CHAPTER TWENTY

Christy

We dropped Nolan off at my sister’s house on the way home from ice cream so we could get ready for the concert. When I exit my room, wearing my pink Ariat cowboy boots, a short and flirty skirt, and a cute tank top to go with it, Evan’s eyes light up.

“I will not make it through the concert with you looking like that,” he says, coming up and pulling me into him.

I kiss him softly. “Just imagine how much fun we’ll have with Nolan gone for the night when we get home.”

He grabs my ass, making me lift my leg up to him. “I take that as a challenge to make you scream tonight—you know that, right?”

Chills cover my entire body at the thought, and when he kisses my neck, pressing himself into me, I’m just about to cave in and take him to my room when he drops my leg abruptly and walks away.

“Ugh,” I whine.

“Now you know how I feel with you looking like that. If you’re going to torture me, it’s only fair I torture you.”

He winks, and I let out a loud laugh.

“Ready?” He smirks.

I grab my purse as we head out the door. “Fine. Yes.” I pout.

He opens his truck door for me, and I yelp when I realize it was only for him to grab my ass as I climbed in. The expression he gives me when I eye him makes me laugh, no matter how I try to mean-mug him.

We drive to the stadium. When he turns away from the entrance, I look at him in question.

“I have access to the players’ entrance, remember?”

“Even during a concert?”

He raises his eyebrows and says, “Yep,” with a pop to the P .

I sit back in a little shock. I guess dating him has perks I never thought of.

He pulls into an area and rolls down his window. He flashes an ID, but it’s obvious the guy already knows who he is how he doesn’t even bother getting up from his station to see what Evan is holding.

“Thanks, George.”

George nods in acknowledgment as we drive by. “Have a good time.”

“That’s George,” Evan points out.

“Yeah, I got that,” I tease, and he gives me the stink eye. “Is he here every day?”

“Every day we are. He said he works these events to make extra cash.”

I nod in thought. “Do you talk to George often?”

He shrugs. “Every day when I arrive and leave.”

I grin, but don’t say anything else. It’s nice to see how nonchalant he is about talking to George, like it’s something obvious he would do. I assume not everyone talks to the security guard daily, but he does. It’s little things like that, that make him different—special even.

He pulls into a parking spot, and we hop out before walking hand in hand up a ramp and to a back door.

Every person we walk by, he shakes hands with them or gives them knucks. When we get to a few people he doesn’t know, someone is already there to vouch for him to let him in.

“Jeez, I feel like I’m with a celebrity or something,” I tease.

“Or something.” Evan grins and nudges my shoulder. “Want to see the locker room before we head to our seats?” he asks, obviously excited to show me.

“Absolutely!” I try to match his tone.

He pulls me down a hallway, walking a little faster now, making me laugh because I can barely keep up.

“Ta-da,” he says when he opens the door with his arms wide.

I look around the large room, lined with cubbies and couches sitting off to the side.

“Which one’s yours?”

He drops his head to his chest with a loud laugh. “I guess I should have thought about that before I brought you in here.”

“Why?” I ask slowly, not sure why he’s acting that way.

He walks to a space that has Parker written above it laughing some more.

I squint my eyes when I look at his, then to another player’s locker, then I point at him in question. “Um, why is yours pink?”

“It was a prank a few of the players played on me on opening day. I just haven’t taken the time to get it off. I don’t think I will though. Season is going good, so why change anything?”

“A little superstitious, are you?”

He pulls me close to him, so I wrap my arms around his neck. “Baseball is very superstitious, and you’re part of that so you may be stuck with me until the season is over …”

I lean up to kiss his lips. “I look at it as you’re stuck with me, so I guess we’re stuck together.”

He grins and kisses me again.

The intensity between us grows strong quickly until the door opens and we hear a man’s voice say, “Really, Parker?”

Evan pulls back from me, then laughs. “What’s up, Diesel?”

He looks back at me to make sure I’m okay, then grabs my hand and walks me toward his teammate, who’s standing with someone who makes me stop in my tracks when she comes into view.

They slap hands, and Evan turns to me. “This is my girlfriend, Christy. Christy, this is Diesel Donovan and …” He holds out his hand to Delilah Monroe, a country singer I’ve been a fan of for years. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Evan Parker.”

She smiles, and, my goodness, she’s even prettier in person. “I’m Delilah Monroe. Nice to meet you.”

She then turns to me and holds out her hand, so I shake it as well, speechless about how fast this turn of events occurred. One minute, I was lost in Evan’s kiss, and then I meet two very famous people who I had no clue were a thing.

On top of all of that, this is the first time he’s introduced me as his girlfriend …

I’m in shock from all of it, so I stand here like an absolute idiot, trying to act unfazed because meeting people like this must be an everyday thing for someone like Evan.

“K, well, we’ll get out of here and head up to the seats. Are you guys in the suite with us?” Evan asks.

“Yeah, we’ll be up there soon,” Diesel responds with a nod, then smiles at me. “It was nice to meet you.”

I wave at both of them. “You guys too.”

Evan leads me out of the locker room, and once we’re in the clear, I ask, still in shock, “Did I really just meet Delilah Monroe?”

“Yep. Diesel told me the other day that their agents were hooking them up. I thought it was a PR stunt, but maybe not …”

“How do you live in this world?”

“What world?”

“A world with all these famous people around everywhere.”

