Ican’t tell you thelast time I chased after a woman.
Frankly, I haven’t found that many worth the chase.
“Hannah—wait!” I yell. I’m drawing attention, but I don’t care. Let someone take a video and make it viral. This is nothing to be ashamed of.
I’m not even winded when I catch up to her.
“Why’d you take off? Where are you going? Why do you have your suitcase?”
“I’ve got to go. And I ... um ... got in late so I didn’t have time to check in before. So, you know, I’ve got to go. Check in.”
I glance at my watch. It’s close to midnight. “Did you tell them you were checking in late? Most places won’t hold the room this long without prior notice.”
She looks at her phone and then her gaze darts to the left. “Um, yeah. It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”
It couldn’t be any more obvious that she’s lying than if a giant nose started growing in the middle of her face.
“Then I’m taking you there. Let me get an Uber. What’s the address?” I’m used to staring down challenges. I don’t know why Hannah is running or being evasive, but I’m not letting her go anywhere.
Not again.
“Hannah,” I put my fingers on her jaw, turning her face toward mine, much as she did to me earlier. “Where are you going?”
She rolls her eyes one last time before her resolve melts away. “Okay, fine. I don’t have a place to go. When I tried to check into my hotel earlier, there had been a flood of some kind. Did you know those big water tanks on the roof can leak into the building, and it’s like thousands of gallons of water? Like I need something else to worry about when I’m staying in a hotel. That I’m going to wake up and my room is going to be like a scene fromTitanic. But anyway, now I have to find a place to stay that I can afford, which is pretty laughable. Are you happy? Is that what you wanted me to admit?”
I drop my hand. “Why didn’t you say something? And no, I’m not happy. This is a shitty situation, and I don’t want you to have to deal with it. I can help you out.”
Hannah shakes her head. The lights in this lobby are too bright for the dark January night. There’s not much activity here on the first floor, and it feels like we’re the only ones left in a club when they turn the lights back on. She looks tired. “It’s not your problem. I’ll figure it out. I’m not gonna ask you to help me.”
For some reason, the songAin’t Too Proud to Begpops into my head. She’s the one who needs the help, but all I know is I can’t let her walk out of here and out of my life.
“You’re not asking, I’m offering. Those are two very different things. And the way I see it, there are two possible solutions. The first is you let me get you a hotel room. My hotel is only a block away, and I’ll get you a room there.”
“I’m not taking your money.” She juts her chin out slightly. “What’s option two?”
I can’t keep my mouth from stretching into a sly grin. “You can stay with me.”
“And let me guess, you have a room with a king bed.”
“It’s a room in downtown Manhattan. The bed takes up most of the floor space, but it does have a view of the Empire State Building.” Every fiber of my being is begging her to pick option two. Touching her tonight has brought back a torrent of memories of the way she tastes and feels, and I’m practically crawling out of my skin, desperate to be with her again.
“Oh, Callaghan, there you are. I thought I’d missed you!”
Fuck. I was so enraptured with Hannah, I didn’t even notice Katherine approaching.
I want to physically take hold of Hannah so she doesn’t use this distraction to escape, but, despite what the public may think of me, I’m not a dick. This is her choice to make freely.
“I couldn’t be so lucky. What do you want, Katherine?” In the bright fluorescent lights, Katherine’s makeup is glaring. I’m not sure what I ever saw in her.
“I was hoping we could go for a drink.” She puts her hand on my arm. “You know, for old times’ sake.” I shake her off. The audacity of that woman.
“Actually, we need to get going. I’m pretty tired. Cally, do you mind taking my suitcase?” Hannah rolls it toward me before squaring herself toward Katherine. “I got hung up and didn’t have time to check into our room before. I didn’t want to be late for Cally on his big night, but I can’t wait to see that view of the Empire State Building. I bet it’ll be an amazing backdrop for the rest of the night.”
Damn. Hannah is so quick on her feet. She’ll be a fantastic sideline reporter.
I take her suitcase handle with my left hand and casually throw my right arm over her shoulder. Or at least I try to make it seem casual and not like someone is driving a thousand knives into me. With her shoes on, Hannah’s not that much shorter than I am, and lifting my arm that high makes me wince. Hannah sees my expression and knits her brow slightly in concern.
I give my head a gentle shake, trying to communicate it’s no big deal. Our backs are to Katherine now, but Hannah’s keeping up the act. She leans in and whispers, “Are you okay?”
