CHAPTER TEN

RYDER

I can’t help but stare at her. Well, I guess one would call it gawking. She’s wearing a long black dress that flares as it hits her knees, giving what my sister calls a mermaid look. It’s a black one-shoulder dress that shows off her thin waist. I thought she was beautiful the day I met her on the beach, but tonight, she takes my breath away. And I’d gladly die just looking at her. The black fabric against her tan skin makes her blond hair glow, making her look like an angel.

I had to trick her. Lie to her. I knew there was no way she would go with me to this tonight no matter how much she would love to. I had a feeling that Becca would rat me out, but thankfully, the tickets were enough to get her to agree.

“Sorry it took me so long to get ready.” She blushes as she looks down at her dress. I knew she would look amazing in this dress when I saw it. Another thing Becca helped me out with.

“No need to apologize,” I say truthfully. After I had freaked out over what I now know is her cat, I spent the time in her kitchen having a couple of glasses of scotch while she locked herself in her bedroom getting ready. It was well worth the wait.

“I’m ready when you are.”

I look her up and down one more time, thinking of how much I’d love to pick her up in my arms and carry her back to her room where I’d take my time undressing her. Take my time loving her. Every inch of her. But I shake my head to clear that thought. I know that sex is the last thing I’ll be getting from her tonight.

We make our way down the elevator and out to the car where Milton waits for us. “A limo tonight?” she asks in surprise.

I nod. “Only the best for you,” I say, opening the back door for her.

She crawls in, and I enter after. She thanks Milton before he closes the door.

Once we are situated, she looks over at me. “I didn’t need a limo, Ryder. We could have taken a cab.”

I snort. She doesn’t understand how these things work, and I get that, but you don’t show up to a Broadway play on opening night in a cab. Not when you’re Ryder O’Kane, anyway, and with a gorgeous woman who you love on your arm. You pull out all the stops. And a limo was one of them. “Would you like a glass of champagne?” I ask, already reaching for it.

She nods, not looking over at me. “Yes, please.” I have a feeling it’s more to calm her nerves than to taste.

I grab the bottle out of the bucket of ice and grab two flutes. I see Milton has already uncorked the bottle. I pour her a glass and then myself. We hold them up and toast. “To me being a douche,” I say.

She laughs, but I can tell it’s a nervous one. “You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do,” I say, interrupting her and getting serious. “I overreacted when I had no right to,” I say, and she gives me a soft smile.

She clicks her glass to mine and then takes a drink. After she swallows a good part of it, she looks over at me. “Hungry?” I ask, and she nods. “I was thinking sushi,” I tell her.

“Can I make a request?”

I smile, letting her know I would take her anywhere. “Of course.”

“Can we go to sushi some other night?” And that makes my smile widen even more. As if I’ll get to see her again tomorrow.

“Whatever you like,” I assure her.

“The other day, I ate lunch at this amazing Italian restaurant. I’d like to go there for dinner. I’ve been craving it all day.”

I nod my head and get Milton’s attention as she tells him where it’s at. We pull up to the fancy restaurant and get out of the limo. “Well, crap,” she says sadly. “I didn’t think about it being packed.” There’s a line down the sidewalk and people are seated at a few round tables outside waiting to be seated indoors.

“That’s okay,” I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the entrance. Her heels clapping on the concrete to keep up with me. I see the man standing outside the door dressed in a suit and tie with a clipboard and pen. He is looking down at it, marking out a name as we come up to him. “Hello. I would like a table for two,” I say.

“I’m sorry. The wait is currently sitting at an hour,” he says, not looking up at us. Ashlyn squeezes my hand and tries to pull me back, but I don’t budge.

“Maybe you can check again,” I insist.

He sighs heavily. “I don’t need to check …” His words cut off as he looks up at me. “Mr. O’Kane,” he says in surprise as he fixes the glasses on his face. He looks over at Ashlyn wide-eyed and then back at me. He nods quickly. “Table for two, you said?”

