Page 40 of The Curveball
“To—I can’t. What happened to your misplaced protection order on my brain?”
“Oh, it’s intact. We’re doing a date night in. I’m ordering food, and we’re going to eat it, and itisa date. We’ll be officially dating. No lying involved. But maybe once you’re feeling better we’ll make a few public appearances too. Get those nasty, social media keyboard warriors off my back.”
“You really think a few sightings at a restaurant will stop them from attacking you?”
“Come on, Birdie,” I say, trying my best to be playful, not desperate. “You write romance. Tell me people don’t eat up a good romance story. They’ll start new rumors about our love lives.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“We can risk it, I guess.” I lower my voice to a low, broken tone. “Hopefully the kids in the Future All-Stars aren’t too affected if my reputation dies a slow death.”
“Griffin Marks, that is manipulation.” She glares at me, but I catch the twitch to her lips. She’s trying not to laugh.
Point for the catcher—she’s going with it.
“A few dates, Birdie. We have some dinners with our overly involved families, get some buzz going, and soon people will be writing hate columns because they’ll wonder how an idiot like me scored a woman like you.”
“Ah, there he is. The charmer of the field.” Wren rolls her eyes and bites her bottom lip. “I really don’t like lying. Especially to your family since they don’t know me.”
I have no intention of lying to my family. Maybe Wren will see it as a ruse, but I plan to use this opportunity to convince her this is the best thing we could do.
“We say it’s new,” I say, trying to soothe her worries. “We’re dating. Seeing where it goes. We can tell them the truth about the accident and why you’re living here.”
Wren lets out a long sigh. “But what’s the benefit? It’ll only hurt them when it fizzles.”
Therein lies my problem. Getting her to see the benefit of us. If I accomplish anything this off season, it’s going to be that.
When I stay quiet, Wren takes a step to the side, moving away from me. “It’ll break their hearts when I never come back again, because they will love me.”
“I have no doubt.” I grip her wrist and tug her against me again, pleased when Wren doesn’t resist. She’s either tired, or she’s enjoying all this close proximity stuff, but doesn’t want to admit it. “And who says you’ll never come back? Maybe tonight’s date will have you falling madly in love with me.”
“You’re too confident, trust me.”
“Don’t cut down my dreams.”
She snorts a laugh. “Griffin, I don’t know what to think about you sometimes.”
“Only the good things.”
Wren lets her forehead fall to my chest. I close my eyes, grateful she can’t see the way my skin prickles from the shudder dancing down my spine.
“One family dinner,” she whispers. “One birthday. We’re new. Seeing where it goes. Then, we split? Is that what we’re saying?”
“Yes, yes, yes, and time will tell.”
She lifts her head. “I don’t date athletes, Griffin. I write them. No offense, but your lifestyle isn’t for me.”
I hide the slow splinter of my heart with a grin. “What lifestyle is that?”
“On the road, fans, jersey chasers. Sorry, too much temptation.”
My smile fades. She says each word with such determination, such surety. “Is there a story behind that speech, Birdie?”
For the slightest moment she falters. I catch a flash of something like fear in her eyes, but she chuckles and shakes her head. “Not with athletes, but I’ve had my fair share of interactions with powerful men and their egos. No offense, but professional sports tend to have a few of those.”
“I’ll give you that. I’m not one of them, but as I said, time will tell. And don’t forget there are plenty of happy relationships with the Kings. Like Skye. She seems happy, don’t you think?”
“True. She is, but she and Parker are an enigma. Skye is already part of the Kings world through her dad and by being the head trainer. Their future kids will probably all bleed for the Kings. Not everyone gets to travel with the team like she does.”