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“See you tomorrow,” I say.
Bailey gets to her feet, and we walk out of Gary’s office together. Our trip through the building is silent, and it’s not until we’re in the parking lot that she finally turns to me and, for the first time since she walked in, offers me a smile. She throws her arms around me and squeezes me tight then plants a long kiss on me. She finally pulls back, but I keep my hands around her waist and look deep into her eyes.
“That was intense,” she says with a nervous laugh. “I can’t believe how this whole thing actually worked out.”
“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” I admit.
“I knew after what happened at practice the other day that the team was fed up with the drama and was going to trade either you or Eric. They were split on which one of you was going, though, so I put my finger on the scale to make the decision easy for them.”
“You set this whole thing up,” I say. “You knew you would get Eric to crack, so you set him up and orchestrated the trade.”
“I figured he’d say or do something stupid, yeah. I didn’t expect him to admit to trying to hurt you, and I certainly didn’t expect him to smack me. He gave me way more than I had been anticipating. It was more than enough to leverage Gary and Coach Holman,” she says. “It showed them who he really was, and as PR-conscious as teams are these days, there is no way they were going to tolerate a player who smacks women and admits to headhunting his teammates.”
I’m dumbfounded by the lengths she went to just to protect me. And still, that nagging worry that she’ll eventually come to resent me for having to betray her brother lingers in the back of my mind and brings a frown to my lips.
“I’m sorry I put you in this position, Bailey. I’m sorry I forced you to choose between me and your brother,” I say.
“It was an easy choice to make,” she tells me. “But you didn’t put me in this position. Eric put himself in this position. I gave him the rope, and he hung himself.”
“I don’t want you to eventually resent me for your brother being sent away.”
She offers me a warm smile. “I won’t. Like I said, Eric did this to himself,” she says. “Besides, I think maybe now, with us not living in the same town, working in the same building, and having some actual distance between us, maybe our relationship will improve. In time. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe this will make him realize that I’m a grown woman and he can’t control my life.”
“Here’s hoping,” I reply. “And hey, he’s instantly the best player in Washington. He’s going to be the big fish on their roster.”
She laughs. “He'll be the big fish, but he'll be in a much smaller pond. I hope that his time in exile is going to humble him. He desperately needs it.”
Still holding her close, I look down at her and smile. “Have I told you just how amazing I think you are?”
“Not yet today,” she replies.
“Well, you’re amazing, and I definitely don’t deserve you.”
“Damn right,” she says with a laugh. “Now, I’m famished. Take me to lunch. And then take me home and ravish me, mister.”
“I think we can do that.”
She flashes me a crooked grin. “You’re suspended. It’s not like you don’t have the time.”
“That’s true.”
I walk around to the passenger side, open the door, and look at her as she slips inside. Bailey gets settled on the seat and looks back at me.
“What?” she asks.
“Washington, huh? Might as well have sent him to Antarctica,” I say. “Remind me to never cross you. I would hate to see where I end up.”
“Then mind your manners,” she replies and tips me a wink.
“Yes ma’am.”
I close the door and walk around to the driver’s side feeling good. Really good. And I know I have the woman in the passenger seat to thank for it.
EPILOGUE
BAILEY
Three Years Later
