by Aria Cole
I swallowed the lump in my throat when Cash threw another fastball, his gaze intense and his jaw clenched tight. He was in pain, I could see it on his face. He was pitching the best game of his life and he was suffering through it. Another curveball, and with only one more strike out, the crowd held their breath as Cash wound up for what we were all hoping was the final throw of the game. He twisted back, launching the ball as his leg twisted, the grimace on his face upon release all I needed to see. Without watching what came next, I launched out of my seat and made my way down the bleachers to run into the dugout.
The crowd was cheering, but I only had eyes for Cash.
He’d struck the batter out. The Timberwolves had won the World Series.
Players swarmed the field and were celebrating, Cash was enveloped in the fold of white-uniformed bodies as confetti and balloons released into the air. Camera crews flooded the field, microphones thrust in players’ faces. I still couldn’t see him through the swarm of people.
I had to see him.
Weaving through the sea of players and reporters, I came to the pitching mound, finally catching sight of his tall form in the sea of white.
“Cash!” I called, sprinting the distance between us, until his arm snaked around me and pulling me into a hug.
“We did it.”
“You did good, baby.” I kissed him on the lips. “How’s your ankle?”
Cash’s gaze darkened, though the smile was still imprinted on his face. “Little tender.” He shook his head. “But we won the fucking World Series!”
He laughed, pulling the ball cap from his head and throwing it up into the air. I’d never seen Cash Greenwood more alive. I don’t know what I’d been thinking avoiding him just because he was a ball player, because we lived for this game. I lived and breathed the ball field, knew my way around the sport as well as any of these guys, and it made me feel alive, too. I was wrong to deny it, wrong to judge the sport based on the bad experiences I’d had with my father.
Instead of denying my love for this sport, and one very special ball player in it, I should have embraced it.
Now I was.
I’d found myself again when I’d found Cash.
First Epilogue
Cash
“I can’t wait to peel this off you later.” I hooked a finger in the very low neckline of Delilah’s dress and pulled the fabric down to give me more of a view of her beautiful tits.
“Hands off, handsome.” Delilah swatted my hand away, and my dick throbbed anxiously.
“Listen, wife…” I pulled her against my body, grinding my cock against all that pretty lace and sucking her bottom lip between my teeth. “You made me wait a year to marry you, I want to enjoy the spoils.”
“You’re an arrogant bastard, Cash Greenwood,” she purred, her teeth latching onto my ear and tugging. I dipped my hands below the soft curve of her ass, fisting at her pretty cheeks and anxious as hell to finally be alone with her.
“I’m your arrogant bastard.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Delilah ran a hand down the front of my pants, making contact with my dick.
“Naughty Mrs. Greenwood.” I dragged a thumb across the hard outline of her nipple through the pure white wedding dress she wore.
“Mm, I really like the sound of that.”
“Which part? The naughty or taking my last name?” I growled. I liked her having my last name a hell of a lot.
“Both.” I gripped her hips, prepared to lift up that dress and show her just how naughty we could be, when I heard a soft shuffle from behind me.
“Congratulations, son.” My dad held out a hand.
I detached myself from Delilah, circling her with one arm as I replied, “Thanks, Dad.”
“I know you’ve got big plans, I just wanted to say thank you for letting me be here. I can't tell you how much it means to me.” Dad looked from me to Delilah. “I know you’ll take care of my boy.” His eyes looked watery when he turned back to me. “And you damn sure better take care of her, or you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Got it.” I nodded, recognizing that he was using humor to divert from the emotion threading his voice. Delilah and I had both had a tough time with our fathers, and sadly hers had passed away before she had a chance to heal, but for that reason she’d pushed me to mend fences, and in all honesty, it hadn’t been hard since he’d stopped drinking. He’d been sober for more than year now, and we were both so much better because of it.
“I know we’ve been through a lot, son. I’ll spend all the rest of my days with regrets. I’m not sure if I ever told you this, but I’m proud of you, Cash.” He smacked me on the shoulder.
