CHAPTER 49 Archer Bradley
So What’s Next
I draw in a deep breath as I finally feel free again.
It’s hard to imagine a single person’s impact over the course of what amounted to three weeks together, but I guess when you find your person, that’s what happens. At least…that’s what happened for us.
Ultimately it was Cooper who made me come here tonight, and I guess maybe I owe him a lot for making this happen. He could see what I was too blinded by anger to allow myself to see.
He gave me the perspective I needed to get my shit together and to find it in myself to fix what was broken by way of forgiveness.
After we clean up the mess we just made, I can’t help but worry about the consequences of what we just did. But whatever consequences may come, it’s different now. We’re not two strangers who met at a resort and aren’t planning anything more than a fling.
Although…I’m not quite sure how to define what we actually are. I don’t know where we go from here.
So even though we kissed and had our makeup sex, the path is still very unclear, and it’s a conversation we need to have.
Maybe not when we’re drunk on sex endorphins, but I don’t know that I’ll sleep until I get a little clarity.
I get her a glass of water and set it on the nightstand beside her, and then I climb into bed.
“What have you been up to since I last saw you?” she asks.
I settle in so we’re basically hugging one another on the bed, our bodies close as we face each other so we can have this conversation. “I’ve really just been focusing on getting back on the field. Every turbulent time in my life has been spent dedicating myself to ball.”
“You’ve had a lot of turbulent times,” she muses quietly.
I nod. “A few, yeah. And baseball has always been my safe place. My reset. My home. Still, something felt off this time.”
“Why?”
“Because I missed you. Cooper saw that in me somehow. Maybe he saw himself in me a little when he went through his own turbulent time with the woman he eventually went on to marry.”
“To marry?” she asks on a bit of a choke.
I chuckle. “I’m not saying that’ll be us anytime soon, but I knew my ex since I was a teenager, got together with her at twenty, and never managed to propose to her.
It never felt right. And despite our issues, despite what happened…
I still want a future with you. Anyone else, that would’ve been the end. With you, I’m reluctantly optimistic.”
“Reluctantly?” she presses.
“It’s hard for me to open up. Hard to forgive.
But goddammit, Millie, there’s something really lovable about you, and as conflicted as I’ve been for the last couple weeks, all that felt so settled the moment my eyes fell on you tonight.
It was my first game back, and I should’ve been happy all night because of it.
I didn’t feel true happiness until I saw you. ”
“So why’d you tell me you couldn’t talk to me on the field?”
I lift a shoulder. “Gut reaction, I guess. Instinct to protect myself. Cooper asked me where you were, and I told him I walked away. He reamed me out and told me to at least listen to what you had to say since you came all this way, and on the way over here, I knew I had no other choice but to let go of the anger and do everything I could to move forward.”
Her eyes shine with unshed tears, and she brushes her fingertips along my jawline. “Thank you for giving me another chance.”
I drop a kiss to her forehead. “This feels right, Millie.”
She nods. “So what’s next?”
“Well, I have games for pretty much every night until September with a few short breaks here and there.” My stomach clenches into knots as I blurt out the next question.
“Would you possibly be willing to move in with me here in Vegas to give this a try in the real world?” It just makes sense.
If she gets her own place somewhere else, that’s commuting time that we could be spending together.
We’ll stay in the same bed every night anyway, so why not just jump right in?
Her eyes widen. “Are you serious?”
I nod just slightly. “The time we’ve spent apart has been the worst in my life. This is what I want. You are what I want.”
She seems to contemplate that. “So just…pick up and move across the country to a new place where I know nobody?”
I raise my brows. “Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Except, according to Cooper, you and his wife are pretty tight already.”
She purses her lips. “I don’t know about that. We just met yesterday when they picked me up at the airport and took me to dinner. But there’s potential there.”
I chuckle. “If it’s too fast, you have the power to say no. We’ll figure it out. I just can’t move from Vegas right now since I’m in season.”
“What will I do for work? I can’t just quit Renegade’s. Chip needs me. And Jackie—”
“Ah, yes. The sex bucket list authors.” I smirk. “Look, Chip was fine for the month you were in the Bahamas, and your friendship with Jackie doesn’t end just because you’re here. You can go visit her any time.”
She nods as I watch her eyes. She’s contemplating it. There’s actually a real chance she might say yes.
“I love you, Millie Monroe. I think we have a lot to learn about each other, and I think it’s not always going to be easy.
I want to share in the joys with you and to navigate a new reality together, whatever that looks like, whatever it means.
We’ll figure it out as we go. And if it means flying you to see your friends back in Chicago when I’m out of town, that’s what we’ll do.
If it means flying them here, I’ll take care of it. It’s you and me now. Okay?”
“Thank God,” she whispers, and she pulls my head down for a quick kiss. “I was terrified you were going to tell me to take a hike.”
I look at her tenderly. “I’m sorry I behaved in a way that would cause you to think that. I’m not going anywhere.”
I lean down and kiss her.
She pulls back. “And by the way, I would love to move here and give this a try with you, but I don’t know what that’ll look like or what the hell I’ll do all day if I’m not working besides freak out that I’m all alone.”
I chuckle. “The offer is still on the table to head up my foundation, you know.”
Her eyes light up, and she sits up a little straighter. “Seriously?”
“Of course. I wasn’t lying when I said that I think you have a great eye for not just business but also for marketing and the social aspect that I have no clue about, and I think you’d be incredible at running it.”
“I keep thinking about how it feels like the perfect position, because I can still blog and write about my travels and tips and tricks and review the places I visit, but the whole idea behind it was to help people, and this gives me a completely new outlet that will allow me to help more people in another way. All I want is to have an impact.”
“Well, you’ve certainly had an impact on me,” I say, and I can’t help but lighten the moment by shifting my hips up against her ass.
“Something’s trying to impact my butt,” she says.
We both break out into laughter, which is then swallowed up when my mouth finds hers.