Page 259 of Hot Mess
Don’t let him.
There was water between my toes, squishing in my leather pumps. My boobs were flying everywhere and I had to wrap my arms around my chest for extra support and decency.
And oh yes, there were catcalls.
Ugh.
Even so, the actual chasing-a-man-through-the-rain part didn’t feel as stupid as it probably should’ve. This man was worth it.
I was pretty sure…
I was wearing his onyx ring on my thumb, gripping it in my hand. And I was determined to give it back to him.
Even if he didn’t want me, he was keeping this ring.
Or maybe I was just fixating on giving the ring back to him because the possibility of him not wanting me anymore wasn’t something I wanted to consider.
It took me three long blocks to catch up to him and Haz, and by then, I was even more annoyed. The dude had long legs and walked way faster than any human should be able to. Or at least it felt that way as I navigated the wet, uneven sidewalk in my heels.
“Hey!” I called when they were in earshot, and they both turned to look over their shoulders. Ashley stopped when he saw me, turning to me, and I stopped right in front of him.
He waved Haz off, and Haz headed over to the wall of the luxury hotel next to us, where he lounged in the shadows. And hopefully couldn’t hear this.
Bad enough it had to happen in the street. I didn’t really want witnesses.
I stared at Ashley, but he didn’t speak. Neither of us had an umbrella, and my hair was getting ruined. At least he had a hat. Another reason to be annoyed. I’d had great hair tonight.
Birthday hair.
“Did you just throw a tantrum and storm out of my birthday party?” I demanded.
He didn’t answer that right away. Just stared at me with a blank-yet-irritated look. Yeah, he’d perfected that look. Probably scared a lot of people away with it, which was the purpose, I supposed.
Didn’t work on me.
Ashley could act cold all he wanted, but I knew he really wasn’t.
“I may have,” he said.
“So you think you can just leave my birthday party.”
He looked me over. My dress was wet and stuck to me and I was almost out of breath and I must’ve looked like a psycho.
“I can’t?” he said, sounding way more amused than he had a right to.
Was thisentertainingto him?
Oh, hell no.
“Absolutely not. I haven’t had my cake yet.” I smeared my damp hair back from my face and sighed. “And thanks to you, now my birthday hair is ruined.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the rain, just under cover of the grand hotel entrance. “Your hair looks fine,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t. Oh, no. It looks wet and ridiculous. About five minutes ago, it looked fantastic. At no point tonight has it lookedfine.”
His lips quirked. “It looks sexy,” he amended.
I rolled my eyes a bit. “You were right, okay? About Carter.”
