by Tara Wyatt
His hand stilled, pausing near her hip. “Basically anything to do with Gramps. He was always the bright spot, even if he is a crotchety old bastard. Throwing around a ball, fixing up cars, going fishing. He did his best to give me the things my mom wasn’t able to. I think in some ways, he needed me as much as I needed him. His wife, my grandma, died a long time ago now. Cancer, only a year before my mom. He’d lost his wife and his daughter, and I think having me around gave him something positive to focus on.” He cleared his throat, the emotion obvious in his voice. “Sorry, I was supposed to be talking about something happy, wasn’t I?”
“No, I get it. He’s clearly an important part of your life.” She wondered if she’d ever get to meet him.
“He is. I’m lucky he was there for me when no one else in the world was.” He stroked a hand over her hair. “What about you? Something happy from your childhood?”
“Nothing exciting. It’s the simple things, you know? Swimming in a cold pool on a hot day, riding my beat up bike around the park. We didn’t have any money, so simple was all I knew.”
“But it doesn’t have to be that way now. You’re comfortable, right? You can have more than the bare minimum.”
“Ah. You’ve noticed my frugal ways.”
“Hard to miss, Piper.” She felt mildly embarrassed that he’d picked up on her thriftiness, but she was who she was. It wasn’t an easy thing to undo that wiring. He slipped his fingers under her chin. “Just because you grew up wanting doesn’t mean you don’t deserve good things now. No one’s going to pull the rug out from under you.”
She bit her lip. “They might. Life is full of surprises.”
“If that happens, I’m right here.” He said it as though it were the easiest, most obvious thing in the world.
“For now,” she reminded him. Both of them.
He sighed. “For now.”
She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I could say the same thing to you. Not everyone you care about is destined to leave you. I’m right here.”
“For now.”
“For now. And besides, you’re the one leaving, not me.”
Something flickered across his face, a hesitation, a wariness, but it was gone before she could really analyze it. “True. Probably.” He levered up onto his elbow. “I gotta tell you something.”
She pushed up too, mirroring his pose. “Okay,” she said tentatively, on high alert at the tension pulling at his features.
“A few days ago, when we were in Seattle, Aerin and I had a meeting with the Mariners. They’re going to make me a pre-emptive offer of $100 million for five seasons.”
Her mouth dropped open. “$100 million? Holy shit, Beau. That’s crazy money.”
“It is. I’d be the star of the team, the face of the franchise, set for life.”
“You would.” She twined her fingers with his. “Are…are you going to take it?” She asked the question even though she knew the answer, could see it written in his furled brow and tight jaw.
“I think I am. I’d be crazy not to.”
She nodded slowly, processing the information that he was going to be moving across the country in less than two months. She’d known this was coming, but it was so much more real now. Real, and painful. She felt as though all the air had gone out of her lungs. As though someone had punched her right in the stomach. “I guess that means our time is limited, huh?” She forced a cheeriness into her voice that she didn’t feel.
He opened and closed his mouth as though he were struggling with what to say, and then he leaned forward and kissed her, slow and sweet. “Then we’d better make the most of it.”
There was more she wanted to say, more she wanted to ask, but with his mouth on hers, his fingers plucking at her nipple, she lost her train of thought and gave herself over to the fleeting connection they both needed.
Eleven
August was going by far too quickly for Beau’s liking. Between road trips and competing busy schedules, he was lucky if he saw Piper twice a week. He wanted to take her on a real date, a proper date, with flowers and fancy food and champagne and all of that shit, but they hadn’t found the time. Her schedule had exploded with her rise in popularity, so much so that Aerin had signed her as a client. And he was happy for her. He was. Just like she was happy for him and the massive offer that was likely going to take him to Seattle.
