Page 173 of Off Season
He runs his fingers over my lips. “I love your smile, especially when I’m the cause of it.” Exhaling a long breath, he says, “As for kids, I’m not sure I should be anything other than a fun uncle. A funcle, if you will. I don’t have an overwhelming need to putmore crazy into the world than I already do. Like you, I’m not closing the door, I’m simply saying it’s not a deal-breaker for me. I’ve never once said to you that I need to have children to be happy.”
I look into his eyes and whisper, “What did I do to deserve you? I didn’t think men like you really existed.”
He gives me an uncharacteristically intense look. “I exist to love you, Kamryn Hart. All you have to do is let me.”
I have no words for that.
He stares at me as I let the enormity of what he just said sink in. “Did it ever occur to you that part of my attraction to you is that you make me a better man?”
“Me? I makeyoubetter? It’s the other way around.”
He shakes his head. “You’re wrong. You’re so much stronger than me. I see how you stand up for yourself and others. It’s always been a weakness of mine, but now I’m aware of it and trying to stand up for myself and those I care about. For my whole life, I’ve let my post-baseball path be scripted into something that doesn’t excite me. It’s you who has pushed me to see that I have other options.”
He rubs his thumb over my face. “If you don’t want promises, we simply won’t make any.” He twists his lips. “Except one. I need you to make me one promise.”
Fuck. Here we go. I blow out a breath. “What?”
He sits up. “I’ll be right back.”
What is he up to? This man is always full of surprises. Hell, it’s one of the things I love most about him.
He disappears for about three minutes. I hear him approaching the fort, but when he bends down, I nearly melt into a puddle.
I honestly blink a few times to make sure I’m not hallucinating.
He’s holding the cutest golden retriever puppy I’ve ever seen in my life. I gasp. “Oh my god.”
He grins widely. “I need you to promise to take care of thisguy while I’m gone. Also, I need you to name him because he doesn’t like Little Dude at all. He thinks it’s emasculating.”
I breathe, “What? He’s yours?”
“He’s ours.”
“What will happen when we’re both in season? When we travel?”
The puppy adorably wiggles in his big arms. “Evan has two dogs. He said he’d take this cutie pie home with him when we’re both on the road. I think Evan was more excited than anyone about this puppy.”
That explains his cheery demeanor earlier.
I reach for the puppy. “Can I hold him?”
He happily and carefully hands the puppy to me. I take him into my arms and bury my face in his soft fur. The puppy smell invades my senses while he nibbles on my finger. “He’s so fucking cute.”
“Are you telling the puppy that I’m cute, or are you telling me that the puppy is cute?”
“Both.”
“Fair enough. Any thoughts on names? Sixty-nine…since it’s our two jersey numbers put together? Or something baseball and softballish like Dinger? Maybe Tater.”
I scrunch my face. None of those feel right. I stare down at the sweetest little face I’ve ever seen in my life while I run through a few names in my head until the right one hits me. I look up at Cheetah. “I think I’d like to name him Chewbacca. We can call him Chewy.”
Cheetah gasps before a huge grin forms on his handsome face. “For real?”
I rub my nose in the puppy’s belly. “Do you like your name, Chewy?”
The puppy lets out a high-pitched bark, and I nod. “Yep. He loves it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