He laughs. “There’s not famous people everywhere.”

I pause, thinking about it more. “You yourself are more famous than you think you are.”

“Hardly.”

“They talk about you almost every night on TV. They don’t give stats of every player, but you are one they highlight.”

He shrugs, trying to downplay what I’m saying, and that’s when it hits me for real.

“I’m totally dating a famous guy.”

He pulls me into a hallway abruptly, making me squeal in surprise when he spins me and presses me up against the wall.

When our eyes meet, he moves my hair out of my face. “I hope it was okay to introduce you as my girlfriend. I know we haven’t made it pubic, but to me, it’s not even a question.”

I smile and nod. “I was glad you did. I’d hoped I was at least.”

He kisses me, and it turns intense faster than my brain can process. When he lifts my leg to wrap around him and reaches his hand up my skirt to grip my ass while pressing into my core, my head drops back in ecstasy. He instantly licks my neck, and I’m gone. I’ve never wanted something as bad as I want him now.

“God, I could fuck you right here,” he whispers.

I grip his shoulder. “Please.”

He drops his head to my chest with a chuckle, then takes a deep breath. “Not here.” He holds his spot as we breathe our way through our desires.

After a few breaths, he drops my leg and steps away from me, adjusting himself in his pants before reaching for my hand. “Let’s get to the suite before I can’t hold back anymore.”

I giggle at his words as I take his hand and follow him to the suite.

When we arrive, a few of his teammates are already there.

“Hey. What’s going on?” Evan says to a guy I recognize as a pitcher on the team with a girl standing next to him. “Carter, this is my girlfriend, Christy.”

He holds his hand out to me. “Nice to meet you.” He points at the girl who has brown hair with caramel highlights. “This is my … Grace. Uh, this is Grace.” He clears his throat. “My girlfriend.”

When he wraps his arm around her, I watch the way she’s slightly irritated by his actions. If I were her, I might be, too, with the awkward way he just introduced her. I try to act like I didn’t notice so I don’t make it even weirder than it was.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” I smile as I shake their hands.

“Be careful with this guy,” Evan says, obviously teasing. “He’s the first to mess with any one of us.”

Carter laughs out loud. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just bent because I painted his locker.”

“You did that?” I ask, not able to hold back my laugh.

“See, even she thinks it was funny.”

I grab Evan’s arm. “He just told me he’s going to leave it; it’s kind of like his good-luck charm.”

Carter smacks his shoulder. “Hey, if you keep playing the way you are, I’d leave that shit too.”

“Yeah, I told her I’m leaving the locker and that she’s stuck with me since they both happened around the same time,” Evan says, kissing my forehead.

“I like the way he thinks with his superstitions,” Grace chimes in.

I smile up at Evan. “Yeah, me too.”

Diesel and Delilah enter, and when Carter goes to say hello, Grace grabs my arm.

“Is that who I think it is?”

I chuckle under my breath. “Okay, good. I’m not the only one who’s having a little starstruck moment as I meet everyone tonight.”

She eyes me. “Girl … you aren’t kidding. It’s kind of weird, right? Like, seeing everyone together like this?”

“Absolutely!” I agree and watch the way her body language relaxes a little bit when she realizes I’m in the same boat as her and not used to all of this.

A bald guy with sleeve tattoos walks in and heads straight to Evan with his hand out to give him a bro hug. “What’s up, Evan.”

“Hey, Tripp.” They both give each other a slap on the back, then Evan turns to me. “This is my girlfriend, Christy. Christy, this guy here is our stud catcher.”

“Stud, handsome, charming … I’ll take any adjective in that instance,” he replies with a crooked grin as he holds his hand out to me.

As we shake, Cheyenne, who I’ve seen as the team’s live content creator on social media, walks in instantly catching Tripp’s eye. She moves off to the corner as Tripp turns his attention back to us and drops my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Christy. Not sure why you’re with this dipshit”—he swats Evan’s stomach playfully with the back of his hand—“but I know the dating pool can be slim pickings sometimes.”

“Ha. Ha, asshole,” Evan jives back.

Tripp nods his head toward Cheyenne. “What, no camera today?”

She instantly responds, “No, but I heard you guys had the good snacks.”

Tripp looks back to me. “Nice meeting you, Christy.” Then turns back to Cheyenne. “You have to move away from the wall to discover the snacks. Let me show you.”

As we walk away, Evan whispers to me, “I don’t think she’s here for just the snacks, but shh.” He holds his finger up to his lips, making me laugh.

When I turn around, I catch the two of them eyeing one another, so I lean over to Evan. “I think you’re right.”

The concert begins, and I’m in absolute heaven. I’m a huge fan of Zach Bryan, and seeing him live only makes me love him more. We dance to songs like “Open the Gate” and “Heading South.” I fall for Evan even more when he wraps me in his arms, and we sway to the lyrics of “Sun to Me” and “God Speed.”

“This is my favorite,” he whispers in my ear while listening to “God Speed,” with his arms wrapped around me.

I listen to the lyrics talk about how only God and his mom know what he needs, and I hold Evan tighter. Zach Bryan lost his mom, too, so I can imagine this song carries a lot of meaning for the two of them.

The concert comes to an end, and I’m sad it’s over until Evan kisses me softly and says, “Now the real fun can begin.”

I laugh and take his hand, leading him to the door. We wave goodbye to everyone, and then we head home for the night.