I’ve yet to tell Lacey about my new contract with Arizona. She hasn’t asked, and fear of her kicking my ass out has kept me from bringing it up. I can tell she’s slowly coming around, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she still isn’t looking for a reason to end things.

I’m absolutely dreading the conversation that will follow once she knows I signed for another five years. I’ll be just a little over thirty-five when this contract ends, and remaining in the NFL at that point seems practically impossible, but the money I’ll bank over the next five years will set my family up forever…my family. If I get my way, that will no longer only include Mom and Bridgett.

I turn my head when I hear a loud knock. I hesitate for a second, wondering if I should answer the door. I’m starting to feel less and less like Lacey’s dirty secret, but after talking to Chase, I know she still hasn’t told Jordan that I’m practically living with her. Hell, for that matter, Chase didn’t even know I was in New York. When he called and asked me to be his best man at his wedding, I felt like a jerk when I still didn’t tell him.

Curiosity gets the best of me as I walk across her apartment. “Lacey, open up.” My guard goes up when I hear a man’s voice followed by more knocking. I yank the door open, only to find her friend Caleb with a scowl on his face. “Would you please ask Lacey to talk to me?”

I frown with confusion. “Lacey isn’t home from work yet.”

His back goes straight and his shoulders lock with tension. “Mother fucker,” he growls before running his hands through his hair.

“What the hell is going on?”

Without answering me, Caleb pulls out his phone and dials someone. “You better get your ass home and now. If you’re doing what I think you are, I’m going to personally kick your ass.” He disconnects the call and pockets his phone as fear starts to consume me.

“Tell me what the hell is going on.”

He sighs in defeat. “Did you know she was looking into some foster family out in Queens?”

“Yes, I’ve been helping her.”

“You what?” His voice is laced with accusation.

“She was worried about this girl so I went with her to check on things. After a sixty-second conversation with the man who opened the door, I could tell something wasn’t right.”

He shakes his head and walks past me into Lacey’s apartment. “Did she happened to tell you that working on a case she wasn’t assigned is grounds for termination?”

“No, she didn’t.” I curse under my breath, wondering where he’s going with this.

“I was with her when she got some call regarding this girl she’s worried about. She took off without even considering what would happen to her job.” Caleb’s voice hitches. “She missed an afternoon in court. I wouldn’t be surprised if our firm ends up firing her ass.”

I grab my phone off the kitchen counter and dial her number. Like Caleb, my call goes straight to voicemail. “Let’s go. I know where this little girl lives.” I shove my wallet in my back pocket and rush out the door with Caleb on my heels.

“This isn’t like Lace. She might be challenging on a personal level, but professionally, she always walks a straight line.”

I look right at him. “Maybe she has a soft spot for this kid?”

He shrugs, clearly not agreeing with my comment. “But why now? Risking her career over a kid she has no ties to isn’t the same Lacey I’ve known for the last three years.”

I swallow down the knot that’s forming in my throat. If Lacey took off out of the blue after receiving a phone call, then something’s happened—something bad.

Neither Caleb nor I say another word, and the rest of the ride out to Queens seems to take forever. Once we arrive down the block from the house, it’s obvious something is wrong. Police cars, along with an ambulance, line the street.

“What in the world…?” Caleb huffs with growing frustration.

I toss money at the cab driver and the two of us jump out of the car before rushing toward the house. Panic starts coursing through me as fear of what Lacey has gotten herself involved in takes over.

“You’ll need to stop right there,” an officer snaps at us when we attempt to duck under the yellow tape barricading the house from the many people who are standing around trying to discover what’s going on.

“I think my girlfriend might be involved in whatever is going on,” I plead.

“Sorry, there’s nothing I can do. You’ll have to stay behind the yellow tape.”

“Please,” I beg. “I’m looking for Lacey Davis. She’s a lawyer. She received a tip a few weeks ago that something was going on with Mary Ownings and her foster children.”

The officer’s face slightly relaxes. “I’ll go ask around and see if anyone has information on this woman.”

As the officer starts to walk away, I spot Lacey standing in the yard on the other side of the house. Relief washes through me as my eyes scan the length of her body, not finding anything wrong.

“There she is!” I point at Lacey and add, “The woman in the long black coat.”

