“Are you okay?” she asks me, and I can hear worry in her voice and I close my eyes.
“Yeah, sorry, I got out of class and stopped to have a coffee. I should have called.”
“Oh my God, I’m annoying.” She laughs. “I was just worried.”
I smile. “All good, I’m on my way home now,” I tell her and look over at Kirby, even though I don’t want to leave him yet.
“Okay, see you soon,” she replies, hanging up the phone and I put it back in my bag.
“I should go.” I push away from the table. “I’m going to go and get some things for home,” I tell him. “You don’t have to wait for me.”
“I’ll be here,” he assures me and I nod at him, getting up and walking back to the counter. The girl comes out from the back.
“I’d like to have two cinnamon rolls to go,” I tell her, “with a couple of other things you think would be good.” I smile at her. “And if you can wrap up an extra cinnamon roll in a separate bag,” I ask her and she smirks at me. “Can I also have a container to wrap up the one I have? Sorry.” I hold up my hand. “I know it’s a lot.”
“You’re fine,” she assures me and prepares my order and hands me the two bags before swiping my card. “Have a good one,” she says and I nod, walking back to my table, sitting down and grabbing my cinnamon roll, placing it in the takeout container before licking the stickiness off of my fingers.
“Ready?” I ask him, wiping my hands with napkins and putting the container in the bigger bag.
“I guess,” he says, grabbing his empty plastic container while I grab my half-full one. He puts his hand on my lower back as we walk to the door. Stepping out before him, my heart races quickly as we stand in the middle of the sidewalk. “Where are you parked?” he asks me and I point to the white Land Rover parked right to the side of him. “Oh, okay.” He takes a deep inhale. “It was good seeing you,” he says nervously as he leans in and kisses my cheek. “It was better than good seeing you.”
“It was better than good seeing you too.” I laugh at his choice of words.
“We should do this again sometime,” he suggests and I can’t help the smile that fills my face. “Whenever. As soon as possible.”
“That sounds good,” I agree, my hand gripping the bags tighter. “Oh,” I say quickly, “I almost forgot.” I hand him the bag with the single cinnamon roll. “For you.” I hold it up for him and his hand comes out to grab it. Our fingers graze each other and I swear my body shivers. “For later.”
He looks into the bag and he laughs. “I’ll think of you the whole time I eat it,” he teases, and I bite my lower lip, trying not to giggle like an idiot. He takes a step closer to me and hugs me with his free hand. I close my eyes as I inhale his musky scent. The hug lasts a little longer than it should, but I’m not complaining. He lets me go and I reluctantly walk over to the new car I bought for myself the month after I was in California and decided I would be making this my home. I get into the SUV and put my things on the passenger seat before I put my hand on my forehead. Letting out a huge exhale, I then look to see him walking away. “That was not on my bingo card for today,” I mumble, starting the car and pulling away from the curb.
I’m halfway down the street when the phone rings. I look in the center console to see my lawyer calling me, her name in the middle of the screen, Marley Schrimmer. I press the button on my steering wheel. “Hey, Marley,” I say her name as I turn and head toward Ariella and Jaxon’s.
“Lexi,” she says my name almost sighing, “I have news.”
“Oh,” I say, surprised. It’s been two months since I hired her. I know I should have called Ryleigh, my cousin’s wife, but I was still a little embarrassed about everything that happened. She used to be in the DA department in Chicago and then fell in love with my cousin who played for Nashville. She quit the DA department and is now doing family law. From what my sister has said about her, she’s cutthroat. My parents don’t even know I hired a lawyer yet. It was something I did without telling anyone. It was step one after I got a therapist.
“His lawyer called today and he wants you to sign an NDA and he’ll give you twelve million dollars.” I look at the screen. “But you can never, ever talk about him or the relationship.”
“What do you mean?” I ask her.
“No interviews, no gossip, nothing,” she fills me in. “Basically, your relationship is like it never happened.”
I shake my head. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”
She gasps, “It’s twelve million dollars! What is there to think about?”
“Right, but if I take it, then he again has control over what I do.” I shake my head, knowing I’m going to have to fire her. We are obviously not on the same page, and she didn’t listen to a word I said when we had our meeting.
“Gotcha,” she replies as I pull into the driveway. “Well, how about you think about it and let me know?”
“Will do,” I say, disconnecting the phone and turning off the SUV. I grab the bags from the seat next to me, getting out and shutting the door with my hip.
Walking up the steps, I open the door and listen for a second before announcing I’m home. I hear Ariella’s voice coming from the family room. “I’m back here.”
I kick off my shoes on the mat and put my bag down at the step before walking back into the family room. I spot her sitting on the couch with Jagger nursing. “Hi,” I say to her and the sound of him unlatching from her breast fills the room as he looks over at me, giving me a smile and then going back to his meal. “Now that’s the smile of my dreams.” I squeeze his foot, making him kick me away.
“He’s a charmer.” Ariella grabs her water jug and takes a deep sip of water as I walk over and place the white paper bag in the middle of the island. Then I walk back over to the family room and sit on the floor next to Jagger’s toys, stretching out my legs. “What’s in the bag?” she asks over her shoulder.
“The most amazing cinnamon rolls I’ve ever tasted in my life,” I declare and she laughs.
