“By anyone, you mean me? Or Xavier? What’s going on, Ava?” Lily perched on the couch, her spine rigid.
“I don’t think he’s right for me. I can’t deal with the drama that comes with dating a ballplayer.” She was stretching the truth, but it sounded nice when she’d rehearsed it.
Lily flinched. “You were the one who asked Dominic to set you up with Xavier in the first place.”
She shrugged. “I guess I thought it would be fun to date someone famous. A lark. But it’s too much stress. I can see why you’ve been on a roller coaster. I don’t want to deal with it.”
Lily frowned. “My roller coaster had a whole lot to do with an insane groupie stalking Dominic and less to do with his fame.”
Ava shrugged. She didn’t want to address the specifics of Xavier’s father’s words, so she decided to paint a bigger picture. “People are always going to jump in between us to get his attention any time we leave the house. It gives me the creeps. I don’t know why I thought it would be cool.”
Lily sighed and leaned back. “You’re right about that. It isn’t nearly as glamorous as one would think. And they haven’t even started traveling all over the country half the time yet. This is just the preseason.”
“Yep. I can’t deal.”
“Why didn’t you just tell him?”
She cringed, shrugging. “I don’t know. It just hit me and I left. I’ll call him soon. I didn’t want to deal with him trying to talk me into something I’m not ready for. He can be…”
Lily laughed. “Persuasive?”
Ava’s face heated. “Yeah.” Could he ever. He had her completely wrapped around his finger while he apparently had an entire family in Puerto Rico. How many women had he conned like this?
Part of the reason she chose not to tell Lily was because she felt like a complete fool. Obviously, none of the guys knew Xavier had a fiancée who was pregnant. And Lily would be irrationally concerned about Ava’s judgment in men if she told her the entire saga.
No. She decided to keep it to herself. She needed to suck it up and move on. Life lesson learned.
Too bad she knew in her soul she would never feel with another man the way Xavier made her feel. At the moment, she didn’t even want to. Maybe someday she would be able to convince herself it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. The cliché kept running through her head like a mantra she was trying to convince herself of.
The worst part? She had to admit she had been totally falling for Xavier Monreal. And that made the pain so much more intense.
Lily bought her story and left her alone, convinced Ava wasn’t heartbroken at all, but simply unamused by the antics surrounding professional ballplayers.
When Lily finally left Ava to head back to Jupiter, Ava slumped onto the couch and dealt with a fresh wave of tears. She was glad she had held it together in front of her sister, but her loneliness grew exponentially after the entire lie was told. No one would ever know about the days and weeks of pain Ava would stuff down while her heart began the slow mend. And she’d set that ball rolling all by herself.
Who was she really protecting? Herself? Or Xavier? She had considered telling her sister the truth all day, but every time, she pictured an extremely irate Lily who had barely pulled her own tentative relationship back in line as it was. Lily was in love with Dominic and trying to make a go of things. Ava didn’t want to rain on that parade.
She sure didn’t want Lily to run back to Jupiter and lay into Xavier about his pregnant fiancée and the way he’d treated her sister. It was Xavier’s story to tell. Ava didn’t want to have anything to do with his problems.
Plus, she was embarrassed for being such a dolt.
* * *
Xavier gripped the mug of steaming coffee with shaky hands while he sat across from Lily and Dominic the following morning. He was glad he was at least sitting so he could set the cup on the table and not burn himself.
Dominic had texted him early in the morning and asked him to come over before they headed for the field.
Lily looked chagrined as she told him about her conversation with Ava.
Xavier stared at her, not buying the story. It made no sense. Right?
They had a connection. No. It was way more than a connection.
Ava was his.
He knew it in his soul.
Maybe it had happened fast. Maybe it wasn’t rational. Maybe they had ten thousand things that hadn’t yet been said between them. But when something was right, it just was. And the chemistry between them was out of this world. It transcended anything they might come up against.
It definitely didn’t ring true to him that she’d decided she couldn’t hack being a ballplayer’s girlfriend just because his dad showed up and had a tantrum at the restaurant. He’d warned her he was estranged from his father. It shouldn’t have come as a shock. Ava wasn’t that fragile.
He did, however, want to wring his father’s neck for being the instigator of this problem.
For the time being, Xavier had no recourse but to take Lily’s words at face value and get to the ball field. No matter how weird his personal problems got each day, he still didn’t have the ability to call in sick and head for Miami. Not an option.
Six hours later, he was mentally exhausted and ready to punch something. And to make matters worse, his father was waiting for him at his condo after the game.
“What the hell do you want now?” Xavier asked. He’d learned in the last twenty-nine years to walk away from his father when he was in a mood. The man had never been as over the top as he was this time, though.
Xavier was equally shocked he was in the States at all. He didn’t usually come to Florida, preferring to watch Xavier on the television in his own living room. Besides, the official season hadn’t started yet. Granted, his brother, Juan, who had been the black sheep of the family for all of his adult life, was in more trouble than he’d ever been before.
