Chapter 14
“When you said you wanted to take me out on a proper date today, Nick, I have to admit I wasn’t picturing kitchen hardware and Hoboken, New Jersey.”
I slant a glance at Avery in the passenger seat as we near the end of the Lincoln Tunnel on our way back into the city. She’s wearing the same flowy white off-the-shoulder top and denim shorts she had on when we left her house this morning, her silky blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She looks ethereal sitting beside me as we emerge from the tunnel and sunlight through the windshield bathes her in an angelic glow.
My angel. A miracle I know I damn well don’t deserve.
I can’t resist reaching across to touch the velvety curve of her cheek. “We’ll take care of the proper date tonight. This is just an errand I needed to run.”
She arches a slender brow. “I didn’t realize Dominic Baine, corporate titan, personally runs his own errands.”
“I do when it matters.”
“And a case of brushed stainless steel drawer pulls and cabinet knobs is one of those times that it matters?”
“Absolutely.”
“Interesting.”
I grin. “Got you wondering, don’t I?”
She doesn’t give me the satisfaction of an answer, but I see the little smirk she tries to keep from me as she looks out the window at the passing landscape of the city. Eventually, we turn onto Twenty-fifth in Chelsea and head toward a residential block where clusters of tan brick apartment buildings flank both sides of the busy street.
Situated between a group of them on a section of the neighborhood where a couple of eyesore tenement relics from the Sixties used to stand is a brand-new construction brick-and-glass complex with a small parking area on the side of it.
I see Avery frown, studying the building and the banner announcing the grand opening later this week. She pivots around to face me, a look of delight dancing in her beautiful green eyes.
“Oh, my God. Nick, this is the youth recreation center. Your rec center.”
When I first told her about my plans for the project, it had been little more than sketches and schematics on paper. A dream I’d been trying to make happen for a couple of years before I met her. “Would you like to go inside and have a look?”
Her entire face lights up. “Yes!”
I park, then ditch my suit coat in the backseat and grab the box of hardware, tucking it under my arm as we head toward the entrance. Avery’s practically bouncing with enthusiasm by the time it takes me to unlock the door and let her in.
As I shut the door behind us, she wades ahead of me into the spacious lobby, her long tan legs carrying her to the center of the room. Her head swivels from the gleaming floor inlaid with motivational quotes about overcoming adversity, to the open rafters of the ceiling festooned with hanging kites that look like wind-filled sails, to the painted mural that runs the entire length of the walls that will greet everyone who enters the center.
I watch her take in everything, all of the details I personally selected and oversaw. When she glances back at me, it’s as if my pride is hers too. “This is incredible, Nick. This place, it’s all you, isn’t it?”
I shrug casually, only because inside me something soft, something alarmingly vulnerable, squeezes tight at her praise. I clear my throat and point toward the mural that’s a bright tangle of trees, flowers, animals, and people, all of it connected by a joyful randomness of color and abstract flourishes. “We brought in kids from the surrounding neighborhoods to paint this. I wanted the community to understand this center belongs to them, not me.”
Avery’s voice is quiet with unabashed wonder. “This is amazing, Nick. It’s perfect.”
“Not quite.” I jiggle the box of kitchen hardware. “Just one last thing to take care of. Come on, I’ll show you around.”
I bring her through the central lobby into the large gymnasium. Benches surround the regulation-size basketball court, which is outfitted with multiple hoops. Rolling carts filled with a dozen brand-new balls stand in one corner. In the other is a collection of wrestling mats and volleyball nets.
Avery takes one of the basketballs off the cart and bounces it a few times, grinning at me. “Think we could come and watch the kids play sometime?”
I chuckle. “Sure. For a second I thought you were going to ask me to throw down with you right here and now.”
“Afraid I’d beat you?”
“Only if I have to play with one hand holding on to this box at the same time.”
She laughs. “That sounds like a challenge, Mr. Baine.”
“If you’re not careful, it will be.” I swipe the ball in mid-bounce, palming it and setting it back on the cart. “There’s more to see. Come along, Ms. Ross.”
