Page 26 of Heartstruck at Dawn
“Probably Erin,” I replied bluntly, pulling away again.
“I meant your boyfriend.”
“The only person who’s in a relationship right now is you.”
“But I saw you today with him, in the lobby.” He grimaced, confused.
“Nolan? He’s a good friend from school,” I clarified. “You, on the other hand, shouldn’t be trying to reach out for another girl’s hand.”
“We’renotdating,” he said roughly, a hint of annoyance coming out of those three words.
Yeah,right.
“William, stop lying. I saw you today.”
“Did you, now? Where exactly?” He raised his left brow. I had just admitted to having stalked him online.
“Ah! Well, that’s not important. The point is that I saw you, and you looked—happy.” I stammered, trying to divert the attention from googling him earlier.
“Is that why you’re in such a bad mood?” He laughed weakly.
“Of course not, don’t be so self-absorbed.” I rolled my eyes, feigning irritation. “Not everything’s about you.” Except it was.
How could henotbe self-absorbed when he looked so painfully handsome and smelled like a delightful fall breeze, Italian oranges, and other manly spices? I had to concentrate on my breathing so my eyes wouldn’t wander. I wanted nothing but to stare at him freely until I memorized every inch of that perfectly tailored suit and how it fitted his heavenly body.
“Tell me,” he insisted with a charming smile, trying to ruin my bad mood.
“About … ?” I hesitated, faking incapacity to follow up with a conversation.
“Where did you see me with Erin? Did you—googleme, Guille?” He laughed, but that wasn’t funny! I saw him kiss Erin on the rooftop a couple of months before, and the premiere photographs were enough confirmation that not only were they dating, but they were going strong. I wasn’t going to fall victim to his charms. Right?
“I did.” I pulled my chin up. I had to embrace it.
“Well, if you googled the event, then youmust’veseen that Erin’s my co-star, so it was only natural, and expected, for us to attend the event together, pretending to like each other, of course. For the optics,” he explained.
“Erin’s an actress?” I asked, and he cracked a full-on belly laugh.
I didn’t get the joke, but that’s a movie I would never want to see. Erin and William going at it on the big screen? Nah-ah. I hoped they were brother and sister in it. Although I was convinced that wasn’t the case.
“Oh, I wish Erin could’ve been here for this. It would’ve helped to mitigate her insufferable ego,” he said in between laughs that were fading out into the bustle of the city below us.
“You must be one hell of an actor then,” I said, allowing the sarcasm to drip from each word.
How was I to believe that what I saw in the pictures was all an act? It looked real enough to me. Real enough to ruin my day.
“I am.” He grinned and searched for my hand again.
“William, I saw you kissing her on the rooftop the other day. Why deny it?”
“It’s not what you think it is.”
I shook my head with disappointment because I’d heard that line before, and it felt wrong to allow him to grab my hand and get close to me if I wasn’t sure if he was in a relationship with someone else or not.
A part of me was dying to reach out for his hand, to pull him close to me, to have his lips meet mine—to end the agony. But the small yet smart part of me cautioned me to think twice before giving in.
Concentrate,Goddammit.
“It’s hard for me to believe you’re not in a relationship with her after all I’ve seen,” I admitted. “Besides, I thought you weren’t speaking to me.”
