with my gaze on those blue eyes behind the mask. Adoring uncle? Knows his books? Gives up tables for the elderly? He was like a hero out of a modern day fairy tale.
Maybe it was the day I’d been having and how this man had suddenly turned it around, or maybe it was the way my skin felt against his, but whatever the reason I suddenly went up on my tippy toes, closed my eyes and pressed my mouth to his. He stilled for a moment as if he were surprised by my actions. Truth be told, I was a little surprised myself.
But a few seconds later, his hand brushed against my cheek and his mouth captured mine. My head swirled at his sweet, lingering kiss and I melted against him. Okay, we’d only known each other a brief amount of time, but I knew enough to realize that a man like him didn’t come around every day. As his lips brushed against mine, shivers skittered up my spine, and it felt like we were at a real-life fairy-tale ball. This felt like a romantic scene from my book and I felt completely lost in the moment—
“There you are, Michelle!” Krista shouted, causing me to jump back with my heart hammering for a whole new reason. She held her cell phone out to me. “Sorry, but it’s an emergency. . . Your stepbrother is in a real predicament, if you know what I mean.”
“What?” I asked, coming out of my dreamy haze.
“He’s on the phone. You’d better talk to him, like now.”
I glanced up at “Rumpel,” who graciously stepped back. “I’ll give you some privacy,” he said.
I nodded, taking a deep breath as I put Krista’s phone to my ear. What trouble had Phillip gotten into now? “Hello?” I said.
“Michelle? Is that you?” Phillip asked. There was someone yelling in the background on the other end of the line, I plugged my other ear and moved away from the dance floor in order to hear better above the music.
I frowned. “Phillip, what is going on?”
“Please come and help me. My landlord is kicking me out. He says I forgot to pay my rent this month—”
“Did you?” I asked.
“Well . . . yes,” he admitted. In the background, I could hear the foul-mouthed landlord shouting that he’d “forgotten” last month and the month before and that he was done being a nice guy. “But it’s not my fault I got laid off from work. He’s going to kick me out if I don’t come up with the cash right now.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, sucking in a sharp breath. The panic in his voice clearly told me this was no joke. I heard the landlord yell that he’d called the police.
“He says the cops are on their way. Please, sis. I need you.”
My heart tugged as I made the decision. “Okay, Phillip. Tell your landlord to hang on and that I’m coming now. Just . . . try not to make the situation worse. Apologize until I arrive.”
I handed the phone back to Krista and turned to say goodbye to Rumpel, but he was nowhere in sight. I looked around the entire room, wanting to thank him for the dance. I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.
But then the image of Phillip being thrown in jail crossed my mind. There wasn’t time to search for the man who had turned my day around. Because my irresponsible stepbrother had gotten into serious trouble and I needed to bail him out—literally, if I didn’t arrive soon.
With a heavy heart, I quickly relayed to Krista what happened and apologized for having to leave. Then I fled the ballroom hailed a cab outside the hotel, and hopped in. I didn’t know how to get a message to Rumpel since I didn’t know his phone number or even his name. Disappointment flooded through me as I realized I was unlikely to ever see him again thanks to my wicked stepbrother.
Only after I was halfway to Phillip’s apartment did I realize I’d left my laptop behind.
Chapter Three
The cab pulled to a stop alongside the curb outside of Phillip’s apartment complex and I hurried up the walkway, feeling a pang of sympathy for my stepbrother. He also seemed to be messing up and I know that had hurt his self-esteem. I put my finger out to ring his doorbell when the front door opened, and a couple of men walked, or rather stumbled, out. They looked me up