17. Maggie

The game against San Francisco had been postponed a day due to the gray clouds that blanketed the city, spewing raindrops on and off throughout the morning. Olivia had texted me asking if we were going to go to the pier earlier since we had planned to go that night after the game. She had continued by telling me that she wasn't scared of a little rain as long as "Pretty Boy" wasn't. So, despite having avoided him since our conversation the previous day, I sent Tommy a message.

Me: Olivia wants to head to the pier earlier. You free?

I tried to ignore the way my heart pounded nervously as I waited for his response. Or the way my throat constricted at the thought of him taking back his earlier decision to go on this excursion with us. I knew that if I acknowledged the way I was feeling about a simple text message, I had bigger problems on my hands. My phone was a ticking time bomb that had a sensitive fuse, so I left it on my bed and started to pace my hotel room. I debated heading down to the lobby for an early lunch or walking to the coffee shop next door to grab something, anything to take my mind off the shortstop with blue eyes that had begun to stain every part of my thoughts like a spilled inkwell. The ding of my phone provided only a brief moment of distraction before the very person I was desperate to expel from my mind became the center of focus.

Tommy: Meet you in the lobby in ten?

Me: See you then!

The feeling that spread through my body when Tommy's name had appeared on my screen was almost euphoric. Everything tingled all the way down to my toes as I stared at our conversation a moment longer before I sent Olivia a message.

Me: Meet you in the lobby in five. Be there or be square.

Olivia: I could never be square.

A smile spread across my face at Olivia's response. To say that today would be interesting was putting it lightly. I was terrified that Olivia would sniff out the lie that was Tommy's and my relationship. But I was more terrified that Olivia would completely steamroll Tommy today as she grilled him, because I knew she was going to grill him.

Tommy was already down in the lobby when I walked in, much to my surprise. He was dressed down today in a pair of white shorts and a light blue button-down, an umbrella dangling from his wrist. I knew without even having to look that the blue of his shirt would complement his eyes because those eyes had been haunting my thoughts for days. He stood up from the chair he had been lounging in when he saw me. I couldn't help but notice the way his eyes lit up as he looked at me, and a small part of me wished that he could look at me like that for real.

"Olivia coming?" he asked me once I was standing in front of him.

"She should be down soon."

The energy that radiated off Tommy felt like something much more than a fake relationship, but I had to continue to remind myself that it could never be more than that. Because the moment I let myself believe that the energy between Tommy and me was something more, all of this would crumble around me. All of my fears would be confirmed that I wasn't meant to find happiness after Luke.

That he was my one and only.

My life's soulmate.

Before I could think anything more on the topic, Olivia came bounding into the lobby with the biggest smile on her face. "It's about damn time that this happened."

She slung her arms around Tommy's and my waists before she started walking us toward the door. Tommy looked down at me over the top of Olivia's head, his eyes widening in what I was sure was fear.

Oh yeah, Tommy. You should probably be very afraid.

We called an Uber to take us to the pier, and when it showed up it was already packed with people even as the sky dropped rain down on us. Neither Tommy nor I had planned for this to be a public appearance, but it seemed like that would be unavoidable if any fans took pictures of us. At the very least there wouldn't be any paparazzi.

Even though the sky was gray and the sun was nowhere in sight, the pier looked magical. Every building was a different color. They brought light to the otherwise dreary day. Olivia and I huddled close to Tommy as he held the umbrella high over our heads. As the rain came down harder, Olivia pulled the three of us into the first store she saw, a gift shop, to duck out of the rain. She disappeared around a display as soon as we crossed the threshold, leaving me and Tommy alone. After being her friend for a few years, I knew what she was doing. She was giving Tommy time to get comfortable around her before she pounced.

I walked over to a display full of shells and sand, allowing Tommy to trail after me. It was like we played a dance around the shop. One of us moved and the other moved closer from wherever they were in the store, like we were each one side of a rubber band. When one side stretched too far, the other would snap back within reasonable range.

