CHAPTER 16 DANNY
I finally do sweep her up into my arms, and I carry her over to the bed. I set her down, grab a washcloth to clean her up, and then lay beside her.
Her eyes are open as she watches me, and her head is on her pillow facing my side of the bed. I face her, too.
It’s the first time a thought occurs to me.
She should marry me.
Then she can’t marry Brooks. Or at least her dad can’t force her to marry him.
She might be engaged to him, but she’s lying naked beside me.
What does that say about me?
What if I’m that old clichéd other man? The one who gets all the promises that are never followed upon?
As my eyes search hers, somehow I’m certain that’s not the case.
She doesn’t love him. She’s never been with him. I heard the panic in her tone when we talked about how we don’t have much time left. I felt it, too.
This is real, and we will figure out a way to be together.
And now that the idea has crossed my mind…
I’m not ready to say it to her, but I need to do a little research.
It’s the first time I’ve had the thought that maybe I do want to marry someone.
This would be for her sake—to protect her from her father, to give her control over her life—but it would be for mine, too, since that’s where I see this going.
Eventually. Someday. Way down the line. Or, you know… tomorrow.
“Have you thought about what comes next?” she asks quietly.
“With us?”
She shrugs. “With your career. Your future.”
I chuckle. “That’s quite the question.”
“Just curious. I know my two-year plan, but beyond that…” she lifts the shoulder she isn’t laying on.
I clear my throat. “I signed a three-year deal with the Heat, which means I have two left on my contract. I’m confident they’ll renew it and keep me around as long as I want to stay.”
“What’s the average age of a first baseman?” she asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t keep track of shit like that, but most guys are probably around my age. Some older, some younger. I know one guy still playing in his forties, so if my body holds up and I keep having fun, then that was always my plan.”
I say the words that I’ve always said, but the truth is I don’t know if I want to keep playing into my forties.
I have plenty of money in the bank, even more with my Heat contract, so I don’t need to keep playing to afford my lifestyle.
I could retire now quite comfortably and do whatever the fuck I want—whether that’s traveling or drinking or sitting on my ass.
Baseball has always been my passion. This was the first summer I felt the need for a break when July hit, and I don’t think it had anything to do with the game itself.
I think it had everything to do with missing the woman who’s currently lying naked on the bed beside me.
“Was always?” she prompts.
I sigh. “I don’t know what I want. Everything feels like it’s…in flux right now. I don’t know which way is up or down or left or right. The only thing I’ve ever put first in my life is baseball, but these last two days have shown me I want to put something else first.”
“What?” Her voice is quiet as if she already knows the answer.
“You.”
She scoots a little closer to me. “I feel the same way. My career has always come first. I had this silly crush on you for years and years…” Her cheeks get a little red.
“Something about baseball players and those tight pants, I guess. And then Cooper walked over and introduced himself and said his friend wanted to meet me, and I got the strangest sensation like my life was about to change.”
“Did it?”
“Yes,” she breathes. Her gaze flicks to my lips before moving back to my eyes. “In ways I can’t even fathom.”
“Mine too,” I whisper, dropping my lips to hers again.
The night is far too short even though we stay up talking for most of it. We cover all the bases, no pun intended, from childhood fears to best vacations to fears about the future, especially our fears over what’s to come in the days ahead as we find ourselves apart again.
We needed this time together. We needed this space.
We need more of it. It’s the only way we’ll grow.
But she leaves in a week to start filming. I have obligations back in Vegas, and I need to figure out my plans for seeing family over Thanksgiving, which is only a few weeks away.
Then we head into the holidays, and a short two months later, spring ball starts up again.
It’s a short offseason, and I wish I could spend it all with Alexis. But the truth is, we both had lives coming into this—lives and obligations we can’t ignore, as much as we’d like to.
She cries when I leave her room, but I have to go.
We have a breakfast meeting with the Hush execs and the other celebrities who have worked on this project for the last two days, and we both need to shower and pack ahead of that.
We won’t be able to say goodbye the way we want to, so we do it at six in the morning before I slip back into my room.
She’s emotional, and I hold it together for her. But as I get into my shower, the wave of emotion hits me.
I feel the heaviness pressing down on my shoulders like this is going to become some unbearable weight for me to carry. I guess the saving grace in that is knowing I’m sharing the load with someone else.
That doesn’t really make me feel a whole lot better.
I sit next to her at breakfast so I don’t have to try to avoid eye contact, but I can smell her flower berry scent from where I sit, and my cock stands at attention even though we had sex early this morning again.
It doesn’t matter. I could’ve had sex with her four minutes ago. My cock will never get enough of her.
I will never get enough of her.
We share one last longing glance before we part ways, and then I need to get to the airport to catch my flight back home.
What a strange couple of days.
I swear I see The Gamer and Natasha Prince share the same kind of longing glance we do, but it’s not my business.
I call my mom once I’m in the airport lounge waiting for my flight.
“Hey! The World Series champ finally finds time to call his mama!” she answers, and I hear the teasing in her voice.
“I called you three days ago!” I protest.
“What have you been up to since then?” she asks.
“I’m in LA, actually. About to head back to Vegas. I filmed a commercial.”
“You were in town and didn’t tell me?”
“It’s not like San Diego is five minutes away, Mother. And besides, I was tied up at the shoot for two days.” And with Alexis.
“A commercial shoot took two entire days?”
“Well, no. But they rented out this mansion to do the shoot, and we were invited to stay there,” I say.
“We?” Of course she asks the correct question.
“The other celebrities endorsing the product.” I keep it as general as possible.
“Sounds fun.” She’s either letting it slide or none the wiser as to the actual activities I was participating in. Let’s hope it’s the latter.
“It was. And I thought to myself, what better time to call Mom than while I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight?”
“You should take one here and stay with me instead.”
I chuckle. “I’ve got some stuff to do with the team. I haven’t even cleaned out my locker yet.”
“Fine, fine. But Mama gets some offseason time, right?”
“Of course. Oh! And that reminds me. You and Anna and the boys should come out to Vegas and hang for a while.” It also reminds me that I promised Rush in a slightly stoned haze before the parade that I would see if my sister is interested in him.
I haven’t yet done that.
Was that really only four days ago?
It feels like a goddamn lifetime ago.
I’ve been a little preoccupied. After the parade on Tuesday, the entire team went back to Troy’s place, where we played poker and drank a lot and just generally had a hell of a fun time until the wee, wee, wee hours of the morning.
I slept in and just barely made my flight to California, met a buddy for drinks there, and almost missed the meeting time when I told Alexis to show up.
I was honest when I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to show.
But I’m really glad I did.
Even if it all sort of feels like shit now.
And tonight, the first Saturday after a World Series win, AJ and Rush are having a party at their place.
I took my time off for the commercial, but it ended up being everything I never knew I needed.
The only ones I’ll admit that to are Cooper and Rush, though.
And I still don’t really know where we stand or what comes next, but I’m much more confident that there actually is a future for us after the last few days.
We just have to get past the merger, and then we’ll be free.
I hope.