Page 56 of His Reward
“And I’ll call around to some of my friends to see if they’d be on board with things,” Lucien added, reaching for his phone on my desk.
Ernie laughed. “The two of you are a dynamic duo,” he said. “Between you, I have full confidence that you’ll save this place.
I grinned at him, then turned my attention to the challenge in front of us.
As it turned out, the mayor’s office was open to our idea of a fundraiser. Part of that could have been because I dropped Lucien’s name and mentioned the theme for the event. The head of Mayor Vincent’s budget office had seen the segment aired during the Winter Games because his wife was a huge figure skating fan. Within a day, we were given a provisional go-ahead, as long as we presented them with a comprehensive plan for the event by the end of the week.
That meant that Lucien and I had to work our tails off to get everything planned in a ludicrously short length of time.
“No one plans major events like this in a week,” he said with a sigh a week into our planning, as he ended one call and glanced over his list of people to get in touch with next. “No one. This is insane.”
“Did Benny and Madison say whether Kincade Slopes is free?” I asked.
Lucien laughed. “It is free, but there’s another Dark Fantasies Club omega auction event the day after the night of the ball, so there might be someequipmentstashed around the lodge.”
I laughed with him. “I see no problem with that,” I said, scooping him around the waist and pulling him close for a toe-curling kiss.
It wasa lucky thing that we were able to find a venue like Kincade Slopes on such short notice. Enough to make me wonder if Lucien had called in a favor with someone or if Benny and Madison knew we were connected with the Dark Fantasies Club as well as the fire department and the figure skating world.
It was even luckier that so many of the luminaries of the skating world agreed to drop everything to join the event. We’d pinned a lot of hopes on people being free, since the competitive skating season had just ended but the tours that usually followed in the off-season hadn’t started yet. Because the exhibition tour would start in Barrington, a lot of the medal-winning skaters were already in town for the weekend when we’d managed to schedule the event. A lot of them were eager to see Lucien as well.
“Wow! You look fantastic,” Lucien’s friend, Mike, told him as the skaters began to arrive at the beginning of the ball.
It had been a month since Lucien and I bonded, and I’d gotten really good at feeling Lucien’s emotions. The way Mike glanced Lucien up and down, taking in not only the perfectly tailored suit with its ice-blue, brocade jacket that Lucien wore, but the scarred side of his face as well sent ripples of panic through my omega.
“Thanks,” Lucien answered, doing an amazing job of pretending like nothing at all was wrong. “I’ve been working really hard with my therapy team these last few months.”
He nodded across the ballroom to Gemma and Dr. Barber who, I’d noticed, had arrived together.
“Lucien has been dedicated to his recovery and to getting back into shape,” Bea, who was standing with us at the far side of Kincade Slope’s ballroom, next to a massive ice sculpture of flames, said.
“I couldn’t be prouder of his resilience and determination,” I added, praising my omega with a smile as well as my words.
Lucien grinned up at me with that hint of sheepish adoration that was such a contrast to his gritty determination. I loved that look and I loved all of the implications behind it. My omega was strong and spirited, but he also loved to surrender completely to me in the privacy of our bedroom. Absolute perfection.
“What’s this I hear about someone getting back into shape?” Oliver, the silver medal winner and, as I’d learned, one of Lucien’s closest friends asked as he joined our group. “Are you planning to make a comeback?” Oliver beamed at the idea. “Is he coming back?” he asked Bea.
“Shush,” Lucien told him. “I haven’t made any announcement yet. It’s more of an idea and an intention right now than any solid plans.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. That wasn’t quite true, if the effort he’d been putting into rebuilding his strength and working on his flexibility for the last few weeks was any indication. I’d been just about ready to make him a volunteer firefighter, what with the way he’d been excelling at all the training exercises with the rest of the guys.
“But you are planning on coming back, aren’t you?” Mike asked, looking excited by the possibility as well.
“We’ll see,” Lucien said, his nerves bristling in a way only I could feel. “I’ve still got a long way to go.”
“We’ll help you,” Oliver said, eyes shining with enthusiasm. “Whatever you need, we’ll help you. You should have been at the games back in January. You should have been on the podium instead of me.”
“Psht, hardly,” Lucien laughed, though he was tense as a spring inside with a touch of grief for good measure. “You deserved that silver. Wilhelm deserved that gold.”
“Don’t tell Wilhelm that,” Mike said with a smirk. “He’s been strutting around the ballroom since he got here half an hour ago, reminding all the big donors that he’s the prize of the night and that he’ll be a gold medal date.”
Lucien laughed with genuine humor, which put me at ease. It was so good to see him relaxed and hanging out with his friends again, even if it took an immense amount of effort on his part for him to face the life that he’d been convinced for a while was lost to him.
“Oh my gosh, are you Oliver Sagwa?” Giovanni asked, rushing up to our group with stars in his eyes. “I’m such a big fan.”
“Well, hello,” Oliver said, looking Giovanni over from head to toe and obviously liking what he saw.
Lucien’s mirth as he watched one of his new friends drool over one of his oldest friends and vice versa was palpable, and I loved it. “Oliver, this is Giovanni. He’s one of the firefighters at Engine Fifty-Five, and he’s up for auction tonight. Giovanni, this is Oliver Sagwa, but I think you already knew that.”
