Thank God for small miracles.
After he and Emily hugged the children and bid Colton and Melanie goodbye, Gavin walked with her to gather her belongings.
“Mr. Blake, it’s always a pleasure,” Emily said with a smile, extending out her hand.
Gavin didn’t oblige by shaking it because he knew if he touched her he wouldn’t be able to resist the urge of pulling her into his mouth. Running his hand through his hair, he backed away slightly.
Emily smiled awkwardly and slung the backpack over her shoulder.
Gavin found his words stuck in his throat like verbal gridlock. “Wait, that’s it? You’re going to just leave me here all by myself?”
“You’re a big boy. I think you can find something to occupy your afternoon.”
He laughed for a moment and then suddenly his face became serious. “I just thought this could be an opportunity to redeem myself.”
“Redeem yourself? What for?”
“For my behavior the last time I saw you. I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable, but…” He lowered his voice and stared directly into her eyes. “I’m not sorry about the way I feel about you, Emily. They’re my feelings, and I can’t deny them. But I really just need to be friends with you.”
She swallowed nervously, her voice as low as his. “Gavin, we’ve talked about this before and—”
Cutting her off, he stepped closer. “I promise you this time. I swear to God I won’t say or do anything to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to get it out there—about the way I feel about you—but now I’m done.” He shifted on his feet and took a step back, not letting his eyes stray from her face. “Yes, you’ve got me twisted for some reason that I can’t understand, and I don’t know if I ever will. I find you to be the most remarkable…” He drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know. There’s something about you that just…sets you apart from any other woman I’ve ever met. And, because of all of it, I’m willing to put my feelings aside just to be your friend.”
Just to be near you…
Not only did her heart pause with his words, but her stomach also curled in a disturbingly pleasant way as she gauged his face. True emotions swirled behind his eyes, and something deep down told her he was sincere. “Okay, we’ll try this again. So you want me to hang out with you here for a little while?”
Gavin took in a deep lungful of air, the knot in his chest releasing, as he realized he had been holding his breath awaiting her answer. “You like baseball, don’t you?”
“How did you know that?”
“The night that I found out you were really Emily and not Molly.” She nodded and laughed. He grinned. “Before you came into the club, Dillon told me that his girlfriend was a huge baseball fan. That’s how I know that little bit of information.”
“You want me to play baseball with you?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“You can take in all of the spectacular sights New York has to offer. However, you haven’t experienced New York to its fullest until you’ve been to a Yankees game.” He smiled. “Trevor was supposed to come to the one o’clock game today, but he canceled on me at the last minute.” He pulled the tickets from his back pocket and held them up. “I have season tickets, but it would be a shame to let these go to waste.”
A confused smile touched her mouth as she contemplated him for a moment. “You want me to go to a Yankees game with you?”
“I do.”
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking down to the ground and then back to him. “That might be a little too much.”
His smile was slow, making his blue eyes sparkle mischievously. “Surely, in a stadium filled with 50,000 people, I should be able to hold myself at bay from attacking you.”
Emily screwed her mouth to one side. “True,” she admitted. “But I’m not even a Yankees fan. I’ll be rooting for the underdog. Is that something else you can handle?”
With widened eyes, he placed a hand over his chest, mocking a wounded heart. “Mmm, keep talking like that, and you may find a way to get me to
not
admire you as much as I do. I’m a die-hard Yankees fan, Miss Cooper,” he laughed. “But, yes, I’m sure I could handle sitting next to a non-Yankees fan that I’ve brought with me.”
She shook her head and laughed. “Okay, I’ll consider this friendly outing under one condition.”
“Anything. Let’s go,” he said, reaching for her backpack.
“Wait, you don’t even know what it is.”
He placed his hand on the small of her back and started leading her out of the park. “No problem. Whatever it is, I can most definitely handle it.”
She came to an abrupt halt and laughed. “You
will
listen to me, or I go nowhere with you, Gavin Blake. Do you understand?”
A delicious grin slid across his mouth. “I’m all ears.”
“Like that,” she motioned to his hand resting on her back. He smiled and pulled it away. “No touching me, no undressing me with your eyes, and no doing that…that damn stupid thing with your mouth when you pull it between your teeth.”
