“Hey, don’t cry,” Lee crooned, plucking a tissue from the box on the dresser and dabbing it under my eyes. “I ordered this a while ago, and as luck would have it, it came yesterday.”
“Did you order this before…” I trailed off, too choked up to speak or breathe.
“Before you and I finally gave in?” He chuckled. “Yes, I ordered it for your birthday. But I thought you’d want to wear it tonight. I mean, if you don’t think it goes with your dress?—”
I grabbed his face and kissed him, my hands shaking while I tried not to both sob and scream that I loved him, that I’dalwaysloved him. Because he was the most beautiful man I’d ever known, a man who always did things like this, a man whom I could never cut out of my life because I couldn’t not have him in it, no matter how much it had hurt sometimes.
And now, he was mine.
“It’s not the same, but maybe you can think of it as from both of us. Don’t cry, sweetheart.”
“You’re a pretty amazing man. Even out of the smoke show suit.” I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Thank you.”
He laughed and kissed my forehead.
“You’re very welcome. I’ll help you put it on, and then I’ll let you pack.”
I picked up my hair while he fastened the necklace, dropping a kiss to my nape when he was done.
“I’ll be downstairs, waiting for you.” He winked before he opened the door and headed into the hallway.
I smiled at my reflection as the necklace twinkled back at me. I was glad I’d only loved one man like this in my lifetime because my heart wouldn’t have been able to take more.
“Did I really leave you that speechless?” Lee asked as we drove toward Manhattan. “You haven’t said a word since Brooklyn.”
“A little,” I confessed. “A good speechless, I promise. You’re kind of amazing.”
“No, you are,” Lee said, smiling while he slid his hand up my thigh. “I know you loved that necklace. I can’t undo everything he did, but I can help you forget a little.”
His sweet smile was going to make me bawl all over again.
My gaze drifted out the window, all the skyscrapers twinkling against the East River whirring by as the rest of the world outside of this car and this man faded away.
“I have the hottest date tonight,” he said, bringing me in for a quick kiss after we parked. “I wish we could skip this thing and head up to the hotel room.”
“Delayed gratification can be fun,” I said, skating my hand down his chest.
“I like a different kind of edging.” He kissed the corner of my mouth and climbed out of the car.
I was about to float into the hotel lobby from swooning so damn hard as we headed upstairs to quickly drop off our bags.
“Doc, hey,” Nate called out to Lee as we stepped off the elevator on the gala floor. “Nice to see you again,Stella. You look great. Don’t hit me, Lee. Just complimenting your date.”
“It’s all good.” Lee chuckled, pulling me closer. “She does look great.”
“Hello, Lee.” A man with wire-rimmed glasses came up to Lee, holding out his hand. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
“Kent, hi,” Lee said, shaking his hand. “Stella, this is Kent, the Bats’ general manager. Kent, this is my girlfriend, Stella.”
“Nice to meet you, Stella.” Kent offered his hand. He was nerdy with a pretentious vibe. Rachel had told me that Kent was all about promotion and social media and still played up Silas’s online popularity any chance he got.
I wondered if he was behind Lee’s DILF photo.
“Very nice to meet you too,” I said after taking his hand.
“There’s a lot of good stuff in the silent auction, so you should take a look. Have a great time,” he said, sending us a smile before he stalked to an older man in a bow tie.
“That’s the owner,” Lee whispered to me. “Nice guy. Kent is all about viral exposure, and the owner is just happy he owns a real baseball team.”