The two of us were biding time until Olivia was ready to steer the day in the direction she wanted it to go. As Olivia went to wait in the checkout line, my eyes were drawn to a rack of postcards in the corner. My fingers reached out and brushed over the pictures as my eyes dissected each detail of the shot.

"Do you collect?" Tommy was hovering over my shoulder, inches behind me.

"I do."

"To keep track of the places you've been?" he asked. I shook my head, my eyes locked on the shot of the city I was looking at. The photographer had perfectly captured the way the sun bathed the buildings in a soft, golden glow. The shadows stretched long in the photos and were complemented by the way the sun hit the bay.

"For the picture." I flashed him a cheeky smile over my shoulder. It was probably the last thing that he had expected me to say. Tommy's arm reached around me as he grabbed the postcard I had been looking at from the rack before turning to head toward the counter.

"What are you doing?" I called after him.

"It's something you want," Tommy replied simply as he laid the postcard down on the counter for the cashier.

"I never said I wanted it." I watched as he handed over his credit card to pay for the postcard.

"I could tell by the way you were looking at it."

"What do you mean?"

"It was the same way you looked at that piece of pizza from Southside." The smile that broke across my face felt like it was going to split it in half.

"I'd say that is a fair comparison." The two of us went to exit the shop together to find Olivia. Tommy slipped his hand in mine as we weaved back through the displays and out into the rainy day once again. That simple gesture made a small avalanche erupt within my chest. It was one thing for Tommy to grab my hand when there were obviously paparazzi there to take our photos, but out on the pier there was no guarantee anyone even noticed us. It felt more intimate than any other time we'd ever held hands. Like this time was for the two of us and not for the cameras.

My mind flashed back to the previous night, and I remembered how Tommy had wanted to consume me with that kiss. The passion behind that kiss would have fooled me if I hadn't known it was for show, and now as we walked through this public place without a care in the world, it was hard to believe that Tommy's hand in mine meant nothing.

Olivia was waiting for us outside the gift shop, an ice cream cone in her hands.

"You already found ice cream?" I laughed at my best friend. Ice cream was her kryptonite. If I wanted anything from Olivia, all I had to do was bribe her with Moose Tracks and I knew she'd be there.

"Is that a serious question?" Olivia asked me as she licked her cone. I rolled my eyes before I linked my arm through hers. Tommy trailed along on the other side of Olivia, his eyes drifting lazily over the crowd.

"So, Tommy," Olivia drew out.

Here we go.

"What are your intentions with my best friend?" I tried to keep myself from staring at Tommy as I waited for his response, but Olivia had other ideas. She turned around to face him directly, walking backward through the crowd and blindly trusting that she wasn't going to hit anything. It was the most perfect depiction of Olivia as a person, barreling down a crowded pier while hoping she didn't crash into anything or anyone.

Tommy took Olivia's interrogation in stride. His eyes slid over to me before he began his response. "Well, Olivia, I want to date your friend."

"Why?" Olivia questioned. I gave my friend a look that said, what the hell? Because did I honestly want to hear Tommy tell her some lie to help sell this whole fake relationship? Part of me knew that as soon as I heard Tommy make something up that held no true meaning behind it, a crack would appear in my heart.

That alone should have scared me. I had sworn off dating after Luke and had believed that if I ever opened my heart up to someone again, I would only be disappointed. But something inside me was changing. I was beginning to care more about the way my heart felt when I was around Tommy than the possibility of him breaking it.

Tommy paused again before he answered, his eyes glancing back over at me. My palms began to sweat as I waited to hear what he would say.

"Have you ever met someone that is the complete opposite of everything you've ever looked for in a person?" My brow furrowed at Tommy's question. That was not the grand romantic response that I had been expecting him to give Olivia.

"Not particularly," Olivia replied.