“I’ll tell her you’d like to talk to her,” he casually says before walking toward Lacey, who’s currently talking to another police officer.

When Lacey is interrupted from whatever conversation she’s having, her body goes solid seconds before she glances at Caleb and me.

“I’m going to kill her,” Caleb mumbles as she slowly makes her way to us.

“Hey,” she nervously says while still safely out of our reach.

“What in the hell is going on?” Caleb growls as Lacey turns her icy glare on him.

My relationship with Lacey is quite a bit different compared to the one she has with Caleb; therefore, I’m more than happy with him taking the brunt of her attitude.

“A neighbor called me. She thought she could hear children crying most of the night. By the time morning rolled around, she became concerned.”

“How did the neighbor have your number?” I ask.

A sheepish smile forms on her face. “I gave it to her when I came out here the other day to check on Cassie.”

I take several deep breaths, trying my best to remain calm, when Caleb speaks up. “You ditched court because some lady claims she heard a kid crying?”

“No,” Lacey snaps. “I didn’t leave until she called me back to tell me the police found the children in the house alone, and one of them was being taken to the hospital.”

I’m unbelievably pissed Lacey came back out here by herself after she promised me she wouldn’t, and even more mad that she didn’t tell me after the fact, but my anger starts to fade when I notice she’s fighting off tears.

“I promised Milo I would make sure Cassie was taken care of.” Her voice cracks as she attempts to hide her emotions.

“You’re probably going to lose your job,” Caleb adds.

“I know.”

“I don’t understand, Lace. You could’ve helped this little girl without throwing away everything you’ve worked for.”

“I thought maybe meeting Milo was a sign. A greater God telling me this was my chance to make up for everything that’s happened.” She wipes her eyes before turning away from us.

Caleb sighs in defeat before looking at me. His eyes plead with me to do something, but I don’t know the man well enough to pick up on his cues. Instead, I brush off his concerns and focus on Lacey.

“Was Cassie the one taken to the hospital?”

Lacey shakes her head before slowly turning back around to face me. Her glassy blue eyes and trembling hand are my undoing.

“C’mere.” I hold my hands out and Lacey willingly walks into them. I rub the palm of my hand up and down her back before placing a soft kiss on her temple.

“Cassie’s okay. They’re moving her and the other children to a different foster home. Mary went to stay with her sister for a few days. Her son claimed he’d watch after the children but he’s nowhere to be found.”

“Everything will be fine now,” I whisper, pulling her even tighter. Next to me, I see Caleb staring at the two of us with a confused expression.

I lightly nudge Lacey. “Are you ready to head home?”

When she nods, Caleb pulls out his phone. “I’ll order an Uber.”

Lacey slowly looks up at me again, her eyes revealing the pain she clearly feels. “I’m ready to go home,” she pleads as I rub my hand up and down her back, thankful she’s okay—at least physically.

The tension was palpable on the ride back to Lacey’s. Caleb didn’t speak to her when the two of us got out of the car, but Lacey didn’t seem to care. Instead, she walked up to her apartment without a word and went straight to the shower.

I fought the urge to strip down and join her, but I decided to give her space. Space she’s used to having, and hopefully, time to sort out her head.

I knew this little girl was a cause of concern for her, but like Caleb, I wasn’t expecting Lacey to jeopardize her career on a misguided notion she could sweep in and save the day. That in itself doesn’t fit Lacey’s character.

“Hey.”

I look up from the couch when I hear her voice. She attempts to smile but it’s clear by the grim expression she’s wearing that it’s forced.

“You went back out to Cassie’s and didn’t tell me.”

She takes a seat across from me. Her wet hair is pulled to the side of her neck, while she wears nothing more than a silk robe. “I just wanted to peek around.”

“What if Ronnie saw you…‘peeking around’?” I use air quotes. “I told you the man has a problem with drugs and he—”

“Exactly. He never should’ve been alone with those children, and the police weren’t doing anything.”

“I agree, but that doesn’t mean you’re the person to fix the situation.”

Her shoulders square like she’s ready for a fight, but instead of chewing my ass, she takes several deep breaths and softens her features. “I just thought maybe I was the person. Milo found me for a reason, right?”

“You mean like divine intervention? You don’t strike me as the type of person who believes in all that crap.”

