Page 18 of One Midnight Kiss

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. I kept trying to decide if I remembered her from Wilder’s wedding. If she had been there, I couldn’t remember. She was unforgettable. I would have noticed a woman like Natalia. Was she in the wedding?

I couldn’t remember. That night was a blur. I had just broken up with my long-time girlfriend and was a hot mess. I was buzzed before the wedding started and completely blitzed by the time it was over. There was very little about the wedding I remembered.

I shut the laptop, running a hand through my hair. I was an idiot for digging into her past like this. It wasn’t any of my business. Yet here I was, sitting alone in my apartment, sifting through crumbs of information like it made a difference in how well she did her job.

I stood up, ready to call it a night. It was either get wasted alone or go to bed early and try to get some sleep. Lord knew I needed to try and catch up on some rest. The last couple of weeks had left me feeling beyond fried.

I walked to my room and pulled a pair of sweats out of my drawer. As I tugged them free, the drawstring caught on the corner. I jerked again, pulling out a piece of black fabric.

I froze, my heart thudding in my chest.

The glove.

I’d kept it all these months. One black satin glove, the only thing I had left from that night in Paris. Cinderella had left her glass slipper, and my masked goddess had left her glove.

I closed my eyes and pictured her on a balcony overlooking the Seine. I never got her name. All I had was that damn glove, slipped into my hand as she disappeared.

I lifted it, feeling the soft fabric between my fingers. I promised myself I would go back, be there on New Year’s Eve, just in case she came looking for me too. It was stupid, a hopelessly romantic notion I buried deep down. The idea a total stranger would remember what I said and actually show up at the exact same place a year later was beyond far-fetched.

The woman had been different, though. She made me feel like maybe I wasn’t as jaded as I thought. For some reason, I felt like she was the one person on this planet that was meant just for me.

And I didn’t even know her name. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was slipping away from me, just like the memories of that night.

I put the glove back in the drawer and closed it gently. I couldn’t live in the past, not with everything riding on this campaign. I needed to have my head in the game.

But weirdly enough, it wasn’t the mystery woman in Paris that came to mind when I thought about my distractions. It was Natalia. Something about her wouldn’t leave me alone. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was a mystery I couldn’t solve or if it was something else entirely.

Maybe I would find out. Maybe I wouldn’t. the uncertainty was maddening.

The two women were battling for space in my head. Two women I couldn’t forget. Two mysteries I wasn’t sure I could ever solve. I pulled on my sweats and jerked my shirt over my head, then crawled into bed and picked up my phone to do a little scrolling.

Glancing at the time, I noticed the early hour. It was weird being in bed before midnight. I wasn’t surprised to find myself searching for Natalia on social media. It felt like a mistake to let myself get sucked into searching for information about her, but I couldn’t resist.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find her. It wasn’t a total surprise. Someone like her would have her social media locked down. I put down my phone and forced myself to close my eyes. Sleep took effort these days.

Paris loomed in mind. I was going to be there standing on that balcony, hoping she showed up on December thirty-first. And in the meantime, I had to get my head straight. Because Natalia was already in my head, and if I wasn’t careful, she’d make a mess of everything.

I wasn’t going to get distracted. I had the Hanna launch, and next month, I was going to chase down the woman I had been thinking about since I left Paris nearly a year ago.