I nod. “Yes. Please.”

He turns, giving us his back as he mumbles into his headset. When he turns back around to face us, he has a big smile on his face. “Go on in, Mr. O’Kane. They have a table waiting for you.”

I remove my right hand from my pocket and shake his. His eyes widen when he feels the hundred dollar bill I just slipped him. “Thank you,” I say before letting go of Ashlyn’s left hand and placing my hand on her back. I guide her into the well-known restaurant.

“Ryder,” she whispers harshly. “We just cut in front of twenty people.”

I ignore her as another man takes us to the corner of the restaurant to a table set for two. I thank the man and then hold out her chair for her. She thanks me, but her eyes are narrowed. “I thought you would be happy,” I say, sitting down across from her.

She shakes her head, mumbling, “Becca used to tell me about this.”

“About their pasta?” I ask.

She snorts. “No. Well, yeah… She is the one who told me and Thomas about it.” Then she shakes her head quickly. “But that’s not what I meant. She told me how people treat her differently once they know who she is.”

“I paid him for his help.”

Her mouth falls open. “So you think that’s better?” she demands. “Because you threw some money at him?” She places her forearms on the dark red table cloth and leans in to me. “Do you always use money to get your way?”

“If it calls for it.”

She lets out a laugh that tells me she thinks I’m an ass. And honestly, I can’t argue with her. Because I have used money many times to get what I want. “How did you hear about this place?” I ask, looking around the rather large restaurant and wanting to change the subject. It has round tables, and all of them draped with dark red tablecloths along with two chairs. A few of them have four. The lighting is dim, giving off that romantic atmosphere. And it doesn’t hurt that we are in the corner all alone. For a wait that was an hour, this place isn’t all that busy. “You said Becca?”

“Yes. She told me and Tom about it, and we came here the other day for lunch,” she states, still sounding pissy.

I stare at her with a tight jaw as she looks around as if embarrassed to be seen with me. “Tom? You sure do spend a lot of time with him.” I know she works with the guy, but they seem to spend a lot of time alone outside of Talia’s.

She shrugs. “He is my only other friend here besides Becca.”“I’m not your friend?” I question.

“You are, but you have been absent for a week.”

I swallow and nod. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“That night I broke up your date with Rick …”

“Nick,” she corrects me.

I wave a hand in the air. “Was that your first date?”

She nods. “It was.”

“How did you meet him?” I ask, needing to know. It’s like I want to torture myself.

“Becca and Tom set me up with him.” She tilts her head to the side in thought. “Well, I guess they didn’t really set us up. The three of us went to Seven Deadly Sins, and I met him there …”

“Wait?” I ask, holding up my hand. “You, Becca and … Thomas went to Seven Deadly Sins?” She nods, and I curse myself. Thomas was the nice guy Milton was trying to tell me about. Fuck, Ryder. So many times I could have found out the truth if I had just let people explain.

Dinner went smoothly after that. She seems to loosen up, and I was able to relax knowing that there never truly was a reason to worry about Bradley. We make our way back out to the limo that waits by the curb. “How was it, Ashlyn?” Milton asks her with a smile.

“Delicious. But I’ll let you be the judge of that,” she says, handing him the extra meal she had ordered.

“For me?” he asks wide-eyed. She nods with a smile. “Thank you, Ashlyn,” he says with a smile of his own.

She stays quiet as we make our way to the theater. I don’t push her to talk because I already see the inner struggle. I can hear it in the way she spoke to me at dinner. And I can see it in the way she looks at me. She’s still unsure if coming tonight was the best idea, but I am on a mission to prove to her that it is.

We pull up to the theater and get out. Her eyes widen as she sees Romeo and Juliet light up the marquee that stands tall above the theater. I take her hand in mine, and I’m thankful when she doesn’t pull away.

“Good evening, sir,” a man dressed in an all-black three-piece suit says as he holds the door open for us to the Grand Theater. “Miss,” he adds, bowing to Ashlyn.

