cuddle. “Are you okay?”
Maia hugged me tightly. “Aye. I will be. Thanks for trusting me with your aunt’s ring.”
I want to trust you with it for the rest of my damn life.
Clearing my throat again, I released her before I did something like kiss her until neither of us could breathe. “Now for the fun part. We go tell the gaffer we’re engaged.”
She nibbled on her lush lower lip. “I feel bad telling your manager before I tell my parents.”
Shit. “We … we can wait. If you want.”
“No. Let’s do it. I’ll tell my parents tonight.”
At her disturbed expression, I was almost afraid to ask. “You don’t think it’ll go well?”
She grimaced. “Not because it’s you. But because I’m ‘engaged’ again after only a month of breaking off my last engagement.”
“One, don’t air-quote engaged, or you’ll give this whole thing away.”
Maia snort-laughed but nodded.
“And second, you’re telling them the truth. That this is … fake.” I hated that word. “So, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“Hmm. I’m glad one of us thinks so.”