Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,15

was, admittedly, a ridiculous way to handle the situation. I was just hurt and upset, and I knew that if I didn’t block your number, then at some point, you would eventually try to call or message me.”

“I tried to call and message you the very minute your text came through,” I said as the waitress put another round of drinks down on the table. This time they were pink and fizzy. She didn’t stick around, though; I was pretty sure she could see that we were in a deep conversation.

“Did you really never want to hear from me again?” I asked.

“It wasn’t that,” Brooke said as she looked out into the sea of people at the bar. “I just knew that if you tried to, I wouldn’t be able to go through with trying to leave you.”

“Then don’t,” I said as I turned to face her and take both of her hands in mine. “Brooke, I don’t want to be broken up from you. I want you to come back to me and be my girlfriend again, and I want you to come back to Cubed and be my assistant too.

She didn’t answer me, although I guess I didn’t ask her a direct question. The night seemed to be getting better than how it had started, though. We eased up on the conversations about the incident in the limo and about the breakup over text, and instead, we sipped on intoxicating cocktails and talked about everything from her new space living with Kate, to the Spokane project, to even some people watching around the bar. We were having fun, and things were starting to feel like they were getting a bit back to normal. The waitress kept a rainbow of cocktails coming, which I was sure would end up not being a great idea, but at the time, they were delicious.

I was just so relieved to be with Brooke again, and she looked so beautiful up here under the twinkling lights and the stars on the rooftop, that I began to feel myself getting consumed by her. Before I knew it, we were both sharing the same sofa cushion with the sides of our bodies pressed against each other, and we were laughing as if we hadn’t been apart.

The residual sparkles from the cocktail that lingered on her lips were irresistible, and even though I didn’t intend to be too forward with her in the midst of trying to recover our relationship, I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward and kissed her, and as my tongue slid into her mouth, my hands slid onto her shirt, and I felt like I was in heaven being able to hold her body in my hands.

Brooke, however, didn’t get swept up by the same magical feeling that I did. Instead, she pushed me off of her and stood up, spilling the rest of her cocktail onto the ground. People stopped to look in our direction, including the waitress who was grabbing a handful of napkins and rushing over to the table. Brooke looked at me with a hurt fury on her face and then stormed off to the elevator. I got up and rushed after her, throwing a wad of cash down onto the table to cover the drinks.

“Brooke, wait!”

I managed to get into the elevator with her just before the doors closed.

“What’s the matter?” I shouted.

“How dare you!” she yelled through teary eyes. “How dare you bring me out on this date tonight for some cheap hook-up.”

“This place was far from cheap,” I said sarcastically. I meant that in a completely different way than how it came out. When I heard that comment leave my lips, I also heard Max telling me what an asshole I sounded like.

“Ugh!” she screamed as the elevator reached street level, and she raced out to the road to hail a cab.

“Stop! What are you doing? I’ll take you home in the limo.”

“Screw your limo,” she spat at me as she got into a stopped cab.

I stood there as I watched her leave and was completely dumbfounded and speechless about what had just happened. I was such an idiot. I completely blew the date by letting my physical desire get the better of me. But it wasn’t what Brooke thought. I wasn’t trying to just “hook-up” with her. It was because of how I feel about her that I got so swept up at that moment and was so happy about feeling like I had her