18. Cord

Chapter 18

Cord

My gaze locks on Macy as she steps out of Dad's office. She looks amazing today with her hair falling around her waist in soft curls. She's wearing a tight tank top with a fitted jacket over it, showing off her cleavage. She has a pencil skirt hugging her hips, making me want to grip her waist and tug her against me. She's absolutely breathtaking.

My thoughts flicker to how upset she looked when she was sitting in the stands watching us practice. She looked so destroyed. So upset, yet I don't know why.

Before I can open my mouth to say anything, Macy closes the distance between us and flings her arms around my neck. My hands instinctively hold onto her waist as she stands on her tippy toes and presses her lips against mine.

I don't know what is going on with her right now, but I'm not going to push her away. I know that would destroy any confidence she has right now. Instead, I kiss her back with as much passion and lust as she's giving me.

My hands slip around her waist, pulling her even closer to me. I haven't been able to hold her like this in a long time, I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

Macy brushes her tongue over my bottom lip and I instantly open my mouth for her. I taste the cinnamon gum she was chewing and something specifically Macy.

"Damn, get a room, Powell!" Some idiot yells further into the locker room.

"This might be better than porn," another guy murmurs as he walks past us.

There's a couple of loud whistles and guys muttering things under their breaths. It should bother me, but it doesn't. I'm too lost in the woman in front of me to care about anything else.

Macy slowly pulls away and rests her forehead against my chest. I hug her to me and press a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"Come to my place for dinner tonight," I whisper so only she can hear me.

I expect her to protest in some way, but she doesn't. Instead, she nods her head and takes a step back.

"What time?"

"Whenever you want." I shrug. "If you're ready to leave, you can just come with me. "

"Oh, I'm sure." She rolls her eyes. "Should I just stay over and come back to work with you in the morning?"

"I mean, I'm not against that idea." I grin, wishing I could have her with me all night again. I miss sleeping with her in my arms.

"I'm sure you aren't." She goes to swat at my chest, but she stops when she sees the angry skin from me sliding into second base. "Cord…"

"I know. I'll be fine though. It's just skin. It will grow back."

"You need to clean it up, get all of that dirt out. Go shower and when we get to your house, I'll clean and bandage you up."

"Ok…" I trail off as my brows draw together. She doesn't act like this. Why is she being so sweet and caring right now? What's with the complete one-eighty?

"I just need to talk to Smithy, then I'm ready to go."

"Why do you need to talk to Smithy?" I frown. I don't want her talking to any of the guys.

"I need Liliana's contact information so I can handle the Stubbs situation."

"Ok, I'll be fast."

I plant a quick kiss on her lips before I head towards the showers. This is going to be the quickest shower of my life. I want to get Macy home before she can change her mind again.

There's a towel wrapped around my waist as I make my way over to my little cubby. I find Macy sitting in my chair in front of my cubby. She's running her fingers over the pictures I have hanging along the side. They're all pictures of us.

I know it's probably weird to have pictures of me and my ex in my cubby when we broke up before I even started playing in this stadium, but I always run my fingers over the photos before I go out on the field. It's my little ritual.

"Ma'am, I don't think you're supposed to be going through the player's cubbies." I fold my arms over my chest and mock glare at her.

"Why do you still have these?" She asks quietly.

Instead of responding to her, I lift her out of my chair and take a seat, situating her on my lap.

"I told you. I never stopped loving you and I've had a picture of us in my locker since I met you. I couldn't stand the thought of not having it there," I say softly, looping my arms around her waist.

"Since before we started dating?" Her brows raise in surprise.

"Yeah… Charlie took a photo of us and I begged her to give me a copy." I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment, but I don't say anything else.

"That's adorable." She places her hand on my bare chest and stares deep into my eyes. "Are you ready to go?"

"I should probably get dressed first," I murmur as her fingers trail down my chest and over my abs.

"Probably." She sighs before she stands and moves to the side.

"Are you just going to stand there?" I chuckle .

"Why not? It's not like I haven't seen you naked before." She folds her arms over her chest and dares me to argue. She forgets who I am though. I couldn't care less about stripping in front of her.

I drop the towel and watch her gaze rake up and down my body. She doesn't try to hide her desire or anything. My cock forgets it's in public and I instantly start getting hard. I know most of the guys are gone, but that doesn't mean I should be getting a hard-on in the locker room.

"Cord, put some damn clothes on. Fuck, I should've stayed in my office. I didn't need to see this." Dad motions wildly in my direction.

I quickly slip on a pair of boxers and my jeans before tossing a shirt over my head. I'm not sure something more embarrassing could happen. Luckily, my ass was towards him, or I'd be even more embarrassed.

