From the second I’d stepped into his arms, an overwhelming feeling of security had washed over me. A feeling I had never felt before. I feeling I didn’t think existed in real life.
Leave it to me to ruin all that.
“So, um...about what just happened—”
Before I could say another word, Nick spun me around—twirling me out onto the floor before pulling me back to the safety of his arms. The second I landed, he looked down at me with a sudden grin—a grin that completely dissipated all the tension in the air between us.
“I told you it would be work related.”
“Work related?” I gasped breathlessly, unable to decide whether to laugh or rip out my hair in frustration. I’d settle for the room to stop spinning. “You call that work related?”
“I certainly do.” He laced his fingers innocently through mine, pulling me extra close under the guise of making room for another couple. “You are posing as my girlfriend, are you not? Well...that’s the way I like to touch my girlfriends.”
For a second, I just stared up at him—bowled over by the sheer audacity of such a statement. Then he flashed me a little wink.
“As long as they agree to dance with me afterwards...”
I was still laughing as the song came to an end. As the couples drifted apart in a rousing wave of applause. As Nick bent down to give me a soft kiss on the cheek.
Then, before I knew what was happening, a dozen ushers appeared from out of nowhere and began politely herding people to the sides of the room. A team of men came out shortly after with a roll of mats and rope, and a minute later, a microphone descended slowly from the ceiling.
“What is this?” I asked Nick quietly. It was easy to have a private conversation amidst the noise and growing anticipation of the crowd. “What’s happening?”
“You’ll see.”
His eyes glowed excitedly as he gazed out toward the mats, but he refused to give away the secret. I was about to press, but just a moment later, a tuxedoed announcer did it for him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for...”
A drumroll accentuated his every word, creating a huge windup for the big finale.
“Allow me to present, for the first time in history, heavyweight champion Frankie McConnell versus Orlando Forester!”
It took me a second to understand, then two enormous men walked out from separate corners and knocked hands together in the center of the ring.
“...boxing?”
I turned to Nick in genuine surprise. Organized fighting wasn’t really his thing. Nor could I imagine it held much interest for the rest of the people in the room. High society tended not to involve themselves with activities that involved mouth guards and profuse amounts of sweat. They tended to stick to things like polo and the opera instead.
“You wanted to take me...to a boxing game?”
Nick pursed his lips, stifling a smile.
“A match, Abby. It’s a boxing match.”
I’m sorry, I never saw Cinderella Man...
And no,” he stuck his hands in his pockets, gazing out toward where the two men had started circling each other in the ring, “I don’t give a shit about boxing.”
“Well then—”
Nick spun me to face him, putting his hands on my shoulders.
“These two men are champions who have never fought each other before,” he said in a low voice. “That means that while it might not necessarily be interesting, it is rare. And in my world, rare means exclusive.”
His eyes flickered out over the room, at the crowd of people sparkling like little dolle
d up mannequins before him.