Only he didn’t.
Instead, he dipped his head toward her and moved closer, one arm going around her waist.
I guess I was wrong.
Perhaps in his eyes, Natalia’s obvious attributes outweighed her deficits.
I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and wiped my face clear of any expression.But I was too late.
The look of pity on Noelle’s face left a sour taste in my mouth.
I closed my eyes and affected a deep sigh.“Noelle, we really are just friends.”
“Well,” she quipped hesitantly.“As his friend, you should warn him about that viper.”
I laughed.
A little too hard.
A little too loud.
Then excused myself to check on ‘things’.
‘Things’ because I couldn’t think past the roaring in my ears to come up with a more plausible reason to get away from her.
For the next two hours, I studiously avoided him.With the sheer number of people and ‘things’, God I hated that word, demanding my attention, it wasn’t difficult.
It wasn’t until the end of the night when I was halfway out the front door heading home that he caught up with me.
“Harley, that went so well!”He picked me up and twirled me around.“I’m so damn proud of you.I mean,” he laughed, “I knew you could do it, but seeing you in action was something else.”
I fought the impulse to either cling to him or burst into tears and smiled at him instead.
His smile slowly faded.“What’s wrong?”
I shook my head.“It’s okay.I just want you to know, it’s okay.”
He frowned.“What’s okay?”
“You and Natalia.”
“Me and Natalia?”he repeated, his eyebrows colliding.
“Yes, silly,” I said with a laugh so false it made me cringe.“You and Natalia.I saw you holding her earlier.”
“Holding her…” he replied slowly, his gaze lifting to stare over my shoulder.
I saw the exact moment realization dawned.
Like a blade to my stupidly romantic heart.
I waved his words away before he could even open his mouth.“I get it.You don’t have to explain it to me.I know.”I blinked back my tears and smiled brightly.“We’re just friends.”
His eyes bugged out of his head.
Finally seeing him caught off guard would have made me laugh if I wasn’t so broken up about it.
He captured my waving hands, cuffing my wrists in his hands and tucking them against his chest.