Carlos pissed and moaned every time Xavier spoke to him. It would seem that Juan had gotten caught selling drugs one time too many. No amount of money would get him out of this one. He would undoubtedly be sentenced to jail for several years.
As far as Xavier was concerned, it was a blessing in disguise. Juan couldn’t drag anyone into his gutter if he was behind bars. It was a relief.
But Carlos’s take on the situation was more than Xavier could stand to listen to. The man had lost his mind if he seriously believed Xavier would marry his brother’s fiancée just because she was pregnant. This was the twenty-first century.
Carlos walked into Xavier’s condo as soon as Xavier opened the door to him. “Did you get rid of the blonde?”
Xavier wanted to punch him. Instead, he tried to gather every ounce of respect he had for the man who’d donated sperm to his existence and turned his back to him, heading toward the kitchen for a bottle of water.
After a long drink, he leaned against the counter and faced his father. “My relationships are none of your business. I’d rather you stayed out of it.”
“And you’re not hearing me. Your first obligation is to Eliza and the baby.”
Xavier pushed off the counter, slammed his water bottle on the island, and pointed a finger at his father. “No, you’re not hearing me. I’m not marrying Juan’s fiancée. So stop mentioning it and get the hell out of my home. I have shit to do this afternoon.
“If you can’t be civil toward me, stay away. This subject is closed. Permanently. Not up for discussion.” Xavier stomped across the room, yanked open the front door, and pointed outside. “Go. If you want to be in Florida, I can’t stop you. If you want to come to my games, be my guest, but stop hounding me about Eliza. I don’t give two fucks about the woman. Not my problem.”
Carlos looked for a moment like he might continue arguing, but something on Xavier’s face must have convinced him not to continue this tirade, at least for the moment. “You’re being a selfish prick. Think about how your stubbornness is affecting ot
hers. The entire world doesn’t revolve around you.
“Just because you’re some big ballplayer for Miami doesn’t mean you get to treat other people with disrespect or ignore your obligations to your family. Get off your pedestal and step up to the plate. You should know how to do that. You do it at work every day.”
He turned around as he reached the door. “Eliza doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. Tossed aside. And she’s about to deliver her baby any day. She needs help. That’s your flesh and blood. You’re a heartless asshole if you can ignore them.” Then he was gone.
Xavier shut the door harder than necessary and leaned against the surface, pinching the bridge of his nose. Damn his father and his antiquated ideas about family obligations.
Xavier didn’t have to marry Eliza just because she was pregnant. Hell, there was every chance in the world Eliza was lying and had no idea who the father was. Not Xavier’s problem. And no cajoling from his father was going to convince him otherwise.
Xavier pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the screen for the millionth time. Nothing. No text. No calls. No messages.
Maybe it was the stress of several days of playing ball on little to no sleep. Maybe it was the frustration of dealing with his father. Or maybe it was simply that he snapped. But suddenly, he didn’t have the energy to continue chasing Ava anymore.
She left him. Not the other way around. Maybe what her sister said was right and Ava finally realized what it would be like to enter a relationship with someone who couldn’t leave the house without fear of running into paparazzi. That had been his fear all along. Maybe when his father came to the table ranting about fucking Eliza, it was Ava’s last straw, and she decided to run rather than tell him to his face.
He hadn’t taken her for a coward. But what did he really know about her?
You know you have an undeniable and irreplaceable chemistry with her. You know you’ll never find another woman who responds to your dominance with such purity and surrender. You know there’s no female on earth you’d rather watch come undone at the touch of your hand or the sound of your voice.
He groaned as he climbed the stairs, trying to ignore the voices in his head that told him to fight for her. She sure as fuck wasn’t fighting for him.
Maybe it was time he let her go and moved on. There were other women in the world. The rejection of one tiny blonde should not affect him, his life, or his game. Not if he didn’t let her.
Xavier stepped into his bathroom and stripped off his clothes, determined to wash away the stress of his day and then sit down in front of the television and escape into an old movie or sitcom.
The second he got into the shower, he set his palms on the tile and closed his eyes, letting the water sluice down his body. He was unable to prevent the images creeping into his mind. Images of Ava standing right in this spot two days ago. She’d set her sweet hands on the wall, her breasts against the cool tile, and spread her legs for him like the perfect submissive she was.
Was there a chance he’d pushed her too far too fast? When they were together, she showed no signs of feeling pressured or rushed. In fact, she had nearly begged him to sleep with her. If it had been his choice, he would’ve waited longer.
He groaned loudly as he remembered the look on her face the first time she came apart for him, and the next scene to rush through his mind was the first time he pushed his cock into her tight heat. The rapture on her face. The total abandon. The surrender to him.
She had originally acted like all she wanted to do was lose her virginity. Had he been a willing vessel, and now she was done with him? Was everything else a smokescreen?
“Fuck,” he shouted, his voice echoing off the shower walls. He grabbed the shampoo and did his best to ignore the rampant thoughts bombarding him. Torturing him.
