Page 26 of Rules in Love
“Are you sure she wasn’t talking about bubble baths?”
“Possibly both. But give it a whirl. It would be a shame to waste such a pretty shirt.”
“Oh, you like it? Teddy was making pirate jokes all morning.”
“I like it very much. The skirt too. You look beautiful. You always look beautiful, Scarlett.” For a second, he smiled at me in a manner that could melt the skin off my face. But he seemed to catch himself, almost grimace, then look down to study his food. “I guess we better hurry up and get back to work.
That was it. The fun—if you could call it that—was over. For the rest of the day, I was forced to make do with the occasional lingering smile, raised brow, and two or three definite glances toward my lips as I spoke. I would even call him snappy, at a few points. The pitifully held-on happy moments were spaced out over a nine-hour day, leaving a lot of time for nothing. Nothing but business, which I reminded myself, is how it should be.
Our initial thinking was to combine some aspects of each design we knew Jocelyn approved of into one—a beautiful Frankenstein if you will. But it wasn’t coming together. The flow and openness of both methods worked well together, but Finn’s design was more controlled by traditional form and space constructs, whereas mine was modern and informal. We tried numerous ways to meld the two, but none felt right. We both knew it, but neither seemed to want to admit it.
Fatigue began to set in. Noticing the decreased hum from the main office, I looked over to Finn, who was busy working away with his tongue poking from the side of his lips, then at my watch. It was already six, and we were the only two remaining in the building. The dull thud of rain began patting against the window, and heavy thunder rumbled through the heavens. If I’d pictured this situation as I lay in bed last night, I would have considered it a perfect setting for romance. For bending, if not breaking, my ideological stance and my Sahara Desert dry spell.
But it wasn’t. Finn’s indifference had made that perfectly clear. He regretted last night. Work was work and nothing more. I’d had enough, and I wasn’t the only one.
“Scarlett, this isn’t working. We need to start from scratch, to design something from the ground up…together. It will mean a lot of time locked away with me, working one on one. Are you up for it?”
Am I up for it? This time yesterday, I would have screamed, ‘HELL YEAH,’ and tossed my knickers in the air. But now?
“Yes, absolutely. Are you?”
“I don’t have much of a bloody choice, do I?”Exsqueeze me?“No more for tonight, though. I’m done. I can’t spend any more time locked up here with—” Catching his words, Finn looked up at me from beneath his curls guiltily, maybe even apologetically. But it was too late. The intent was clear, and the blow landed.
Scarlett
Thunder and lightning drowned out my self-pitying mumbles. A torrential downpour was unleashed from above, and I was caught smack-bang in the middle of it as I walked home down Sixth Avenue.
It was a perfectly miserable end to a fucking miserable day.
I can’t spend any more time locked up here with—
Me. He couldn’t wait to get away from me. What the hell was with that?
Why was he acting so differently? So cold, so jerky, so…un-Finn.I wracked my brain, replaying the events of the last twenty-four hours again and again, looking for any clue, but I drew nothing but blanks.
Naively, my hope remained. Maybe tomorrow would bring back the smile that had lit my world. Maybe I would look into his eyes and see that cheeky, flirtatious sparkle that inspired such trust in me. Maybe then I could forget the eagerness he’d displayed to be rid of me.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Maybe I should have checked the weather forecast, brought a raincoat or umbrella, and not strutted around in a white shirt and baby-pink bra. But I didn’t, so I splashed my way through the puddles in what was essentially a corporate dine-and-dash. Terrified that Finn would feel obligated to drive me home, I waited for him to go to the bathroom and bolted. The fear of being in his car again, of not feeling what I felt last night, was so strong, I’d rather risk death by lightning. At least that would be quick.
Two blocks into my journey, the menacing little toot-toot of a car horn scared the absolute crap out of me, and I almost slipped on the wet sidewalk. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who the driver would be.
Do not acknowledge him.I tilted my chin and stared to my right. But my dismissal was rendered useless by the sparkling glass of the Capital One bank branch. It acted as a mirror, reflecting the approaching headlights, a Jeep slowing to a halt on the wrong side of the road, and a familiar, beautifully concerned face. “Scarlett, what are you doing? Why didn’t you wait? Let me give you a ride.”
Even yelling over a storm, his tone was softer than it had been for ninety percent of the day. It pissed me off.He treats me like a BO-riddled leper whose finger had dropped into his coffee, ignores me, then chases me down in his stupid, sexy Jeep and beckons me? I don’t think so, buddy.At work, I had to be polite and kind. Here, on the mean streets of New York, I didn’t.
“Fuck no.” Shit. “I mean…no, thank you. I am fine as I am. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you.”Way to stick it to him, dipshit. That’ll show him.
I kept walking, and he kept creepily rolling along beside me. It was the stuff slasher flicks were made of. “Don’t be stupid, Red. It’s pissing down. Get in the car.”
“Safety 101. A woman should never accept a ride from a stranger, especially in New York. You could be a mass murderer for all I know. The fact you insist on driving instead of walking like a normal person tells me everything.”
“What, I’m a stranger now?”
I stopped and threw my hands to my hips. “Quite frankly, yes. The man I spent today with was not the same one I shared tiny morsels of Spanish food with yesterday. And since I don’t know which version of you is the real you, you are, for all intents and purposes, a stranger. Hence, no ride. Thank you.”
What?” The confused bastard laughed. His Jeep stopped, the door opened, and he strode toward me in the rain. “Come on, Scarlett.”
