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But miracles could happen.
I’d felt the catch of his breath as he leaned in. He’d wanted to kiss me. And if our history proved anything, I was willing to bet he could still feel how my body had lit up at his nearness.
He still knew how to hear me begging for it.
And every inch of me was begging.
I needed to leave the party. I’d come, I’d made my offer, and now I was just being tormented. Axel woke me up, all the way down to my aching core. But without any chance for satisfaction on the horizon, I needed to head back to the condo and take matters into my own hands. Literally.
Axel and his plaything were gone when I made the decision to bolt. I hunted down Trace and Damian, who were once again wrapped up in conversations with powerful and important people, to say my goodbyes. I wouldn’t bother trying to find Axel. We were tentatively en route to a business deal, but I knew he wouldn’t appreciate any unnecessary niceties.
I headed to the coat check to retrieve my sparkling, golden bolero jacket. I slipped it on, feeling the mood burst that came whenever I wore it. I considered having my driver take me to a swank little cocktail lounge for a solo drink, but the thought of Eli finding out put a damper on my plan. No, it was better to head home and avoid any tabloid speculation about why Cora Margulis-Rossberg was drinking alone on the weekend. If Eli found out, he’d give me shit about why I’d shown my face without him, and I just didn’t want the drama. At least with this fundraiser, I had a legitimate excuse—this was business related. I needed to do damage control after the Fairchild offer had been rejected. Even though the true reasons for my visit were vastly different.
I texted my driver as I meandered toward the gilded doors facing a bustling 7thAvenue. I pushed my way outside, taking a deep breath of the intoxicating evening air. Dusk was just wrapping Manhattan in a dark velvet embrace, though it was almost nine p.m. I loved the ethereal, late-daylight evenings of summer in the city. It felt like we were all operating on borrowed time. Car horns honked, swelling like an orchestral moment.
And in front of me, Axel and his plaything were grinning like fools at each other. She swayed back and forth in front of him, her loose dress swishing seductively around her body. Though I couldn’t hear them, I could only assume they were sharing sweet words with their eyes locked. The humidity of the night clawed at me. I was suddenly uncomfortable in my bolero, but it was easy to blame the late heat. I slipped my jacket off and hung it over my arm.
Axel cracked a grin, and I had to look away. It shouldn’t hurt to see, because I’d not only dated someone else butmarriedsomeone else. But if I’d had my way, Axel and I would have never been apart. We would be the couple on the sidewalk of 7thAvenue, staring into each other’s eyes without a care in the world.
I feigned an intense search for my driver while Axel loaded up his arm candy—or maybe serious girlfriend now, I couldn’t tell—into the car. The door shut, and he tapped the back window. The car drove away a moment later, and Axel sauntered back toward the building. His cool grin faltered when his gaze landed on me.
I watched him for a moment too long, paralyzed by indecision. I wanted to needle him. To tease him. To do anything possible to get him near me again. I was ensnared by his magnetism and repelled by his death stare.
“Thanks for the party,” I finally said when he’d almost passed me.
He didn’t stop walking. “Glad you approve.”
“I’m sad to see your girlfriend go,” I called out over my shoulder. What was I doing? He stopped walking at that one. He turned slowly, curiosity tugging at his features.
“Excuse me?”
“She seems really nice. I’m glad to see you’ve, you know, got someone.” The white wine I’d consumed feverishly after the confrontation with Axel zipped through me, pushing me toward a wild abandon. Would I regret or relish this tomorrow? It was anybody’s guess. “You guys are cute together.”
“I don’t care what you think. And I would rather you don’t speak to me until you have some good news about the building,” Axel said. His blue gaze acted like a whip against my skin. Even though it hurt, I couldn’t look away. “Let’s keep the dialogue to a minimum. And please don’t comment on my life again.”
He was so rude. The entire ass. But all I could do was laugh. God, it was refreshing. I deserved it,andhe was so good at this. I wanted to return his hard edges, but more than anything, his coldness just made me nostalgic for all the warmth we’d once shared.
“Fine. I’ll keep the dialogue to a minimum. Gosh, I’m going to need a pen and paper to write down all these rules.” I pretended to search my body, as though I’d misplaced my notebook. “Give me a second to jot this down.”
His eyes narrowed. “Shouldn’t be hard to remember. All it requires is staying away from me, saying nothing, and fulfilling your end of the deal.”
“How are we going to pull off this deal if we don’t talk?” I flipped my hair over my shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
His gaze dropped to the shoulder my hair flip had revealed. His jaw flexed before his gaze snapped back up to my eyes. People filed past us on the sidewalk, oblivious to the lightning shooting jagged and hot between us.
“How about your phone number? Would texting better comply with the rules?” I suggested.
“You should have it. Unless it’s still blocked.” His face was a perfect mask of disinterested neutrality.
I swallowed hard. I didn’t have it in my phone, but I still knew it. The numbers had been etched into my heart after all the times I’d had to subvert my father’s phone plan in order to call him. I’d used friends’ phones. Domestic employees’ phones. I would have used a payphone if I could have found one on the Stanford campus.
My phone vibrated with a text from the driver. I saw him pull up to the curb a moment later.
“Great. I’ll reach out that way then. Anything to make you more comfortable, Axel.” I blew him a kiss. His nostrils flared. “Have a good night.”
I headed for the car, heels clicking over the cement sidewalk. I could feel Axel’s eyes on me as I walked away. Once I’d slipped into the backseat, safe behind the tinted windows, I searched the sidewalk for him.
He was gone.
