Chapter 9
Emmett
As soon as I’m back in my room from my morning run, I slip off my sweat-soaked shirt, tossing it on the floor to remind myself to separate it from my clean clothes when I finish packing.
While we were only in Vegas for one night, Reese and I are headed straight from here to San Diego to meet the team for a series of road games.
I had to pack more than I would for a simple overnight stay and don’t want my workout clothes stinking up everything else I’ll be wearing the rest of the week.
Typically, I find this little conference a waste of time, taking an entire day away while in season, but I learned more last night than I ever thought I would.
Not about baseball or the inner workings of the league, but about Reese.
It was the first time she’s shown me any real vulnerability, and instead of resenting this time away, I was grateful for a chance to be alone with her. Where she couldn’t hide in her office, and I couldn’t hide behind my team.
It was . . . nice.
I’m still catching my breath from my run when my phone rings. I dig it out of my running belt to find a picture of my daughter covering the entire screen and her name scrolling across the top.
“Hey, Millie,” I say through hard-earned breaths as I answer the phone.
“Hey, Dad. Just calling to check in on you. How was the conference?”
“It was . . .” I hesitate. “Not as terrible as it usually is.”
“Glad to hear it. Is that because your hot boss was there? Reese is a little nicer to look at than Arthur, huh? Oh my God.” I can hear the grimace in her voice.
“Is that why you sound like that? Like you’re completely out of breath.
Is she there with you right now? What the hell did I just interrupt?
Jesus, Dad. Are you sure you’re healthy enough for those kinds of activities? ”
I shake my head, though she can’t see me. “Hey, Miller?”
“Yeah?” She laughs.
“Shut up.”
Her laughter only grows.
I love my daughter but goddamn, the girl can talk shit. She can take it too, which is what I get for raising her around a baseball team her entire life.
“I did an early lift and just got back from my morning run. So, while yes, I’m definitely healthy enough for those kinds of activities, that’s not what’s happening right now. Get your mind out of the gutter, you freak.”
She chuckles on the line.
I go into the connected bathroom, turning my hat backward and grabbing a clean hand towel to run over my face, trying to clean up the dripping sweat.
“What are you up to?” I ask.
“Me and Maxie boy just got on the plane and it’s making me miss the season we got to fly with the team through the private airport. TSA was a nightmare today.”
“Yeah, I bet Max is missing it too. Do you remember how hard he used to sleep on the team plane in that bed that was set up for him in the back?”
“Well, I can promise you, he’s having no issues with that. We’ve been in our seats for all of five minutes and he’s already passed out in my lap.”
“When he wakes up, tell my boy I say hi and that I can’t wait to see him.”
“I will.”
“I can’t wait to see you too, Millie. I’m glad you two are joining us for a couple of road games.”
I saw my daughter just yesterday morning, but now that I’m spoiled enough to have her living in my same city, I’ll take every chance I can get to spend time with her.
It’s been just the two of us for the past twenty or so years, and while Miller is building her own family now, she’s the entirety of mine.
Maybe it’s why I’m so close to my players and staff I work with.
When Miller left home at eighteen and I moved into coaching in the majors, I was all of a sudden alone, and the team became my new extended family.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you too. Kai is having so much fun, Dad. He’s loving coaching the guys.”
“Well, he’s damn good at it too.” As I sling the hand towel over my shoulder, a knock sounds on my hotel room door. “One second, Millie. I think housekeeping is here already. They must not know we have a late checkout.”
Crossing the room, I keep the phone pressed to my ear and open the door.
But it’s not housekeeping I find on the other side.
It’s Reese.
“Morning,” she says with a smile, but her mouth quickly drops into parted lips when her eyes drift down my sweat-soaked face, over my bare chest that’s still pounding as I continue to catch my breath.
“Hi.” I sound just as surprised as she looks right now.
As she stands on the other side of the door, I let my eyes roam.
If she weren’t right in front of me, I’m not sure I’d recognize her.
She’s in a pair of well-fitted blue jeans, and I’ve never seen her wear denim before but goddamn it looks good stretched over her thick thighs.
Her high heels have been swapped for a pair of sneakers, and her typically sleek blonde hair is covered in a Warriors’ team hat, the ends curled in a loose, casual wave.
It’s a stark contrast from the business Barbie I usually see around the office. Today Reese looks more like the baseball-loving girl next door and it fucking works for her.
