Intentional Walk: Dating Mr. Baseball Book 3

by McConnell, Lucy

  She bumped him with her shoulder. “Whatever.”

  They ate in silence for a while, taking their time. It was a good silence. Not the kind that pressured her into filling up the space or said that there was anything wrong between them. Just a quiet that she could relax into and let the stresses slip away.

  He offered her rice, and she took it, dumping some on top of her teriyaki chicken. “This is nice. Thanks.”

  He nodded. “You looked like you could use dinner.”

  “I didn’t even see you today. When were you around?”

  “About ten.”

  “And you thought I could use dinner then?” She chuckled. Yeah, it was that kind of day. “I wish you’d stop being wonderful. It makes it hard to stay mad at you.”

  One side of his mouth quirked up. “You inspire me.”

  “Gag!” She elbowed him. They settled again. A thought had plagued her for days and she had to ask, but asking could do damage. Once words were out, they couldn’t be put back in. “Were you, at all, trying to punish me for what happened?”

  He dropped his white container beside him and reached for her hand. “No. Not at all. Never did I blame you.”

  “I blamed me,” she whispered.

  His face contorted. “Please don’t. You’re amazing.”

  “I kept wondering if I’d checked everything.”

  “Tilly, I slipped. My mind wasn’t in the game, and I slipped.”

  She chewed her bottom lip. His mind wasn’t on climbing because he was thinking about proposing to her. She couldn’t say that out loud or even ask for confirmation, because, well, you just didn’t blurt out I know you were going to propose.

  “I’m sorry, Brayden. I’m so sorry you had to go through all this.” She hugged him close, reveling in his comfort. Before she lost herself, she stood up. “You’re an amazing man—coming through all this the way you have, working so hard in PT. I’m proud of you. I want you to know that.”

  His eyes shone. “Thank you.”

  She stretched. “I need some Advil and sleep.” She hesitated and then kissed his cheek. “Thanks for dinner.”

  He smiled. She went inside and shut the door but didn’t go straight to bed. Instead, she watched as Brayden gathered up the garbage and the leftovers, sorting them into two bags. He walked the garbage to the can and then took the can to the curb. Tomorrow was garbage day. He came back for the leftovers, his eyes lingering on her door. She pressed her hand to her belly, wondering if he was going to knock. If he knocked, she’d let him in.

  As if he understood that, he turned and walked back to his place. She rocked back on her heels. Brayden was a dang good man, and he’d make a wonderful husband. She just needed to get over that last hurdle. She needed to let go of her fear. Easier said than done. It was human nature to protect yourself. Having been burned by the stove once, a kid didn’t touch it again.

  But was Brayden a stove? Was he bound to hurt her every time she got close? Or had he made a mistake and learned from it? She hoped it was the latter. She wanted to believe he’d come out a better man.

  Her head pounded, reminding her that she needed to take something soon or she would have a rough night. Not as bad as it would have been without him.

  Was that a sign? She wanted it to be.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Brayden

  “Okay, this could go one of two ways, bro. It’s either going to come off as creepy and stalkerish, or it’s going to go big.”

  Brayden shot Juan a warning look. “It’s not going to happen at all if she hears us coming. Shut it.”

  Juan zipped his fingers across his lips and threw an imaginary key over his shoulder.

  Blake snickered behind him. “If only it were that easy.”

  Coach Wolfe exchanged a knowing look with his wife. Behind them were Dustin and Clover and a herd of people from the front office and then a group of players. Brayden juggled the cake and the bag of plates and forks. Clover held tight to a bouquet of balloons. They were her idea, and Brayden had to admit it was a good one. The mix of colors added a sense of whimsy to the group that wasn’t there before. And they could use some whimsy, because Brayden was taking a giant leap here, jumping over several of Tilly’s carefully drawn lines.

  Yes, she’d let him hold her.

  Yes, they’d talked through some things.

  And, yes, she’d kissed him back.

