Page 14

thirteen

Cole

“That show was actually a lot of fun,” Rory says, walking beside me as we exit the room and start to traverse the exhibits.

After Harlow eyed us all morning during breakfast, Rory and I left their apartment and got ready for our impromptu outing.

Since she’s my Starlight, what better place to bring her than the planetarium?

We went with casual, but she still showed up looking like a fucking dream. Tight as hell skinny jeans, a loose striped T-shirt, a mustard yellow cardigan, and white Converse?

Yes fucking please.

Sitting in the dark during the show allowed me to look at her far more often than I usually can without her noticing.

“What was your favorite part?” I ask as we come to stand in front of a display of moon rocks.

“Constellations,” Rory replies. “I’ve always loved constellations.”

I turn on my side, leaning against the railing and looking directly at her. “What would you say is your favorite constellation?”

“I’ve always really liked the Dippers. They’re two of the easiest constellations to find when you look in the sky and some of the only ones I can ever see in the city.”

“Makes sense,” I smile. “You were my Little Dipper this morning.”

Rory laughs lightly, skin flushing slightly. “Does that make you my Big Dipper?”

“Of course,” I say, crossing my arms. “I’m always the big spoon.”

That pulls a genuine laugh from her. “Sorry about that. I apparently cuddle in my sleep.”

“You won’t hear me complain.” I throw my hands up in surrender. “I told you I’m a cuddler.”

Her smile wavers. “Friends don’t cuddle, though.”

I sigh, pushing up the sleeves of my black T-shirt, giving myself something to fidget with. But as I do, I see Rory trace the movement, watching intently as the muscles in my forearm flex. And I can’t help but smirk.

“Friends also don’t stare at their friend’s arms, Ror.”

“I-I wasn’t!” she shouts, moving backward a few steps away from me. “I was just looking at your tattoos.”

“Sure you were,” I laugh, winking at her as she groans. “That’s twice recently I’ve caught you staring at me. I’m starting to think that you might be into me.”

The words flow out before I can stop them. I know we love to trip each other up, but it’s mostly her doing that to me. I’m usually much more of an awkward flirt around her than I am right now.

But when Rory just gapes at me, pride courses through me.

She’s not denying it.

She is into me.

The girl I’m infatuated with wants me, too.

Reality reminds me, though, that her dad is still my Field Manager.

That she’s still off-limits.

That I can’t be with her.

But it’s hard to care when she looks at me with stars in her eyes. It’s hard to worry about Skip when his daughter looks at me like I’m the only thing she wants.

It makes me want to be reckless. It makes me want to give in. It makes me want to say, “fuck it,” and take what we both want.

Rory steps closer to me, breathing heavily and not taking her eyes off mine.

Before anything can happen, a voice sounds from behind us. “Are you Cole Pierce?”

I turn around and see a man not much older than me with a young boy beside him, maybe six years old. Based on the matching dark brown shade of their hair, I’m guessing this is his son.

“That’s me,” I reply, sheepishly rubbing my neck. I’ve been getting better with my fame recently, but getting used to people randomly recognizing me is still hard.

“You were incredible in the World Series!” the man exclaims. “The entire city celebrated when you hit that home run.”

“Just doing my job,” I shrug. “But I’m grateful the series went in our favor. It was nice to bring the pennant back to New York.”

“You’re always so modest,” Rory says, laughing as she comes to stand beside me. “You’re allowed to accept the fact that you’re an incredible shortstop, Cole.”

“You know me by now,” I laugh. “This is Paul Fisher’s daughter, Rory. She’s actually one of my closest friends.”

“It’s so nice to meet you both. My name is Ryan, and this is my son, Luca.”

I bend down, balancing on the balls of my feet. “Really nice to meet you, Luca. You a baseball fan?”

He nods enthusiastically, and I smile. “Dad even let me stay up late to watch the game!”

“Oh man, my dad never let me stay up late to watch games. You’re lucky.”

“I want to be just like you when I grow up!” he says excitedly, and it’s so fucking cute.

“Like me? Wow, Luca. But if you want to be like me, you gotta look like me, too.” I reach for the Stars hat he’s wearing—navy with a yellow bill—and flip it on his head, turning it backward to match the black cap I’m wearing right now. “There you go. Now we’re practically twins.”

