Chapter Twenty-Two

If possible, the room felt small. Isla stared at her father, and his lawyer, across the conference room table. The first time she’d stepped into this space, right after she’d inherited the team, and every time after, she’d felt like it was too vast, too large, even when it was full. Now, she wished it were bigger so she could breathe without feeling like she was choking on her father’s cologne.

“Be reasonable, Isla,” her father said.

Isla tapped her fingers on the table, refusing to toy with the pen in front of her. Show no weakness. Mr. Newn, one of the Bennett Fitness lawyers, simply sat, his lips pressed together in a perpetual pout.

“I’m not sure why you brought a lawyer,” she said. Again.

Her father glanced at Mr. Newn. “Aaron is here to show you we’ve taken the time to create an offer you should be more than pleased with. I’m not trying to swindle you. I want to legally and legitimately purchase the team from you, Isla. You know nothing about baseball, nothing about your grandfather, and I’d really rather do this in a way that doesn’t involve dragging you through court.”

She inhaled deeply. He would. For no other reason than to prove he could. “Putting aside the team for now, which I can’t understand why you even want, what about that? You kept him from us. Why? Make me understand.”

She held his gaze, wondering if she held it long enough, if the father in him would lose the shield, let her in. Instead, he scoffed. “Because it’s my job to protect you.”

She slapped her hands down on the table. “You can actually look me in the eyes and say that? And who protected me from you?”

“This is exactly why you can’t run this team. You’re too emotional.”

That was his fallback; when all else failed, it came down to her being too “soft.” She knew he was wrong, that there was a way to build a strong business and keep compassion at the forefront. But it still hurt.

“Why wasn’t he part of our lives? Why do you want this when you hated him so much?”

Pushing back from the table, her father strolled around the room, looking at the pictures on the wall. He stopped in front of one of his father, clasped his hands behind his back. His suit jacket bunched at the shoulders. He wasn’t facing her, but his voice was clear.

“My father ended my career and our relationship. I didn’t take it well. I don’t think anyone would have.” He turned and stared at Isla. “I blocked it out, put it away, because it was easier to move forward and build my own empire than think about what he stripped away from me.”

Since taking up the owner’s office, Isla had read a bit about her father’s past. Addie had been able to dig up more information than she had, but none of it explained the long-term hatred. Why she’d never wondered enough to push before, she wasn’t sure. Probably because she’d been too focused on pushing to build her own future, or show him she could, to take a look at the past.

“From what I understand, it’s not atypical to move an injured player back to the farm team. Did you talk to him?”

His face scrunched and he brought his hands around, shoved them in his pockets. “There was nothing to say. When my father made a decision, that was it.”

Isla leaned back in her chair, holding the pen between both hands. “I have some experience with that.”

Now he frowned. “This is different. You’re a very talented and smart businesswoman, Isla. But you’re that way because I groomed you. Just because you closed a big deal, with my guidance, doesn’t mean you can drop yourself into this world and pretend to understand it. You will get eaten alive.”

The thought was more appealing than going back to work for him. Anger made her clothes feel tight, made the room airless. “You didn’t groom me. You overshadowed me, diminished me. Kept me under your thumb because you didn’t—don’t—have faith in me. I’m not giving you, or selling you, this team. I’m sorry, because I don’t want more friction between us, but honestly, I’m tired of proving myself to you. Tired of having to. This is mine. For whatever reason, my grandfather didn’t want you to have it. And it matters to me that he wanted me to. I’m going to honor that.”

Her dad stalked forward and slammed a fist on the table. His lawyer leaned in, touched his arm. “Henry.”

Her dad shook him off. “You’re making a mistake.”

Isla stood, finished with this conversation. “Then it’s mine to make.”

“Let me buy in,” he countered, straightening.

He had the kind of capital to do it, and he had a platform in the fitness world that they could build on. She could set the terms, the expectations. You could make him happy. Proud. Her heart constricted. How long had that been her goal?

Looking at him now, she could see she held the power, but it didn’t feel nearly as good as she’d hoped. Because she knew, even if they patched things up, their relationship would never be the kind Liam and Talia had with their family.

