Because I Can (Necklace Trilogy 2)

He strokes my hair. “Baby, we’re as real as it gets. Take the clothes. Enjoy them. Trade them in for things you love. Hopefully, I did good on a few things.”

“The pink dress. I already love it. And the lingerie—”

“Is for me,” he says.

I smile and he reaches in his pocket and produces a credit card. “I want you to take this.”

I hold up my hands. “No. No, that I’m not taking.”

“I want you to have it. And use it. I paid off your mother’s medical bills today.”

“Medical bills?” I pulled back to study him. “What medical bills?”

“I saw the stack of bills when I was there.”

“I don’t understand. She has great insurance.”

“Even with good insurance, her portion was hefty.”

“How much, Dash?”

“Fifty thousand.”

“Oh my God.” My hands press together. “Oh my God. You paid off a fifty-thousand-dollar bill?”

“Yeah, baby, but she doesn’t know. I did it anonymously.”

“Oh my God,” I say because I can’t seem to say anything else. “I have twenty thousand in savings. I’ll write you a check. And Riptide offered me a bonus and—” I try to move around him and he catches me to him.

“It’s done, baby. I got this. And I got you.”

“You are too generous, Dash. I don’t even know how to take this from you.”

“By just doing it.” He presses the card in my hand. “Just so I know if you need anything you have it.” I open my mouth to speak and he says, “Humor me. Keep it in your purse. Please.”

“Okay,” I say. My fingers curl on his chest. “No one has ever done anything like this for me, Dash. Not like this.”

He cups my face and tilts my gaze to his. “And no one has ever been quite like you, cupcake. You have a good mother. We’ll take care of her. Together.”

“We have to go see her before we leave for New York.”

“I’m in. Whenever you want.”

“Dinner tomorrow night?”

“Dinner tomorrow night works.”

He kisses me. “Check out your new clothes. I’ll bang out a few more words. And, Allie?”

“Yes?”

“Nothing. We’ll talk in bed.”

I smile. “We won’t talk in bed.”

“No,” he says with a smile. “We won’t talk in bed. But we’ll try.”

He leaves me in the closet, and I turn and stare at all the bags everywhere. He is good to me and it’s not with an agenda. He is just good to me. He wants to do this for me. I step out of the doorway and into the bedroom, calling after Dash.

“Dash.”

He rotates to face me. “Yeah, baby?”

“How will you know I’m here for you? Not all of this?”

He closes the space between us and says, “The same way you know I didn’t try and buy you like your father. You’ll know. And I’ll know.” And then he’s kissing me, undressing me, and we end up in the bed. Where we prove our prediction one hundred percent correct. We do not talk.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The next morning, I dress in my new pink Chanel dress with a pleated skirt, that looks like it belongs in Vogue. It’s my first “new” Chanel anything. I’m checking myself in the mirror when Dash appears behind me. “You like it?”

“I love it,” I say, glancing over my shoulder and up at him.

“Hmmm,” he says, wrapping an arm around me and nuzzling my neck. “Me, too, but I think I’d like it better on the floor.”

I rotate to face him. “I have to get to work. You know that. I have a couple of the firm’s clients coming in to talk about their donations this morning.”

He groans but releases me. “For the good of the cause, I’ll wait to undress you until later.”

I’m smiling an hour later when I claim my desk for the day, and quickly call my mother. “Mother,” I greet when she answers.

“Daughter,” she replies.

I smile at the formality of our little game we play often on the phone. “Will you make me your famous pot pie tonight?”

She laughs. “You want me to slave in the kitchen for you, do you?”

“Yep. That’s what I want.”

“Are you bringing that handsome man of yours?”

“Actually, I am. And so I don’t forget to tell you, we’re going to New York a few days before Halloween.”

“We’re? As in you and Dash?”

“Yes. As in me and Dash mom.”

“You two are getting quite close it seems.”

“Well, yes. I guess on that note, I should tell you that I moved in with him.”

“What?” she says. “You did—you—wow. Does this mean you’re staying in Nashville?”

“I’m trying not to overthink it.”

“January is soon, honey. I’m not sure that’s overthinking.”

“I have at least a month to six weeks before I have to make a big decision.”

“I’m pretty sure you already did. You moved in with him. That’s already a big decision.”

“You don’t approve?”

“Oh, I like that young man. So does your stepfather. Just be careful. The heart can be a delicate flower, and he’s a high-profile, famous man. I won’t judge all by one, but I certainly got burned by someone of that caliber.”