“I think I screwed it up.”

Justin raised his eyebrows as if waiting for Kenny to explain.

Kenny took a sip of his drink and sighed. “We slept together.”

“What? When?” Justin choked on his drink.

“The night I left New York. I went straight to her house. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Sounds like you were thinking with something besides your brain. How was it?” Justin wiggled his eyebrows.

“Fucking amazing,” whispered Kenny.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I left. I got scared and left. Well, I did have a meeting with coach that I couldn’t miss, but I could have handled my exit better.”

“Please tell me you called her after?”

Kenny shook his head.

“Texted?”

Kenny shook his head again.

“I left a note. Saying sorry and talk soon, or something like that. I haven’t heard from her.”

“Not surprising.”

“Yeah, I know. But now you know why I can’t just go over there. It’s been a week, and nothing. It’s over.”

“I doubt that with how she’s looking right at you.” Justin gave him a smirk.

It took everything in Kenny not to look up and hopefully meet her gaze. Instead, he pushed off the wall and motioned toward the appetizer table.

“I’m starved. Let’s eat.”

He and Justin filled their plates with roasted vegetable skewers, goat cheese puffs with spicy red pepper jam, and bruschetta. Everything was delicious. Nico had really gone all out for his sister’s party, with the help of her husband, Jonas. Kenny finished his plate and began mingling with the other guests at the party. After another drink, he started to feel a bit more comfortable and was actually having fun. He even felt brave enough to shoot a few more glances at Cleo, who was busy talking with guests who were gushing over her desserts.

She really was beautiful, and passionate about what she did. Kenny had never met anyone like her. Her dreams were big and her working toward them was impressive. Sexy. Most of the women he met nowadays were just into him for his job or his paycheck. They didn’t have their own thing going on, which was why it never turned into anything serious. Well, at least one of the reasons.

Kenny had been shut off for so long that he couldn’t even imagine any type of romance back in his life. There was room for it. Baseball took up a lot of his time, but not all of it. Some nights he would prefer being at home or out on a date, rather than partying with the team. Still, one-night stands were easier. There was no attachment. There were no expectations. There was no romance.

With Cleo, it was different. She was definitely a romance kind of girl, and he couldn’t give her what she wanted. What she deserved. He found himself staring at her longer than he intended, thinking about what could be and what could not be. She must have felt his eyes on hers because she looked up and glanced around curiously, until her eyes landed on his. With their eyes locked, Kenny felt so much run through him all at once. He panicked and looked away quickly.

Just then, Jonas came to the center of the room and got everyone’s attention. As he spoke, servers came around with trays of champagne, passing them out to the guests. Kenny noticed that Cleo had disappeared into the kitchen.

“I want to thank everyone for coming to celebrate my beautiful wife, Mae’s, birthday.”

Everyone clapped their hands as she hobbled over to her husband and linked her arm with his. He placed his hand gently on her growing belly and smiled down at her appreciatively.

“We have quite the adventure ahead, and I can’t think of anyone else I would rather spend it with. I can’t wait for our new life as a family to begin. Happy birthday, my love!” Jonas raised his glass and everyone followed suit.

Nico began singing happy birthday and everyone joined in, filling the room with song. Then there were gasps from the crowd as Cleo emerged from the kitchen with a four-tiered red velvet cake and dripping white frosting, with a large sparkler sitting at the top shooting bright sparks everywhere. Her smile was beaming as the crowd admired the cake she brought out.

She set the cake on a large, round table that had been moved to the center of the room. Mae looked at the cake in awe and gave Cleo a big hug, which took Cleo by surprise, but she hugged her back with a big smile. She pulled away and her assistant handed her the cake knife. Mae cut into the cake expertly and pulled away a large slice as a large explosion of sprinkles fell from the center of the cake, making the crowd gasp with delight.

Nico came up and stood next to Kenny.