  But none of that meant they were back together. This surprise party for her last day of physical therapy was his way of staking a claim in her life. Like he was the one who could arrange parties in her behalf.

  Doc had declared her of sound body—100% healed from the fall. They needed to celebrate the big and the small things together. He’d thought he had to scale a cliff to ask her to marry him—he should have just asked. He should have wrapped his arms around her and told her she was the only thing that mattered in this world and begged her to be his wife.

  He hoped he’d learned something from his mistakes.

  He suspected Tilly had been climbing before Doc said it was okay. The small taste she’d had with Gunner would have awakened her need. Even though she shouldn’t have gone, there was no way to stop the desert wind from blowing. Not that he’d want to. Tilly was at her best when she faced a challenge. He should have known that about her before breaking up with her. He should have known a lot of things. Today wasn’t about the hard things in life, though. Today was a day of celebration, and, he hoped, coming together. Sharing the good times was as important as sharing the hard times. Which was why he’d brought as much of their Redrocks family as he could gather together.

  The cake helped convince some of the guys to show up.

  He paused outside of the torture chamber and listened to Elise give Tilly the rundown on what she could expect from here on out. Thankfully, there weren’t any lasting injuries. Blake nudged him forward and they crowded into the room.

  “Surprise!” Brayden smiled wide, praying this didn’t come off as stalkerish. Crap. He shouldn’t have invited everyone. He shouldn’t have checked into her schedule. Her eyes narrowed and his heart seemed to strain against a leash as it barked out a staccato beat.

  “What’s all this?” Her gaze danced across the faces, lingering on Harper Wolfe in surprise. Yeah, he’d brought her boss along.

  “We’re here to celebrate your bill of clean health.” He tipped the cake, which he was balancing on one hand, so she could read the top, which said, Congratulations. Now go climb a mountain! He’d had the cake decorator create a rock climbing scene with a beautiful sunset streaming across the icing.

  Her eyes softened.

  Brayden set the cake on the massage table and moved to put his arm around her. A possessive move, but he was sending a message today: Tilly was his. He was hers. They were a they. Not a thing. Not an item. A they. A him and a her that made up a whole noun together.

  He had so much going on inside of him that he needed to get it out, and he wanted the whole world to know it. “Hey, everybody, listen up.”

  Tilly stiffened. Conversations ceased. Movement stilled. Pressure built.

  He shifted his feet. “For a while, I thought the day I fell was the worst day of my life. I lost everything.”

  Coach Wolfe’s head bobbed.

  “Or what I thought was everything.” He gave them a small smile. “For those of us in this room, baseball is our whole world. I think we’re born with laces on our hearts.” That earned him some chuckles that bolstered his confidence. “I still feel that way. But I’ve learned something through all of this. Baseball may be in my heart, but Tilly is my soul. Somewhere along the way, I stopped playing for me and started playing for her—for us.”

  Coach Wolfe took his wife’s hand, brought it up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to her fingers. She tipped her head so it rested on his shoulder. Brayden tucked Tilly closer to his side. She didn’t resist.

  He focused on her. “I’m still doing that. Even when we were apart, you were m
y motivation to get better, to learn a new skill, to get up in the morning. In my darkest moments, you were the sunlight.”

  He glanced down to find her studying the floor. His stomach sank. She wasn’t going to make a public proclamation of love. He hadn’t made her swoon into his arms, and if he pushed her for an I love you, he’d push her away.

  Ball three.

  “Whatever the future holds for us, I want you to be happy.” He kissed her head and then lifted his arm as much as it would let him. “Who wants cake?” He set the bag of forks down too, earning him a glare from Elise. “I promise I’ll clean it up.”

  “You’d better.”

  There were chuckles all around. Brayden kept a smile on his face throughout the party. Inside, he was dying. Three balls. He was way down in the count. This was the point when announcers started predicting a walk. He’d already done that with Tilly—intentionally walked her. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he was throwing his best pitches and she walked anyway.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Tilly

  Brayden’s words cycled through Tilly’s head over and over again as she circled the room, thanking her coworkers, the players, the coaching staff, and everyone else who’d heard there was cake in the PT room.

