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Me: No can do. I have back-to-back meetings today.
Deep down I knew seeing her was inevitable, but I wanted the time to compose my thoughts and feelings, so as not to lose sight of why I stopped seeing her in the first place. I didn’t believe in love at first sight, but from the moment I’d clapped eyes on her, standing wet from the rain in my brother’s apartment, I knew I wanted her. It may not have been love, but the lust I felt had definitely won me over.
When I saw her at their penthouse party, right before Sawyer and Billie’s wedding, the sexual tension between us had been palpable. At that point she’d played it so cool I had wondered if what I had felt was one-sided, but when she finally made her move on the night of the wedding, it had confirmed she felt the same.
Since then my feelings toward her hadn’t changed. I knew that the second she walked past me in the restaurant wearing her fabulous sky-high heels.
The argument inside my head made me shake it as I wandered back into the sitting area and over to the crystal decanter full of whiskey the valet had provided me with. Fuck it. When I had no further response from her, I felt plagued by disappointment and relief in equal measure. Thinking in some perverse way I had wanted her to see me as a challenge or say something that melted my resolve and made me give in to her.
Against my better judgement, I reached for my phone and called Rhea.
“What’s the plans for the evening?”
“Private members bar for the delegates. No name badges, everyone’s anonymous until they do the walk of shame tomorrow morning and realize who they hooked up with.” She laughed, and I thought that was a joke. “That is… for those who don’t know anyone… someone like you, perhaps?” She chuckled again and I figured she thought she was funny. Humor wasn’t my strong suit after hearing from Tricia. “For the rest of us it’s a case of hitting the bar and getting drunk.”
I mulled her answer over and wondered if being caught in a lie with Tricia was worth the copious amounts of alcohol at my disposal, and decided it was a chance I was willing to take.
“Want company?” I asked, tentatively.
“Yay, you’ll come?”
“Sure. Give me fifteen to get ready and I’ll meet you there. Rhea?” I added, quickly.
“Yeah?”
“We’re business associates, we both need to remember this,” I warned. We couldn’t afford to do anything stupid.
“Gotcha, besides, I don’t think I want Tricia’s sloppy seconds,” she muttered. Her comment immediately pissed me off, like what had happened between us had been some joke.
“Good, bear that in mind,” I said sharply, and hung up with a ‘fuck you’ in my mind at her for reminding me about the woman. Despite my own rules about not getting drunk, I knew it was the only way I could deal with her presence.
A few minutes later I’d already decided I couldn’t spend another one on my own. I made my way down to the private room they had set up for the conference delegates to socialize in. After texting Rhea where to find me; I made straight for the bar.
Nodding at the whiskey bottles I flashed my penthouse card for my tab. “Large Glenlivet.” I turned to survey the people already dancing at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon.
“Meetings cancelled, I take it?” A familiar brand of sarcasm hit me square in the chest when Tricia called me out. It had been a while since I’d heard her voice, but the sound of it sent a shockwave of excitement coursing through me.
Staring straight ahead, I willed myself not to look at her and stared at her gorgeous reflection in the mirror behind the bar. After a few seconds that view of her was nowhere nearly enough, and I turned, my resolve to resist her melting like butter on toast.
