Page 50 of Walkoff Wedding

He’s standing so close, only a few inches away, that I can smell the clean scent of his bodywash, and I want to inhale, breathing the cedarwood scent in.

Jeez, Addie, no. No.

That sounds creepy even in your head. Imagine if he knew you wanted to smell him.

My nerves are clearly clouding my thoughts and making me think like a lunatic.

After saying a quick goodbye to Auggie, we walk out of the apartment, and I feel Grant’s palm brushing along the small of my back as he guides me toward the truck.

It’s the most innocent of touches, but it sets my skin on fire.

When I reach for the door handle, he stops me by placing his hand over mine and shaking his head. “Let me.”

He pulls on the handle, opening the door with a smile.

I’m confused for most of the drive and when we pull into the parking lot of the school’s baseball stadium my brows furrow together.

I glance over at him with wide eyes as he parks in the front row but he just chuckles, reaching over and gently smoothing the furrow between my brows with the pad of his thumb.

“Don’t worry, ArtGirl. We’re not here to play. I know how anti-sports you are.” His tone is light as he teases me with a playful grin that makes him that much more handsome.

My heart races inside my chest at his touch, something that seems to always happen.

“I wasn’t… worried.”

His smirk is the only response I get to my denial.

We get out of the truck, and he leads me to a side entrance that reads FACULTY ONLY across the door in big, bold letters. He pulls a small white key card from his pocket and presses it against the entrance scanner.

When it beeps, unlocking quietly, he pulls the door open and waves me inside. “Wifeys first,” he says playfully.

Stepping inside, I clutch my cardigan tightly to me and wait for him to follow me into the building. I can’t stop wondering why we’re here, of all places, and what he has planned.

Whenever I asked him what his plans were, he insisted that it remain a surprise.

“This place is kinda creepy when it’s empty,” Grant mumbles quietly as we walk down the long stretch of dimly lit hallway.

I nod, scanning the frames of memorabilia along the maroon walls. “Yeah. It is really eerie.”

I follow behind him to the end of the hallway, and he points to the right, where another long hallway leads. “I would give you a tour, but it’s not all that exciting if you’re not a fan.”

“I am not anti-sports, Grant,” I exclaim, even though we both know that it is… slightly true. “Even if I was, it wouldn’t matter now that I’m… married to a baseball player, would it?”

His lips twitch as he nods. “Touché, ArtGirl. Touché. But, nonetheless, I’ll save the tour for another time because we’ve got somewhere important to be.”

A combination of anticipation and nerves blooms in my chest as I follow closely behind him out of the double doors at the very end of the corridor. We’re back outside, but now, it’s within the fenced stadium. The chill I felt while inside disappears when the muggy night air settles around us.

Obviously, I’ve never been inside any kind of stadium before, but it’s even larger than what I expected. The tall lights above the field are off, making it hard to see as we make our way forward, but Grant knows this place like the back of his hand.

He takes us directly to a side entrance and unlatches the gate, pushing it open. I step through and realize… we’re actually going onto the field.

The narrow walkway leads to the dugout, and we walk through, my eyes scanning the championship years painted along the wall above the bench to the waist-high fence that overlooks the diamond-shaped field.

“And this is where the magic happens.” He grins, sweeping his hands toward the darkened field.

It seems so much larger than it does on a TV. Even in the dark.

“Wow,” I breathe. “It’s… big.”

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