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“We’re super close,” I said, craning my neck as if I could see beyond the traffic. “Could I get out and walk the last two blocks?”
“Sure,” Harrison said.
He got out and held the door open for me, since traffic wasn’t moving, anyway. He stuck closely behind me, weaving through the dense crowds on the sidewalk. My heart pounded loudly enough for me to feel it. It was too reminiscent of the last incident we’d had. But Harrison was right behind me. I would be okay.
I made it to the lunch spot and spotted Karri, waving hello. She wasn’t annoyed that I was late, thankfully. A lot of influencer acquaintances I had weren’t good people once you turned the camera off, but Karri was.
Harrison settled a short distance away to give us space while we ordered. We got iced tea to start. The minute it landed on the table, we both whipped out our phones and laughed.
“Are we really that predictable?” Karri asked.
“It looks so pretty. Can you blame us?” The way the light was streaming in through the window onto the white table was the perfect contrast to the colorful pink drink.
Each of us took some photos on our phones. I put a photo of it, tagged with the location, into my queue to be posted later, after I left, and put my phone back in my purse. Karri and I actually drank our tea and chatted, catching up on how things were going in our lives and careers. The quick lunch turned into a longer one once we got the ball rolling on a few video ideas that we could do together. She even pushed back her next meeting to accommodate our time together.
“This has been so great,” Karri said two hours later, looking over the notes she’d made on her tablet. “I think our followers will really like this stuff, especially the fundraiser campaign.”
“I’m excited.” I checked the time. I was missing Pilates, but I didn’t mind. My body was sore from last night, anyway, when Ethan and Harrison had put me into some truly unique positions in bed. They’d felt great at the time, but maintaining my balance while being pounded into by two enormous men had its downsides.
My face heated up. Hopefully, Karri couldn’t tell. I hadn’t been open about my relationship with Ethan and Harrison, so I didn’t even have the words to explain what was happening. Troy was still the only one who knew, and he didn’t need the details.
“I’ve got to get going, love.” Karri gathered her things. “But I’ll text you tomorrow once I have everything sorted out, okay?”
“Sounds good!” I gathered my things, too, and gave her an air kiss on the cheek.
She left first, and I hung back, Harrison behind me.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Yeah. Sorry that ran late.” I checked my calendar. “At least I can move some stuff around later.”
He opened the door for me. The traffic and construction were still awful, making the packed sidewalk even tighter. It had started drizzling as well, which wasn’t helping. I spotted Cody way down at the end of the block, standing outside of the car.
Harrison stuck as close as he could behind me. But Manhattanites were aggressive walkers, and some people got between us. I tried to slow down to get Harrison to catch up, but a group of young Wall Street types had wedged between us.
I glanced back to see if I could slow down to get next to him, but instead of locking eyes with him, I found a familiar set of eyes. One I wanted to forget about.
The guy who’d tried to snatch me before. Those eyes were burned into my memory.
I gasped, lunging to the side to avoid the man, but he was too close. He grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed, like he was trying to get me on the ground. My thoughts raced into an incomprehensible panic. Why was he doing this now, out in public? Was he going to try to hurt me this time? Or snatch me away?
I screamed, the sound piercing the area even above the sound of drilling. The crowd, ignited into panic because of mine, rushed around me, trying to get away. The man’s hands were still on me, grabbing at my hair as I tried to pull away.
Harrison appeared in front of me, shoving the man off and gathering me up in his arms.
“He’s going to get away!” I shouted.
“You need to get to safety. Cody’s got him,” Harrison said, holding me close. I felt his heart pounding from where he was holding me against his chest.
I looked back. Sure enough, Cody had the man on his knees, on the ground. Ethan had gotten out of the SUV and was on the phone, keeping an eye on the situation. The crowds around us had parted, staring in awe. I stared back, my heart up in my throat and pounding like crazy.
The rush of the NYPD came in from nowhere, handcuffing the man who Cody had pinned to the ground. I didn’t breathe until I saw them put the attacker into the back of a squad car.
“Miss, are you all right?” a police officer said to me. I was still in Harrison’s arms. Based on how hard he was holding onto me, he wasn’t going to let me go.
“I’m fine,” I said, resting a hand on Harrison’s chest. “I’m safe.”
CHAPTER26
