Swing (Landry Family #2)(46)

“Of course. I’m always here if you need me.”

Something I said hits her wrong and her eyes widen. She wiggles beneath the blankets, dragging in a deep breath.

“What?” I ask. “What did I say?”

Her head shakes from side to side. “Nothing.”

“Tell me the truth.”

After what feels like an eternity, she looks at me. “You are amazing. More amazing than I even imagined and that was a lot.”

“Naturally.”

A start of a smile slips on her lips. “I needed you today.”

She says it like those words say it all, like I should understand everything from the simple sentence. Furrowing my brow, I look at her. “I’m glad,” I say cautiously. “You should need me. That’s what I’m here for.”

“It’s not.” She climbs out of my bed, messing with her long, dark locks. “Things between us have been fun. Great, actually. But today when you walked into my office, I can’t even tell you the relief I felt.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, scrubbing my hands down my face. “How is that a bad thing?” I follow her into the living room where she slides on her shoes.

“Me needing you like I did today is another step into something I’m not sure I can handle,” she says, straightening up and facing me. “We are fun, Landry. This thing between us, whatever it is, has made me so happy.”

“Me too,” I say, feeling a little seed of unease settle in my gut.

“But it’s a short-term thing. You are going to head into the preseason soon and then you’ll be off for two hundred games.”

I don’t know what to say to this, so I say nothing and hope she clarifies.

“I told you before I don’t want to be a baseball girlfriend. I won’t, as a matter of fact,” she says, pulling her gaze from me. “I somehow convinced myself I could keep it light between us and enjoy it for what it was and let you go when the time came. But I’m in too far.”

“There’s no measuring stick to what’s too far,” I say, reaching for her. My heart plummets when she starts to retreat. “What are you doing, Dani?”

“I think I need to take a little step back, Lincoln. For my sanity.”

“What are you talking about?” She won’t look at me and I swear I must have misheard her. There’s no fucking way she just said that to me. I bounce back and forth from being confused, to pissed, to what might just be hurt. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“You heard me,” she whispers.

I run my hands through my hair. “Why do we need to take a step back? What the hell does that even mean?”

She looks at the doorway. “It just means I don’t want to get to a point where I’m dependent on you or need you when I’m feeling crummy.”

“You’re fucking joking, right?” I repeat. My mind buzzes with a million thoughts, a thousand questions, a hundred replies to that. But I can’t get any of them to my tongue.

“When you came in my office today, right after I got my mother’s email, I was so happy to see you. And then you told me to come here, and Landry, I didn’t even hesitate. This is right where I wanted to be.”

“Great. Good. That’s what I was hoping for. That’s how it should be.”

“I know. I think I was too, but,” she says, frowning, “I can’t do this with you.”

“You’ve already done this with me,” I glare.

Her lips press together and I can tell she’s warring with herself. I have to bite my tongue, sit on my hands, because I’m two seconds from losing my temper . . . just like I’m two seconds from losing my girl.

“I disagree with all of this,” I say. “You are my girl, my girlfriend, my lady. I don’t care what you call it, but that’s where we stand.”

She backs away towards the door, her eyes wide. She’s scared. But I can’t let her leave here without knowing exactly how I feel.

“When I saw you so hurt today, it changed the game for me. I knew as soon as I walked in your office that it was a watershed moment. I couldn’t go back.” I stalk through the room until I’m standing in front of her. “I want to see where this goes. I’ve never felt this way about a girl before. Well, no guys either, for that matter.”

Her face slips and she starts to smile. I take it as a good sign.

“I want to lock you down. Be there to make you smile. Make you mad. Make sure you’re protected and know how awesome you are.”

“I’ll still come over and fuck you, Landry.”

She says it to get a rise out of me, to deflect from the topic she doesn’t want to discuss. It’s how she rolls. Instead, I flip it back on her.

“You bet your sweet, round ass you will. And you’ll come over and let me make love to you too.”

She moves down the hall to the front door, thanking me again for being there for her today. I can barely hear her over the roar in my ears. I put my hand on the door, closing it.

“I can’t get wrapped up in you,” she says, looking straight ahead. “I’m going down a rabbit hole and I have to pull myself out.”

“You can’t get wrapped up in me?” I ask, my voice a little louder than I care to admit. “You’ll wrap up in my sheets. In my arms. Around my cock. But you can’t get wrapped up in my heart because I play fucking baseball? Really, Danielle?”