"Well, for me, every person I've ever dated before was the same. They loved partying, found dating to be a status symbol, and really only wanted to be seen in pictures with me because of what I did for a living. They fit perfectly into the lifestyle I was living at the time." I was waiting on pins and needles to hear what Tommy was going to say next.

"None of those girls had ever shown any interest in who I was outside of the uniform. They wanted nothing from me but free tickets to games and expensive dinners. When I met Maggie, I saw a girl that wasn't impressed by expensive dinners or free tickets. She already has the best seat in the house and prefers getting a slice of pizza over caviar. She would rather have a glass of wine at home with a good romance movie than a night out. And every time I look in her eyes, I feel like I'm being transported somewhere magical where only Maggie Redford has been. She is everything I'm not used to looking for, but I realize she is exactly what I need."

My mouth grew drier the more he spoke. It wasn't that Tommy hadn't sold the bit. It was almost like he had sold the bit too well. He hadn't given Olivia some cheesy romantic speech about how when he first saw me he knew I was the one. Instead, Tommy had given my best friend a list of things he had come to know about me. Things he had taken the time to file away in a folder marked "Maggie." My heart was beating as fast as a prize racehorse coming around the final bend of the track. The small voice in my head was shouting at me about the reason that Tommy and I were even in this mess in the first place, but it was like my heart was slamming the door and silencing that voice as I watched him.

Tommy continued to hold eye contact with Olivia, but I couldn't pull my eyes away from his face. I was searching for something in his expression that would tell me he was observant and a very good actor and that none of those things he said had meant anything. All I saw was the same passionate look that he had on his face when he talked about the sport he loved, baseball. Olivia stopped walking.

"Are you going to break her heart?" My gaze shifted from Olivia's face to Tommy's. Olivia narrowed her eyes at him as if she were trying to find something off with Tommy's response.

"I never want to hurt Maggie." Tommy looked at Olivia first and then me, like he was trying to reassure not only Olivia but me about his intentions.

Olivia seemed to be satisfied with Tommy's answer because she flipped back around and started walking toward the edge of the pier. My mind was racing a million miles a minute as I tried to understand what Tommy had said. Did he really mean all of that? It was like a reel was set on a movie projector in my head, showing all of the moments we had spent together so far. The two of us had been forced into this precarious situation that normal people would never find themselves in, and it was like it had bonded us closer than we'd originally realized.

"Look!" Olivia shouted, pulling me out of my internal think session. She was pointing at the docks off the pier. They were covered in sea lions.

I fumbled for my purse, wanting to capture the moment. All I had was my phone, but it would have to do. My eyes scanned the scene, trying to determine the best angle before I lined up my phone for the shot.

When I pulled the phone down to study the picture, I could feel Tommy hovering over my shoulder. "Perfect."

I glanced up to see him staring down at me. My heart was in my throat. I was in serious trouble.

Later that afternoon, Tommy walked me back to my hotel room. Olivia had wandered back to her own, leaving the two of us alone. Neither of us wanted the day to end, which could be seen in the slow walk we took down the hallway toward my room.

"Can we talk about the other night?" Tommy asked me after a moment. The question took me by surprise. We had successfully avoided that conversation all day as we ran around in the rain and enjoyed ourselves. I thought we had both decided to move on.

"What about it?"

"The kiss."

My hand froze with my key card in it. I had come to realize that Tommy wasn't the type to beat around the bush, but I was still caught off guard every time it happened. "What about it?"

Tommy stared at me in silence for a few moments, like he was trying to read what my thoughts were on the matter before he shared his own. After what he had said to Olivia earlier today, I was curious to see if he was bringing it up only to tell me that the passion I had imagined behind that kiss was real.

"I'm sorry that had to happen." That was the exact opposite of what I had been expecting. Each word was a knife to my chest. I felt embarrassment flush through me at the fact that I had thought that kiss had meant anything. How could I have forgotten about our contract? We had outlined what was allowed in this fake relationship at the start. Kissing had been a part of that on a to-be-determined level, and when we were pushed by the person behind the contract we had signed, it was suddenly on the table. I had been caught squarely in the category of the fool.

