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She winked. “You were the one insisting on practice.”
“How could I have forgotten?” he asked as he pulled her into his arms.
“You didn’t.”
He laughed, and his heart flip-flopped as her body pressed to his. Between the full-body contact and the way they danced way too slow for the music, it wasn’t his most platonic public display, but he didn’t really care. She felt too good to question. They felt good.
After three songs, he reluctantly let someone pull her off the dance floor, but he stayed close. Rue quickly introduced the woman as a conservation photographer, and the way Rue kind of gushed, Ethan had a feeling he’d just met royalty. He immediately wondered if she was connected to the internship, but then forgot to wonder as he was struck by how the two women lit up in the conversation. It was something to do with seal pups and underwater photography, and Ethan couldn’t even follow it because he was so taken with the absolute light and joy that Rue emanated over a topic she clearly loved. He’d seen it when she told him about her adventures, but this…this was something different.
This was something with which he couldn’t compete.
And as much as that should have bothered him, it didn’t. If anything, it erased any wish he harbored that they had more time. She didn’t belong in the city. She belonged in the Arctic or on the Amazon or wherever she could chase this passion of hers, and it didn’t matter how hard he’d fallen…the last thing he’d do was give her a reason to stay.
He’d play the part of her date for the night, but after that, things had to be over between them.
There wouldn’t be a reason left to hang on.
He’d keep telling himself that.
…
Rue had been to dozens of society events during her privileged upbringing, and she’d long grown bored with the pomp and circumstance. The fancy clothes annoyed her. The holier-than-thou attitudes disgusted her. And the fact that the majority of people who started a conversation with her seemed to be looking for an opening to crow about themselves didn’t help.
But this night was different.
It might have been because she knew she’d have to deal with Boyd, and it may have been because she wanted so badly to win his grandmother’s approval for her calendar, but it wasn’t either of those things.
It was Ethan.
Ethan getting to her in a way no one ever had. Being real. She hadn’t realized just how self-absorbed her last few flings were, particularly the model, until she immersed herself in all things Ethan Chase. He didn’t have a vapid bone in his body. He was the most genuine person she’d ever known, and the fact that he came packaged in scintillating hotness didn’t hurt a thing. And if he was good to look at, there were no words for what he was in bed. God help her if he was out of practice, because already that man could bring her to her knees with a simple look, and she knew exactly how to bide the time when she got down there.
She shivered at the thought, and immediately he had his arm around her. Just like an actual boyfriend might, but not like any she’d ever had. Of course, she hadn’t exactly trekked into the realm of an actual relationship—they’d all failed too quickly, except the one that had lasted and gone down in spectacular flames anyway. No wonder she hated emotional ties and relationship protocol and the society that demanded they be “right.” For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted to break free from all of that. Now she was on the verge on doing so—not just for what amounted to an adventurous vacation, but for the long term—and something was pulling her back.
Something was telling her not to walk away from Ethan.
She figured it had to be the stress of the night, but most of her anxiety had dissipated once Mimi Von Adler had approved the association between Rue’s calendar and her charity. She’d loved the idea, even agreeing to have staffers handle production and fulfillment of orders after Rue put the layout together. The necessary contracts would be in Rue’s inbox first thing Monday, and Bridget had sort of wink-nudged that the internship was Rue’s. But more than that, she’d told her about a job offer with one of her colleagues that would pay travel expenses and a salary. Rue could start immediately, or she could start when the internship ended. Either way, her dream was coming true.