We exit the gym through the back door near the lockers and fully equipped fitness room. Heading up the corridor, I show her the center’s six-lane swimming pool and another room that will be used for aerobics and yoga classes.
She glances up at me as we move through one empty area to the next. “Are we the only ones here today? I don’t see any workers.”
I nod. “Finish construction wrapped up a few days ago. Except for one or two final punch list items, everything’s in place and waiting for the ribbon-cutting this week. Tomorrow there’ll be some folks from the media coming through for photos and press releases, but right now we have the whole place to ourselves.”
She smiles. “You mean we could skinny-dip in the pool and no one would be the wiser?”
My cock stirs to swift, full attention. “We might want to make sure the security cameras are turned off first.”
I indicate the small black devices mounted high in the corners of the corridor and the activity rooms. Avery laughs and waves at the one above our heads.
“Come on, I’ll show you the rest.” I place my free hand at the small of her back. Then I lean down until my lips brush her ear. “We’ll return to your very excellent idea about getting naked after the tour.”
We move on to the second floor, which houses a computer lab and library as well as study rooms where latchkey kids and other youth in need of somewhere to go will find comfortable chairs and quiet areas for homework or just a place to get away.
Avery soaks it all in, looking at me with wonderment in her soft gaze and her voice. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
She hasn’t hidden her enthusiasm at all since we began our tour, nor does she seem the least bit bored as I’ve pointed out the minutiae of various building details and the many activities the center will provide.
We’re paused in one of the cozy study rooms when she exhales a tender sigh and lays her hand against the side of my face. “Do you have any idea what a gift you’ve created for this community? You’ve done something truly remarkable here, Nick.”
Her approval touches me more deeply than I’m prepared for. Even though we weren’t together to share in the actual construction of the rec center, touring it with her now feels as though she is a part of it with me. It feels natural and right that she and I should share this together, just the two of us.
I kiss her, savoring her kindness and the sweet taste of her. How I managed to go the entire year without the feel of her lips against mine, I have no idea. It’s not easy to break the contact. Harder still to put the thought of making love to her out of my mind when all I want to do is drop the box in my hand and bury myself inside her right here where we stand.
But I wasn’t joking about the cameras. They’re installed for the safety of the center’s patrons as much as they’re in place for insurance requirements.
I groan and force myself to draw away from her delectable mouth.
“Do you want to see more?” My voice is gravel in my throat, all of my blood vacated from my head to the massive bulge straining the zipper of my suit pants.
“I want to see everything you’re prepared to show me, Mr. Baine.”
I chuckle and take her hand in mine. As we ride the elevator back down to the main floor, I try to distract myself with the tour guide spiel I’ll be reciting for the press tomorrow. “Beyond athletics and study, we’ll also have creative classes for the kids. Dance, drama, art.”
“Sounds great,” she says as we alight from the lift.
I nod. “We’ll also have a gourmet chef on hand to cook meals for the kids who need them and to instruct the ones who want to learn their way around a kitchen.”
Avery’s brows rise as I bring her to a pair of swinging doors and push them open. She stares for a moment, then on a gasp she walks past me into the industrial-size professional kitchen designed to my personal specifications.
“Holy shit.”
She strolls by the multitude of stainless steel gas ranges, grill tops, ovens, and prep counters that dominate one entire side of the kitchen. On another side of the massive room is a walk-in freezer with more square footage than most of the apartments in this neighborhood, and a wall of built-in refrigerators with food storage space ample enough to feed an army.
I set the box of hardware down on a nearby counter and follow behind her as she peruses every square inch of the place. “I thought all of this gleaming metal might seem cold and clinical to the kids who come in here, so I had a craftsman come out and build all of the teak cabinetry and pantry shelving.”
She walks over to it, running her fingers lightly over the clean lines of a cupboard. Then she lets out a soft exhalation and shakes her head. “There’s no way to open any of these cabinets or drawers.”
I lift my shoulder, my smile sardonic. “Do you know your way around a screwdriver?”
She grins back at me. “I think I can manage.”