There was nothing he could do for the time being. If Ava wanted her space, she had it. He was done chasing her. If she wanted to come back, she knew where he was. To continue to message her was an insult to his manhood.
The next move was on Ava.
Chapter Eleven
Ava couldn’t decide if she was relieved or incensed when Xavier stopped trying to reach her. On the one hand, she missed him every hour of every day. She missed his touch and the way he held her cheek in his hand. She missed the scent of his body soap mixed with the faint smell of leather that never fully washed off his hands.
She missed the way he made her feel alive for the first time in her life.
She was screwed.
She sat curled in the corner of her couch in the silence of her living room for hours on end, pondering the possibilities from every imaginable angle.
On the other hand, he was a total jackass who had a fucking fiancée in another country. While he’d been toying with Ava’s heart, the other woman had been alone and pregnant in Puerto Rico.
She wondered how far along she was. When had Xavier conceived this child? Did he and the mother have a falling out?
Obviously the answer to that last question was yes. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be ignoring the woman. But even if he did break up with her, he had an obligation to his own baby. Any man who would ignore that wasn’t someone Ava wanted to be around. No matter what the circumstances.
She’d gone over every possible scenario in her head in the last two days. No matter how many sides there were to the story, all of them led back to the simple fact that Xavier had responsibilities in Puerto Rico he was ignoring.
Or was it possible he was sending the woman money every week and his father didn’t think it was enough? Was it possible Carlos Monreal had unrealistic expectations for his son? Ava sure didn’t believe people should get married just because they had a kid. That could often backfire and make the child’s life a living hell even worse than a single-parent home.
Ava considered Carlos’s shouted words of anger from every angle. No matter how old-fashioned the older man might be in assuming his son should marry a woman just because they had a child together, nothing negated the obligation to the child.
More important was the fact that Xavier hadn’t mentioned a previous relationship that resulted in a baby one single time since Ava had met him. Granted, the two of them hadn’t left much room for conversation of any sort, and the fact that a man had a kid might not be first-date material.
But Xavier had made it clear that he wanted Ava for more than a one-night stand. She’d been the one not interested in serious commitment. He’d told her every step of the way how interested he was. Nevertheless, at some point before he let things go as far as they had, even if they were nearly completely of a physical nature, he should’ve told her he had a baby on the way.
She closed her eyes, hugged her knees up against her chin, and groaned. She missed him.
And he clearly had no idea why she’d left or that she’d understood his father’s words. The truth was, she couldn’t go on without facing him and giving him an opportunity to tell his side of this story.
She was as huge a bitch as he was an asshole if she shut him out without a chance to explain himself. Maybe somehow, some way, there was another explanation she hadn’t come up with on her own.
After all, the only information she had to go on was the ranting rage coming from his father’s mouth in the middle of a crowded restaurant. There wasn’t much of a chance Ava had misunderstood the man’s words. They were clear and concise. But maybe…
“Shit,” she shouted into the room. She unfurled herself from the sofa and headed to her bedroom. She was nearly convinced she should face him, but another night’s sleep couldn’t hurt. Maybe she would wake up in the morning with a clearer view.
* * *
Xavier’s game wasn’t in Jupiter the following day. And since Ava had absolutely no intention of contacting her sister or Zia to ask when the players might return to town, she found herself sitting in front of Xavier’s condo Wednesday evening, staring at the street, waiting for him to return.
She could see on the sched
ule that he played the following day in Jupiter, which meant he eventually needed to come home.
It wasn’t as if it was midnight and she’d been sitting there for eight hours.
Finally, at about seven o’clock, she watched as his car pulled into the lane that ran around to the back of the condo where the garage entrance was. If he’d seen her parked out front, he gave no indication.
She stepped from the car, smoothed her hands down her white shorts, and straightened her pink tank top. For a moment, she worried that her outfit was horribly inappropriate, but it had been warm out when she’d left Miami, and she hadn’t put a lot of thought into how revealing she would appear showing up at his place unannounced like this.
She made her way to the front door and finally knocked when she knew he would’ve entered the condo from the kitchen by then.
Her heart beat faster as she waited, and when he opened the front door, he looked honestly shocked. “Ava.” He stepped back, giving her space to enter.
Nerves made her thread her fingers together in front of her, and then she licked her lips while she thought about what to say first. Why hadn’t she come up with a speech?
Xavier pointedly didn’t touch her as he nodded toward the living room behind him. It stung that he didn’t attempt to touch her at all. Every time they’d been together, he had been unable to keep his hands off her for even a second. A characteristic she loved about him.
Her brain was nearly always addled when he made contact, but in a good way that made her feel alive.
She eased onto the corner of the couch and tucked her hands under her thighs to keep from fidgeting. She stared down at the pink sandals that matched her lacy tank top and thought for a moment that she must look like a teenager dressed so casually with her long blond hair hanging loose down her back and little makeup.
Catching Ava (Spring Training Book 3) Page 10