  She watched Brayden as he talked to Zack Aiden. He was holding a baseball in his hand, demonstrating different grips. Aiden nodded, his eyes hooded as he concentrated. Her heart stirred seeing Brayden in his element. He was right: he was born with laces on his heart. It was a good heart. He’d messed up. He’d hurt her something fierce. But he was working to right that wrong.

  And she’d been holding out on him. Love surged through her. Powerful and strong, it washed away the fear she’d clung to.

  Sheila, the head of the community outreach program, stopped to chat. “I’m contemplating tours in the off-season. There are enough snowbirds that fly into St. George that I think we can tap that market. They won’t see games, but they’ll watch them and want to wear a Redrocks T-shirt.” Sheila took a small bite of her impossibly tiny piece of cake. Her eyes darted over Tilly’s shoulder repeatedly as she spoke.

  Tilly cocked her head, listening to the conversation going on behind her between Gunner and Brock Mattock, the center fielder. Sheila’s gaze hung up on one of the men. It was all Tilly could do not to turn around and see which one of them was holding her attention. “That sounds like a good idea.” Her eyes flitted to Brayden.

  “What does?” Sheila blinked as if she were coming out of a haze.

  Tilly shook her head. One of them needed to pay attention to this conversation. “Off-season tours. In fact …” She angled her body so that she could include Gunner and Brock in their conversation. “Guys, Sheila was just saying that we may have fans coming in during the off-season. You two will be in town, won’t you?”

  They both gave Sheila an admiring, though wary, look. The woman was known for roping the players into spending their time off the field into charity work and goodwill campaigns. If it were up to her, she’d pack them in a van and cart them around all day long. Gunner nodded, and Brock said, “Most likely. I’m still figuring things out.”

  Sheila’s smile brightened. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She pointed towards the door where the GM had entered. Tilly didn’t know him well. He kept to the front offices, but there was always a buzz of energy surrounding him. Like he was thinking two steps ahead of whomever he was talking to. “I need to have a word with someone. Excuse me.”

  Tilly frowned. Maybe she’d misread Sheila’s interested look. She glanced at Brayden again. This time their eyes met, and she ducked quickly away, afraid he’d see her change of heart before she had a chance to acclimate to it. In a way, the party was great because it gave her time to gather her wits about her.

  Harper touched her elbow. “Congratulations on your graduation.”

  Tilly grinned. “Elise was tougher than my chemistry teacher.”

  They all laughed.

  Harper leaned in and gave her a quick hug. “He’s a keeper,” she said, just loud enough for Tilly to hear.

  Tilly nodded. “I know.” She did know. Brayden had said no matter what happens, and it was killing her to think he was giving up on her. But then, if he was stepping aside, why throw this party? “Being in limbo is difficult.”

  Harper smiled. “That’s because you’re a woman of action.” She squeezed Tilly’s hands. “Take action and you’ll feel much better.”

  She planned to. But there was no harm in letting Harper think she had a hand in things. She had, in a way, by setting up that road trip. “Thanks,” Tilly said with feeling, hoping she understood it was for more than coming to the party.

  Harper said goodbye to the group and then made her way to the door. Gunner and Brock had to go too. For the next ten minutes, Tilly was hugged and congratulated and made to feel like her victory was shared by those around her, that they had truly been rooting for her to make it through this hard time. She watched as several guys gathered round Brayden, thanking him for the cake and giving him a hard time before they too left.

  When they were finally alone, Brayden ran his hand through his hair and blew out his lips. “I guess I’d better get this cleaned up.”

  “Only if you don’t want Elise to take her anger out on you during PT,” Tilly said quietly. She meant it to come out light and teasing, but there was too much on her mind and in her heart to joke around.

