Page 49 of The Dating Contract

“Good.” Shayna grinned. “Now that’s settled, where were we? Ah yes. You will tell that man how you feel. And enjoy this night; this isn’t just work, even though I know it is for you.”

Which was the best advice she could consider.

“You ready to go in, take this place by storm?”

She laughed. “I don’t know about storm, but I’m as ready as I’m going to be.”

“Good,” Shayna said as she took out her phone. “I need to get Ramona to an entrance in about ten minutes, so I have to head in. Are you going to be okay?”

Leah nodded. “I’ve got business too, so I’ll see who’s here? Check the lay of the land? Schmooze for the agency, keep the balls in the air and all of that good stuff?”

“Sounds good,” Shayna replied. “Keep in touch if there’s something happening that I need to know.”

“Will do,” she said. And as Shayna headed into the gala to try and bring Ramona to where her hockey team was gathering, Leah found her way into the room. She could mingle with the best of them; it was her job, of course. Part of it at least. She also had been to enough events in these overlapping circles of Jewish charities and organizations to know at least some of the players.

As she walked through the room she thought about the possibility of asking the Empires for a crisis PR rep on call, so that they could handle whatever issues came up with social media and any other sports angle when Carly made the move.

Which was something else she could think about as she searched for Samuel. Just as she arrived at the auction space, she saw a very familiar pair of cocoa brown eyes, a soft yet firm jawline, and dark hair that had the beginnings of gray.

The scariest part was that she didn’t have to remind herself she liked the way Samuel looked in the suit he’d been fitted for alongside her that night in Westchester. She justdid. A sudden heat rose up from her toes and through her veins as if it was a reflex.

Samuel Levine was gorgeous.

And she was in even deeper trouble.

*

Liam had seensomeone he needed to talk to, and so he’d gone off, leaving Samuel by himself.

Which was okay as this was how it was supposed to go; he wasn’t supposed to be the baby chick idling behind his mentor’s wing. He looked at the map of the room they’d printed before heading toward the area that had been reserved for the auction items.

A set of tables in rows of two were lined up across the back corner of the room. As he headed toward them, he could see the large Isaac Lieberman sculpture that he’d helped to move in.

He stopped, gazing in awe at the mask Bryce Emerson had made using the ideas and inspiration they’d all shared. And felt so proud, so excited. But as he turned to walk down the aisle containing some of the signed books and experience items, he looked up into a very familiar pair of blue eyes.

Leah.

His reaction was instantaneous and unstoppable, as if his entire body took notice of the way the dress she wore fitted her curves perfectly. He couldn’t help but stare.

Her hair was long and glossy, and her eyes sparkled.

“Hi,” she said.

It took him a second for him to register she’d spoken, as if once again he’d gotten lost in the lines of her body. “Hello,” he finally replied.

She bit her lip; Leah Nachman never bit her lip in front of him, not when they were young, and not any time since. She wasnevernervous in front of him and he wondered if this was the moment they were letting their guards down.

His first impulse was to blow out a breath, but he held it in and spoke his mind. “You’re gorgeous,” he said.

“Strategic tailoring,” she replied with a laugh.

He remembered how that tailoring had happened; how they’d shared a moment in that shop in Westchester. “No,” he said.

She glanced at him for a moment and that look hit him deep. Blue eyes bearing down, seeing right through him. “You find what you’re looking for?”

This was where it got confusing, this dance they were doing. “I’d say I did,” he replied, “but then you’d look for the wrappers or the string.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you’re saying.”

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