It works for me too.
“Dad?” My daughter’s voice in my ear acts as the coldest kind of shower. “That’s your hot boss at your door right now, isn’t it?”
I close my eyes for a moment. “I gotta go, Miller.”
“I’m sure you do. Tell my new stepmom I said hi!”
“Something is seriously wrong with you, you know that? Who the hell raised you?”
Both Reese and my daughter laugh, but thankfully, my boss can’t hear Miller through the phone.
“Love you, Dad.”
“Love you too. Fly safe and I’ll see you tonight.”
I hang up the phone, giving Reese my attention again. “Sorry about that,” I say, using the towel to wipe my face again.
When I sling it back over my shoulder, I don’t miss the way her cheeks have turned a shade of pink or the way those blue eyes work their hardest to focus on my face.
She clears her throat. “Miller is coming to San Diego?”
“She is. Max too.”
“You know, I’ve never formally met her before.”
“You haven’t?” My head rears back. “How is that even possible?”
“I’ve seen her around the field with you, Kai, or Kennedy, but yeah. I haven’t met her myself.”
“I’ll introduce you this weekend. But fair warning, she’s absolutely insane and will most likely say something highly inappropriate, so just ignore that.”
A smile lingers on her lips. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I lean a shoulder into the doorway and catch Reese quickly checking me out again.
I like working out to clear my head and to strengthen my body, but my boss’s attention will be good motivation too.
“What’s up?”
She hesitates. “I just wanted to apologize for being a little word-vomity last night. It was a long day, and that wine was disturbingly easy to drink.”
“You don’t need to apologize for anything. It was nice . . . talking with you. Buzzed or not.”
“It was.” She takes a deep breath, rocking back on her heels. “And I was thinking that maybe we could call a truce that lasts longer than just last night.”
I feel my smile fighting its way through. “I think I’d be up for that.”
“Perfect. Because I want to take you somewhere before our flight.”
“Right now?” I glance down at my bare chest, reminding Reese I’m half naked.
“You can put a shirt on first.”
“Are you sure you want me to do that?”
Her mouth opens to say something in retort, but nothing comes out. “Just meet me in the lobby in five, Montgomery.”
“Montgomery, huh?”
Reese starts toward the elevators, not taking the bait.
“Montgomery is awfully close to ‘Monty’! You know, the name that all my friends call me!”
She’s got this playful smile on her lips as she looks back at me over her shoulder. “Never going to happen!”
I pull the foldable seat out next to Reese before sitting in it. We’re up high, sitting out in right field. I wouldn’t exactly call these seats nosebleeds, seeing as most triple-A stadiums aren’t big enough to have nosebleeds, but they’re the closest thing you can get to them here.
While Las Vegas doesn’t have any major league teams, they do have minor league ones, and it just so happens that our triple-A team is in town to play theirs.
I still can’t get over seeing Reese pull out her phone at the front gate to scan the tickets she purchased online. It was so . . . normal of her.
“You know you could’ve called ahead and told them we were coming. You didn’t have to buy tickets and I’m sure they would’ve found you a closer seat.”
She shrugs, a smile on her face and eyes on the field. “I know, but I didn’t want to make the players nervous knowing we were here. And besides, when was the last time you got to just sit and watch a game? Don’t you miss watching baseball as a fan?”
Yeah. I do. I really do. Other than highlights, the only full games I watch these days are our own.
We won’t get a full game in today, maybe only three or four innings before we need to head to the airport for our flight, but I sit back in my seat and let myself enjoy it.
“Have you always been a baseball fan?” I ask Reese.
“Yes. I would beg my parents to bring me to the field and let me spend time with my grandfather. I loved everything about it. The people who worked there. The fans that were so diehard and so superstitious. I practically lived at the stadium during the summer, staying up late and watching every home game, and I truly can’t think of a better childhood than the one I had. ”
I know there’s a game starting right in front of us, but I keep my eyes on her. I didn’t know that extending our truce would also extend Reese’s honesty with me but I’m glad it does.
She laughs at herself. “I used to invite the players to my birthday parties because I genuinely thought they were my friends. I didn’t pick up on the fact that it was their job to spend every day at the field. That they weren’t just there because they wanted to be, like I was.”
“And did they go?”
“Of course. Probably because my grandfather was the team owner, and they felt as if they had to.”