Oh yay, that old chestnut. It’s not what it looks like.
I yanked my hand away from his. “Do you know how many times I—and probably every other woman in the world—have heard that excuse? It’s bullshit. It’s always what it looks like.”
“I know it sounds like a cliché, but this time it’s different,” he replied, his intense gaze still locked on mine.
I rolled my eyes. “Sure it is. You must think I’m an idiot if you actually think I’d fall for that.”
Especially seeing as we only just met, I silently added. Like hell I was getting emotionally invested in someone when this kind of crap was already happening within two hours of us meeting.
I knew better than that.
Candice had the vaguest hint of a smug smile on her face now, despite the trail of tears marking her cheeks. I had no idea why she was happy. Her boyfriend had been actively trying to cheat on her, so even though I was leaving, she’d still lost in the grand scheme of things.
“Rory…”
Ben’s voice trailed off as I marched away, hoping to god that I wouldn’t trip over courtesy of the heels I’d worn in order to look sexy. If that happened, it would be the final cherry on top of the crap-cake tonight had turned out to be.
Luckily, I managed to stay on two feet, and as I stepped outside, I saw a cab idling by the edge of the street. Thank god. I jumped in it, and just as I closed the door, I saw Ben heading towards me.
“Wait!” I heard him say. “Let me explain! Christ, Rory, just fucking wait!”
I’d fallen for that ‘let me explain’ line one too many times in the past already. Decent guys didn’t get themselves into situations that needed explaining, unless they were the lead character in a rom-com…and everyone knew real life wasn’t anything like the movies.
Whatever. I’d only just met the guy, anyway. A week from now, this debacle of a date would be a distant memory. At least that’s what I was going to tell myself for now.
“32 Kinsella Street in Hunter’s Point, please,” I said to the cabbie, who nodded and pulled away from the curb. I didn’t exactly live in a good area of town, but it certainly beat being anywhere near Ben right now. Hell, I’d rather be freezing my butt off in Antarctica than be anywhere near him right now.
Fuming, I pulled out my cell phone, ready to give Dana an earful for setting me up with such an asshole. As I turned the screen on, I saw that I already had three missed calls from her along with two texts. My phone had been on silent, so I hadn’t noticed, and with a frown, I opened the texts.
OMG. I’m so sorry. Rob just called me to tell me that Ben forgot about the date and accidentally double-booked himself tonight. I hope you haven’t been sitting there alone for too long!#p#分页标题#e#
The next text read: I know you’ll probably never want to meet him now, but on the off chance that you do, I managed to get a photo of him from Rob. Here he is.
Attached to the message was a photo…and it wasn’t the guy I’d just been on a date with. The man in the photo was blond and skinny with green eyes.
In a reflex action, I turned my head and looked out of the car window as we pulled away from the hotel. In the distance, I could just make out the guy I’d thought was Ben standing there on the edge of the street, watching me leave in the cab.
Only he wasn’t really Ben.
So who the hell had I just been on a date with…?
Chapter Two
Finn
What a royal fucking screw-up.
I still couldn’t get over what had happened; pissed at myself and Candice for ruining what had been the most interesting date I’d been on in...well, years. To tell the truth, I wasn’t usually the dating kind, unless a quick and dirty screw with whichever girl who wanted to jump on my cock on any given day counted as a date.
That Rory girl had been different, though. The second I’d seen her from across the room earlier, my heart had started thudding in my chest at twice its usual rate, and I’d known I had to do whatever it took to get to know her.
After Candice blew our date up, I tried running after Rory’s cab like we were in a movie, but it soon became apparent that I would never be able to catch up. She would’ve been long gone by the time I managed to get my car or hail another cab, so that was fucking pointless.
Incensed, I strode past Clancy’s exterior and went back into the main hotel lobby, my hands forming fists at my sides. Elijah, the general manager, caught up with me and started bombarding me with questions, but I didn’t hear a single one of his words. I was too focused on Rory, sweet Rory, who’d just gotten away from me. I’d probably never get to see her again after the pathetic stunt Candice had pulled in front of her.