Page 2
Chapter 2
Nolan
The problem with panic is it makes you do stupid things, like stealing a kiss from a woman you’ve never met.
In my defence, she’s fucking gorgeous. Big doe eyes, pouty lips, and exactly my type, but that’s not why I did it. The second I saw my ex-fiancée crossing the room, heading straight for my table, my pulse kicked into overdrive, and every muscle in my body coiled tight.
I haven’t laid eyes on that woman in ten months.
Not since I walked in and found the pool guy balls-deep inside her, just days before we were supposed to tie the knot. Or since my brother paid her half a million dollars to disappear.
The fact that she took the money and vanished without so much as a phone call—without even pretending to fight for us—proved Bennett had been right all along. She played me from the start.
Soon, all the love I once felt for that woman turned to resentment and, dare I say, hate.
I can only assume it’s a coincidence Amanda’s here tonight, but the second I realised she was heading straight for me, every rational thought disappeared. Hence why I’m now accosting a complete stranger who has the sweetest, softest lips I’ve ever tasted.
The whistles and catcalls from the guys sitting at our table are enough to snap me back to reality. I draw out of the kiss and meet the waitress’s stunned gaze. Her mouth hangs open, and judging by the way she leans back and narrows her eyes, I’m about to get slapped.
“Please don’t.” I raise my hands in surrender. “I can explain.” All thoughts of my psycho ex briefly disappear as I stare at the beauty before me, but as I open my mouth to plead my case, Amanda appears behind the waitress and shoves her so hard she stumbles forward, losing her footing.
It happens so fast, I don’t have time to catch her. The glasses she’s holding hit the floor, and she goes down with them.
The sharp crack of crystal against the tiles slices through the background music and conversation around us. Jagged shards skitter across the rooftop as she gasps, her palms taking the brunt of it when she instinctively throws her hands out to break her fall.
“Fuck,” I mutter, reaching down to help her, just as Amanda’s hand swings towards my face.
Bennett catches her wrist mid-strike, his grip clamping down hard enough to stop the slap inches from my cheek. I’ve been so focused on the woman I just accosted that I hadn’t even realised my brother had stepped up beside me.
I leave my ex to him because he despises her even more than I do. If that’s even possible.
As soon as I get the waitress back on her feet and she turns her hands over, my stomach drops at the sight of blood. So much fucking blood.
My gaze flickers to the table I was sitting at moments earlier. “Someone call an ambulance,” I say.
“Please don’t,” the woman pleads. “I can’t afford an ambulance.”
“I’ll pay for it,” I offer. It’s the least I can do considering I’m responsible for this mess.
I’ve done some pretty dumb shit in my life, like almost marrying a woman my family begged me not to, but this ... this is right up there with one of the stupidest.
“I can’t go to the hospital,” she says. “I have to finish my shift.”
“Some of those cuts are deep,” I tell her, looking around for something to stem the bleeding.
Her pretty brown eyes widen. “I only started working here tonight; I can’t afford to lose my job. Please,” she begs. “I need the money.”
The desperation in her voice makes me feel like a colossal arsehole. “You won’t lose your job, darlin’.”
“You can’t guarantee that.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t.”
Despite her face turning ashen, I see a faint blush creep onto her cheeks, and for some reason, it does something to me.
Maybe it’s the way she’s trying to hold herself together despite the pain, or maybe it’s the fact that she’s worried about losing her job more than the cuts on her hands. But it’s the anguish in her tone that really gets to me. It calls to something deep inside. An instinctive need to make whatever’s hurting her disappear.
Either way, I’m suddenly acutely aware that this beautiful stranger is standing way too close.