He smiled. “Does me sucking on my lip bother you that much?”
Only ‘cause it’s so insanely hot…
“Yes. It’s annoying.”
He slowly dragged his bottom lip between his teeth, ending it with a luscious popping sound. “Well, the same goes for you then.”
She kinked her head to the side and let out a sigh. “Such a smart ass. You’ve already warned me about not bringing any attention to my lips.” She covered her mouth with her hand, the rest of her words coming out muffled from beneath. “Is this better?” He nodded and laughed. “But I don’t look at you like I want to rip your clothes off, and surely, I don’t touch you.”
He shrugged casually. “Since we’re being honest, you have no idea how I would love it if you touched me again.”
She dropped her hand from her mouth and let it hang open for a second. “See, this is exactly what I’m talking about,” she said, turning on her heel to walk away from him.
Letting out a full throaty laugh, he jogged over to her and gently grabbed her elbow. She eyed his hand. He quickly let go and smiled. “Emily, I’m just kidding with you. Come on, it’s just jokes…it’s who I am, really.”
She cocked a brow, unable to keep the smile off her face as he stood there with an innocent boyish grin. She knew he was anything but. “If you want me to go with you today, you keep your hands to yourself, Blake. Got it? If not, I
will
make you pay severely for it.”
“Sounds kinky,” he smirked. She sighed. “However, I’m nothing but a peasant to your request of being a gentleman,” he playfully bowed. “Now let’s go. We need to catch the number four.”
“Wait, we’re taking the bus?”
“Uh, no,” he laughed. “The number four’s the subway.”
“Oh, I thought we would drive?”
“Hell no.” He took the backpack from her and tossed it over his shoulder. “We’re doing this certified New York, doll.”
Despite her surprise that she was actually going to spend the day with him, Emily followed, and a couple of city blocks later, they hopped onto the subway. Between a teenage couple making out as if they were at a house party, a guy in a flowered sundress talking to himself while eating Chinese food with his hands, and the mass of overly aggressive Yankees fans chanting “Let’s go, Yankees,” Emily was more than thrilled when they finally arrived at the stadium.
Once there, they both got something to eat. Emily ordered a hot dog and a bottle of water, and Gavin chose a bag of peanuts and a beer. He showed Emily to their seats, which happened to be right behind home plate. Gavin looked like a kid in a candy store, and Emily found it cute to see a man of such power getting so excited over being at a baseball game.
Gavin glanced at his watch as the stadium slowly started to fill. “We have some time. The game will start within thirty minutes.”
Emily nodded and looked down to her phone, noticing she had a missed call from Dillon. She shifted in her seat and began to rethink what she had actually gotten herself into—now that she found herself alone with Gavin at the game. She debated whether or not to tell Dillon where she was, but before she could delve too far into her self-imposed dilemma, Gavin spoke up.
“Let’s play fifty questions while we’re waiting for the game to start,” he popped a peanut into his mouth. “I get to go first.”
“Bullshit, you went first the last time. I get to go first.”
He laughed. “You don’t miss a beat, do you?”
“Not usually.”
“Okay, seems fair. Ask me something.”
Emily’s mind roved over what she knew she wanted to ask him but was unsure if she should. Nonetheless, it was her turn to let her curiosity get the better of her. “I want to know why you and your ex-fiancée broke up.”
His expression became guarded for a moment as he stared off into the stands. Emily saw the bright blue of his eyes change as though a cloud passed by overhead—and in that moment, she regretted bringing it up.
He leaned forward, placing his beer on the ground, and then looked back to Emily. “Hmm, my first question addressed to you the last time we played was about your favorite ice cream flavor. You’re going straight for the kill, I see.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that,” she whispered, looking down to the ground.
“No, it’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting that right out the gate. But I feel comfortable talking to you about it.”
Emily’s head snapped up. “You do?”
