Page 88 of One Life to Loathe

“I don’t know. Hubba-hubba.”

I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing. “I don’t think anybody says that in this decade. Or last decade for that matter. You know what, I’m not even sure that was a thing in the nineties.”

“People still say it.”

“Name one person you’ve heard say that in the past five years.”

“I just said it.”

“You don’t count.”

“Oh, it counts. I say it all the time.” As if to prove it, he gave my butt a playful swat. “Hubba-hubba.”

“Wow. That is just … wow.” I giggled as I skipped ahead and missed his second swat attempt. He caught me before I could get too far ahead and swooped in for a searing kiss.

He made me laugh. He made me swoon. He made me happy. He was capable of wringing every emotion available out of me. I didn’t get to keep him, though. That’s what I had to keep telling myself. He wasn’t the villain in this either. It would’ve been easy for me to blame my inevitable broken heart on him. It wasn’t hisfault, though. If anything, it was a case of bad timing. We were simply on different paths.

“Come on,” he said gruffly, a myriad of emotions passing through his eyes as he pulled away. “I want to get you to that ice cream museum.”

“And then what?”

“And then we have a detour of my making.”

He had my full attention now. “What does that mean?”

“You’ll see.” He led me toward the cabs that were lined up along 5th Avenue. “Come on. Ice cream first.”

I couldn’t help being suspicious. “You’re going to do something weird, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to do something to make you smile.”

“You already have.”

He winked as he opened the cab door for me. “I’m nowhere near done yet.”

THE ICE CREAM MUSEUM HAD BEEN HOKEYbut fun. I got sugared up, to the point where I almost forgot that Leo had a plan for the evening. Then we walked around Chinatown, which was visually stimulating and smelled like egg rolls. That was a good thing because I happened to love egg rolls.

Leo bought us some egg rolls to snack on for the ride back to the hotel. When we got to our room—ostensibly to change—I found a garment bag hanging from the bathroom door. It hadn’t been there when we left.

“What’s this?” I was confused.

“I don’t know.” Leo’s shrug was a little too easy. “Open it and find out.”

I narrowed one eye as I unzipped the bag. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what was inside. In the grand scheme of things it was a simple dress. It had a mauve shell and a beautifulwhite and pink beaded overlay. It reminded me of something out of a Prohibition movie.

“What is this?” I reverently fingered the beads. The dress was expensive. There was no getting around that. The stitching was impeccable. “Did you rent this?”

Leo’s brow furrowed. “I didn’t even know you could rent a dress. It’s yours. I contacted the hotel and they had the butler come up with some dresses for you when I told them what I was looking for. They’ve been sending me photos since Central Park.”

I had no idea what to make of that. “How did you know my size?”

“I guessed. I hope it’s not too big.”

I pulled out the dress even though I was already trying to come up with an excuse for him to send it back. “Leo, this is too expensive,” I said. It was my go-to excuse, but I couldn’t help myself.

“What did I say?” Leo’s eyes flashed dark. “I don’t want to hear about money. You obviously like the dress. Right?” He suddenly looked vulnerable.

“I love it.” I pressed the fabric to my nose and inhaled deeply. “How did you know this was the dress for me?”

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