Page 45 of One Night Only
I watch as he moves effortlessly around the kitchen, still swaying his hips to Dolly as he takes a sheet of crispy bacon out of the oven, plates the eggs, opens the fridge, and pulls out a carton of organic juice and a container of berries.
I jump down from the island, moving to help him, but he swats my hand away when I go to pour the juice.
“Go sit,” he orders, pointing toward the long table in the corner. “Let me feed my girl.”
I flush from his words.My girl. Two words that do something to me I was not expecting. But before I can make a fool out of myself and openly swoon, I do as I’m told, turning away and walking to the table, squealing when I feel a light whack against my butt. I glare at him over my shoulder, but he pretends it wasn’t him or the spatula-slash-microphone in his hand, smiling innocently to himself as he finishes dishing out the food. Rolling my eyes, I move to a seat at the table, waiting.
“Bon appétit,” Dallas says with a terrible accent, placing a plate in front of me and kissing the top of my head in a move that is so subtle yet makes my insides swoon.
“Look at these curls,” he chuckles, gently ruffling his hand through my hair.
I cringe, totally forgetting that I went to bed with damp hair. I smooth a hand over my head, feeling just how wild my curls are and, with a sheepish smile, I look at him, tugging on one of the springy kinks.
“It’s from the chemo,” I say. “Before, I had totally straight hair. Now? It’s like clown hair.”
Dallas laughs, but then he leans down again, pressing another kiss to the top of my head, lips lingering as he murmurs lowly, “You’re perfect, Goldie… don’t you ever fucking doubt that.”
Surprised by his words, I meet his eyes, seeing a flash of seriousness in his gaze before he winks at me and turns back to the kitchen. And wow. Again with the swoon. Calm down, Emily.
Thankfully, my hunger and the ravenous beast in my stomach shifts the focus to the plate of deliciousness in front of me, and as Dallas takes his seat right next to mine, I grin at him as I start to eat.
With my mouth full of the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever tasted, the music playing through the apartment is suddenly interrupted by Siri’s robotic voice as she announces, “Andy Hoffman calling.”
I swear, it’s like a bucket of icy water being poured over me.
Dropping my fork onto my plate with a loud clang, I choke on my food, spluttering and coughing, egg spraying unattractively out of my mouth before I can reach for my napkin. I cough into the cloth, my eyes gaping at Dallas as he hops up from his seat and leisurely strolls across the room to collect his phone from where it’s sitting on the island counter. He looks at me with an arched brow, waiting for me to stop dying so loudly, and I clear my throat with a swig of juice before giving him a thumbs up.
“Hey, what’s up?” he answers calmly.
My heart races,slamsagainst my chest.
“Yeah…” Dallas nods. “Uh huh…”
Panic bubbles in my belly. I’m suddenly no longer hungry.
“Okay…” Dallas says slowly. “Oh, you are?”
Oh, my God. What if he’s here? What if Andy is here and he’s coming up right now?
“No, it’s fine.” Dallas is so calm, casual. So unaffected.
I jump up, looking around for what, I don’t even know.
“Yeah, I’ll see you then,” Dallas says. “Okay, bye.”
I watch on as he ends the call, placing the phone back down onto the island and casually returning to the table, looking at me in confusion. “What are you doing?”
Incredulously, I gape at him. “Um… that was Andy,” I say, as if he wasn’t the one just talking to him. “The one person whocan’tknow that I’m here… wearing your jersey and no panties.”
At that, Dallas’s eyes light up, his fingers reaching for the hem of his jersey. “Let me see.”
I slap his hand away, taking a step back. “What did he want?”
Dallas looks at me like I’ve gone crazy when, in fact, this is a completely natural reaction, and why the hell is he so goddamn blasé?
“Is he coming here?” I press, frantically looking at the door like, at any moment, Andy’s going to burst through it just to scream at me that I’m fired.
Dallas’s hands gently wrap around my arms, and he steadies me with a penetrating gaze that immediately quiets the noise in my head. “Goldie, breathe.”