  Brayden must have caught on to her mood, because he dropped the plates he’d gathered and came to stand in front of her. She hesitated, and then took his hand, threading their fingers together. Once his fingers tightened, the world was suddenly right side up again.

  Tilly wanted him. There was no denying it, no fighting it. She wanted the golf-course kisses, she wanted to catch him looking at her legs, and she wanted the friendship, the conversations, the life they’d shared. All of it. Every bit. Even if there were holes—like him not climbing—and even if there were challenges and he still had a long way to go, she wanted it all.

  Brayden’s free hand brushed her jaw. “I’m so sorry.”

  She cupped his hand to her cheek. “Me too.”

  His intense brown eyes poured into her. “Please let me love you.”

  She nodded.

  He paused as if he was unsure she’d agreed.

  She stepped closer, bringing her body flush with his. Releasing his hand, she buried her fingers in his hair.

  He was right there with her, reading her movements and matching them touch for touch. “I love you, Tilly. Nothing in the world can change that.”

  She melted against him. “There’s no fighting against it. Not a love this strong.”

  His mouth found hers and she gave herself over to his kiss, to him, holding nothing back. There was no fear strong enough to keep them apart, no anger deep enough to stand in their way. No matter what they faced, their love would conquer all.

  Chapter Forty

  Brayden

  “Thanks for meeting us here.” Brayden held up his glass.

  He and Tilly sat at the head of the table in a swanky restaurant in Vegas. Blake and Elise—with a brand-new sparkling diamond on her finger—were at the end. Blake had proposed at the last game of the season, on top of the dugout, to a stadium full of fans. Elise’s family was all there—every last redheaded one of them—so happy to welcome Blake into the family.

  But this dinner wasn’t for them.

  On their right sat Dustin and Clover, and on their left were Brayden’s dad and his special lady. Juan and Gunner were at a table nearby—close enough that they could be a part of what was going on, but far enough that they could check out the ladies. He hadn’t wanted to invite Gunner at all, but Tilly insisted that Juan needed someone to hang with and she thought Gunner was a good choice. If it made her happy, it made him happy.

  Dad and Rebecca had flown into Vegas the night before and spent the day with Brayden, Tilly, and Tilly’s parents. Her dad wanted to get home, and so her pa
rents decided to head out before the celebration dinner.

  “I’d like to congratulate Blake and Elise on their engagement.” He lifted his glass. Everyone at the table did the same.

  Tilly gave him a conspiratorial look over the rim of her cup. He smiled back as he sat down. “Aren’t you going to tell them?” she whispered in her ear.

  “Wait for it …” He winked. Brayden draped his arm over the back of Elise’s chair. “I thought for sure you would beat us all to the preacher.” He couldn’t have been more smug if he blew on his fingernails and dusted them against the lapel of his jacket.

  Tilly giggled. “Now?” she asked.

  “Wait for it …” Brayden said out of the corner of his mouth.

  Dustin picked up Clover’s hand, making sure the platinum band sparkled in the candlelight. “We might beat you too.”

  “You picked a date?” asked Elise.

  Clover beamed. “January 14th.”

  There was another round of congratulations.

  Gunner perked up. “So what about it, old man? You going to let these guys beat you?”

  Brayden nodded to Tilly. “Now.” They pulled their hands out from under the table, brandishing matching wedding rings. “I hate to break it to you all, but we’ve got you beat.”

  “What?” Clover was half out of her seat. “You’re married?!”

  Tilly giggled. “We had a small ceremony this afternoon.” She wiggled her fingers, making the diamond in the center flash. She’d told him she’d seen the ring and that she loved it. She loved it even more when he explained the significance of the large diamond circled by the smaller ones: he wanted to hold her in his arms forever.

  “It was stunning,” added Rebecca.

  Clover was around the table in no time, hugging Tilly. Elise was right behind her. The three of them laughed, and Brayden thought he even saw a couple of tears. He got handshakes and pats on the back.