How had such public drama found her again?
She was supposed to control the narrative after all – not allow chaos to follow her around like an uninvited sidekick.
And what the hell had got into Ward? Why did he fly off the handle like that?
That she couldn’t make sense of. OK, so Rob had grabbed her, and evidently sensing her discomfort (or fear?), Ward had intervened. But to continue it after … that was beyond just standing up for her, it felt almost personal. Like Rob was an opponent in a high-stakes game.
She had been shocked – still was, frankly. But there was something else there, too, now that she examined it. A thrill of satisfaction. Didn’t Rob deserve what he’d got? Hannah didn’t condone violence, but even so, her answer was … maybe.
Her ex had needed to be put in his place for a while – and to think he was going to get away with sucker-punching Ward McKenzie … Despite herself Hannah felt an instinctive flicker of desire.
She no longer cared about Rob, of that she was now absolutely certain. But what about these other feelings? The jolt of butterflies from having Ward defend her honour? Her thoughts turned to how he had effortlessly thrown off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, emerald eyes glittering as the Wildcat readied himself to pounce. She shivered deliciously.
Seemed she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
‘That was HOT! And I have never and I meanneverwanted to shake a guy’s hand so much in my life. And then some.’ Zoe had phoned agog within minutes of the news breaking out, convinced it was the best thing she’d ever seen. Until remembering that it wasn’t so entertaining for Hannah.
‘I’m coming over on the next flight,’ her friend assured, but Hannah managed to persuade her not to. She didn’t feel up to talking, and for the moment, just wanted to be alone for a while until she was ready to think about what to do next.
Regardless of his intentions though, she still couldn’t condoneWard’s actions. Though she couldn’t deny how him defending her so gallantly had made her feel.
Oh, for goodness’ sake stop it!She threw her head back against the cushion propped behind her and then heard a demanding cry.
A moment later, a light weight settled at the end of the couch where her feet were and made the journey up to her chest. A pair of speckled blue eyes met her gaze head-on and the cat tilted its head slightly as if to say, ‘What’s the problemnow?’
Hannah raised her eyebrows. ‘I think you must sense when I’m in crisis since you always seem to turn up when I need a friend.’ Then, realizing she was going crazy, she shook her head. ‘Or maybe Iamturning into a crazy cat lady.’ Her thoughts then turned to her next-door neighbour, thinking at this point she too could subscribe to the appeal of becoming a recluse.
The note that appeared before she’d headed off to the awards ceremony had not been from Ed, but a written apology from Bruno. The doorman was inconsolable that he’d allowed Rob to sweet-talk him into letting him upstairs, her ex insisting that calling ahead to announce his arrival would ruin the romantic surprise he’d planned.
While Hannah couldn’t deny that she was annoyed about it, Bruno was such a sweetheart that she could hardly be angry with him. So while Hannah was pleased that the ruckus with Rob hadn’t changed Ed’s mind about her, it didn’t help that her entire New York move had descended into complete disaster and her future still hung in the balance.
Feeling dejected and emotional, she pulled the cat closer to pet its ears and ran a finger down its silky back. For once it didn’t shrink away or baulk at the contact, and instead purred under her palm, pressing into it.
The simple show of affection was all it took for her to succumb, and she sat in the dark with the animal and allowed herself a little sob, as she contemplated the mess that was once again her life.
Chapter 64
WARD
Ward was sure that he was starting to wear a trench in the hardwood floors of his place from pacing back and forth. Pausing, he picked up his phone for the hundredth time and glanced at the screen.
Several missed calls – press, Johnny, a couple of nosy teammates, his mom – but nothing from the only person he wanted to hear from.
He went to his call log and selected the last person he’d contacted an hour ago … and then an hour before that. Not surprisingly, it went directly to Hannah’s voicemail – again.
He let out a growl of frustration and resumed pacing.
By now he felt like he was going stir-crazy. For the past few days, he’d laid low – taking the advice of Bernie. At this point, it was the least he could do in the hopes of salvaging his career. However, he didn’t know how much he could take remaining holed up at home like this. It felt like the walls were closing in on him.
If only she would talk to him. He could deal with the fallout of everything else if she would just return one of his calls or messages.
Stopping his pacing, he headed into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. The bruises were fading – the one on his jaw was probably the worst still, but at least it had started togo from deep purple to a green-tinged mustard yellow. His split lip wasn’t as visible and was now pretty much scabbed over.
‘Whatever,’ he shrugged. ‘Not the worst I’ve been.’
He headed out of the bathroom and grabbed his jacket hanging by the front door, his gaze drifting to Pretzel’s still-full food bowl, trying to recall the last time he’d seen her. He’d been so distracted with his current predicament that he honestly couldn’t remember.
Vowing to search for the cat later, he shrugged the jacket over his arms, put on a baseball cap and jumped in the elevator, heading down to the ground floor of his building.