He’d never told me that before. And in some small way I figured it was for the best. He’d withheld his approval and lit a fire under my ass to gain it. “I wouldn’t be the man I am today without you, Dad.”
He pulled me in for a hug, and as Delilah swept away tears as she looked on, my heart felt fuller than I’d ever known possible. She’d saved me from myself, her support and love the two priceless gifts I’d been waiting a lifetime for. I was sure life couldn’t get any better.
Second Epilogue
Delilah
I clutched at his palm, my feet giving way to sand as Cash pulled me through the dark. “How much farther?”
“Shh, good things come to those who wait.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
We hit the flat ground, my feet shuffling through the blond crystals with less difficulty when Cash spun me, covering my eyes with his palm. “Ready for your surprise?”
“Born ready, Cash Greenwood.”
“Happy anniversary, Delilah.” Cash removed his hand, pulling me around the corner of an embankment of rocks jutting out onto the beach. A billowing white tent sat perched high on the shoreline, rolling dunes and sea grass surrounding it, the interior lit with dozens of candles emitting a soft yellow glow.
“This is magical.” I stepped forward in awe, my fingertips tracing the wisps of white dancing on the beach breeze. “I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“The guys told me the second anniversary is big.” Cash pulled me inside the tent filled with mounds of pillows, a large bed piled high with fluffy white linens that looked softer than a cloud.
“You are incredible. I’m the luckiest woman on earth.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed along his steel-carved and stubbled jawline. “I love you so much.”
“I love you a thousand times more, baby. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“Never, Cash Greenwood.” I hummed when he lifted me in his arms, laying me across the bed and pushing his hands up my shirt.
“You taste better than anything I’ve ever put in my mouth. You’re the air I breathe, Delilah.” He worked his hands up my torso, lighting fire across my skin. His nose trailed across my collarbone, his hands reaching for my wrists and stretching my arms above my head. “Sooner I get inside you, the happier we’ll both be.”
His hands tracked up my skin, my thighs shifting as arousal pulsed through my veins. Every day of the last year had been like walking through a dream. If it was possible, Cash was even more thoughtful and attentive than I’d ever even realized.
“I’d spend every day on my knees in the sand with you, Mrs. Greenwood,” he confided, trailing his lips across my abdomen until his hands were shoving up the hem of my skirt. His nose brushed over the seam of my pussy, and a fevered shiver coursed through me.
My fingers threaded in his hair as his teeth caught the elastic of my panties and he pulled them down my legs. “Even sweeter than sweet tea.”
I moaned when his tongue trailed up my pussy, caressing the nerves and sending me shaking with mad, wild, desperate lust. I groaned when I heard the sound of his zipper lowering, his arms catching behind my knees as he sucked the bud of my clit and sent stars exploding into my vision. I pulsed and quaked, feeling like every heady current of pleasure running through my body would never end. Before I�
��d even come down from my first orgasm, Cash was pushing into me, his hard, heavy cock pushing past every ragged nerve I possessed, prolonging my climax.
“Oh my God, I love you,” I groaned when he leaned down, sucking my nipple through the fabric of my bra, his teeth nipping and teasing at the heated flesh.
“You were made for me, Delilah. Every inch of this body was made to be pleased by me, that smart mouth of yours made to turn me on and drive me infuckingsane. Everything about you makes me crazy and I can’t get enough.” He angled his hips and punctuated his words with the heavy thrusts. I clutched at his shoulders when he pushed me to the very edge, his thumb swirling between us, making me scream with raw pleasure.
“You’re everything I never wanted, Cash Greenwood, and the best decision I ever made.” I caught his lip between my teeth, tugging hard enough to cause a growl to escape from his full lips.
