Page 43 of Your Last First Kiss
My head snaps up, but Miller keeps his smiling face pointed at the ceiling. Probably better that way so he can’t see the nervous twitch happening in my left eye.
“Why didn’t they?”
“Remy declined the offer because they were moving to California. But they did come to an agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?”
He sits up and takes a gulp of his beer. “I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me, but my gut says it has everything to do with you.”
“Me? What makes you say that?” But even as I say it, Ashton’s words are unfurling in my mind like a runaway train. I shift uncomfortably and my knee bounces at a rapid pace.
Miller leans forward and hands me a folder I hadn’t seen tucked away on an end table. I open it to a prospectus for what appears to be updates to the TAC. Turning to the last page, I find that it’s signed by Ashton and Remick Miller. But it’s the last line that has my jaw clenching:Dependent on D.O.H.
“What is this?” I grip the folder so tightly that my knuckles turn white.
D.O.H. could be purely coincidence.
Or it could be Dillon Owen Henry.
“I found it in Remy’s office last week. It appears to be a contingency offer.”
“I see that,” I grind out. “But what’s the original offer?”
He turns a grin my way that has sweat rolling down my spine. “I think that’s dependent on you, D.O.H.”
Finally, Ashton’s words begin to make some fucking sense, but can I do it?
CHAPTER13
DILLON
The sun finally begins to rise, so I give up all pretense of sleeping. My feet hang off the end of the sofa, but that’s not what kept me up all night.
It was the plans for the TAC Miller had handed me. This wouldn’t be a six-month gig for me. This is a lifetime commitment, and I’m shocked by how much I think I want it.
All night my mind raced with possibilities. The sports we could offer, the investment it would take. That the trust fund Vanessa left me would finally have a purpose. At some point, I started scribbling plans all over the inside of the folder—things like refinishing the courts and updating the lighting, heating, and cooling systems.
The only other time I’ve felt this alive in the last twenty years was when I was dancing with Penny and then again when I kissed her.
After Miller went to bed, I spent an hour trying to call Ashton so I could demand answers before I got too ahead of myself, but there was no cell reception.
Tossing the blanket to the side, I stand, work out the kinks in my lower back, and then reach for my phone. I’m walking around the apartment with it held high in the air when Miller comes out of his room.
“Cell tower’s down. You won’t get reception for at least a few days.” His voice is rough with sleep, and he scratches the side of his jaw.
“What if there’s an emergency?” I look out the window. Can I see Penny’s house from here?
“Your reaction is pretty telling,” Miller says mildly.
“What reaction?”
“Look at yourself. Standing there all grizzly bear, trying to burn a hole through my window to get a look at your lady’s house. It’s over there, by the way,” he says with a smirk and points in the opposite direction of where I’m staring. The wall with absolutely no windows.
“That’s not what this is. She’s made it very clear what she can and can’t have in her life right now.”
“Has she? Is that why you kissed her like your life depended on it last night? Is that what she said she could handle?” he asks sarcastically.
He dumps spoon after spoon of coffee grounds into the high-tech coffee machine.
