His Forbidden Love (Manhattan Billionaires #2) - Ava Ryan Page 0,56

I can’t manage it. My heart rate kicks up. My grin takes off. My head whips around so fast that I can already feel my incipient case of whiplash.

And there she is with a to-go clamshell and drink, her bright smile, shining eyes and gleaming hair the missing ingredients I need to make my soul soar.

“Hey,” I say as our gazes connect. I’m already halfway out of my seat to kiss her before I catch myself and play it off by grabbing another chair from a nearby table and pulling it over for her. We’ve sworn to keep our relationship on the down-low here at the hospital, and I plan to hold up my end of the pact even if it kills me. I, of course, blabbed about her to the fellas in a moment of weakness that I now regret, for obvious reasons, but they’ll never tell. “Wasn’t sure you’d make it down.”

I should mention that something happens to my voice when she shows up. Her presence makes me softer somehow. Tender. Unfortunately for me, the idiots notice. As evidenced by their wicked and poorly concealed grins.

“Neither was I,” she says, stopping at the chair but not sitting. “I just wanted to grab some lunch and see the sun for a minute. I can’t stay. Sorry to miss this power summit. Looks like the three of you started without me.”

Liam and Jake met Ally in passing at the hospital before the two of us got together and have seen her a couple of times in passing since. They all seem to get along like a stack of twenty-year-old newspapers and a lit match, which certainly makes my life easier.

“There’s a small fine for being late,” Jake tells her.

“Oh, no,” she says, laughing.

“It’s only a thousand dollars,” Jake says. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“I think special dispensation should be made for the poorest member of the group,” she says.

“Sorry,” Jake says. “If we bend the rules for you, we have to do it for everybody.”

More laughter.

“So listen,” Liam tells her, shooting me an evil look. “We were just talking about you. Your ears must be burning.”

I stiffen and crank my gaze into veiled-death-strike mode for his benefit.

Swear to God, I don’t want to kill one of my best friends. But I will.

“Oh, yeah?” She raises her brows at me. “That sounds interesting.”

“Can you let Mike come out and play with us tonight? We’ve been trying to get him to come for drinks,” he says, now sending me a relax look.

“You’re giving me way more power than I have,” she says, blushing.

No, they’re not.

“It’s not up to me,” she continues. “Ask Michael.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I say, looking up at her. See? There goes my voice again. Giving me away. “I wasn’t sure if we had anything planned for tonight.”

She blinks, but her smile remains firmly in place. “Nothing that can’t wait,” she says.

My heart sinks. I don’t want to have drinks with the Idiot Posse. I want to be with her tonight.

“You sure? Sounds like there was something.”

“I was just going to make dinner at my place. We can do it another night.”

“Perfect. It’s all settled,” Liam booms before I can tell her that I can do drinks with these two fools another night, which is what I plan to do. “Thanks for being so understanding, Ally.”

“No worries,” she says, turning to go. “I’ll cut you a check on my late fee by the end of next week. How’s that?”

“Unfortunately, there’ll be a twenty-percent surcharge on late payments of the late fee,” Jake says, shrugging. “It’s not personal. Just business.”

“Understood,” she says, laughing. Then she zeros in on me with a tiny wink that makes my heart thud. “Bye.”

“Bye,” I say glumly, watching her depart with zero idea whether I’ll even get to see her again before I leave at the end of the day.

I want the record to reflect that I let her go without a touch, a kiss or even a knowing glance. I keep my hands to myself and do the right thing, an effort that shaves a year off my life, easy.

My life sucks. Clearly.

Then it gets worse.

“Nope,” Liam says. “Mike’s not whipped.”

“Not at all,” Jake adds. “What were we thinking?”

“Poor sap. He doesn’t even realize that he’s already married,” Liam says, tapping his temple. “Up here. Where it counts.”

That hits close to home. A lot closer than I’d care to admit, even to myself.

I scowl to hide my vague feeling of panic about the