“That I do. I should go before Coach kicks my ass into next week.” Chuckling, he turns me in his arms so we’re face to face, my hands falling to his chest. He dips his head, bringing his lips to mine. “I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
I feel my lips tilt into a smile, the way they do every time he utters those three words. “I love you, too,” I whisper back before shoving him away. “Now go! We both have jobs to do.” I gesture toward the dugout where Cooper, Hunter, and Austin are tapping the invisible watches on their wrists.
Turning back to Annie, I see her eyes twinkling. “You guys are seriously the cutest. I’m glad everything worked out for you two in the end. Even if he didn’t give us the exclusive,” she teases.
After the team won the World Series, Ryan was in offseason with plenty of free time on his schedule. I started my new job with the Suns, but with it being offseason, most of the leadership team were on vacation, meaning I, too, had a great deal of time on my hands.
Ryan and I spent nearly every free moment together. Being a real couple. Outside and in broad daylight. It was an adjustment to find myself not needing to look over my shoulder every minute, but it was needed. We needed the ability to just be a normal couple, without that fear of the other shoe dropping. We went out on dates, stayed in on the nights we only wanted to be with each other. I spent the night at his place more often than I did my own.
Honestly, I’m surprised neither of us grew sick of the other with how much we were together. We may as well have been conjoined twins for how little we ventured from each other. In fact, it got so bad with us spending time together, I was un-officially living at his place. A fact he pointed out to me right around Christmas, when he asked if we could make it official. There was a split-second moment where I thoughtit’s too soon, but then the voice in my head that sounds like Jordan reminded me,he’s my best friend. How could I not say yes?
I was working full steam ahead with the Suns by the time the guys left for spring training. Ryan and I fell back into the pattern of long-distance—leaning into texting, phone calls, and FaceTime—until they came back to LA. I was only able to sneak away from work for a long weekend to see them play.
They’ve only been back in town less than a week to settle in before the regular season kicks off with tonight’s matchup against the San Diego Bears.
My eyes follow Ryan’s movements as he jogs into the dugout and tidies his cubby, grabbing his glove. “Yeah, me too,” I say, a soft smile touching my lips.
“Come on, the game’s about to start and we need to catch up on what you’ve been up to during the break,” Annie says, looping her arm through mine and tugging me toward the clubhouse doors.
She halts just before going through the doors, making herself comfortable against the wall and blocking my way in.
“Uh, Annie?”
“Hm?”
“Are you going to go inside or are we watching the game from here because I’m not so sure the league will be okay with us still technically on the field. And the game is set to start in”—I check the time on my phone—“two minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll go inside. In two minutes,” she says, waving her hand at me in a dismissal.
“Why—” I cut off when I hear the usual stadium hype music cut out to be replaced by… “Is that Taylor Swift?” I furrow my brows. “Who the hell hijacked the PA and decided to playTaylor Swift?”
Annie merely shrugs but smiles at me in a way that makes me think she knows exactly who.
I narrow my eyes at her. “I swear to god if this is Ryan, he’s sleeping on the couch.” I roll my eyes as I turn to look at the field.
Lo and behold, itisRyan.
Standing on the pitcher’s mound and holding a single red rose in his hand.
He extends his free hand, beckoning me to him.
I’m frozen in place until Annie gives me a small shove in his direction. My steps stutter as I walk toward him, raising an eyebrow in question as I place my hand into his.
He simply smiles back at me. “Hi,” he whispers.
“Hi…? What are you doing?” I ask, eyes flicking between him and the stadium stands, trying to piece together what exactly it is he’s doing right now.
He hooks a finger under my chin and redirects my eyes to his. “Eyes on me, firecracker.”
All I can do is nod.
“Good girl.” He smirks. “Did you know we never actually finished our game of twenty questions?”
My brows furrow. “What?”
He nods. “It’s true. We only made it through nineteen. I can’t remember whose turn it was, so I hope you don’t mind that I take the last one?”
“Uh, sure?” I’m so lost at this point that he could ask me anything.
