Page 49

TWENTY-FOUR

TANNER

“D’you think we’re going to have a meeting like that every day until the series is over?” Ace yawned as we all trundled out of the hotel conference room the Lions had taken over.

We’d all be back there again in an hour for dinner, because that conference room—or Ballroom B as it was officially known—was doubling up as our dining room and everything else until we got to go home again.

The instructions from up top had been clear: unless we were at the stadium or on the buses transporting us back and forth between games, we were here in the hotel.

I was still yet to remind Coach about Millie’s ultrasound in a week because there was no way in hell I was missing it.

“I hope not,” I replied. “Or we’ll die from boredom before we get to the end of the week.”

“Agree. Definitely overkill.”

It hadn’t been the most inspiring meeting we’d ever been to, and it was nothing we’d not heard before, and absolutely could have waited until tomorrow when everyone was feeling a little less jaded after the party.

I could have also done without the two-hour video dissecting the Yankees’ play during their playoff games, because their play hadn’t seemed any different since we’d last met in the regular season.

It didn’t help that as everyone was starting to fall asleep, Coach summed up the entire session with, Just go out on game one and play your asses off.

Speaking to Millie instead of being in that boring as hell meeting would definitely have been a much better use of my time. As would staying at home for one more night. But I wasn’t mad about the fact we were here, no matter how much I’d hated leaving her asleep this morning.

After coming to the conclusion that she needed to figure out her shit without me, being forced to move into a hotel for a week provided the perfect opportunity.

So I’d dropped a kiss on her head and quietly walked out.

Which reminded me—our call had been cut short earlier—thanks, Parker— and I’d promised to call her back.

Thinking about Millie made it all the more confusing as to why a woman who looked exactly like Millie was dressed in a Lions hoodie and sweatpants, hopping from one foot to the other as she stood to the side of the entrance lobby watching everyone walk past. Very confusing indeed.

Especially when I pulled out my phone to call her and found five missed calls.

It took my brain a little longer than my heart to catch up, because my heart had known immediately who that woman was, and from the way it was currently rattling my rib cage, I’d say it was giddy with excitement.

Millie’s big eyes flared the moment she spotted me and a smile spread across her face. I had zero clue why she was here, or whether I’d get in trouble if she was caught, but I couldn’t give a shit when she looked at me like that.

“ Tan .” She jogged the last few steps toward me. Jogged/waddled.

“Mills, what are you doing here?” I pulled her to the side and away from the elevators all my teammates were waiting for.

I didn’t think anyone would snoop, but I wasn’t about to risk it.

With the lobby chandelier reflecting in her eyes and her cheeks flushed pink as she smiled, Millie seemed as happy as I’d ever seen her, which was a total contrast to how flustered she was.

“Why’s your hair wet?”

“I just had a bath.” She grinned, pushing her fingers through it. “Whoops.”

Whoops? Maybe she was stoned. Did pregnant women get stoned?

“Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What’s wrong?”

“What?” She blinked, rubbing her hand across her belly. “Yes, the baby’s fine. I’m sorry, I know that we’re not supposed to come, and you’re supposed to be resting or whatever, but I needed to see you.”

The skippity-skip thing my heart had been doing stopped.

Something wasn’t right—Millie was not the type of person to turn up unannounced. Dragging her to a chair hidden by a large olive tree, I gently pushed her into it and knelt in front of her.

“Mills, what’s going on?” I stopped short of telling her she was scaring me, even though she was. Especially when she was smiling at me like that.

Smiling and saying nothing.

It would probably be frowned upon if I shook her, but her silence was slowly killing me and a direct correlation to the panic flushing through my veins. This was worse than last night when she glared at me.

At least I’d known what was happening then.

I was still kneeling in front of her when she cupped my cheeks and gently but briefly pressed her lips to mine.

“I love you,” she said.

Maybe it was me who was stoned. “What?”

“I love you.”

Sticking my finger in my ear, I waggled it around a little. “Say again.”

“Tanner.” She smiled her big, beautiful, heart-stopping smile. “I love you.”

“You love me?”

“Yes.” Her eyes roamed my face, taking in my confusion and need for more explanation, because honestly, I was in a little shock.

