“To play-offs!” Rod held a shot in the air, a small group to guys toasting around the hotel bar. They’d won the last regular season game tonight, solidifying their spot as lead champs, with only play-offs to come. I’d honed the stats and finally felt like the team was working like a well-oiled machine. We also had a better handle on the other teams in the league, which was good, because top of the American League was the Blue Jackets, the team that’d crashed us four games in a row.

Cash slipped a hand around my waist, smiling deeply as the guys took their shots. Cash wasn’t drinking. I think the situation with his dad had thrown him off for a while. I knew he’d ended up paying off his father’s house just like he’d said he wanted to do, but he hadn’t heard from his dad since. My heart ached for him. I could see the pain haunting his eyes. He wanted a relationship with his dad, but right now they were on two different levels.

One night Cash had wondered out loud if his dad even watched his games. I’d told him I was sure he did, but in reality, I didn’t know, because I couldn’t fathom a parent so out of tune that they wouldn’t even care to. Cash was a gift on the field, a star in the league. I know I couldn't keep my eyes off him when he played. My heart hurt for Cash, because his past was so similar to my own. I understood his pain probably better than any other. A father who wasn’t a dad was the worst kind of abandonment. The love of a parent was supposed to be so absolute, that bond was the strongest to forge us and yet for us, it was incredibly broken.

“Can we get your autograph?!” A group of giggling college girls sped up to Cash in the hotel bar, thrusting out notepads and pens.

“Sure.” Cash’s lip twitched up in that flirty way as he looked at me and then pulled me to him, as if claiming me in public. I liked the feeling that he was telling all these women that I belonged to him and they didn’t stand a chance. I swear I watched the girls almost melt in front of me. One even gave me a glare, but I beamed, happy and content to be wrapped in his strong arms. I untangled myself from him and backed away a few steps, letting them have their moment with Cash, before the last girl, with fire in her eyes, pulled down the neck of her shirt and pointed at her breast.

“Could you sign here?”

My mouth dropped open and my heart sank. These ball players were hounded by beautiful women. How could anyone resist? They were younger, more beautiful, wilder than me, I’m sure.

My stomach twisted painfully as I watched Cash take the pen from her hands. My eyes shuttered closed as I imagined him signing her chest, her eyes doing that flirty thing, his hands on her skin, her legs around his waist. Suddenly reality crashed down all around me and the wreckage was unbearable. Cash Greenwood could have any woman on the planet. Why would he be satisfied with Delilah Grey?

I’d walk in on them fucking in the locker room and my heart would shatter into a thousand pieces at my feet.

What was I thinking?

He was a ball player.

I had to leave.

Without thinking, I sped away, punching at the elevator and willing the doors to open before Cash could pull himself from the group of girls. The elevator doors opened, and I turned just in time to watch them closing on Cash’s confused eyes.

Pain twisted in my gut as the elevator whirred up seventeen floors until I was safe and alone and in my own room again.

I fell onto the bed, my heart thundering as tears swelled in my eyes. Just as I was about to unleash and sob uncontrollably, thinking I was repeating the very same mistakes my mother had, a pounding echoed through the room.

“Delilah!”

“Go away, Cash!”

“Open this door!”

“Cash!” I screamed back, tears in my eyes. I didn’t know who I was angrier with, him for not leaving me to lick my wounds, or myself for pushing him away.

“I’m not leaving until the door is open, and you know what happens if I don’t make that flight home tonight. No play-offs tomorrow. We’ll both be camped out here until I’m a starved and useless pile of nothing on the floor waiting for you, Delilah.”

I slid the chain across the door, then cracked it an inch. “I just need some time.”

“That’s bullshit. We both know what you want, and I’m damn sure it isn’t you up here crying in bed.”

“I told you, I have a lot of triggers. This is wrong. We’re wrong. I know we’ve been saying that all along, but tonight just reminded me—”

“Tonight? What the fuck happened tonight? Let me in and tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

I shook my head as more tears welled in my eyes.

