Chapter twenty Scottie #2
My heart cracks in my chest as I watch him walk down the sidewalk, back out to his car, and drive off. And then I start to sink down to the ground.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Grady says, kneeling and catching me before I hit the ground as a sob escapes my lips. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. He’s gone.”
My body is shaking uncontrollably. All the fear, all the regret—it’s leaving my soul through my tears as Grady lifts me in his arms and starts to carry me to the front door.
“Grady! Grady!” My mother’s voice breaks through my crying, but I keep my face buried in Grady’s chest. “Is she okay?”
“I’ve got her, Lisa.” He assures her, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Andrew’s gone and he won’t be coming back, I can promise you that.”
“I was watching in case he got out of line, but I wanted to keep my distance too.” Her voice is shaky. “What did he say?” my mother asks as she starts stroking my back. “Scottie, baby. Are you all right?”
Grady hoists me tighter in his arms. “She’s going to be. I need to get her inside. That was a lot of stress on her and the baby and I need to make sure they’re okay. I’ll text you.”
My mother presses a kiss to my cheek. “He’s gone, baby. You’re safe now.”
Little does she know just how true that is, especially here in Grady’s arms.
Grady opens the front door and takes me straight to the couch. Depositing me carefully on the cushions, he props my feet up on a pillow as I fight to take in breaths.
Is this what a panic attack feels like?
“Breathe, Scottie. Breathe.” He pushes my hair back from my face, kissing my forehead. “I’m going to get you some water. Just keep taking deep breaths.”
By the time he returns, I feel like my heart rate is getting back to normal, and when I finally open my eyes, he’s on his knees by my side, holding my hand, and staring at me like he’s afraid I might disappear.
“Grady…”
“I’m sure you have questions, but I need you to calm down a little bit more before we talk. Your pulse is through the roof, and that’s not good for the baby, Scottie.”
I nod, closing my eyes and resting my head back against the pillow as our daughter moves around in my stomach.
On instinct, both Grady and I place our hands there, silently comforting one another and absorbing the fact that she’s okay and the drama from earlier is over—hopefully for the rest of my life.
“What was in the envelope?” I ask when I finally feel more at ease.
Grady pushes a hand through his hair and then takes a seat on the couch, placing my legs back across his lap so they’re still propped up.
“After our road trip, when you told me about your situation with your ex, I knew it was only a matter of time before he came back. So, I called up Timothy McDonald, the lawyer in town, and had him draft up the form.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He twists his head to face me, flashing that panty-melting smirk of his. “Because the game wasn’t over yet, and until it is, you keep some plays close to the vest.”
I crack a smile, remembering what he told me after his pep talk with my son during his last baseball game. “Smooth.”
He chuckles. “I knew getting him to sign it wouldn’t be easy, so I needed leverage.
A buddy of mine I played with in San Francisco worked with a private investigator when he was going through his divorce because he was fairly certain his wife was cheating on him.
I got his number and had Andrew followed for a few weeks.
We discovered all kinds of extracurricular activities your ex likes to partake in, including fucking the wife of one of the judges in his district.
So, I made sure to include those pictures in case he wanted to fight back. ”
“Is that what made him look like he was going to throw up?” I ask, thinking back to how white Andrew looked as he flipped through the stack of papers.
“Probably. Or it was the picture of him snorting cocaine off a stripper’s bare chest.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. “Jesus. I can’t believe I ever married him.
” But then I remember his words from earlier and my eyes well again.
“He was my greatest mistake, Grady.” I look across the room so he can’t see what hearing that actually did to me, how betrayed and hurt it made me feel—not because I still have feelings for the man, but because without him, I wouldn’t have Chase, and I don’t see how any parent can regret their own child.
Grady tugs gently on my hand, pulling my attention back to him.
“Scottie, don’t you dare fucking believe a word that piece of shit said, okay?
He may consider you two his greatest mistake, but for me?
Realizing that you and Chase belong in my life was my defining moment.
” Instantly, it gets hard to breathe again.
“The second you reentered my world, I knew what had been missing. His loss is my gain. You’ve completed my life, Scottie.
You, your son, and this baby girl.” He places his hand back on my belly.
