Page 144 of Fielder's Choice

“Then you’ll need to make sure my first game is memorable, Lane. Gotta keep me wanting to come back.”

“I already got you great seats. Think you’ll come back if I hit a home run for you?”

“Yeah, I think I could manage that,” I smile.

“Anything to keep you coming back.” I hear him take a deep breath. “God, I miss you, Liv.”

“I miss you, too, Lane. But I’ll see you in a few days.”

“You know, I haven’t had anybody to come home to since I came up to the Majors. Sage travels with us, and I haven’t had a girlfriend in so long.”

“And now?” I ask breathily, knowing the answer.

“Now I do,” he replies softly. “And I can’t wait to come home and see you again.”

I smile and sink into my pillow, my heart fluttering in my chest.

Lane is always so honest with me, and I never have to question what he’s thinking.

I think that’s what I’ve always needed.

I need someone that won’t keep anything from me. It’s hard for me to trust, but Lane has already earned all of mine.

He’s the perfect man.

And I think I might love him a little bit more than I did this morning.

fifty-one

Olive

“Aww,Livisjoiningthe jersey gang!” Harlow exclaims when I meet the girls by the stadium entrance.

“Does it look okay?” I ask, gesturing to my navy jersey withBrooksstretched across the back, the number 15 below it. I left it unbuttoned and have a white tank on underneath. I didn’t get the memo, but this seems to be the style since Lo, Rory, and Ella are wearing theirs the same way.

Rory smiles at me. “Liv, you look great! Lane is going to lose his mind.”

Sage pipes in now. “We match, Owive!”

I look down and see her in a jersey that’s identical to mine, just in a much smaller size. “We do match, sweet girl! Daddy is going to love seeing you in his jersey, isn’t he?”

“He’ll love seeing you in it more,” Lucia teases.

“What does that mean?”

Ella tries to bite down a smile. “Guys love seeing their girl in their jersey.”

“They get all possessive,” Harlow adds.

“And feral,” Rory laughs. “Man’s going to have a new image to think of whenshowering.”

“Wow, okay,” I reply uneasily. “Learned something new today.”

“You’re going to learn a lot more, Liv,” Harlow states, looping her arm through mine as she starts leading us away from the entrance. “Baseball has a ton of stats. You won’t learn them all in one day, but you’ll get there.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound intimidating,” I chuckle.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Lucia assures me. “I didn’t know baseball at all before I started working for the Stars. My life plan was always to work for the MLS, but I dove in when I got hired here. And baseball has overtaken football for me as my favorite sport now.”

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