“Delilah.” His serious tone pulled me from my breakdown. I locked eyes with his, and the way they bled compassion nearly unchained my heart completely. I swallowed, taking a deep breath and thinking I was in uncharted waters here. I opened the door and allowed him in.

“Now what the fuck was that about?” He entered the space, seeming to fill it up with his intoxicating energy.

“I just…I have issues with…stuff.”

“I gathered.” He crossed his arms, tipping his head to the side as he waited.

“My dad played Major League.” Cash’s eyes widened with the revelation. “For nearly three decades… My dad was Will Branch. The Will Branch.”

“Jesus, Delilah. I knew your dad played, but…” He trailed off. “Over 2000 RBIs Will Branch?”

I nodded sadly, always hating this part. The wide-eyed, in shock, baseball royalty part. My dad had the leading number of RBIs in the entire league, and had maintained that record up until recently. Someone I knew was inching closer to that mark.

“Well I’m glad you told me, but it still doesn’t make a damn bit of sense why you ran out on me.”

“My dad cheated, Cash. My mom stayed with him for years while he slept around on her. He even picked me up from school once with a groupie in the front seat. I was twelve.” That memory still cut deep. “He drank too much, he did a lot of coke, and he liked women. I’m just too afraid to repeat that, Cash. That’s why I can’t be with you. That’s why every nerve in my body may be screaming yes, but my brain is telling me to stay as far the hell away as possible.”

“Christ, Delilah.” Cash circled me in his arms, drawing me close and forcing me to melt into him. “I’m not him. You know me. Up until now I’ve never even looked twice at a woman. Baseball is the only thing I loved, not booze, or drugs, or groupies. You’ve been with me all season. You know me better than anyone. I didn’t sign that girl’s chest, I signed a napkin. I would never disrespect or risk losing you. Don’t you know by now that you are everything to me? When I’m with you, Delilah, it’s like I’m home. When I look at you, I feel privileged that someone so beautiful and so smart would want to be with me.

“Loving you is everything, Delilah. You once told me that I wanted you because you played hard to get. But you, baby, you don’t play hard to get, you play hard to forget. I am yours. I was yours yesterday. I am yours today. And it won’t matter if you want me or not, sweetheart, because I will be yours tomorrow and for every other day that I take a breath. You are it, the missing piece, my perfect half. Without you, I am nothing, I have nothing.”

“I… Cash…”

“I know, baby.” He gently stroked my hair with his strong hands. “But you’ve gotta try, for me, for us.”

Stray tears dripped onto his shirt, soaking into the fibers and leaving me breathless with all the emotions swelling within me.

“I’m sorry I ran away. I never should have done that. I just saw those girls, and all I could think about was my dad…”

“I know, baby. But I don’t like you running from me. I need you running to me, then we’ve got a shot. I want to see you, and I want you to see me. I see all your bad and good parts, and I want it all. I love it all. I am a greedy man, sweetheart, I want every single inch of your heart, mind, body and soul.” He placed a kiss on my forehead.

“I hate when you’re so wise,” I sniffed, wiping at a tear.

“I know you do.” He laughed. “We okay?”

I nodded, releasing him from my grasp and sitting on the bed. “We’ve got to be at the airport in an hour.”

“So let’s get you packed.” He paused when I didn’t respond. “Hey.” He tipped my chin up and placed a kiss on my lips. “I know this is hard for you, but we’ll take it one day at a time. I can give up anything you need to make you more comfortable. We’ll ease into this, okay? Time is what builds trust, and I got it in spades. I’ll be by your side, or under you, but better yet on top or behind you.” Cash whistled as he checked out my ass.

“You’re kind of incredible, Cash Greenwood.”

“So I’ve been told.” He winked.

“You really didn’t sign her boob?”

Cash burst into a laugh. “Nah, never signed a boob, though I’ve been asked a few times. I wouldn’t mind signing yours, though.” He caught me in an embrace. “Maybe tattoo my name right here.” He placed a kiss right above my boob.

“Not a chance, Greenwood.”

“What? You don’t want to wear my mark?” His finger trailed across my chest to tease at the nipple peeking through my shirt.

“Maybe somewhere…a little lower.”