I exhaled, a little whiplashed after all that, but I grabbed the remote anyway and sat down, finally ready to watch the game in peace. Before I’d even pressed play, however, the doorbell rang again. I stared at the ceiling for a full three seconds before standing and going to answer it.
Kate stood there holding a brown paper bag in one hand and her wine in the other. She smiled. “I just had to go grab my food.”
She said it as if it explained everything, and before I could respond, she stepped past me again and returned to the stool like she had assigned seating inmyfucking apartment. A place I hadn’t invited her into even once.
As she opened the bag, the scent of creamy pasta and something garlicky instantly wafted through my kitchen. A plastic fork followed the containers she pulled out, and she started eating with zero shame, scrolling through something on her phone between bites.
I frowned. “Are you going to offer me any of that?”
“No.”
“Wow.”
She popped a bite of pasta into her mouth, apparently unconcerned that I was watching her. I shook my head and blew out a long, slow breath. “Is this your actual personality or do you just hate me?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “I hate you.”
I gestured around us. “But you’re in my apartment. For the second time tonight.”
“I know. We should keep talking about Hinds.”
Without missing a beat, she launched into a monologue containing more tidbits of information about the man, random facts she spouted off like she was reading from a list. After she finished the last bite of her meal, she drained her wine and stood, brushing nonexistent crumbs off her pajama pants and placing the empty container on my counter like it was a gift.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Nate.”
She walked out before I could say a single thing, her hair swinging behind her like a final, dramatic punctuation mark. At least she didn’t slam the door, gently drawing it shut behind her instead.
For a very long minute after, I just stood there, staring into space like a complete idiot. Warmth spread through my chest, unwelcome and confusing, but the sensation felt suspiciously close to amusement. I shook it off, grabbed her to-go container, and tossed it in the trash.
The kitchen still smelled like her food and faintly, annoyingly, like whatever she used in her hair. I recorked the wine bottle she’d abandoned on my counter, turning it slowly in my hand.
How on earth does a woman like her exist?
She was a bully, mean and fiery, an intrusion in human form. As I finally pressed play on the game, I dropped back down on my couch and thanked God that the sweet, emotionally forward Emma I’d been talking to—and falling in love with—for years was absolutely nothing like her.
Not even close.
CHAPTER 6
KATE
Rain hammered the glass awning outside the St. Regis like it was trying to turn the entire city into an instant swimming pool. I stood just inside the revolving doors, waiting for my Uber and constantly refreshing the app.
My phone buzzed in my hand, an email notification sliding across the screen, and I smiled as I immediately clicked it. The familiar tone of the message was warm, funny, and easy, and reading it unwound tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying.
I skimmed the lines quickly, my thumb hovering over the keyboard as if I might respond right there in the lobby like an emotionally reckless teenager, but I didn’t. Instead, I closed the message and locked my phone just as a familiar presence crossed my peripheral vision.
Nate strode past me in another immaculately fitted, bespoke suit, an umbrella tucked under his arm like he honestly planned on simply striding unharmed through a thunderstorm. He took three more steps before stopping, then turning sharply on his heels like the universe itself had tugged hard on his leash.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m waiting for my ride.”
His gaze flicked to the rain cascading off the awning. “It’s four blocks.”
“It’s pouring,” I said. “I’m not risking my blow-out to prove I can walk in this weather. I have standards and I spent three hours in a salon chair for this. It deserves the necessary respect.”
His mouth twitched like he wanted to argue but couldn’t find a foothold. He just nodded. “Alright, then. Well, good luck.”
