“You sounded like you needed me. I bought the red dress a while ago.” She settled on her side. “Not quite Jessica Rabbit, but close enough.”
“It’s perfect.” I pecked her lips. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too. I didn’t plan on the whole role-play thing. I figured you’d turn around to see who wanted to buy you a drink.” She kissed my cheek.
“Why would I? I don’t need or want anyone else but you. I had no reason to look.”
“Well, yes, and I love you for that. But I figured you’d see it was me and we’d just come upstairs. I didn’t plan on all that, but it was fun as hell.”
She chuckled, cuddling into my side.
“I stuffed a tank top and shorts—and underwear—” her mouth curled into a grin “—into my big purse so I don’t have to go home in a fuck-me red dress tomorrow morning.”
“Fuck-me red is definitely accurate,” I said, pinching the material between my fingers. “Did I ever tell you how gorgeous you are?” I ran my finger over the blush staining her cheek.
“Yes, but feel free to keep repeating it.”
“Thatwasa lot of fun. But know what’s even more fun?”
She shook her head. “What?”
“I get to wake up next to you on what I expected to be the shittiest day of my managing career so far. And that makes it already not so bad.” I drew her closer. “When did you get here?”
“Like a half hour ago. More or less.”
“Then I have to feed you.” I delved my hand through her tangled hair. “I have more inspiration for you, so you’ll need to keep up.”
“You take care of me,” she said, lacing our fingers together, “and I’ll take care of you.”
No one had taken care of me since I was a kid. Not at home, especially not on the road.
I did need her, and I was sick of hiding the woman I loved. When I got home, the first thing I was going to do was put a stop to that.
I’d tell the whole goddamn world that this woman belonged to me as much as she owned me right back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
RACHEL
The alarm blaredfrom my phone as I blinked my heavy eyes open. Silas still dozed next to me, unfazed, his grip tight around my waist even in a deep sleep. I’d booked the nine a.m. train to Penn Station, and I wished I could lounge in bed until Silas’s game this afternoon.
Losing Becker would be rough for the team, whether it was for a few weeks or the season. Silas had sounded so tired and defeated when he’d called me, I couldn’t let him take this on all alone.
I guessed that was what it was like when you had a partner in life. There was no way I could just wait for his phone call after the game without seeing in person that he was okay.
And he was, or he would be. Knowing that didn’t make leaving easier, and even if I had time to stay, I couldn’t.
What reason would I have to travel to a Bats game on a workday? I had nothing more to do for the account at work. Everything else we were doing for them was a regular marketing campaign without the PR. Their sponsorship of my sister’s team had ended with their season back in June, so I had no ties to the Bats or explanation for being here.
Other than being in love with their manager.
I kept trying to think of loopholes for that stupid clause in our contract. The marketing initiatives were ending, and Silas wasn’t the one signing the checks for promotion since he was just an employee of the organization. Maybe if we could prove that we started dating after the partnership was over, we could get away with it.
But I was smart enough to know that wouldn’t happen. Even after our dealings with the Bats were finished, the stain on our reputation for getting too involved with a client was still fresh enough to allow for no exceptions.
If it were just me, I could leave before I had to tell anyone about my personal life—that should have always beenpersonal—and take freelance jobs. I’d done well in freelance, other than scraping by on out-of-pocket insurance payments.
Taylor needed health insurance and a parent who thought of her more than the man in her life. I wasn’t our mother and still put my sister first, but I couldn’t deny how much Silas meant to me and how terrible it was to hide him and us.