The truth was, she’d rather fail without him than succeed with him.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

When he stormed out, Mr. Newn at his heels, she felt empty. Sad. And slightly overwhelmed. She sank back into her chair and, though she knew she shouldn’t, she pulled up Twitter. It had become a slight obsession, reading what people were saying about her. Like looking at old yearbook photos, she cringed but couldn’t help herself. She needed to know.

There was the usual commentary, making her roll her eyes and wonder when people would get over the cup thing. Addie had told her she should feel pride in being made into a meme. Scrolling up, she stopped when she saw the picture Ethan posted. He’d captioned it “old friends,” but the woman pressed up against Liam’s body didn’t look old in any way. She looked…flawless.

More than that, she was someone he could be publicly photographed with, someone he could date without jeopardizing his relationship with players or other members of management. Without sullying his reputation.

Isla’s throat tightened as she thought back to their conversation on jealousy. How well-timed. Her stomach spasmed even as she willed herself to ignore it. Instead of doing that, she touched the picture, made it bigger, zoomed in on the woman’s lips pressing against Liam’s cheek. She set her phone down and got up from the table. There were things she could, should be doing. Worrying about Liam wasn’t one of them. It was her he wanted to be with.

Picking up her phone and the day planner she’d brought in, she went to find Addie. She had some phone calls to make, starting with Jonathan Conroy. Addie agreed, her idea was strong, and she was going to make it work. By the time spring training started, she’d be ready for the season.

When she arrived in her office, her grandfather’s assistant, Kahlil, was leaving a stack of messages on her desk.

“Hey,” she said, setting down her phone and book.

“Hi, Ms. Bennett. Here’re your messages. I put them in order of importance. You have a conference call with Billy Hayes in twenty minutes. Can I get you anything?”

Billy Hayes. Farm team manager. “I’m good, thank you. Uh, actually, can you get me the farm team roster? I want to make sure I know who I’m talking about when he calls.”

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

The twenty-something man started for the door. She stopped him with his name. “Call me Isla. Please.”

He smiled, wide and genuine, giving her a nod. There. At least one member of the staff liked her. Plus, Addie. Two in her corner were better than none.

It was a start.

…

Isla leaned back in the leather chair, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. She was probably smudging her makeup everywhere, but her eyes felt gritty.

When she dropped her hands, a short, surprised squeal left her lips before she could stop it. Liam was leaning against the doorjamb, looking like he’d walked off the pages of Sports Stars Are Hot magazine. That was a thing, right? If it wasn’t, it should be, and he should grace the cover.

“Tired?” He actually had his jacket slung over his shoulder, hooked on his index finger. The tailored suit pants and white dress shirt weren’t even wrinkled. She was wrinkled.

“Red?” His voice was husky, and when she looked up from his shiny dress shoes, he was looking at her with an amused grin. “Long day, babe?”

Before she could answer, he dropped his jacket to her desk and put one hand on the back of her chair, the other on the desk, and leaned down to kiss her. She hadn’t even caught her breath from looking at him before he stole it again.

One hand went to his hair, and the other gripped the front of his shirt. He leaned back, grinned. “Miss me?”

Standing, she pressed her body against his and kissed him as if it was the last time. Won’t make you look like the supermodel. No. It wouldn’t. But it wasn’t the supermodel’s ass he was grabbing. It was Isla he backed into the desk as a low growl left his mouth and his fingers dug into her flesh like he couldn’t get close enough.

She kissed him until the image she’d seen earlier that day disappeared. When she pulled back, her breath choppy, his eyes were dark and intense. His hands still gripped her, but they’d moved to her waist.

“Wow, Red. I might stay away twelve hours every day if you’re going to greet me like that.”

Her hands were in his hair, and her heart beat so erratically she wondered if she should be worried.

“I guess I did miss you,” she said.

Liam narrowed his eyes, pressed her tighter. Which was strange, since short of removing their clothing, they couldn’t get much closer.

“Are you okay?” She heard the worry in his tone.

Not wanting to rehash the day or how she’d felt earlier, she smiled too brightly. “Of course. How was your…uh, the commercial? You have a good day?”

When she tried to pull out of his arms, get some space so she could catch her breath, his arms tightened.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Isla,” he said, almost like he was disappointed.

Lips pressed together, she tried to stop the needy words from leaving her mouth. But she was fighting exhaustion, worrying about what her dad had planned, wondering why the hell Bruce had canceled her conference call with the farm team manager, and her secret boyfriend had spent the day with a gorgeous freaking model.