“Thank you,” we say in unison as we enter.

Coming to a stop, she drops my hand and slowly spins around as she looks up at the gold and cream walls. The ceiling has a picture of a champagne-colored crown. I watch her in awe as her eyes light up and her lips part, sucking in a deep breath.

“Ryder, this is …” She can’t finish the sentence as her eyes drop to the floor, and she takes in the blood red carpet.

People dressed in their finest Kiton suits while their wives don just as expensive designer evening gowns are walking around and talking to one another. I spot a man I know, and he gives me a smile as he sees me. “Mr. O’Kane,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand. “Surprised to see you here. Thought you steered clear of these places,” he says with a chuckle.

I nod. “Well, I figured I’ve lived here all my life. This time is as good as any to try it out.”

He laughs and looks over at Ashlyn as she silently stands beside us. He reaches his hand out to her. “And who might this beautiful woman be?” he asks.

I place my hand on the small of her back. “Mr. Tucker, this is Ashlyn Whitaker.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Tucker,” she says, shaking his hand.

“Ashlyn just moved to New York,” I tell him.

“Oh, really?” he asks, giving her a big smile. “Well, I hope it’s living up to your expectations.”

She smiles. “Yes, sir.”

“Mr. Tucker is the mayor of New York,” I inform her.

Her eyes widen, and he laughs, looking back at me. “Call me next week. I’m still waiting for my chance to beat you at another round of golf.”

ASHLYN

I stand at Ryder’s side in amazement and pretty tipsy from the wine and champagne. But I’m trying to sober myself up because the man knows everyone here! I’ve met a senator, the mayor, the district attorney, and a judge. A woman who looked like she belonged in a movie instead of here at the Broadway play insisted I have lunch with her. I’m not sure what she does or who she was, but she seemed important. Two women and a man stood behind her as if waiting for her approval to move. One man we stopped and spoke to went on and on about his daughter who has the lead role of Juliet in this play. And I was happy to know that she had just got engaged to the very man who plays her Romeo.

I stand next to Ryder as he makes his way through the people talking here and there about anything and everything under the sun.

Ryder leans down and whispers in my ear. “You okay?”

I pull away and look up at him. Yes, I’m okay. I’m just speechless. One man he spoke to said that Ryder hated these things. He came here for me, and I didn’t realize how much that meant to me until he had said it. I nod my head and give him a smile, so he doesn’t think I’ve gone mute.

“Ryder,” a man calls out, getting his attention.

“George.” Ryder says excitedly. “It’s been a long time.” They shake hands.

“It has. Funny I see you here. I was going to call you next week.”

“Oh?” Ryder asks, pulling me to his side. I don’t think he knows he’s even doing it. He isn’t being overly handsy or anything, but he can’t help but hold my hand or touch my back. As if he’s making a claim to me for every man to see, and I hate how much I like it.

“Yeah. I have a piece of property you may be interested in.”

Ryder smiles. “I’m always interested.”

The man he called George fixes an already straight bow tie. “One word; Hamptons.”

Ryder chuckles as he nods his head once. “Well, give me a call and we’ll set up a meeting.”

We make our way over to a bank of gold elevators. “Where are we going?” I ask Ryder quietly.

“To our seats,” he says simply. He strikes up another conversation with a man and woman in the elevator. When it opens, he ushers me down a hallway and then through a door. I gasp when I see we are up in a box looking down on the stage. Just the two of us.

“Ryder,” I say breathlessly as I make my way over to the gold rail.

He comes up behind me, runs his fingers lightly over my exposed shoulder, and leans down to whisper in my ear. “You like it, sweetheart?”

I spin around in his arms and look up at him. He places his hands on my face, and I smile. “Thank you,” I whisper.

He smiles as he leans down, pressing his lips to mine. “No thank you is needed.” He runs the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, and my breath catches in my throat. “Seeing that smile is thanks enough.” Then he leans down and gently kisses my lips. And I realize, once again, I couldn’t fight this man if I tried.