The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,59
be jumping the gun a little here even though it doesn’t feel like it. Like you said, it’s not like we just met.”
It didn’t feel like it was too quick for me either, but there was still a tiny part inside of me that wanted to encourage his suffering.
“Let’s hold off on the titles but definitely yes to the exclusively dating part.” It was my way of offering a compromise. Plus, I knew that I would never in a million years agree to be in this place with him again if there were going to be any other girls in the picture.
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?” he asked with an uncomfortable laugh, and I realized that I was being stubborn purely for the sake of it. Trying to hurt him because a part of me still hurt and hadn’t recovered.
“You’re right; it is,” I relented.
“So, that’s a yes then?”
I tried to stop my smile when he asked the question but failed.
“Don’t say no, Christina. Don’t say no because you want to punish me or make me work harder. I mean, I’ll do it. I’ll jump through all your hoops. But don’t make me if you don’t really want me to.”
He looked exhausted but sounded determined, and I knew that he meant every word. If I continued to keep him at arm’s length just to prove a point, he’d let me do it and probably not complain. But that wouldn’t be fair—to either of us. If I was going to give us a real shot, I had to do exactly what I’d told him we should during brunch—live in the future and not in the past.
“Okay. Yes.”
The smile on his face was enough to tell me that I’d made the right decision. He reached for me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and picked me up into the air, planting kisses all over my face and neck. He was so damn happy. And all because I’d agreed to be his girlfriend.
I am Cole Anders’s freaking girlfriend!
One Week Later
When I’d walked through the front door that night after our first date, Lauren had been eavesdropping—or at least trying to. She said she couldn’t hear a damn thing and insisted I fill her in. To my surprise, she was excited, encouraging, and hopeful. A part of me had thought that she might be more hesitant than I had tried to be, but she wasn’t. It felt good to have my best friend on my side. It reassured me that I wasn’t a complete idiot for giving Cole a real shot after everything we’d been through.
“It’s because of everything you’ve been through that you should give him a shot,” Lauren had said that night. And when I questioned her on what she meant, she finished with, “You two deserve a real chance. He’s never given you one before, and he’s begging for it now. You would have always wondered what if and what could have been if you didn’t get this opportunity. He would have haunted you until you were old and unhappily married one day, thinking back to the hot baseball player you should have ended up with instead of the guy by your side.”
I’d laughed at her, but I remembered feeling a distinct ping of truth ricochet off my insides. Her words had struck a chord somewhere deep in me that I forced myself not to overanalyze because it was no longer relevant. I was his, and he was mine.
Being Cole’s girlfriend was fun. I loved it. I hated that it had taken so long for us to get together, but all that drama felt like it was in the distant past even though it wasn’t. We were in such a different place emotionally that it was hard to believe all we’d gone through to get here.
I savored it.
Adored it.
Loved the way it felt to be his and for him to be mine.
Things with Cole were effortless and, dare I say, almost easy. Being together was like snapping two puzzle pieces into place. We fit naturally. I’d had no idea that it could, or would, be this good. He was attentive and thoughtful. He was always texting and calling, and he FaceTimed me every night before bed. Baseball kept him busy, and I understood, making sure to never give him any crap for it. To be fair, I was busy with classes and my side work with The Long Ones and the new restaurant as well.