His Forbidden Love (Manhattan Billionaires #2) - Ava Ryan Page 0,20
is… The next time around, I plan to make sure my partner and I understand each other. Perfectly. It’s important, don’t you think?”
Maybe there’s something a little too pointed about the way I’m looking at her, because she seems a little flustered as she hastily glances away.
“I do think,” she says with a laugh that sounds a bit forced as she takes her cap off (these days, it’s Van Gogh’s sunflowers rather than Monet’s water lilies) and reveals several curls that seem eager to escape from her bun. “I also think that you’ll have plenty of candidates willing to test that theory with you. If you don’t already.”
I make a face, because this suggestion contains all the appeal of topping my morning cereal with grilled octopus slices.
“At this stage of my life, I’m into quality. Not quantity,” I say, determined to steer this conversation back into normal waters before I freak one or both of us out. God knows I’m dangerously close to skirting that territory myself. “Come on. Let’s hit the café and grab dinner before our bodies start to cannibalize themselves. I’ll buy.”
She blinks, coming out of an expression that’s vaguely troubled. “You don’t have to,” she says.
Since I don’t like the alternative, which is letting her go for the night and heading home to my expensive but lonely apartment for another long night of craving her, I do have to.
“It’s the least I can do, since I’m not paying you yet,” I say, trying to be a cool cat about it. “Plus, you eat yogurt. How expensive could that be?”
Grinning, she leads the way to the elevator and punches the button. “Keep it up and I’ll order one of everything out of spite,” she says sweetly.
“That’s exactly the kind of pettiness I’d expect from you.”
We’re standing there laughing together in a moment that’s destined to become one of the top three most delicious of my life when her phone buzzes. My heart sinks even before she pulls it out, because I know it’s him. Bruce. Her fucking boyfriend. I know our moment is over and I’m not getting any dinner in the café. Worse, I know that he belongs with her and I don’t.
She hesitates, her smile slowly drying up.
“Go ahead,” I say dully. “Take it.”
Nodding, she reaches into her pocket, extracts the phone and checks the display.
Naturally, I also check it.
Bruce, it says.
Fucker.
She glances back up at me, and I swear—I swear—she seems disappointed. Because the glow that lit her up a few seconds ago? No sign of it now.
“I should take this,” she says as the phone buzzes again.
“Absolutely.”
“Thanks for the dinner offer.”
“No problem.”
Luckily, the elevator arrives just then, giving me exactly the escape I need. I climb on, hit the button and turn to face the front, determined to keep my disappointment under wraps. This one lost dinner in a freaking hospital café is not the end of the world. It just feels like it.
“Have a great night, Harlow,” I say.
She nods. The last thing I see before the elevator doors slide closed is the way she hesitates before answering the phone and raising it to her ear with something that looks like reluctance.
7
Ally
“Margarita night,” I say with tremendous satisfaction as I join Kelly at her booth in the back the following night. I lean in for a hug and kiss before sliding into my seat and setting my phone on the table. “Have I mentioned that you’re a freaking genius?”
“I had to think of some official occasion,” she says, pointing to a large and frosty pomegranate margarita that she’s thoughtfully ordered for me. “And whining that I’m bored and want a drink on a random Thursday night didn’t seem to cut it.”
“Agreed.” I raise my glass, eager to begin the unwinding process after another long day in the OR. “Although I think we should call it frozen pomegranate margarita night. And that frees up other days of the week for, I don’t know, frozen strawberry margarita night, traditional margarita on the rocks night, traditional margarita on the rocks with salt night and so on. Cheers.”
“Cheers,” she says, laughing. We clink and sip with appropriate gusto. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. I’m surprised I caught you before you went home and went for your jog or whatever you have on the schedule for tonight.”
“Luckily, I went to the gym this morning.”
“So it all worked out. This is a nice little bar, by the way. Good suggestion.”