make my toes curl. He wore his suit with ease and confidence and even from across the room, I wanted to hump him. Sorry, Kinsley. I lied.
He smiled good-naturedly for the cameras for another few seconds and then waved them off so he could step into the party. I stood frozen to my spot, watching him walk and recklessly hoping he’d eventually find his way to me.
“Andie Foster! We meet again!”
My name, spoken in a shrill English accent, forced my attention away from Freddie. Sophie Boyle, the sour-faced reporter who’d tried to interview me in the food court, was back, and she was standing behind a chair across the table from me. As if on cue, she reached for her name card and turned it around. Sophie Boyle was written in scrolling gold cursive.
“Looks like we’ll be tablemates,” she said with a twisted smirk.
I shook my head. We were the only two people at the table and I’d be damned if I stuck around to deal with her harassment. I turned, prepared to find the nearest bar, and stopped short right before I ran into Freddie’s wide, powerful chest.
He reached out to steady me, but I stepped out of his grasp quickly, too aware of Sophie Boyle right behind us. She already suspected something was going on; we didn’t need to add fuel to the fire.
“Andie,” he said, breathing life back into my name.
“Excuse me—”
Sophie Boyle cleared her throat behind me. “No need to be shy you two. Freddie, your name card is on this table as well. It looks like we’ll all be well-acquainted by the time they’ve served dessert.”
I shook my head. “I need a drink.”
Freddie followed after me and I didn’t stop him. The bar in the far corner of the banquet hall was dark, quiet, and most importantly, free of reporters. They were all hovering around the entrance of the room, ready to pounce on the next athlete that walked through the doors.
“I came to see you the other day,” he said.
I winced at the sadness in his voice. “It was a really bad day, Freddie—”
“I know. How is your wrist?”
“Not better yet.”
He nodded. “I’m so sorry, Andie.”
I brushed away his apology. We both knew I didn’t want to discuss my wrist.
“You have to know that I’m ending this betrothal,” he said. “I wasn’t lying.”
“I know,” I said just as we reached the bar. “I spoke with Georgie.”
I put in an order for a ginger ale—though I would have loved a shot of tequila—and Freddie requested a water.
“So you forgive me?” he whispered.
I tried to conceal my slow-spreading smile.
When the bartender turned his back, Freddie slid his hand around my waist and pulled me flush against him. He was impossible to resist—his chest, his thighs, his stomach. He was hard edges and toned lines, but his touch was soft and warm.
“You look beautiful, Andie. This dress…”
His hand slid up my stomach, pressing the soft material to my skin just above my navel.
I swallowed and shook my head. The corner was dark, but not that dark. “Not here, Freddie, and definitely not now.”
His brow furrowed. “Then when? I’ve been trying to reach you for the last two days.”
I turned to glance over his shoulder, but no one was paying us any attention. “Have you spoken to Caroline?”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and nodded. “Yes. I told you I’d take care of it, didn’t I?”
His brown eyes burned into me.
“I want you, Andie.”
My stomach flipped.
“Do you hear me? I want you.” He leaned forward so that the next few words were whispered right up against my ear. “I choose you.”
His hand was on my lower back, gathering me against him. There was no hesitation in his voice, no second-guessing. Just because Caroline was in Rio didn’t necessarily mean he’d lied to me.
I pressed my hands to his chest and glanced up. “After the dinner, meet me back at your condo. We can talk there.”
A slow smirk unraveled across his lips—we both knew we’d be doing more than talking.
“Here are your drinks,” the bartender said with a bored tone. If he’d noticed our flirtation, he didn’t act like it. We reached for our cups and walked back to the table with a healthy distance between us.
“There’s just one hitch: Caroline will be here.”
My heart sunk. “Here here?”
He nodded. “She was invited by the organizers after our families released the news of the betrothal. It would be bigger news if she didn’t show up, so we agreed that