"C'mon, let's get home." I take her hand in mine and lead her to my car. I can't wait to get some time alone with her. I've been waiting years for this.

The entire drive home, I've had my hand resting on Macy's thigh, just like I used to. I was hesitant to touch her since I wasn't sure how she'd respond, but she's the one who initiated the kiss today. She jumped over the line she placed in the sand years ago and I'm going with the flow. I'll happily fall back into how we used to be if it means I get to have her as my girl again.

I pull up the long driveway to my house and glance over at Macy. Her eyes widen the smallest amount before she catches herself and slips behind the mask she tries so hard to keep in place. But I can see behind that mask. I know the woman she doesn't want anyone else to see and she's absolutely magnificent.

"Welcome to my home," I say softly as I park in the garage and open my door.

I rush around to Macy's side and hold out a hand to help her out of the car. As soon as she's standing, I tug her into my arms and place a kiss on her lips.

She doesn't hesitate to kiss me back. She puts every feeling she doesn't want to voice into our kiss and snakes her arms around my neck.

"I missed this," I murmur against her lips.

Macy pulls away and stares up at me. My heart beats a little harder, wondering if I just screwed up everything. Maybe saying I missed this was a little too much for her.

"What are we doing, Cord?" She whispers, staring at my chest.

"I don't know, sweetheart. But I'm enjoying it," I tease, knowing it will help ease some of the tension between us. "What do you want?" I place my knuckles under her chin and lift until her gaze meets mine .

"I…" She trails off, not giving me anything.

"I'll give you whatever you want, Mace."

"I don't know. Is it really smart for us to get back together?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we already crashed and burned. Can we really make it work again?" Her brows furrow and she shakes her head like she's trying to sort through all of the thoughts jumbled in there.

"That's up to you and how much you want to fight for our relationship," I whisper, wishing I could take away all of her fears and worries. I wish she could see things from my perspective. How much I love her and the future I can picture with her.

"I want to fight for it… I just don't know if it will be enough."

I don't have a response. I need to think for a few minutes before I say anything more. I want to make sure it's the best answer I can give her.

I take a step back and Macy's expression falls. Tears gather in her eyes and I can tell she thinks I'm walking away before we can even start again.

I take her hand in mine and lead her into the house. We step into the kitchen and I keep tugging her towards the living room, then down the hall and into my bedroom. I motion for her to take a seat on my bed and I grab my first aid kit from beneath the bathroom sink. These scrapes need to be cleaned and covered, and she volunteered to do it .

Placing the box on the bed, I grab a few things out of it, then whip off my shirt and lay down in the middle of the bed. Macy eyes me for a minute before she crawls up the bed and gently brushes her fingers over my chest. She carefully cleans my scrapes off with disinfectant, then she puts a small amount of ointment on them and covers it with bandages. This isn't the first time she's treated my wounds from sliding into a base and I really hope it isn't the last.

When she's done, I wait while she cleans up, then hold my arm open for her.

"Come over here."

I blow out a breath when she doesn't fight me. She lays at my side and rests her head on my chest, letting me wrap my arm around her and keep her close. I press a lingering kiss to her head and breathe in her delicious scent. I never figured out what the smell is, but it's unmistakably Macy.

"I want you to give me a month."

"A month for what?" She peeks up at me.

"Well, the entire team thinks we're dating. Give me a month to prove to you we can make this work. At the end of the month, if you're happy, we continue dating for real. If you don't want to keep dating me, we break up and end our fake dating too. Everyone will know you're single and I'll stop trying."

"Yeah, ok." She snorts out a laugh, knowing how difficult that would be for me .

"I'll keep my distance and let you live your life. I can't make you love me, Mace. If I could, I would've done it long ago."

"Loving you was never the problem," she whispers, placing a hand on my stomach.

"Then what was?"

"Knowing I'm not good enough. Knowing one day someone could come along and snatch you away from me."

"That could never happen. You've always been it for me."

I wrap both arms around her and hold onto her like if I let go, she'll disappear altogether. We're silent for a long time, just enjoying being so close to each other. I know the years of fighting have taken a toll on me and I'm sure she'd say the same. It's nice to not fight for once.

"What do you want for dinner? I'm going to order something," I murmur almost an hour later.

"Can we just have pizza?"

"There's my girl." I chuckle.

Macy seems high maintenance, but in reality, she's really down to Earth and simple. Give the girl a pizza and a movie, and she's happy.

"Pepperoni or buffalo chicken?"

"Buffalo chicken." She grins up at me, making me think of how often we laid like this in bed. I've missed this so much more than I realized.

I just hope I can make this a constant in my future, because I'm not sure what I'll do if next month she tells me she isn't happy and wants to break up again.