Instead, they’d been relegated to post-game hookups and late night conversations, where they shared more about their pasts, their lives, their hopes and dreams. He knew that her dream vacation was a trip to Australia. He knew that she’d gone to Texas A&M for kinesiology and nutrition, paying her way with scholarships. He knew that her nickname all through first grade had been Pee Pee Piper because she’d wet her pants on the first day of school.
He knew that she wanted to get married and have a family someday.
He knew that he hated the man who’d give that to her. He knew that he hated that it wouldn’t be him, unless he could find the guts to ask her to uproot her life and come with him to Seattle. And he couldn’t do that. They’d been seeing each other for weeks. You couldn’t ask someone to move to a strange city halfway across the country for a relationship that was still in diapers. That was insanity.
He knew that he was going to miss her like crazy.
He knew that he was falling in love with her, hard and fast, and that leaving was going to hurt like hell.
This was the kind of stuff bouncing around his brain as he strode through the clubhouse after one of Piper’s yoga sessions, where he’d been half hard the entire time remembering the feeling of her beneath him, her lips around his cock, the sexy moans she made when she came. The way she curled into him when she was asleep, seeking him out. The way he slept better than he ever had in his life with his arms around her.
“Oh fuck,” he heard from behind him, and he turned to see Abby standing a few feet away, her hand on her belly and a noticeable puddle between her feet.
Beau’s eyebrows rose. “Holy shit, Gossman. Did your water just break?”
“Uh…” Her eyes were wide with panic. “I think so, yeah.” Her big brown eyes met his. “Don’t tell anyone, please.”
“I don’t really think that’s an option, given that you’re leaking all over the floor.”
She dropped her voice, her tone verging on desperate. “I’m not ready to go to the hospital yet. I need to run BP, and my contractions are only eight minutes apart, so it’s really not a big deal.” He could see the fear in her eyes, and he laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, you’re going to be okay. You’ve got this. You and Jake, you guys have got this.” Then he turned and called over his shoulder, several heads swiveling in his direction. “Javi!” He grabbed a towel from his cubby and laid it out over his swivel chair. Taking Abby’s hand, he helped her sit down. “Javi!”
Javi poked his head out of his office, frowning. “What the hell, Beckett? Something better be on fire.”
Beau jerked his head in Abby’s direction. “You need to call Jake unless you want her giving birth in the clubhouse.”
Abby reached out and smacked his arm, hard.
He flinched away from her. “Ow, hey! Why are you hitting me? I’m just trying to help.”
“Because you’re a snake who’s supposed to have my back. What part of ‘don’t tell anyone’ didn’t you understand?” Her face contorted in pain and she moaned her way through a contraction. When it was over nearly a minute later, she reached out and smacked his arm again.
“Save it for Jake. He’s the one who knocked you up.”
“Some friend you are.”
“Your water broke. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that means the baby’s coming, whether you like it or not.”
“Abby, trust me,” said Javi, kneeling down in front of her. “I’ve been through this three times now. If your water broke, the baby’s on her way. Hunter’s calling Jake right now, and I need you to breathe and try to relax, okay?”
<
br /> She grabbed Javi by the shirt, pulling him so close they were almost nose to nose. “I’m about to push a watermelon out of my vagina. Do. Not. Tell. Me. To. Relax.”
Javi wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “You can do this, Abs. You can.”
Other players started to gather around, giving Abby more targets for her verbal ammunition, and Beau backed away, feeling like a bit of an intruder. He had no experience with pregnancy—thank God—or babies or any of that, but a lot of the guys on the team did. Immediately, his mind flashed back to the conversation he’d had with Piper late one night, where she’d confided that she’d always seen herself as a mother one day. He hadn’t been able to say the same about himself. Fatherhood had always felt like something he wanted to stay the hell away from, but with Piper, the idea felt ten percent less scary. Okay, maybe five percent less scary. But still, it was a start.
A pointless one, because he was leaving and there was no way she’d be willing to follow him halfway across the country. But still.
About ten minutes later, Jake showed up, looking surprisingly calm for a man whose wife was in labor with their first child.