“Good. You’re hired.”
I go and fetch a hand drill and the other things we’ll need from a toolbox stowed in the janitorial closet, then Avery and I set to work measuring and installing the hardware.
It feels good to have her next to me, completing something as a team. She’s careful and exacting, her eye for detail even more meticulous than mine. But it’s not just Avery’s nature that makes her treat this simple task as if it’s the most important thing in the world.
She’s doing it for me.
I see that truth in her gaze when we finish the last drawer and stand back to look at our completed job. What I see in her eyes humbles me. It staggers me.
Makes me love her more than I had even before.
“Look at what you’ve done, Nick.” Her warm smile reaches deep inside me, to a place no one has ever touched before. Not before her. “It’s incredible, all of it. I know how much the rec center means to you. I remember how important it was to you to see this vision come to life and you did it.”
My chest tightens inexplicably at her praise because she understands this isn’t just another construction project to me. Not another business I could consume and reinvent in an effort to turn an easy profit. This is different.
This is a piece of me.
“You created something that’s going to have a lasting influence on this entire community and on every child who comes through its doors.”
I nod, but the movement feels tight.
This is more than an altruistic gesture for this community that’s many miles away from the dirt roads and swamps of my youth. I built this for myself too.
This building is the place I longed for when I was a troubled boy with problems too big for me to handle. It’s the sanctuary where I wished I could have gone when every other part of my life was spiraling horrifically out of control. When I felt I had no one to turn to and nowhere to go.
Avery doesn’t understand everything I was running from as a kid—the monsters I’ve buried deep in my past—but when I look into her searching eyes right now, I know that she can see the fissures in my veneer. She sees past the suits and the cars and the wealth.
Hell, I think she always has, right from the start.
Her hands are tender when she reaches up to hold my face. Her gaze captures mine, refusing to let go. Pleading with me to let her in.
“Thank you for bringing me here. For letting me share this with you.” She smiles, those gentle eyes killing me with the depth of emotion I see in them. “I’m happy for you, that this all came together the way you dreamed it would. But it’s more than that, Nick. I’m proud of you.”
The words hit me hard. I can’t recall the last time I heard someone say them to me.
And never the way Avery is saying them now.
I’ve never seen the kind of love that’s shining at me from the light in her eyes.
Suddenly I can’t find my voice, not that I even know how to respond. On a growl, I pull her into my arms, hoping my kiss will tell her all the things I’m unable to articulate right now.
The good and the bad.
Even the sickening things no one else knows—no one who ever cared about me, that is.
Like a wave gaining strength as it races toward the shore, the impulse to let her in—to open the door just a crack and see if she’ll stand fast or run away—nearly overwhelms me.
I’m not sure if I’m ready to test her like that.
I can’t imagine a day that I ever will be.
When I lift my head from our kiss, my breath is sawing out of me, my heart hammering in my temples.
Her brow furrows as she holds my gaze. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head, unwilling to ruin the day we just shared by inviting her sympathy. Or, Christ, her pity. That’s something I never want to see in her eyes.
But I already am ruining it all. My silence is making her anxious.
She takes a step back, out of my arms. “Where did you go just now, Nick?” She studies me, uncertainty creeping into her quiet voice. “You got so quiet. Was it something I said?”
“What?” My response comes out harsh, incredulous. “No. You didn’t say anything wrong.”
“Then talk to me.”
I look away from her and curse low under my breath. I’m fucking this up and I know it. But damn it, the words won’t come. They stay stuffed halfway down my throat, foul and unmoving.
Her expression sags in my lengthening silence.
When her phone abruptly starts ringing, we both flinch.
It bleats three times before she reaches into her purse to retrieve it. “It’s Pauline,” she murmurs woodenly. “I gave her my number this morning and asked her to call if anything changed today.”
I nod, feeling absurd as I stand there, our sudden impasse stalled as she takes the call.
Avery’s face blanches a second after she says hello. She hangs up a moment later. “I need to go to the hospital. Kathryn’s in an ambulance on the way to the ICU.”