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I’m on my best behavior, I tell myself, watching as she sashays away with that sweet extra swing to her hips.
Sweet, but totally manufactured.
I still appreciate it. Even if it isn’t the compact yet low-key sexy way Elliot moves. I get a drink. I sip the champagne, figuring that if I just keep to myself I can be on my best behavior and not get into trouble.
To help me out, I pull out my phone and scroll through work emails, which is the perfect crutch and excuse on multiple levels.
“Ryder!” Leah something or other that I slept with a few years go bumps into me and she’s all smiles and secret looks. “Long time.”
There’s a big diamond ring glittering on her finger and I breathe out a sigh of relief. Off limits. “How are you?”
“You know.” She waggles her hand at me and then smooths a hand over my lapel. “He’s very nice, very rich, and I probably won’t introduce you to him.”
“I’m happy for you. He’s a lucky guy.”
She makes a small sound as she sips her champagne. “You know, it’s a pity I love him or else I’d be tempted.”
“I’m not offering.”
Leah looks at me and curls a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I’d be asking, but…that’s interesting. Oh, hang on…”
She opens her small crystal encrusted clutch and pulls out a card and hands it to me. “My number. Not for that, but my cousin is looking for something wonderful in the West Village and I thought of you. If you have anything, call my work number or email. It’s there.”
Then she pulls me down as she goes up on her toes and kisses my cheek. “Talk to you soon, Ryder.”
She leaves and I stare after her, the card still in my hand.
I’m feeling good at how I handled that. Of how it went. I didn’t flirt, I made sure she knew there wasn’t a chance in case that’s what she was looking for and no one got hurt.
It’s then that I look up.
Elliot.
I shove the card into my pocket and smile, trying to tamp down the sudden panic at having numbers I didn’t ask for.
“I thought,” she says, sliding in next to me at the bar, the shimmery green dress that skims her sweet body and flares to just below her knees in a swirl of material as she does so is deceptively sexy, “I should come and make sure you were still alive.”
She gives me a glance over her shoulder, her red hair falling in loose waves around her as she asks for a drink.
How the fuck I ever thought her plain is beyond me. Elliot isn’t. She’s absolutely stunning.
She gets her drink and turns to face me. “You look good. The picture of what the board wants.”
As her gaze moves over me, she frowns. And panic starts to throb deep in me. She’s staring at my pocket.
I look down.
Fuck.
Right there is a cream corner of cardboard.
And without another word, she reaches over and takes it.
Not just the card from Leah, but the other one, too.
Fuck.
Chapter Twenty-Two
