Because the next thing I hear absolutely stops my heart.
“Jamie? You have a girlfriend?”
I’d just been thinkingabout him. Wondering what he might be up to tonight. Imagining what it might be like to attend an event like this, with my family in attendance, on his arm. I should know better than to allow myself even a moment of dreaming. My life has always been carefully held between my own realistic boundaries, and had I stuck to my guns, I wouldn’t feel the way I do right now.
I know I have no claim to Jamie. He’s a professional athlete. A celebrity. Way too many forums and websites devoted to ogling him. I’m just … me. Normal. Nowhere near as tiny as the stick figure hanging on him. If that’s his type, then I’m definitely not.
“Audrey,” he whispers, a panic stricken expression covering his gorgeous face. The perfectly fitted black tux seems to make his blue eyes even brighter, and I so desperately want to know how his scruff feels against my skin.
“Do you know this man?” Mom asks, a sneer on her overly made-up face. While she definitely wears too much makeup, my mother has always known how to dress. Her gold-beaded Oscarde la Renta dress only offers a hint of cleavage, and it pops against my father’s burgundy suit. I don’t know many men who can get away with burgundy, but my dad can. Then again, it may just be the fact that he can pay virtually anything for designers to outfit him. Anything for appearances.
Between the two of them, I look like an adopted child. While I know I look remarkably good tonight, after finding the most amazing Alexander McQueen silk taffeta dress in a deep navy color that suits my complexion perfectly, I stare at Jamie’s date in sheer awe. Bronze skin on mile-long legs. A pale blue dress with a slit up to mid-thigh … and her arms tightly around Jamie’s waist. That’s the part that I can’t rip my eyes away from.
“Audrey,” Mom snaps, finally drawing my attention away from the train wreck of my life happening right in front of me.
“I’m sorry,” I answer automatically. Clearing my throat, I make the introductions. “Mother. Father. This is Jameson Wahlberg. He’s the quarterback for the Colorado Coyotes football team, and we’ve both been tasked with organizing the charity event I help spearhead every year.”
In most worlds, hearing that the man in front of you is a celebrated NFL quarterback would make most people light up. It seems to displease my parents even more. I can almost hear their internal monologues right now. An athlete? How gauche. Uneducated. New money. Beneath us.
My eyes dart to Jamie’s face, and I find he still looks shell-shocked. “Are you okay? Are you going to get sick?”
My mother immediately retreats with a gasp. I hear her mumble under her breath, “Absolutely appalling behavior.”
“Oh my God,” his date giggles. “Can you even imagine? Don’t you dare puke, Jameson. My shoes are Louboutins.”
I can’t help but screw my face up in distaste. I can clearly see Jamie is incredibly uncomfortable. Then again, I guess I don’tknow him well enough at all. Not even a week ago, I thought he might kiss me, and he’s been dating someone all along? Typical.
“Audrey,” he whispers again. “This isn’t — I mean, it’s not what you think.”
I chuckle sardonically. “Wow. That’s the wonderful metaphor you’re going with? Lovely.”
“I swear. Please,” he says, clearing his throat. “Please believe me. I’ve never lied to you.”
I watch as his date tries to wind her arms around him again, but he shifts, taking a step toward me. I put up both hands, forcing him to stop. “No. Don’t take another step. You don’t owe me any explanation. We’re nothing.”
Jamie grabs the back of his neck in distress. “I don’t believe that to be true. You know me, Audrey. You knowme.”
I shake my head as tears fill my eyes. As I turn away from him, I whisper, “I don’t know you at all.”
Head held high, I quickly walk from the ballroom, only hearing my father demand that Jamie and his date leave. I rush to the elevators, happy when one opens immediately. I hear Jamie chasing after me, but I only catch a glimpse of him as the doors close. His eyes are full of pain, but pain for what? For me? For being caught? For getting kicked out of the event?
I fall against the wall as the first tear cascades down my cheek. Bending down, I remove my shoes, ready to run to my room as soon as the doors open on the forty-third floor. I’d only agreed to stay in the hotel tonight because my parents paid for the room. At over two thousand dollars a night, it’s not something I’d splurge on. I’m frugal to a fault, but even I can recognize the luxury of a beautiful hotel with breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains. I didn’t even realize I’d gotten a deluxe suite until I got here, and there was a note on the reservation telling me I’d been gifted a spa treatment as well. I never givemyself things like massages or manicures, so I considered this weekend to be a perfect treat.
When I woke up this morning, a foreboding feeling swelled in my stomach. I’d felt off all week, hindsight tells me it was because Jamie acted differently as soon as he left my clinic. I’d felt something with him. Something remarkable. Sizzling. Eye-opening. And while I thought I saw those same thoughts in his eyes, obviously I was wrong. His texts all week were more formal. Fairly distant. I chalked it up to me overthinking things, and allowed myself to dip my toes in the dreamland of what if’s. What if he did feel attracted to me? What would it be like to kiss him? How would I feel dating him? Sleeping with him? Falling in love with him?
As I reach my room, I hear the ping of an elevator opening behind me, and male voices make me hurry to pull my key card out of my bra to scan it on the lock. I barely close the door before I hear the pounding of feet as someone jogs down the hallway. Tiptoeing from the door, I reach the bedroom as someone knocks. “Audrey? I know you’re in there.”
Wait. That wasn’t Jamie’s voice.
Turning, I stare at the door. I shouldn’t open it. I know that. But curiosity is getting the better of me, and I slink back to peer out the peephole.
It’s one of the men Jamie was with. I know he’s a football player, but I can’t remember his name. Mason? Marcell? Maceo? Something with an M. He looks down at the ground as his hands bracket the doorframe.
“I can hear your dress rustling around, Audrey. Might as well open the door.” Well, shit. You’d think a luxury hotel wouldn’t have thin doors where he can hear clothing movement, but seeing as how public restrooms in this country have huge gaps between stalls, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised. In any case, I stay still and silent, waiting for him to leave. It’s a good fiveminutes before he speaks. “Listen. My name is Maddox. Jamie is my best friend. I’ve known him a while, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that you’ve got it all wrong. He really is a good guy, and you should give him a chance.”
I can’t help myself. “I know nothing about him, and we don’t owe each other anything. We’re just planning an event. That’s all.”
Maddox chuckles. “We both know that’s not true.”
