Do you want to come over?
I don’t really want her there while Guerra and Wilder are there. However, I want to see her, be with her. But I also have to be up early. After today I’m going to work even harder to figure out what’s going on with my game. I can’t tell if it’s mental or what, but something has to change. This is my dream, and the last thing I want is for it to slip away because of my inability to perform at this level.
I’ll meet you there!
Relief washes through me, except there’s a nagging voice in the back of my head that the guys aren’t going to take this lightly.
“So my friend is coming over tonight,” I say as I pull out into traffic. As I suspected, they start saying stupid shit that I’d be saying if the roles were reversed. I’m starting to think baseball players never grow the fuck up.
“She’s hot,” Wilder says, and Guerra echoes the sentiment.
“Yeah, and she’s nice, so don’t be douches when she gets there.”
“Well, hopefully you won’t be getting laid,” Wilder says. My brows furrow at his comment, but I leave it alone. Most bros are slaphappy if their friends are getting laid. Maybe he’s afraid he’ll hear us. I’ll turn on some music to drown out the noises.
Neither of them make any promises about leaving Ainsley alone when she gets there, which scares the shit out of me. For all I know, they’ll start running around the apartment in their jockstraps, scarring Ainsley for life, or making her laugh. Sooner or later, she’s going to end up spending time with them, just not now. Tonight, I want her all to myself.
She’s waiting in the parking lot when I pull in, and as soon as I’m parked and out of the car, I’m walking toward her. My steps are eager, and my heart is pounding. I’ve never felt this emotion before or the desire to be in someone’s presence as much as I do with her.
“Hey,” she says, as a smile plays on her lips. Just being with her makes me feel better.
I collapse into her, wrapping my arms around her. She melts into me, nestling into the crook of my neck while her fingers play with the hair that is visible outside of my hat.
“Rough day?”
“You have no idea,” I mumble into her skin. “But this is making it better.”
She laughs, and her breasts shake against my chest, making me stir in my shorts. I can’t hide how attracted I am to her. “Sorry,” I say, backing away, but she doesn’t let me go far.
“I like that I can do that to you.” She looks down at my crotch and back at me with a wicked glint in her eye.
“I don’t want you to think I asked you over here to get laid.”
Ainsley steps into my space, placing her hands on my hips. I have to look down at her, and when I do, her gaze intensifies. This woman…she has to be what the romantics refer to as “the one.” I never thought about that soul mate shit or true love, but if this how it feels, then I’m game. I don’t care that my mind is constantly wondering what she’s doing. From the second I laid eyes on her, I knew she was meant to be in my life.
“If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t come over.”
My hand slides down her arm until our fingers are locked together. I give her a slight tug and nod my head toward the stairs that lead to my apartment.
“It’s still a mess, but this time Frank and Brock are home. If they’re crass, I apologize now. When you spend as much time as we do in clubhouses and on the road, we tend to lose all the manners we were taught growing up.” I laugh, hoping to defuse any potential comments that they may blurt out when she meets them.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
I shake my head. “We’re athletes; it’s in our nature to be pigs,” I say as my hand rests on the doorknob. She gives my hand a light squeeze, and I open the door, surprised when I find neither of them in the living room, making our getaway to my bedroom that much easier.
Once inside, I shut and lock the door, watching as Ainsley looks around. Can’t say anything in my room has changed from yesterday or even earlier this morning, but she’s still looking like everything is new to her.
Is she nervous? The more I think about it, I am, and I can’t explain why.
“Do you want to talk about today?”
I toss my keys onto my dresser and kick off my shoes. “I’m guessing you listened to the game?”
She nods, and I sigh as I take off my baseball cap. Ainsley giggles, and I immediately try to tame the crazy mess my hair must look like after being under my cap for so long.
“I’ll talk, but only because you asked me.”
“Fair enough. Do you have something I can wear?” She starts unbuttoning her shorts and lifts her shirt over her head, exposing her pink lace bra. I swallow hard and only lose sight of her when her shirt lands on my head, covering my face.