“You were gone when I woke up…and I’ve been so stupid.

I wanted to say it earlier, but our call got cut off…

You were right, Tan, I was scared. I still am , but I need you to know I’ve never felt like this about anyone before… I don’t just like you a lot.”

“Mills—”

She held her hand up to silence me. “No, wait, please. Let me finish. I’m sorry for being so snappy with you, and impatient, when you’ve been nothing but incredible. I want you to know that our baby is so lucky to have you as their daddy…”

I coughed loudly, trying to stop the thickening in my throat. It wouldn’t work if we were both crying, though for once Millie’s eyes seemed totally dry.

“I found the recordings…”

Fuck.

This wasn’t how I wanted her to find out. I mean, I was going to share them with her, obviously, but I hadn’t expected her to find them by herself—not that I’d hidden them or anything.

Though I don’t know why I was surprised, this was Millie we were talking about. She did everything on her own terms.

“You listened to them?”

“Yes. But that’s not why I’m here…I mean, it is why I’m here, but it’s not why I’m telling you I love you. I was going to do that anyway…I’d realized it already…” Her face dropped in her hands. “Sorry, I’m terrible at this.”

“You’re doing fine.”

When she lifted her head, there was so much emotion in her eyes it was enough to knock me on my ass if I wasn’t already on it.

“You went to see my dad?”

I nodded, slowly. “I did, last month when we played the Nats.”

Her teeth sank into her lip. “You don’t know what that means to me…I can’t explain…that you went to see him. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tan. ”

Placing my hands on either side of her belly, I looked up at her. “I did it for me, too, Mills. I needed him to see that I would take care of you, that I would be there for you and the baby. For our little family.”

Her lips rolled in, and her eyes scoured my face. “Our family, I like the sound of that.”

“Me too.”

Leaning forward, she pressed her soft mouth to mine. I could taste faint hints of toothpaste as her tongue slipped past my lips, and the gentle moan she let out had me seriously questioning how I could get her upstairs without being caught by Coach.

“Tan,” she started, pulling back. “What was the question you asked him?”

I stared at her, trying to figure out if she really had no clue or if she was the world’s best poker player. “Your mom didn’t tell you?”

“My mom?”

“Huh.” I bit down on a smile threatening to split my face, because now I got to tell Millie myself. “I guess she can keep a secret.”

Tiny lines creased along her brow. “What’s my mom got to do with this?”

“Your mom arrived when I was talking to your dad. I was asking him about marrying you, and when your mom arrived, I asked her too.”

“Marrying me?”

“Yes, Mills. Marrying you. You listened to the tapes, you know it’s going to happen.

” I shrugged, trying to keep it as casual as possible.

“You know how I feel about you, how I’ve always felt about you.

But don’t worry, I’ll give you a little time to catch up before it happens.

” I winked, and her mouth dropped right before she punched me in the shoulder.

“You’re such an ass.”

“Ahh, there’s my snarky little girlfriend.” I laughed, my grin pulling wider. “I’d wondered where you’d gone.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Yeah, it’s the step before fiancée.”

“Hey, you need to be nicer to me if you want me to say yes to marrying you.” She huffed.

“Oh, babe,” I muttered, holding her face as I pulled her lips into mine. “You’re going to say yes.”

She harrumphed out a laugh just as I heard a louder whisper of my name, and I turned to find Ace peering around one of the corners.

“Coach is coming.”

“Shit, I gotta go,” I said, pulling up her hood so she was less recognizable, and jumped to my feet. “See you after game one.”

“I love you. Go kick some Yankee ass,” she called after me as I jogged away.

“You good?” asked Ace when I joined him by the elevator.

After last night, this was not how I was expecting my day to end.

I’d said when Millie told me she loved me I was going to kiss her until we needed to come up for air, but that would have to wait until the World Series ended.

Holy shit. Everything I’d ever wanted was coming true.

Millie loved me and she was having my baby .

In forty-eight hours I was playing in game one of the World Series. A World Series I knew we’d win.

This week was going to be the best week of my entire life.

Slapping Ace on the shoulder, I replied, “Fucking fantastic.”