His own miracle. “Me, too,” he told Chipper, grabbing Holly’s hand. “I’m glad she’s my girlfriend, too.” He felt her stiffen in surprise at his side, and he looked into her eyes, which were warm and filled with things that somehow warmed him, too. From inside his pocket, his cell phone rang, and he pulled it out “It’s Sam,” he said.

“Pace,” the publicist said in a voice that told him she’d been crying, possibly still was. “Holly isn’t the leak. She never was. It’s Jeremy.”

“What? How did you find that out?”

“I lied and told him I had proof it was him, and he caved like a cheap suitcase. He’d stolen my password and was accessing my computer for privileged information. He’s turned in his resignation at the Bucks.”

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, no. I tried to turn in my resignation but no one would take it.”

“Good.” He couldn’t imagine the Heat’s PR department without her running it. “This isn’t your fault, Sam. Any more than it was Holly’s.”

“I’ll work on believing that.”

“Good. You and Holly both deserve better.” He slipped his phone into his pocket and found Holly looking at him. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She leaned in and kissed him. “Everything. You stood up for me.”

“That’s what boyfriends do,” Chipper said. “Right, Pace?”

Pace found himself smiling into Holly’s eyes. “Right.”

She smiled back, and for the first time ever before a game, he felt light as a feather. Like he could do anything.

With her at his side.

In the stands, Holly distracted herself with her camera, taking shots of the guys warming up and interacting on the field. As practice ended and the stadium began to fill, adrenaline seemed to run high. From where she sat, she could see straight into the Heat’s dugout, and she turned her camera there, zooming in for some great shots. She hadn’t gone online to see the lineup today, and she wondered who was pitching as she got pictures of Gage talking to Pace, and then she went still, her eyes locked on the lens as Pace looked up and unerringly found her in the crowd.

He was a hundred yards away and yet in her lens he was right there, eyes warming. He smiled and mouthed her name.

And then, oh God, and then he mouthed three little words.

I love you.

Staggered, she sank to her seat, lowering her camera to take in the real Pace, but he was nothing more than a blur so she went back to the lens.

Because surely she’d imagined it, just a funny little trick her brain had decided to play. Ha ha. Funny.

Her eyes soaked him up, willing him to say it again, but Gage got in her way, squinting out into the stands to see what Pace had been looking at.