Meet me in the hallway.

My heart was beating faster with each second. I had no clue what I was going to say or do to her. All I knew was that she wouldn’t be returning to that seat across from him.

My hands were in my pockets when she appeared.

“Hi,” she said.

The skin below her neck was red and a little blotchy. This situation had apparently gotten to her good, too.

“Hi.”

“What’s going on?”

“That guy was looking at you like he wanted to rip your dress off with his teeth.” I’m the only one that’s gonna have the privilege of doing that. “I had to get out of there before I killed him with my bare hands.”

“Why would that bother you?”

She was fucking with me.

“You know why.”

I moved in closer to her so that she could feel my words on her face when I spoke. “Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?”

“I figured you’d be away anyway, so I just never mentioned it.” Her admission filled me with regret. Nina clearly felt that she was playing second fiddle to something.

“I would never miss your birthday. Never. You underestimated how important you are to me, Nina.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should have told me. Tarah called me Friday when I was already in Boston, so I decided to surprise you tonight.”

“You’re sneaky.”

“You’re fucking gorgeous.”

I shut my eyes, feeling my composure slipping away. I needed to get her out of here as fast as possible and get the talk over with. Birthday or not, we couldn’t go on this way any longer. Seeing her tonight had changed my ability to even wait the twenty-four hours.

“Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself,” she said. Then, she placed her small fingers on the bottom of my shirt and pulled lightly at the material, causing my dick to harden.

I cleared my throat. “Tarah explained to me about what’s his name in there. She didn’t know he was going to be here when she invited me. She told me Ryan ambushed you.”

“What if I were on a date?”

She wouldn’t have wanted to hear the true answer to that question because it would have made me sound like a nut.

“I guess if he made you happy, I’d be okay with it.”

“I see.”

“That was a lie.”

“Oh.”

“I wouldn’t be okay with it. Fuck…I missed you.” My hand landed on her tiny waist. When I squeezed it, she closed her eyes instantly as if I’d hit a magic spot. Our first kiss wasn’t going to be in this dingy hallway. Still, the need to have my mouth on her was uncontrollable, so I grabbed her hand and kissed it hard.

“I missed you, too,” she said.

“Go on a date with me.”

“What?”

“Spend the rest of your birthday with me tonight. Let’s get out of here right now, go somewhere, anywhere. I just want to be alone with you. I can’t say what I want…do what I want…in this hallway.”

We devised a plan to make up an excuse and leave. She just needed to use the bathroom first. So, I returned to the table and waited.

Mr. Cunt was busy chatting about work with Ryan. I winked at Tarah and nodded to silently let her know that Nina and I were moving forward with her suggestion that we leave the dinner party.

My stomach was in knots as I used the time that Nina was in the bathroom to plan out the next couple of hours. We’d go to an intimate restaurant for a private dinner. I’d let her in on the secret that today was my birthday, too. We’d return to the apartment, and I would lay everything on the line tonight, hoping and praying that she accepted it.

Never more nervous about anything in my entire life, I grabbed Nina’s wine and downed the rest of it. She wouldn’t have time to finish it anyway, since my plan was to whisk her away the second she came out of the bathroom. I was going to leave first, call her on her cell pretending to be a family member with an emergency, and then she’d follow soon after. We might have left together, but that would have made things obvious, and Ryan really didn’t need to know our business.

My phone vibrated. It was a text from Nina.

You fucked Desiree???

I stood up, staring down at the phone as my heart nearly exploded out of my chest. My stomach churned. What was happening?

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

When I looked up, Nina was squeezing through cramped tables with mascara running down her cheeks.

My call was urgent, “Nina!”

She wouldn’t look at me as she made her way toward the exit. Desiree was watching the whole thing unfold with her arms crossed. It felt like a vein was going to pop out of my neck as I turned to her and screamed, “What the fuck did you say to her?”

She shrugged her shoulders with a smug look on her face.

Fucking whore.

Needing to get to Nina, I didn’t even bother to push Desiree for a response. The loud thud of a chair falling caused heads to turn as I knocked into things while running out of the restaurant.

Snowflakes tauntingly danced around my face in the air outside. Mrs. Ballsworthy was in the window.

I held up my hands. “Not tonight, Balls. Fucking not tonight.”

I didn’t need to be told to fuck myself right now because I was already royally fucked.

CHAPTER 18

Past

Panting as I skipped over steps to get upstairs as fast as possible, I stopped briefly in front of our apartment door to grab my bearings. My gut told me that nothing was ever going to be the same after I walked in there. And now with this major hiccup, there would be another hurdle to get through before telling Nina about Ivy.