“You know what would make it better, though?” Rory chimes as she falls down beside me, pulling a permanent marker out of her purse.

“Ooh, I think she’s right,” I smile. I take the marker before removing the cap from Luca’s head, autographing the bill, and then placing it back on—backward again. “I think you’re all set now, buddy.”

“Thank you!” Before I can reply, Luca springs himself at me, spreading his tiny arms across my chest as he hugs me. I lightly laugh before I hug him back.

I love kids’ lack of awareness. They don’t care about social norms and what’s expected of them. An adult would never do this to me, not without asking first.

But that’s why I love kids. They don’t care. They know what they want, and they go for it, societal expectations be damned. It’s endearing, at least to me.

“I’m going to need you to keep practicing, Luca. I want to see you on the Stars one day.”

Rory and I both stand as Ryan and Luca say their goodbyes, both smiling brightly as they turn and walk away from us.

“I think I made his day,” I say, pushing my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

“I think you made his entire year,” Rory laughs. “Kid’s never going to forget this.” She lightly elbows me. “You’re a good man, Cole.”

“I try to be.”

And I do.

But sometimes I think I might try to be too good.

I never step a toe out of line, always following what I’m told to do. And where has that led me?

Pining for one woman for nearly four years because I’m too good to act on my desires.

My physical desires, though, are not good. The things I would do to Rory if I could…

But my emotional desires? Those are different. I’ve dated, sure, but I’m not much of a relationship man. But with Rory, it’s different.

I want to hold her close to me. I want to come home to her every night. I want to remind her every day how goddamn beautiful she is so she never forgets.

I want to treat her the way she deserves to be treated and adore her the way she deserves to be adored.

But good guys can still go for what they want, can’t they?

Maybe nice guys don’t always have to finish last…

Rory and I part after we leave the planetarium. And as soon as I get to my apartment, I change right into a pair of athletic shorts and a T-shirt, pull my hair back, and hightail it right to the stadium. My head’s a fucking mess, and a good workout should help me clear it.

I decide to stick with light cardio today, choosing to jog on a treadmill instead of lifting weights. I like to run, and I want to not freeze my ass off when I do it.

Twenty minutes into my run, I hear a voice behind me. “What are you doing here, Pierce?”

I stop the treadmill, grab my towel, and wipe the sweat from my forehead. “Hey, Skip. Just wanted to get a quick workout in.”

“Doesn’t your apartment building have a gym?”

“Not as nice as this one,” I laugh. “I always come here. Is that why you’re here?”

“No,” he replies, “I had to grab something from my office and spotted you in here. Figured I could talk to you for a minute.”

“Is something wrong?” I ask, fear creeping up my spine.

“I don’t know. Rory’s been weird for the past couple of weeks. Do you have any idea why? I know you two are friends.”

“Nope,” I lie. “I haven’t noticed anything. Why do you think she’s being weird?”

“Well,” he says, “when we talked about the champagne shower last week, I mentioned that I didn’t see her in the clubhouse, and she seemed really uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t see her? She was right by Waller.” I figure Eric is a good choice since he was far from Skip during the celebrations. It’s easier to claim Rory was hidden that way.

“Must just be me then. Need new glasses, I guess,” he laughs. “You hear about Waller, though?”

I let out a breath. “Yeah. Can’t believe he’s retiring. He’s been on the Stars since I was a teenager. I’ve loved watching him play.”

“Now, I gotta find a new first baseman. I don’t think Bonner’s ready to do it full-time.”

“You gotta get Ari Morgan then.”

“He plays for the Thunderbirds. I doubt he’ll want to come play for us.”

“Nah, he will. Ari’s one of my oldest friends from the league. His contract just ended this year, and he’s not sure he wants to renew it.”

“Huh,” Skip says. “Definitely gonna consider that then. He’s a hell of a batter. I’ll let you get back to it, though, Cole. I’ll see you for Rory’s birthday in a few weeks.”

“See ya, Skip.”

When he walks out of the gym, I let out a deep breath. It’s hard as hell to act normally around him right now. And I’ll be seeing him again in just a few weeks.

That gives me a few weeks to try to not be so awkward.

Slim fucking chance of that happening.