“I don’t,” she mumbles before resting her head on the back of the chair. Over the months, Lacey has changed. Her bitchy attitude can still be found, but she’s using it less and less as a shield to protect herself…at least from me.

I clear my throat. “I don’t either, but maybe we’ve both been wrong all this time?”

She lifts her head and locks her beautiful eyes with mine.

“Maybe you were meant to meet me. Maybe we were meant to have some long, drawn-out affair that you’ll never tell your best friend about, or maybe it was fate. Maybe we were meant to find each other.”

She nervously chews on her lip, absorbing what I just said before she slowly shakes her head. “I told you, I don’t believe in all that crap.”

“Lacey, you don’t get to pick and choose when you believe in something. Either there’s something out there that’s much bigger than the two of us, and you were meant to help Cassie, or you foolishly put yourself at risk for a child you may never meet. So which is it?”

Her shoulders lock tight with tension as her chest starts to heave with anger. Abruptly, she turns her head away from me.

“Is this going somewhere? Are you going to admit, at least to yourself, that I’m here for a reason, and that reason is you? Or do you plan to keep pretending I’m some live-in fuck buddy?”

“I never asked you to come here,” she practically shouts before hopping to her feet. “You showed up at my door and you just wouldn’t go away.”

“Because I discovered there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” I challenge.

Her eyes darken—and not in the way I enjoy. “How can you say that? You don’t even really know me.”

“And who’s fault is that? It sure as fuck isn’t mine, because I’ve tried to do everything in my power to get through to you.”

“What does it really matter in the end? You’re going back to Arizona to live up your new amazing contract while I’ll be here. A future together was never going to work.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to relieve the pressure that’s building behind my eyes. I know exactly what she’s doing, and fuck me if it isn’t working like a charm. “We could make a relationship work if we tried.”

“How?”

“For starters, you can move to Arizona. I’m not here in New York for just the fucking cold ass weather. I’m here for you. I want you. And I want you enough that I’ve given up what I have back home to be here.”

“No you didn’t.” She steps closer, her mouth turned up in anger. “You signed a contract with your team before you flew out here last. You made sure you had everything all lined up back home before you decided to stick around.”

Shit. I’ve once again underestimated her.

“You thought what exactly? That you’d stay with me for as long as you want, then I’d quit my job and follow you around?”

I nervously swallow because that’s exactly what I had hoped, but hearing it come from her mouth sounds wrong. It sounds like I’m asking her to give up her own dreams to become mine.

“Arizona has lawyers too, and in five years, we could move wherever you want.”

Her eyes widen in shock, or maybe fear—I can’t quite tell at this point. “You haven’t asked me to marry you. You haven’t even told me you love me, yet you’re already planning our future?”

“I’ve been planning our future for some time now.”

“Really? So, you were planning a future with me when you signed a five-year deal with a team thousands of miles from your future wife, without even talking to her about it beforehand?”

Everything she just said sounds wrong, yet it’s not. “You’re looking for a reason to walk away.”

“I don’t have a reason to walk away, Jake. I have thousands of them.” She nervously clears her throat. “I think it’s time you finally leave, and when you go, you’ll need to take your fairytale ending with you.”

My heart tightens in my chest. My total lack of experience where women are concerned leaves me utterly confused on what I should do. I don’t know whether to stay and fight or give her space and hope like hell she misses me. After silently watching her, watching her build a wall higher than I can climb at the moment, I decide to go with the second option.

“From the moment I met you, my life has felt like utter chaos. I instantly felt that connection we share, and it was more than I could deny. I’ve never been drawn to a person the way I am to you. I could marry you—and I would right this very second if you allowed me to—or I can go the rest of my life without ever seeing you again, but nothing will change. My heart belongs to you. Now it’s time for you to decide if you can give your heart to someone else, because as much as I want to love enough for both of us, it doesn’t work that way.”

Her eyes flare seconds before they start to water. My hands itch to reach out and offer her comfort, but I can’t. Not when she’s hell bent on pushing me away. I walk over to the kitchen table and grab my coat and wallet. “If you ever decide you want to try your hand at the fairytale ending you’re so dead set against existing, then let me know…because you, Lacey Davis, are worth waiting for.”

Without another glance, I walk out of her apartment, leaving a piece of my heart behind.