Page 49 of Playing Hard to Get

Years ago, I promised her I would never again tamper with her friends. It was the same time I begged for her forgiveness for causing her to lose the one she had. And here I was, lusting over her best friend. Secretly talking to him and fucking him behind her back. I didn’t know that I could stop if I wanted to. For over a year now, he was the only one I’d thought of. I denied the possibility that something between us could exist, but Mitch pursued me every step I took away from him. And giving into him was the best thing I’d ever done for myself.

There was a piece of me that no longer belonged to myself. And losing Mitch, after finally giving myself to him, would break me in two.

“You know what would be funny?” Frankie looked at me as I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich. The rush and shuffle of the bodies in the fancy little bistro we sat in provided a noisy background to my dreams.

Pushing my fantasies aside, I tried to focus my attention on my cousin. “What would be funny?” I asked as I raised my water glass to my lips.

“If we ran into Mitch while we’re here.”

I choked on my water and ended up spraying the table as I sputtered and coughed. Frankie grabbed her cloth napkin and blotted at the spray as she patted my back to help me clear my throat.

“You okay, sweetie?” she asked when my coughing finally quieted.

“Yeah, sorry. Swallowed wrong,” I rasped out. I took another sip before looking at her. I tried to keep my voice steady as I asked, “Why do you think we’d see Mitch?”

“He’s here in New York. His client…” Frankie shook her head. She rarely used names of her clients around me. “She decided a last-minute shopping spree in New York was needed.”

“You know where she was headed?” I asked, taking another sip of my water to hide every emotion playing through me.

“You’re right,” Frankie said with a frown. “It’s a big city. The odds of running into them have to be small.”

I picked at the remainder of the salad on my plate. I wasn’t hungry any longer. In fact, having Frankie bring up Mitch when he’d been a constant presence in my mind was unnerving. Almost enough to make me lose my lunch.

“Can you imagine?”

I glanced at Frankie and chewed on the inside of my cheek, questioning, waiting for her to continue.

Her lips tilted in a crooked grin. “I can't fathom having a guy follow me around everywhere while I was shopping. I mean, I wouldn't even subject Corey to that.”

I gave her a crooked smile and she slapped my arm.

“No, Viv,” Frankie said, laughing at me. “I wouldn't even want ‘sexy as hell’ Mitch to follow me around.”

An easy laugh tumbled out of me, but I didn't say a word. Back before I found out Frankie was seeing Corey, I thought she was with Mitch. Though it killed me, I cheered her on, even when she insisted they were only friends. I hung on her every word, waiting for more information on him. Waiting to find out if her words were true.

Because I wanted him for myself. I would have been happy for her if she was with him, but I was thrilled when I found out the truth.

If only I could act on it. Show the world I wasn’t some heartless bitch who was incapable of feeling.

Mitch made me feel things I never imagined. Yes, his talent in the bedroom was something I’d never come close to experiencing before. But it was more than that. My mind was consumed with thoughts of him. I hung on his every word, and when he was quiet, I was content to listen to the sound of his breathing. When something happened to me, good or bad, he was the first person I wanted to share it with. And when his voice was on the other end of the line, my body came alive with desire.

Frankie and I paid our bills and headed out to a large department store that recently started carrying my line. My cousin squealed when she saw one of my dresses in the window. I ducked my head and walked away from her, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me in front of the window.

“I can't believe it, Viv! You’re in a window on Thirty-Fourth Street!”

“I'm aware,” I told her, trying desperately to get her to quiet down.

“You always dreamed of this. Even when we were little, before you drew your first design or stitched your first dress.”

I smiled. She was right. It had always been my dream. It was a huge accomplishment. And there was only one person I wanted to share it with.

Frankie pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. She forced me to stand in front of the glass so she could take a photo of me in front of my designs. Five minutes and a dozen photos later, I finally persuaded her to go inside.

We combed through the home goods departments, picking out throw pillows and blankets, China and silver. She picked up some picture frames and a gorgeous jewelry box as a gift to give to Corey’s mom at their wedding. We made it up to the floor where my own designs were housed. She took more pictures of me in front of the mannequins, and she was so happy it almost took my mind away from the one place it’d been since the end of lunch.

I looked for Mitch around every corner as I wondered at the odds of running into him. Every dark-haired man drew my attention. Every tattoo I saw had me thinking of him. My imagination was on overdrive. If I thought I was a klutz before, it was nothing compared to now. It was so bad I almost apologized when a pair of arms wrapped around my body while I walked toward the dressing rooms.

“Shh, sweet girl.” The whisper in my ear made my knees go weak. I melted into the warmth of Mitch’s body as he held me close, pressing his face, his lips, into my neck. “God, I’ve missed you so much.”