“Yeah, for some reason, I do.” Pulling in a breath, he leaned back in his seat and hesitated for a few seconds. “She left me because Blake Industries was going under at one point. My father offered Colton and me the funds to keep it afloat. But us Blake boys tend to be a little stubborn, and we refused his help, knowing we would get it back on track on our own.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I explained everything to her, letting her know that we needed to cut back on some of our spending until I could resurrect the company. She argued with me that I should accept my father’s money and called me crazy for thinking we could get back on our feet without his help. Along with Colton, I was firm on my decision not to take the money though. She was living with me in my penthouse after we got engaged. I came home one day after work to a letter—in beautiful handwriting, I have to add—saying that she couldn’t take the risk of not living the life I had afforded her.” He reached down for his beer, took a sip, and exhaled a breath. “Five years together and her goodbye to me…was a letter.”
Emily searched his eyes and was able to see the pain that swirled beyond them. “You loved her,” she whispered.
He gave a quick shrug. “Yeah, she broke my heart. I thought she loved me for the man I was without the glitz and money. I mean, when we first met, I was in my senior year of college, so it wasn’t that I was as successful as I eventually became. She betrayed the faith that I had in love when she left.” He pressed his lips into a hard line. “Don’t get me wrong; looking back on it now, I know we weren’t made for one another. One, she was too concerned about the way we appeared in public—anything from what cars her and I drove to what parties we attended in the city.” He rubbed at his chin absently and continued. “She wasn’t like that when we first met; the change was gradual. Our biggest difference was that she made it clear she never wanted children. I loved her enough to consider a life without having any, but like I said, looking back, she wouldn’t have been worth giving up the chance to have a family.”
A faint smile touched Emily’s mouth. “You want kids?”
“I want bucketloads tucked neatly into a minivan,” he laughed.
“Gavin Blake in a minivan?”
“Absolutely,” he replied, reaching for his beer. “A funky forest green one, too.”
Emily laughed for a moment at his admission. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he adjusted his baseball cap, feeling a little shocked by everything he just told her. She was now starting to understand his need for filling voids.
“So you haven’t seen her since?”
“I have actually. I saw her recently to tell you the truth.”
“So how did that go?” she asked reluctantly.
“It was…interesting. I ran into her while out with a couple of my buddies. She talked a bunch of shit, saying she was happy to see the company doing well again. She admitted she missed me and still loved me, and then she confessed that leaving me was the biggest mistake of her life.” He popped another peanut in his mouth and smiled. “You can see where I’m going with this, right?”
“Yes. Now that you’re financially secure again, she wants you back.”
“Bingo, doll. I knew you were quick.” He took a swig of his beer. “Besides, her name is Gina, and mine, of course, is Gavin—two Gs. I think it was an omen or something—destined to not work out.”
Although he laughed, Emily could still see the leftover pain in his eyes and decided at that point to drop the subject altogether. “I got the invitation you sent to me and Dillon.”
“I was going to ask you about that,” he replied, motioning to one of the workers selling beers. He ordered another and turned to Emily. “I figured it would interest you, considering…well, you know.”
“Yes, and thank you for the invite, but what is it that your mother does exactly?”
“Since she knows she’s blessed being a survivor herself, she started an organization to raise money for those in the New York area affected by the disease—women who are either in the midst of battling breast cancer or in remission and the families of women who died from the disease. The donations collected at the benefit are spread out to help pay for ongoing treatment, follow-up care, or—God forbid—funeral expenses incurred by the families.”
Emily breathed out. “It’s beautiful that she does that.”
“Yeah, this will be the tenth year since she founded it. She throws it every October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s pretty spectacular, too. Black tie, champagne, and all of New York’s well-to-do gathering for one evening to spend their money on something other than a fucking cruise to Fiji or a new car.”
Emily laughed. “Well, we’ll definitely be there.”
“And I’m happy that you will.”
With not a cloud in the sky, the opening ceremony began, and soon after, the game was in full swing. A hard crack of the bat, plunging the ball into the outfield, started the Yankees off on a high note. Throughout the game, Gavin repeatedly brought unwanted attention to Emily, letting every Yankees fan within earshot know that she was rooting for the underdogs, the Baltimore Orioles. Fans from the front, side, and behind them booed her every time the Orioles scored a point. She playfully nudged Gavin, promising retaliation in whatever form she could conjure up. Still hungry and feeling more relaxed with the overall situation, Emily ordered a pretzel and decided to have a beer with Gavin. By the bottom of the seventh inning, the game was tied four-four, bases loaded with the Yankees up to bat.