“And I’ll keep reminding you of that until the end of time if you’ll let me. ”
So many emotions are moving through me right now, but the one I’m choosing to focus on is love.
I tried to fight it, tried to deny what’s really between us, and I can sit here and make up more excuses about why letting him in scares the shit out of me.
But at the end of the day, this man could never hurt me. Hell, he went out of his way to help me, care for me, and protect me and my son from the man who never deserved us to begin with.
I love him.
“I want that, Grady.” Nodding, I swing my legs off of his lap and move to straddle him, holding his face in my hands.
“What you did for me tonight? That’s love.
What you do for me every day? That’s love.
How you listen, how you show up, how you make me feel like I don’t have to live in fear anymore?
That’s the kind of love I didn’t know existed. ”
Grady cups the side of my face and speaks the words my heart already knew.
“I’m so fucking in love with you, Scottie.
” The gravel in his voice travels right down the center of my chest, coating my entire body in warmth.
“You’re my best friend, and the woman I’m meant to be with.
No one else ever stood a chance. Do you realize that? ”
“I do now. And I—I love you too. So much that I’m terrified and overwhelmingly happy at the same time.”
He takes a deep breath. “Then stop fighting this, and let me love you forever.”
“Kiss me,” I breathe against his lips. And he does until we’re both out of control with need for each other, but he stops before it gets too far.
He lets out a sigh of relief, planting his lips on mine again. “Fuck, Scottie. You have no idea the brick you just lifted from my chest.”
“I might have a little idea…I feel like I’ve been carrying a similar brick myself.”
He lowers his hand to our baby, rubbing my stomach softly. “I want this life with you, for us to be a family. I want that so fucking much…”
“Me too. There’s still a lot to figure out, but I’m done fighting this. I love you and that’s all that matters.”
“You are the love of my life, Scottie Daniels.”
“I’m not Daniels anymore.”
He tilts my head to the side, stroking my cheek. “No. And soon you’ll be Scottie Reynolds, so we won’t have to argue about this anymore.”
“You love arguing with me, Grady.”
The corner of his mouth tips up. “I do, but I love loving you more. And I plan on doing that for the rest of our lives.”
***
“That’s it, Scottie. Open up for me.”
Closing my eyes, I focus on the feeling of Grady sliding in and out of me, lying behind me while he keeps my legs open with his arm under my knee.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he whispers in my ear. “Your heart, your mind, your body.”
“Grady…”
“I love you. I’m so fucking in love with you, woman. You own me. You’re the reason I can fucking breathe again.” His lips find my neck, kissing and licking the skin.
“I love you too.” He flicks his hips a bit and hits a spot inside of me that’s making my orgasm build quickly. “Oh yes, right there…”
“Come with me, Scottie.”
“Keep going…”
We don’t say anything else as Grady continues to work my body over, thrusting in the perfect tempo that helps me reach my release. And as the first screams leave my lips, I hear him groan behind me until we’re both shivering with aftershocks.
Sex has never been like this for me.
It’s because I wasn’t having sex with Grady Reynolds.
After cleaning up, I leave the bathroom to find Grady leaning against the headboard. I try not to stare, but it’s useless.
The man is fucking perfect.
“Ready for round two already?” he asks, a smirk on his lips.
My body says yes, but my mind remembers something I’ve been waiting to show him when the time is right. And after tonight, that time is definitely now.
“I have something for you,” I say, walking to my closet. I slide the door open and reach up to the top shelf, taking down the shoe box that is barely holding together after all these years.
Grady sits up taller. “What is that?”
I settle beside him on the bed and pop the lid off the box as the scent of old newspapers fills the air. “I told you I’d be rooting for you, Grady,” I say, pushing the box toward him.
With a pinch in his brow, he begins to pull out article after article from his career, spanning almost ten years of accolades and his World Series win.
He’s silent for so long, I start to grow nervous as he keeps taking out paper after paper, magazine articles, and even an old jersey I bought when he was drafted to the San Francisco Giants.
But when he peers up at me with tears in his eyes, I know that the love we’ve had for each other has run deep for far longer than we both realized. “I can’t believe you kept all this.”
“I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t.”