“Alright, sweetheart,” he said, stepping into the clubhouse and rubbing his hands together. “I think it’s time to go.”
Abby moaned and grunted her way through another contraction, her eyes screwed tight as her hands gripped her belly. “No…I just need…I’ve gotta run BP…”
Everyone parted, giving Jake a clear path to his wife. “I think Javi can handle running BP today, right Javi?”
Javi nodded. “I’ve got it covered.”
Jake reached out a hand and tried to help Abby out of her seat, but she snatched it back.
“I said, I’m not going.” And then she started to cry. Beau glanced away, feeling uncomfortable, as did several of the other guys. Jake pulled her into his arms, and she sobbed against his shoulder. “What if I can’t do this? I can’t do this.”
Jake pulled back, cupping Abby’s face and wiping her tears away with his thumbs. “Are you kidding me?” he asked gently. “You’ve got this, Abby. If anyone can do this, you can. I know you’re scared. I’m scared, too. But I’ve got news for you, really good news. We’re going to get to meet our daughter today. You’re going to get to hold Ava in your arms really soon.”
She sucked in a snuffling breath and smacked his shoulder. “You just told everyone our baby name. We said we weren’t going to until she was born.”
Jake shrugged, smiling at Abby. “I think I’ve only jumped the gun by a few hours here, sweetheart. Because this baby’s coming today. So I really think it’s time to go to the hospital. You know, where they have drugs and stuff.”
She smiled weakly at him. “Ooh, drugs. You should’ve led with that.”
Jake chuckled and kissed her, and then helped her up out of the chair, his arm around her waist. A round of “Good luck Abby,” “you got this,” “you can do it, Gossman,” echoed through the clubhouse as Abby let Jake lead her out. She tossed a wave over her shoulder and then started moaning again as another contraction hit, her voice echoing out in the hallway.
Beau glanced over and saw Jordan Miller staring at the chair where Abby had just been, his face ashen. “I am so glad I’m a dude,” he whispered, shaking his head slowly. Beau chuckled, knowing exactly what Jordan meant. He clapped him on the shoulder as he passed, deciding to lighten the mood with a little humor.
“Good thing, too, Miller, because you’d be an ugly ass chick.” Several guys laughed and the tense atmosphere started to abate.
“Oh, and you wouldn’t?” Jordan shot back, rolling his eyes.
“Nah. Come on. Look at me. I’m pretty as shit.”
Everyone groaned and threw things at him just like they always did when he pretended to brag, and the air in the clubhouse seemed to settle back to normal. Beau strode back to his cubby, looking for his batting gloves when his phone started to ring, buzzing from its spot on the shelf.
Beau grinned and answered it when he saw that it was Gramps, and he jogged up the steps to the dugout to take the call, moving away from the noise of the clubhouse and out into the relative quiet of the field.
“Hey Gramps. How are you?”
“Irritated. How come I gotta find out you’ve got a girlfriend by reading a news story about you punching some guy at a bar? Or is that all just frou frou bullshit gossip?”
Beau rubbed a hand over his face and sank down onto the vacant bench in the dugout, staring out at the green field, the blue sky, the Dallas skyline poking up above the stadium. “I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve mentioned it. But it’s not a serious thing.”
“It never is with you, is it?”
Beau suddenly felt heavy. Heavy and lonely and for the first time in a long time, uncertain about what he wanted going forward. He frowned, shuffling his feet against the ground, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest that was there every time he thought about leaving Piper.
“You were right,” he said, leaning back against the dugout wall.
“You’re gonna have to get more specific on that one, because I’m right about a lot of things.”