“Jesus, Delilah.” His grip tightened at my hips as he shuddered, the muscles in his body tense as he came deep inside me. “I love when you’re covered in sweat, sex and me.” Cash pulled his cock from me, swiping at the fluid that leaked out between my thighs as he did. Swirling the glistening arousal over my stomach, he grinned, shoving one finger into my mouth and forcing me to suck.
“Everything about you surprises me.” He lay next to me, hands covering my warm skin and making endorphins charge through my system at full speed.
“Didn’t I mention I had a surprise, too?” My stomach flipped. I hadn’t planned to tell him until tomorrow night over a candlelit dinner, but now seemed perfect.
“You surprise me every day.” He trailed a fingertip around my navel. “You didn’t need to get me anything.”
“It’s something for both of us.” I bit down on my lip, glancing from his hand holding my stomach, then back to his eyes. His gaze flickered, landing on his hand as emotion flooded his irises and he looked back to me.
“You’re not…? Are we having a baby?” Unable to form words, I nodded, choking on a lump of happy tears. “Oh my God, baby.” He gathered me in his arms, raining kisses on my cheeks as he held me, rocking us both back and forth. Then I felt a few drops of moisture on my cheeks. Tears trickled down Cash’s beautiful face. My strong, handsome, beautiful man was crying because he was so overjoyed to be a father. Cash was going to be a dad.
“I just found out this morning. I didn’t know how I was going to keep it from you. We’re pregnant, Cash.”
“I didn’t think my life could get any better, Delilah. Marrying you two years ago made me the happiest man alive, but you making me a daddy….” He shook his head, his grin brilliant. “Look, you’ve turned me into a sap.”
“You always were a sap, Greenwood, but your secret is safe with me,” I teased, running my fingers through his hair as he pushed me back down into the pillows and covered his lips with mine.
Cash had walked into my life and turned it completely upside down. He was exactly what I needed.
Third Epilogue
Cash
“Delilah!” I called at the top of my lungs.
“What?!” My beautiful wife came around the corner, our daughter bouncing joyously on her hip.
“Did you see that? Think you can do it again, Cade?” I cooed to my three-year-old son. His toothy smile undid my heart. “Here we go.” I tossed the soft ball to my boy and watched as he caught it in both chubby hands.
Delilah whooped, and Daphne’s pigtails glinted in the bright sunlight as she clapped.
“Good job, man!” I swung Cade into my arms and joined his mom and sister at the corner of the house. “Think we got a ball player, Mama.”
“Well, he’s got it in his genes.” Delilah placed a kiss on his cheek.
“I think this little lady is gonna have a head for numbers. We could work on creating a whole team, whaddya say?” I grinned, stealing a kiss from Delilah.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” she laughed.
“Three down.” I winked, rubbing at the small bump already rounding her belly.
“Grandpa!” Cade squirmed out of my arms and dropped to his feet in the grass, barreling full-speed across the lawn to my father. He grinned, bending down and wrapping my son in a hug.
“Hey, Dad!”
“Hey, kids!” he called, waving at Delilah and reaching deep into his pocket and pulling out a silver dollar for Cade.
“Woah!” His eyes were wide as my father explained how precious the coin was. I think I heard something about pirates, which was just like my dad, spinning tall tales for amusement.
We’d moved to Florida a few years ago, after I’d been transferred to a new team. I’d pictured spending my entire career with the Timberwolves at one time, but being transferred to the Sea Rays felt like a blessing after Delilah and I had started giving my dad the grand babies he’d been wanting so badly.
He’d been clean and sober for a few years now, and while his health had taken a toll on him over the years, he was still a spry old guy who kept up with my little ones just fine.
I grinned at Delilah, pulling her into me as we watched our little boy playing, our sweet little girl crushed between us and the next one only months away.
Life was perfect. Life wouldn’t get any better.
I’d once lived and breathed for the game, but as soon as Delilah Grey had walked into my life she’d shown me every important detail I’d been missing. Delilah gave me love, and with her love she breathed life into me.
Life was made up of a series of moments, and every one of them with her was more beautiful than the last.
