Her hand curled around his chest and drew circles in his skin. “Growing up the way we did, did you ever think this would be real life?”
Electricity snapped in his mind, ricocheting out through his body and raising goose bumps across his skin. “You go first.”
“I didn’t know what my life would look like, but I knew I’d get out. I had to. What I had couldn’t be as good as life got.”
“I’ll never understand why you picked the South Side for the start of your wonderful new life.”
“I wanted to disappear.”
Her palm flattened against his back, a sudden warmth against the chill of the lake, and Kieran shivered.
“Didn’t you want that, too?” Her voice was soft now and as gentle as the wind. “You made it all the way to Atlanta on the pro circuit. You can’t tell me you weren’t running from your past.”
He’d never thought of it that way. Kieran hadn’t left his childhood home—he’d been run off. “I didn’t plan the way my career went. I just kept fighting.” Like always. One day at a time. Just get through it. Deal with the next crisis when it arrived. “I’ll be thirty next year.” Twenty-nine in October, and thirty a year after. “It’s unreal. When I was a kid, I didn’t think I’d make it to eighteen. But I’m comfortable now.” His job didn’t change, and there was safety in routine.
Lily shifted under his touch, and when she stood Kieran looped his arms low around her waist and drew her in against his chest. Her warmth spread over him, shushing the lingering whispers of his past. “I’m glad I met you, Kieran.”
He rested his forehead against hers, breathing in her sweet airy scent and letting a true smile overtake his face. “I’m glad I met you, too, Lily.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
The week passed in a blur, and despite all her planning, the night of the gala dinner arrived too soon. She’d driven by the venue once with Kieran. Scoured the website and memorized the gallery with Nat. Alex even scheduled them a tour under the guise of venue shopping for his wedding. None of that prepared Lily for standing outside Alastaire’s.
The sprawling estate held court on a tree-lined street in Lincoln Park, only blocks away from Lake Michigan. Domed white windows with fleurs-de-lis carved into the mortar brightened the dark brick facing. Framing the looming wooden double doors was a white portico with six towering white columns.
With her hand tucked in the crook of Kieran’s arm, Lily followed Neal across the sidewalk and through those double doors. The inside of Alastaire’s was a sea of smug, smiling faces and shaking hands. In the white-and-black-tiled foyer, a musician spun out a mellow melody on the piano—but it was muted under the din of chatter.
Far too many people, in far too small a space. Couldn’t folks say hello somewhere other than the lobby?
The crowd shifted, thankfully before her stomach churned, and one of the knots in her chest loosened. Men in dark tuxedos and ladies in luxurious dresses filled every corner of Alastaire’s. From the open bar tucked into the corner to the filled banquet hall, there were people everywhere.
Her grip on Kieran’s arm tightened, and he crossed his hand over his chest to give her a squeeze. “You’re alright.” He whispered the reassurance. “Just act like Alex. You’ll fit right in.”
“Be nice,” she whispered in return. “Alex is a sweetheart.”
“I never said he wasn’t.” Kieran steered her into the banquet hall and located the seats saved for South Side MMA. White linens covered long tables, lit with soft, floating candles. “I only mean he could schmooze his way into a six-figure endorsement.”
Alex definitely had a way with people.
Lily slipped her clutch onto her assigned chair and straightened, smoothing her hands down her sides.
The red dress had been an almost perfect fit. The bust needed to be taken in just a pinch, but the sales associate promised Kieran with a flutter of her lashes she could have it altered within a few hours. They collected it after the beach, and now here Lily stood, dressed like she was born to rub elbows with business owners and investors.
The satin might as well have been painted on her skin, and thank God because the sheer tightness of the dress was all that held her breasts in place. For her hair, she’d twisted it into a loosely knotted chignon bun, with several curled tendrils left free and framing her face. The video she’d made had been the first “Get Ready With Me” video she’d ever posted to the gym’s Hit It page. She followed it up with a “Fit Check” video featuring Kieran in his sinful tuxedo.
“Well.” Lily glanced at Neal, who was already twenty feetaway and deep in conversation with a tall gray-haired man. “What now?”
“Now we mingle. There’s an hour of hors d’oeuvres and an open bar before the dinner service starts.” Kieran cupped the back of her arm and caressed her skin with his thumb. “Up for meeting some other local fighters and Chicago business owners?”
An image of the second, more secluded bar she and Alex had discovered upstairs flashed in her mind. Lily offered Kieran a weak smile. “Would it be terrible if I left the schmoozing to you and Neal?”
“I understand.” He squeezed her arm and stepped away, leaving her with one last, hungry appraisal of her body. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
He followed after Neal and in moments was shaking hands and clapping arms with other fighters.
Lily tapped her French-tipped nails against the table and exhaled. She needed a drink.
The upstairs was blessedly less crowded than the banquet hall and lobby. Though people lingered, there was room to move and breathe.