She dropped her forehead to his chest and mumbled, “It’s just been a long day. Twitter is mean, Bruce is a jerk, and my dad is ramping up to sue me.”

Liam used his hands to lift her chin so she had to face him. “You saw the picture Ethan posted.”

She sighed. Apparently, she was transparent. Some strong businesswoman she was.

Cut yourself some slack. This is your first time dating a super hot baseball player while owning a team. Clearly there’s an adjustment period. She was nearly punch-drunk and should just back away, go to the apartment that still didn’t feel like home, and eat a pint of ice cream.

“Isla, what’d I tell you?”

“I know,” she whispered. “I do. And I trust you. It just wasn’t nice to see.”

They were still glued to each other when Liam used both hands to pull the pins from her hair, letting it tumble down around her shoulders. Immediately, her neck felt looser. Leaning in, he brushed his nose against her ear, and his warm breath made her shiver.

“I thought about you all day. I missed you.”

She shouldn’t need his reassurance. They weren’t in high school, and she knew his job entailed socializing with the masses and he had a large fan base, including women. Their relationship was new, and things were already heavy. They couldn’t even share the fact that they were together. Which might have been the driving force behind today’s insecurity. Breathing out those feelings and the rest of her doubt, she noted truth in this moment: this sexy man was staring at her like he could devour her.

“I’m sorry.”

He cupped her cheeks. “Don’t be sorry. Just talk to me. Before I forget, my mom asked me to bring you to dinner on Sunday. You good with that?”

She smiled. “You ever bring a girl home for dinner before?”

Liam chuckled, and the pressure in her chest disappeared. “Not since high school. Seeing as Talia has a big mouth, though, I knew I wouldn’t get to keep you all to myself for long. I’ll warn you now, my family is overwhelming.”

“I look forward to meeting them.” Something normal in the midst of everything foreign.

“Good. Now. I have a surprise for you. Have you eaten?”

“No. We could drive separately back to my place?”

He shook his head, stepped back, and took her hand. “Nope.”

She tugged on her hand, stopping him. He looked back at her questioningly. “I’m pretty sure Ethan would have a fit if we go somewhere public for dinner even if we could pass it off as business or friendship.”

Liam closed the distance between them again. “We’ve barely started, and I’m already realizing we’ll have to stop hiding this, Red. It’s too complicated, and I’m falling too hard.”

Her stomach leaped, and she sucked in a breath. Before she could say anything, he continued. “I know we have to wait. I’m just saying, I don’t know if I can hide it forever.”

Her heels made it so they were closer to eye level. Leaning in, pressing her mouth to his, she kissed him soft and slow, trying to show him how much it mattered that he was willing to stand up for them.

Forever was a long time. “Let’s go one step at a time. I don’t want a crowd tonight. I just want you,” she said.

His forehead dropped to hers. “Then you’re in luck, because I’m taking you for dinner on the field.”

She laughed. “What?”

“You heard me. We’re going down to the field to have a picnic. And then I’m going to show you something that’s been missing from your life.”

Biting her lip and fighting the urge to happy dance on the spot, she tried for coy. “Oh really? I’m pretty sure you showed me that in the shower this morning. And last night.”

Liam’s laugh delighted her. It was loud and real, and she loved being the reason. He squeezed her hand and pulled her along. “You have a dirty mind. Just one of the things I adore about you. But I was actually talking about baseball.”

“What?” She had to hurry to keep up with his pace.

“I’m going to show you how good it feels when the bat connects with the ball.”

She didn’t want to put a damper on things, but she paused. “There are still personnel here.” She wasn’t sure who, but there had to be someone other than them in the building.

“Stop worrying. There’s like, one security guard who hovers outside for another hour or so, and the janitor was finishing up when I came in. No one will know.”

The excitement in his voice was so boyishly sweet that her chest filled with warmth. He stopped suddenly, whirling so their bodies came together. He gave her another kiss, but this one was a little rough and a lot thrilling.

“After that, we can do a replay of last night and this morning.”

She shivered, goose bumps dotting her skin just from the look in his eyes and the way he held her close.

“I think I’m going to like baseball,” she whispered.