“Ryan’s firm has a luxury suite at Madison Square Garden, but we’ve never been this close to the action.”
“I still can’t believe you became a lawyer,” June teased. “Does your firm know about your senior prank?”
“No,” Ryan answered before tearing into his soft pretzel. “And they never will.”
As their farewell gift to Rose City High, Ryan and his cronies had organized a senior class sleepover . . . in the principal’s front yard. Mr. Lee had gotten one hell of a surprise when he’d walked outside to get the paper the next morning, only to find three dozen teenagers camped out on his lawn.
“By the way, Ness, what are you wearing to the benefit?”
I chewed on Kaylani’s question, along with a bite of churro that had me reconsidering my assessment of ballpark snacks.
“Benefit?” I asked after swallowing.
“The charity benefit at the end of the season,” she offered, staring at me with a puzzled expression that no doubt matched my own. “For Swing for the Fences. Don’t tell me you’re not going.”
I quickly racked my brain and sadly came up blank. Swing for the Fences was the Roaster’s charity organization—and Clarke’s pet project—but this was the first I had ever heard of a benefit. That didn’t bode well for me and Jared’s ruse.
“Of course, I am,” I lied. “Are you?”
“Yes! Ryan’s firm is one of the event sponsors.”
Well, wasn’t that just in-fucking-convenient? Was there anything this guy didn’t have a free ticket to?
“And I’m wearing this super sexy, purple dress with, like, no back.”
Ryan wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his side. “Why haven’t I seen this dress?”
“All in good time, my love.”
He dropped a hard kiss on her lips.
After spending the first half of the game with them, I couldn’t deny what was staring me dead in the face—Ryanhadchanged. He was sweet, attentive, and emotionally mature beyond his years, just like somebody else I knew but was reluctant to admit aloud.
Most importantly, he was crazy in love with Kaylani, and really, that was the only thing that mattered. That didn’t mean I had forgiven his actions. It was going to take more than a couple hours and a few bites of churro to change my mind about him, but I was starting to come around.
“You know,” Kaylani said when she settled back into watching the game. The Roasters were up by two runs, but there was still one out to go with runners on second and third.
Wow, that sounded very baseball of me.
“We could go dress shopping in Portland this weekend, if you’re free?”
“I have to open the store on Saturday, but I could probably do Sunday.” On second thought, maybe I was getting ahead of myself. I didn’t even know if Jared was planning to attend thisbenefit thing, so I probably shouldn’t be organizing shopping trips to Portland.
“Let me check with Jared first, though.” I paused before tacking on, “He might already have plans for us.”
“Aw, that’s so cute,” Kaylani mooned.
“How did the two of you meet?” Ryan asked.
Finally, a question I knew the answer to.AndI didn’t even have to lie.
“We met at a nightclub in Portland.”
“A nightclub? You?” Kaylani asked.
I held my cinnamon-coated fingers up in front of me. “Believe me, it was not my idea.”
Kaylani knew I wasn’t a clubbing kind of gal, not even in my twenties. But when Clarke had insisted on a night out—specifically to find her some casual dick—June and I had earnestly tagged along. Instead of a one-night stand, Clarke had gone home with the Roasters’ third baseman—and never left. I, on the other hand, had spent the night dodging flirty glances and pickup lines from the man that was now my fake boyfriend.
