Page 123 of One Night Only
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he assures. “So long as you don’t mind me missing a couple teeth.”
He pulls the pad away from his face, and I see that he is, in fact, missing a top front tooth and the one next to it, snapped clean out of his gum.
“Oh, my God, baby,” I sob, placing a hand over his chest.
“I’m fine, Goldie,” he repeats. “I promise you.”
“Dallas, we’re going to take you to the hospital to run some scans,” a man, the team doctor I presume, says, his weathered gaze darting to me. “Just to rule out anything serious,” he says, more to me.
I nod.
“You’ll come with me, won’t you, baby?” Dallas squeezes my hand and, for the first time since I’ve known him, I witness a flash of fear in his eyes.
“Of course, I will,” I assure him. And then, with a knowing smile, I repeat his own words. “I’ve got you, baby.”
He winks at me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” another man says, appearing next to me. This one is wearing a Thunder polo and holding a clipboard. “Is it okay if you step outside for a moment? We just need to do a few?—”
“Emily stays, Jace,” Dallas says firmly.
The man,Jace, takes a breath, looking from Dallas to me and back again, and I can tell he really doesn’t want me in here, so I turn to Dallas and offer him a reassuring smile. “Why don’t Istep outside and call your mom,” I suggest. “I’m sure she’s worried.”
Dallas looks from Jace to me, and I can see the moment he relents. “Yeah. Actually, that’s probably a good idea. Tell her I’m fine. Possible concussion, but otherwise?—”
“Definiteconcussion,” Jace murmurs next to me, looking down at his clipboard, his gaze flitting to Dallas as one brow arches higher.
Dallas rolls his eyes. “Since when are you a doctor?”
“I’m not,” Jace sasses. “But he is.” He points his pen at the older man across the room currently talking quietly on his cell.
Again, Dallas rolls his eyes, flashing me that dimpled grin that still manages to take my breath away, even if it is bloodied and missing a couple of teeth.
I lean in carefully, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead, allowing my lips to linger just a touch while I murmur, “I’ll be right outside.”
Dallas reaches up, touching my hair, his hand disturbingly weak. And I smile down at him before walking out and leaving the room. I pull my phone out of my purse and scroll through to my contacts, looking for Joy’s number. But just when I look up, I’m stopped dead in my tracks when I come face to face with Andy standing right there.
Shit.
Andy just stands there, staring at me. He says nothing. And the look in his eyes is unreadable. His whole is face void of any and all emotion. His gaze darts to the door behind me, before zeroing back on me as he folds his arms across his chest with a heavy sigh. And sure. I could probably make something up—another lie—but honestly, I don’t have it in me.
“I’m sorry,” I begin, continuing quickly before he can even think to say something. “I know this is… completely against the rules, and that I’ve totally breached the terms of my employment contract, and that you probably feel like you’ve been betrayed, and I’m sorry, Andy but…” I swallow hard. “This is more than just some… some casualfling.”
I lift my chin a little higher as I say, “Dallas and I are together. We’re… in love. Ilovehim, and he loves me. And I know I’m older, and he’s not got the greatest track record when it comes to women, but when I tell you that he is the only man who has ever made me feel worthy of this sort of love, I’m being so for real.” I heave a tremulous breath. “And I’m sorry. I tried to stop this before it started; Ireallydid. And neither Dallas nor I wanted you to find out this way, but if this?—”
“Emily!”
It’s Andy’s clipped tone that stops my ramblings. I snap my mouth shut and cower a little, waiting for him to say whatever it is he needs to say.
Dragging a hand through his hair, Andy puffs air from his cheeks. “I know…”
I blink at him, my eyebrows drawing together. He knows? How?
“I had my suspicions after the benefit when you left early, and Dallas went running out literally two minutes later…” He rolls his eyes. “I mean, stealth isn’t the guy’s strongest suit.”
I press my lips together, looking down.
“After that, there were little things I picked up on, but when I realized my driver took you to Dallas’s apartment the night after our Shabbat dinner instead of your place on the Upper West Side, well… that pretty much confirmed my suspicions.”
