“What are you doing out here?” Her voice is a twinkle in the dark, a light guiding me back inside.
I keep my feet planted in place. “I just needed some air.”
“Are you still upset about the game? You got the win, Finny. It’s okay to have a rough start every once in a while.”
Her warmth spreads across my arm. I inhale her perfume and swap my beer to my other hand so I can thread our fingers.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.
“It’s not the game, Bree.”
“So, tell me what’s bothering you, then. You haven’t been out here for long, have you? I couldn’t find you after Brielle finally let me escape the den.”
“Is she okay?” I murmur, finally letting myself look at her.
Her black hair is frizzy at the crown and pulled back into two braids that have grown loose over the last few hours. The Avery jersey she’s wearing is unbuttoned, revealing the simple white tank top beneath it. Her chest is pink, the freckles there blending in with the tan she’s starting to get now that it’s warmer out. I notice how bare her lips look now that her lip gloss has been rubbed on the rim of the pink Solo cup she’s holding. The soft, pale pink makes me want to kiss her more than I always do.
“You know how Elle is. She loves a good party. I can’t keep up with her anymore. Does that make me old?”
I chuckle, dragging my thumb across her knuckles. “She’s only two years younger than us.”
“Yet I’m the only one who wakes up with a headache after a single glass of wine. I don’t want to know how bad it’s going to hurt after tonight.”
“These parties remind me of college,” I admit.
“See? That should be concerning. We’re twenty-seven years old, attending a house party. They’re playing beer pong in the kitchen.”
I brush a kiss over her temple as I crack a grin. “Kellan’s young at heart.”
“So are you, Finn. You just don’t need alcohol to have a good time.”
“Maybe. I feel older every day I wake up with an ache in my shoulder or feeling like I could have used another three hours of sleep. I’m closer to thirty than twenty, Bree. I think that terrifies me.”
“Is that why you’ve been so quiet tonight?” she murmurs, turning her body toward mine.
I bring our joined hands to rest at her back, opening the space between us so she can press into my side. Her breath blows across my T-shirt, making me shiver. She tips her head back and stares at me, giving me an unrestricted view of her deep blue eyes.
“Part of the reason, maybe. I’ve been thinking about the future a lot recently.”
“And?” she prods.
“And the only two constants I see are baseball and you. But baseball shouldn’t belong in that category. I’m not going to play it forever. It can drop me at any given moment. I could twist my shoulder wrong during a pitch or trip in the grocery store and tear my knee. Or if by some miracle, it isn’t an injury that takes me out, my age will. I’ll get too old to be useful, and then I’ll beforced to watch my team play without me. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to find a job coaching, but that’s not guaranteed any more than playing is.
“So, that leaves you, Aubrey. You’re my one and only true constant. Does that terrify you? Make you want to tuck tail and run before I take that opportunity away?”
Her brows pinch, concern flicking across her face. “Why are you asking me that? I don’t want to run, Finn. And you’re too young to be worrying about not getting to play baseball. Of course, those things are possible, but you’ve never let that affect you before. What’s changed?”
“Us.We’vechanged. And now that we have, I see so many things differently than I did before. I’ve always feared losing you, but now it’s so much worse. You’re mine in a way that I refused to even consider months ago because I knew I’d never be able to go back to the way things used to be. Once we opened this door, you became my sole focus. And I know that sounds crazy and extreme, but I’m not going to lie to you.”
I release her hand so I can cup her face instead, not offering her the chance to break away when I speak again.
“Why haven’t you asked me to go to the gala with you?”
Her inhale is slow, laboured. “Because everyone already knows you. I can’t show up with you and have Spencer call my bluff in front of everyone at the firm.”
“It wouldn’t be a bluff, though. I’m your boyfriend, Aubrey.”
“That won’t matter. After the event is done, I’ll tell the entire world we’re dating, but I refuse to let Spencer get any sort of win here. If I show up with you, I’ll look like a liar because if you were my boyfriend the entire time, there would have been no reason to hide our relationship. As of right now, he believes I’ve been dating someone for a while now, and that someone hasn’t been you.”
