Chapter 32 #2
The elevator pings and I step out into the lobby. I finally have cell service, so I punch at the call icon, and immediately I hear the ring.
But not on my phone. In the lobby. I look over at the bank of seats where visitors wait to be taken up for meetings and he’s there.
Eli’s legs are so long that his knees are hitting the coffee table in front of him. He’s staring at his phone, his hair mussed up, his Mavericks hoodie looking way too good on him.
He lifts the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“I’m here.” I walk through the security gates and Eli looks around until his eyes alight on me.
And I crumple.
ELI
As soon as I see her face I want to hit somebody. Probably myself for getting her into this situation. She told me she loved her job, that she didn’t want to lose it. And I pushed and pushed because I wanted us to go public.
Then we did. Spectacularly.
I practically leap over the arm of the sofa to get to her, folding her in my arms.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, looking up at me. Her eyes look like a stormy afternoon.
“I told Holden to turn around. I couldn’t sit at his place while you were facing the music alone.” I stroke her hair with my palm. “I’m so sorry they fired you.”
She shakes her head. “No, that’s not it. Not why I’m upset.”
What could be worse than losing her job? I open my mouth to ask her exactly that and she continues.
“They offered me a promotion.”
My fingers curl into her hair. “What?” I don’t get it. Why’s she on the edge of tears about a promotion?
Hockey players have been known to spend weeks celebrating a win like that.
“They want me to be a partner,” she whispers.
A grin pulls at my lips. “That’s amazing, Mac. I’m so proud of you.” I tip her chin with my finger. “You deserve that.”
“But…” She inhales softly. “What about us?”
I’m still flailing around in the dark here. “What about us? We’ll go celebrate tonight. But don’t you want to see your friends right now? Tell them the good news? You couldn’t have been up in the offices for more than ten minutes.”
“I needed to see you.”
A little bit of my heart explodes. This woman never needs anything.
But she needs me now. And I’m here for her. Always.
“Go up and see them. I’ll stay here and wait. I’ve found this Instagram account with cats.”
“What?”
I wink at her. “They do tricks. I got a full day of entertainment if I need it.” I pat my ass. “I’ve even brought my charger.”
“But we need to talk,” she says.
“Okay…” I tip my head to the side. “What about?”
“Us. If I take the promotion, I have to move back to New York. Next week.” Her eyes catch mine again and for a minute I’m lost in them. I still can’t work out why she’s so freaked out. “We’ve only just found each other.”
And then it dawns on me. She’s scared. The woman who insisted that we were just for now is scared that her words will come true.
“If you take the promotion?” I repeat. “Don’t you mean when?”
She swallows. “Not if it means losing you.”
Fireworks go off inside of me. And I start to laugh. It’s partly relief and partly disbelief because she needs to get to know me better. She needs to understand that I’ve waited my whole life for her.
A few hundred miles aren’t going to be a problem.
I cup her face with my hands, still grinning.
“What’s so funny?” she asks.
“You, mostly.” I shake my head. “You think you can scare me off with a promotion and a move?”
“I…”
“You can’t,” I tell her. “There are planes. There are cars. There’s a whole summer when I get a break and I’m sure you have PTO, too.
There are weekends and holidays and there’s the rest of our damn lives to work this out.
” I brush my lips against hers. “Because we will work it out. I’ll give up hockey if I have to, become your sex slave. ”
Her lips twitch. “What does that involve, exactly?”
“I’ll show you later,” I promise. “We’ll call it an audition. But I’m serious, Mac. This is good news.”
“I heard you were in the building,” a female voice calls out. I look over at a woman wearing a severe black dress and even more severe lipstick. “Oh,” she says, seeing my arms around Mackenzie. “Ooooooohhhhhhh.” This one has at least five syllables.
Mac smiles. “Rachel.” She beckons her over. “This is Eli. Eli, this is Rachel. My best friend.”
“You’re the hockey player,” Rachel says, eyeing my hoodie. “The second best looking Maverick.”
