She reels back, shocked, but doesn’t make an effort to move from my lap. “What do you mean?”
“What is this? Are we hooking up? Is it more than that? How long will we have to sneak around for?”
“Ryan, you know why we have to sneak around,” she says, voice soft and hesitant.
“No, I know.” I blow out a frustrated breath. “I just wish we didn’t have to do it forever.” I drop my forehead to hers and close my eyes, breathing in her scent. The coconut from her shampoo. The floral from whatever perfume she picked for tonight. It soothes something in me.
“Ry?” I pull my head back to meet her gaze. “I was kind of hoping I could have one of those titles you spoke about earlier…” She trails off, a blush starting to climb her cheeks.
I lift an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” I tighten my grip on her hips and pull her closer to me. “Which one is that? Wife? Because I’m sure I can arrange for a car to Vegas. We can have Elvis marry us before the night is over.” She drops her forehead to my chest as she laughs. I place a finger under her chin to tilt her face back up to me. “Or was it girlfriend?”
Her eyes flare at the word. “That one,” she whispers.
“You wanna be my girlfriend, firecracker?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to be your boyfriend?” I ask.
She nods. “More than anything.”
I flash her a smirk that turns her eyes molten with desire. “Whatever you want, Isa. It’s yours.”
She brings a hand to my cheek, and I lean into the touch. “It won’t be forever,” she says softly.
“What won’t? You being my girlfriend? Because I sure as hell hope?—”
“No,” she cuts me off, laughing. “The sneaking around. We only need to wait until the end of the season.”
“The end of the season,” I repeat.
“Yeah. After the season is over, I won’t be working with the team anymore. Might not even be back with them for next year if I get my promotion. Which would mean I’m not in violation of my contract. So really, we just need to make it until then. Which is when again?”
“The end of October,” I answer. “If we go all the way to the World Series.” It’s a simple enough plan. The timing makes sense and puts her in the best position for her job. But fuck. October? That feels like a lifetime away.
She blows out a breath. “Okay, so three and half more months. We can do that, right? We’ve already made it this far.”
I tug her close so I can tuck her into my body. “Yeah, we can do that.” I say, but the words taste sour on my tongue. I can’t help but wish we didn’t have to hide this. Hate that I can’t just shout from the rooftops that I’m in love with my girlfriend. It makes her feel like a dirty little secret when she’s anything but.
TWENTY-SEVEN
PAPA-PAPARAZZI
ISABELLA
We wereboth wrecked waking up this morning having barely slept, instead spending most of the night wrapped up in each other.
Ryan offered to make coffee, but I immediately shot him down in favor for something far more drinkable than the sludge he makes. That’s how we found ourselves venturing to the coffee shop down the block from his place. Him in a baseball cap and dark tinted sunglasses to remain low profile, and me in one of his T-shirts with a pair of jean shorts I left at his place at some point in the last month of spending my nights at his.
“What are you going to get?” Ryan asks, breaking through my focus on the menu.
“I don’t know. Definitely something with caffeine. I need it if I’m supposed to work the game later tonight.”
He laughs, dropping a kiss to the top of my head. “That’s a sound plan.”
I go back to perusing the menu, trying to decide between a classic latte or something sickly sweet.
“Shit. We need to get out of here.” Ryan’s voice is laced with urgency, putting me on alert. When I flick my eyes to him, his gaze is fixed through the windows at the front of the shop. I start to turn around to see what’s captured his attention, but his arm shoots out, halting the movement. “Don’t turn around.”
