He smiled that heart-melting lopsided smile as he got nearer, and threw a thumb over his shoulder. ‘Was that… Marley Dempsey? The hotel heiress?’
‘The one and only,’ Beth smiled. ‘And I think you might have turned her head,’ she added coyly. He chuckled but resisted turning round to watch Marley’s taut derrière walk away, something which Beth couldn’t help but appreciate. His restraint, not the younger girl’s derrière.
‘Not my type. Too much silicone for someone so young. Plus from what I hear she comes with a lot of baggage…’ He grimaced and Beth laughed, recalling how Marley’s scandalised father had been threatening to sue left, right and centre when topless photos of his daughter had been leaked on Twitter. It was later revealed that the attention-seeking youngster had herself been behind it all.
‘Well, I’m sure you’ve already realised that it’s a common theme around this store. Carlisle’s tends to cater for Manhattanite kids who have way too much money and who are very, very, bored. Lucky for us, though.’
Ryan smiled and put his hands in his pockets. ‘Right. I have gathered that, and I’ve only been here two weeks. But speaking of bored Manhattanites, I’m new to the city and I haven’t really got my bearings here just yet. I was wondering if you’d be interested in showing me around, maybe grab a drink or even dinner sometime?’
Beth’s heart beat faster and she felt as if she was a teenager again, being asked out by the cutest boy in class. She automatically felt the word ‘yes’ forming on her lips when she remembered something that she had been too easily forgetting lately whenever she came within close proximity to Ryan Buchanan.
That she had a long-term boyfriend, the love of her life.
She and Danny had had a great weekend – one that Beth was sorry to see end, if only for the fact that it had been nice to spend a bit of one-on-one alone time with him. But even in light of the fact that he had been attentive and loving to her since getting home late last week, she couldn’t deny that something felt ‘off’ lately. She couldn’t put a finger on it, or why she was even feeling that way. She just knew that something wasn’t right.
Of course, there was that trouser pockets issue. She had briefly forgotten about it once Danny had turned on the charm and started kissing her – which had led to other things – but when she woke up the following morning, her mind immediately returned to the incident. She had racked her brain to figure out just why he had been so possessive about his things the night before. She had even thought about checking what he had put in his briefcase that time, but knew that she didn’t want to be that person: the suspicious, snooping girlfriend, constantly looking through her boyfriend’s belongings, searching for evidence of some kind of… wrongdoing.
So she had tried hard just to put it out of her mind and take Danny at his word – that it was just work stuff that he didn’t want to misplace. After all, he had never been one to be sneaky or to lie to her. Beth probably could have done this easily if it had been the onlythingthat had happened, but then there had been that situation with his phone…
Danny had placed the phone on the breakfast counter on Saturday afternoon after he and Beth returned from a cosy lunch at Union Square, and had retreated to the tiny room they used as a study, to check his work email.
Beth had been in the kitchen when the phone had started vibrating on the granite countertop, indicating an incoming call. When she had called out to Danny and had reached for the device to bring it to him, he had come running almost at a full sprint, and practically snatched it out of her hand. And if that wasn’t enough, he’d then retreated again to the other room with the phone, talking in low tones to whomever was on the other end, only to return minutes later and refer to it as ‘a stupid work thing’.
Beth hated that her antennae were fully alert at the moment. And she equally loathed the feeling of insecurity and suspicion that had entered her psyche since. She wasn’t sure if she could even imagine Danny – her Danny – doing something underhand. And frankly, after so many great years together, she couldn’t face the idea that something might be wrong with them, with their relationship.
She had loved this man for so long, had built a life around him, not to mention placed so much of her heart in his hands, that she couldn’t even begin to imagine an alternative scenario. That maybe he was getting bored, or his head had been turned. What if he was interested in or – worse – was falling for something else? Was it even possible that he might not love her any more? Yet that didn’t make sense either, she argued with herself. After all, he had been so attentive and loving towards her all weekend.
But what if that was just all part of an act while he tried to figure out the best way to leave her?
Beth knew that such a thing sometimes happened. She had seen enough of those movies, and knew that it never turned out well for the heroine. At least, until the real hero swooped in to mend her broken heart.
But Danny had always been her hero, her leading man. No, a shift to deception couldn’tpossiblybe the storyline of her romantic movie. She was meant to have a happy ending with Danny. Theirs was the love of a lifetime. It just wasn’t possible that there’d be an unexpected, heartbreaking plot development.
Was it?
‘Well? What do you say?’ Beth heard Ryan ask then, bringing her right back to the present and offering her an entirely different dilemma. ‘I’ve been living in LA, and New York is just such a different animal. You must remember what it was like for you when you first came here,’ he continued. ‘You’re not from town either, right?’
Beth looked back up and met Ryan’s emerald-green eyes, seeing right through the fellow city-newbie line. She smiled, trying to shake off how inexplicably drawn to this guy she felt and shook her head. ‘I appreciate the invite but I can’t.’
He didn’t break her gaze. ‘Another time then.’ But by the way he looked at her, Beth realised it wasn’t a question, it was a declarative statement. And she guessed he was the kind of guy that wasn’t used to being turned down. Or prepared to take no for an answer.
This realisation gave her a tinyfrissonof satisfaction but she quickly pushed it away.
‘Sorry, but I really can’t,’ she insisted. ‘You see, I have a boyfriend. Danny. We’ve been together for seven years, and call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think going out or spending time with another guy, even as friends, would be appropriate.’
Ryan’s expression didn’t flinch. ‘Seven years. Whoa… that’s a long time. You know what they say: the seven-year itch and all that,’ he added jokingly. ‘Think there’s any truth in it?’
It was simply impossible not to be discombobulated by the way he was looking at her, let alone his words, and Beth’s internal thermometer spiked afresh. She worked very hard to control the expression on her face, but felt quite hot and bothered, and was pretty sure Ryan immediately got the answer to his question without her having to verbalise it.
Trying to regain a semblance of composure, she raised her eyebrows. ‘I’m not sure what you mean… isn’t that a movie?’ she asked, unafraid to play dumb.
He laughed a little. ‘I guess it is. But there’s a lot of truth in the expression too. I just got out of a relationship myself, primarily because I moved here. My ex and I, well, she was a California girl through and through. No way would she move here, and I guess that’s probably a good thing. She was great, but not long-term material, you know? I mean, I want to settle down at some point. You more or less know when the time is right, right? And Lauren, my ex, well, she was younger. Doing the club scene every night, which just isn’t my style. It’s fun, but it gets old eventually. Now I know I want to be with someone I can just curl up with on a couch, open a bottle of wine, watch a movie. Know where I could meet a girl like that in New York?’
His question was loaded with meaning, and Beth felt a little weak at the knees by all this attention. She was thinking of all the girls who would justjumpat the chance of settling down with Ryan Buchanan… And she couldn’t help but wish that Danny would be this way, full of purpose regardingtheirfuture. What washewaiting for? Was she not marriage material? Where were they going as a couple?
She shook her head, ridding herself of such troublesome thoughts, and instead tried to focus on the fact that this was simply a flirtation, and likely, it was because Ryan was a little younger than she. This was just the sort of game younger guys played. He wasn’t looking for a partner, he was looking for a challenge, she was sure of it. And Beth certainly wasn’t going to throw her hat into the ring to play that game. She was in an adult relationship, one that was everything she’d ever dreamed of, and more.
‘Well,’ she replied nonchalantly, ‘New York is a big city. Lots of great girls out there.’ She smiled, trying to get across to him once and for all that she wasn’t interested in doing this particular dance.