“Second?” I ask, because at heart I’m a competitive motherfucker.
“The Swede is my first,” she says. “I have a thing for cheekbones and coffee.” She folds her arms in front of her chest. “So what’s going on? Everybody’s saying you got fired.”
“She got a promotion,” Eli says.
“Of course she did.” Rachel sighs. “It explains everything.”
“It does?” Mackenzie asks.
“Yep. You hate happily ever afters. Remember when we went to see that reshowing of Titanic.” She looks at me, and I smile because we have something in common. We both love this woman.
“You got into a mood because Leo died,” Mackenzie says. “You wanted to hunt down James Cameron and egg his house, despite the fact we’re both grown women, the movie was made thirty years ago, and we both know they wouldn’t have fit on that damn door.”
“They would have,” I interject helpfully.
“See.” Rachel throws up her hands. “There was a perfect way to get an HEA, but no. Miss Pessimistic here decided to pee in my cornflakes about it.”
“We’re not doing this again,” Mackenzie warns her friend. “Last time we discussed this you didn’t talk to me for two days.”
“I’m just saying that art needs to have happiness,” Rachel counters. “Or at least the hope of happiness. But you don’t like that. You’re more comfortable when everything goes wrong. Maybe you even like it. Happily ever afters are scary for you.”
“Maybe I just know that they’re not possible,” Mac says, but her heart isn’t in it. Her brows knit and she looks at me. I’m trying not to smile back at her because I’m enjoying their conversation too much.
“You’re going to be our maid of honor, right?” I ask Rachel.
“Absofuckinglutely.” She nods. “I want to be standing right next to her when she realizes how wrong she was.”
“Me, too.”
“I like him,” she tells Mac. “A lot.”
“Wait, what?” Mac says. “Maid of honor? We’re not getting married.”
“Not yet,” I say. “I’d kind of like us to be living in the same state first. But it’ll happen.” Weird thing, but I’ve never been more sure of anything. Maybe it’s getting older. Seeing one career finish and another one start. Or maybe it’s just her.
All I know is that I’m ready for this. And if she isn’t, I’ll wait patiently.
For as long as it takes. Forever.
“He loves you,” Rachel whispers.
“I do.” I nod.
“I love him, too,” Mackenzie tells her. “So much.”
Our eyes meet and we’re both grinning. It’s the first time we’ve said it and it wasn’t to each other.
We’ll sort that out later.
“Can you two kiss and get this happily ever after over with?” Rachel asks. “Then we can go up and tell everybody about your promotion, then we’ll all go down to the bar and get drunk.” She looks at me. “You’re invited.”
“I’m honored.”
“Don’t be. I just want you to introduce me to some of your hot hockey friends.” She waves her hand. “I’m going back to the office now, because your kiss is bound to be hot and I haven’t gotten laid in a year. I’m about half a second away from asking if I can join in.”
“You can’t,” Mackenzie and I say at the same time.
Rachel laughs and turns on her heel, leaving us alone. Save for the security guard, the people sitting at a table having coffee, and the steady stream of workers coming in and out of the lobby.
“Who’d be your best man?” Mackenzie asks, and I try not to laugh at the change of subject. “At our imaginary wedding where Rachel’s the maid of honor.”
“Holden,” I say, without a doubt in my mind.
“Why Holden? You have six brothers. Won’t the rest of them be upset?”
“I don’t think so. Holden’s my guy, that’s all.”
“That’s so sweet.” Mac smiles.
“You okay with him coming out tonight to join in your promotion celebrations?” I ask her.
“More than okay. I like him. Though he might find it intensely boring. Unless he’s a masochist.”
I cough out a laugh. She has no idea how close she is to being right. So close and yet so far away.
But that’s all for another day. Right now she’s smiling up at me and I’m grinning down at her, wondering how I got so lucky.
“Can I kiss you at work?” I ask her. “Or is that the kind of thing that gets you fired?”
Her nose wrinkles as she considers my question. “Actually, I have no idea,” she says. “Why don’t we find out.”
So we do.