"It's part of all of this." I was trying my best to play nonchalance, but I wasn't sure it was working. Tommy stayed quiet as he studied my face with that same expression that felt like he could see past all my walls.

The two of us seemed to stare at each other for hours, something thick growing in the air between us, and the way that Tommy was looking at me had a little voice inside my head screaming, Leave, leave! Before this gets complicated.

But my feet felt like they had been encased in concrete and there was very little chance I would actually be escaping this situation. I wasn't sure who made the first move, but I blinked and then Tommy's hands were on my waist while mine were buried in his hair. A small moan passed my lips as he pressed me back against my hotel room door and then the thoughts started. The questions of what this meant for us moving forward.

Did this mean there was something happening between us?

I couldn't deny the connection we had. It felt like this invisible string that was pulling us toward each other was live with electricity, setting my nerves on edge.

All of the feelings that I had thought were dormant or doomed to never be felt again after Luke were exploding through my body as Tommy's fingers pressed into my hips, his hands hungrily grabbing for more. His tongue parted my lips and the taste that I had experienced the night before, the taste I was now going to remember as purely Tommy, exploded in my mouth. The key card slipped from my hand, making a soft thud as it hit the carpet.

My hands danced down his shoulders and fisted themselves in his shirt, needing to feel rooted to something, anything, or I was sure that I would melt into a puddle at his feet. Tommy's lips pulled away from mine before leaving kisses along my neck, on my jaw, anywhere he could find purchase.

His hands brushed across my chest, sending pleasure down my spine, and I let my hands sweep down the hard planes of muscle on his stomach before slipping them past the hem of his shirt.

In one swift movement, Tommy's hands gripped the backs of my thighs as he lifted me up into his arms. He bent down while supporting me to pick up the forgotten key card before swiping it and pushing open my hotel room, taking whatever was happening inside, away from the possibility of someone walking up on us.

Tommy carried me farther into the room, stopping when he got to his destination. He slowly lowered me onto the bed but stayed standing when my back hit the soft down comforter. I was left staring up at him as he looked down at me, wondering what was happening.

"You okay?" I asked, my voice coming out in a squeak from the chain of events that had taken place. Tommy continued to stare at me before he shook his head like he was clearing his thoughts.

"Kissing you again has been on my mind every minute since last night." Tommy reached a hand out and let his fingers graze my thigh, causing a shiver to run through my body. Even though part of my brain was fully aware of what he was saying, my heart didn't want to believe it.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." Tommy's eyes looked like the brightest blue sky on a summer day as he stared down at me. I was beginning to understand what the movies meant when the main character said they could get lost looking into someone's eyes, because right then I could stare into Tommy's indefinitely.

When I didn't reply right away, Tommy took a step back, taking my silence as opposition to what he had said. I sat up quickly and reached for his hand to grab him before he got too far away.

"No," I told him. "Stay."

I didn't think I could string coherent words together to tell him he'd been on my mind since the first moment I'd met him, so I tugged on his hand instead to pull him back toward the bed.

"We don't have to do anything," I said softly. "Just stay."

Tommy climbed onto the bed next to me and the two of us scooted all the way until our heads were resting against the headboard. I grabbed the remote off the nightstand and thumbed through the channels until the perfect movie flashed across the screen: When Harry Met Sally. I tossed the remote to the side and snuggled farther into the bed, trying to ignore the giant elephant in the room that neither Tommy nor I were mentioning.

"Do you only watch romance movies?" Tommy asked as he settled down next to me. His hand brushed against mine, and it sent little sparks of excitement through me, making me feel like I was on my first date.

"They're my favorite," I told him as I lifted my pinkie to lay over the top of his.

"I think they're starting to become mine," he replied.

I turned my head to look over at him and he did the same, both of us ignoring the movie. Tommy stared at me with a goofy grin on his face before he slid his hand over the top of mine, encasing it with his.