Fourth Epilogue
Delilah
“That’s him? Number eight, right?” I squealed, bopping up and down in my seat as I clutched at Cash’s arm.
Cash chuckled next to me, his eyes darting from the field, then back to me. “That’s number 18. He’s warming up in the bullpen.” Cash nodded, directing my attention across the field to my son, rookie pitcher in the Major League.
Just like his daddy.
I burrowed into Cash’s arm, enjoying the warmth of his body curled around me, even after all these years. Our lives had changed a lot over the years, the salt and pepper in his stubble and at his temples proving that men did age very well. I got a little older, but Cash was still able to make me feel like a teenage girl with a crush on the most handsome boy in school. I never thought it was possible, but as time went by, I loved Cash even more. Every day I woke up happy that my life had turned out the way it had.
Cash had retired from the major league just in time to coach Cade’s little league career. We’d soon realized that our son had a natural talent for the game, not that it was surprising. The kid was practically born with a mitt on his hand, and his swing was out of this world.
He’d already smashed the highest record at the farm club he’d played with, and it hadn’t taken them long to call him up to play with the team.
“He’s coming!” I clutched Cash’s knee as our twenty-three year old son walked out into the field. Youngest rookie with the highest average to ever step foot in the MLB, the sports media was already buzzing, saying that he was bound to be a star.
“He looks good.” Cash nodded, watching Cade as he walked to the pitcher’s mound, loosening his arm with wide circles. “He’s got this.” Cash was so proud of Cade, not just because he played baseball but because Cash knew he raised a good, strong boy who knew that he had a father he could turn to and depend on. Cash had been a fantastic father. All the pain we had in our childhoods was nonexistent in our children’s lives.
I smiled, love burning so deep as I watched the man I love cheer on the son he loved so dearly. This was a full circle moment, and one that was a thread through generations of our lives. Baseball had played a role in my grandfather’s life, my father’s, mine and Cash’s, and now Cade’s.
“Delilah, he’s pitching.” Cash’s voice was laced with so much pride.
I stopped instantly, eyes on my boy as he pulled his arm back and released a fastball the like
s of which I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Nearly eight years, to be exact.
“That had to be 101 at least, right?” Cash said next to me.
I laughed, shaking my head and thinking how in his element he was.
How perfect we were, still after all these years, right here with our asses parked in stadium seats.
This game had defined both of our lives and given us so much back.
Seeing Cash on the ballfield made my heart swell with an eternity of love.
This was where he was meant to be, and with him was where I was meant to be. Maybe it’s true we don’t know what we have until we lose it, but I hadn’t known what I was missing until I’d found it. Cash had broken down my walls without me even knowing it and then built them back up with so much love that I felt invincible and finally strong. And twenty years later, with just one kiss, I still knew I was the ruler of his whole universe, because he ruled mine.
“It’s a strike!” Cash shot up in the air, clapping like the proud ball dad he was.
I shook my head, grin turning up my cheeks as I stood next to my husband, clapping like a madwoman for my son, rookie MLB star and baseball royalty, Cade Greenwood.
Fifth Epilogue
Cash
I locked my fingers through Delilah’s, pulling her a little closer.
I needed her now. I needed her every day, but for some reason today was especially hard. Today I was doing something no man ever liked to think about.
Today I was giving away my baby girl.
I knew that she’d found a good man who would love her the way I loved her mother, and if he didn’t…well then her daddy would have to buy a shotgun.
“Cade just got here. He brought Lily again. I think she’s the one.” Delilah grinned as she approached me, waiting still as a statue at the back of the church. “He has to fly back out tonight. He’s got a game tomorrow, but I’m so glad he could make it.” Cade was killing it in the MLB. Five years in and he claimed the title of star pitcher for his team. He was now a free agent and demanded a high price tag for it. He’d broken salary records, too. The boy had a gift, much more than I ever did, though commentators liked to draw similarities.