Beau sighed. “For a long time, I haven’t let people in because I think they’re just gonna leave. Just like mom. I don’t trust people to stay, so I don’t ever look for anything permanent. And I was fine with that for a long time, but then my agent told me my reputation was getting out of hand, so I…” He pushed a hand through his hair. “I convinced Piper—that’s her name—to pretend to be my girlfriend. She’s a fitness trainer and she works with the team, that’s how we met. Anyway, she agreed because she needed an influx of cash for her business, but then…I don’t know. The lines got blurry and…Fuck. Now I’m falling for her, but I have no idea if she feels the same way. And I’ve got this massive offer on the table from the Mariners that I’d be absolutely fucking insane not to take, and a part of me wants to ask her to come with me. But I also know that that’s just as crazy, because we’ve barely started seeing each other and her entire life is here.”
There was silence, followed by a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “First of all, watch your mouth. Second, I didn’t think I raised you to be such a goddamn idiot.”
Beau sat up straighter at the steel in his grandfather’s voice. “Okay then, o wise one. What do I do? Keeping in mind there’s a hundred million dollars on the table here.”
Norman snorted. “I don’t give a flying fuck how much money’s involved.”
“And you told me to watch my mouth.”
“I’m old, I can say whatever the hell I want. Now listen. It sounds like you’ve got yourself all twisted up in knots over this, so let me help you simplify things. The way I see it, you’ve got two options. Option one, you take the hot shot contract and you move to Seattle. This woman clearly means something to you, so ask her to come with you. She might say no, but at least you tried. Option two, you turn it down, tell her how you feel and figure it out.”
Beau took a deep breath, his heart hammering against his ribs, making him feel shaky. “I have no idea how she feels about me, though.”
“That’s what talking’s for, jackass. Use your words to tell her how you feel, and hopefully she’ll use hers to tell you what she’s thinking.”
Could it really be that simple? Could he just say, Hey Piper, I think I’m halfway in love with you and I think it’d be great if you uprooted your entire life and moved to Seattle to be with me, even though we’ve only been seeing each other for like a month?
“I don’t know if I can ask her to move halfway across the country. It’s a big ask.”
“So then turn down the money and follow your heart. Listen. You’re an All-Star who’s having the best season of his career, and you’ve got that scary hot shot agent in your corner. I’m willing to bet my left nut that you could play for any team you wanted. Money might not be the same, but money ain’t everything. Besides, how much money you already got?”
He’d al
ready earned about forty million dollars over the course of his career, and he didn’t live an extreme, lavish lifestyle. He’d paid three million for his condo, spent some of it, stayed on top of his taxes, and saved and invested the rest.
“I’ve got about ten million put away.”
“You’ve got ten million dollars in the bank, and you’re going to give up the only woman you’ve ever given a damn about just to make that number bigger?”
“A hundred million is a lot to turn down. Would you say no to that kind of money?”
“For Ruth? In a goddamn heartbeat.” His voice shook, and Beau felt it right in the middle of his chest. “But you don’t want to give up the money, okay. That’s your prerogative. Tell her how you feel and ask her to come with you.”
Beau nodded slowly, letting Norman’s words sink in. He was right. He had to find out how Piper felt and there was only one way to do it.
“There’s actually another reason I’m calling. I bought a plane ticket to come visit you, like you’ve been bugging me to do.”
“Gramps, I could’ve bought the ticket.”
“I got money, too, Mr. Bigshot. I’m gonna come down in two weeks, come see some games. Make sure you haven’t wrecked the Chevelle.”
“Oh, I wrecked it a long time ago. But I bought a new one, and I doubt you’ll be able to tell the difference.” Beau grinned, waiting for the reaction he knew was coming.
“You…But…No, you…I….”
“Kidding, Gramps. She’s in one piece. You know I love that car.”
“Right. Very funny. I’ll see you soon. You think about what I said. Don’t mess it up with this one. If you’re punching people in bars and turning yourself inside out over her, I think that’s worth something.”
By the time they hung up, a kind of resolute peace had settled over Beau. He knew what he needed to do.
He was going to tell Piper how he felt about her and ask her to come with him to Seattle.
