Beautiful Distraction(18)

I shake my head, a warning look in my eyes.

“No way.” She laughs. “This is him? The guy who hit your car? The one you said—”

“Shut up.” I roll my eyes. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. The rain must have messed with your brain.”

She laughs again. “Club 69. You were there. He’s the hot guy who propositioned you, and I’m quoting you there.” She points at Kellan like he isn’t sitting across from us, listening intently. “It’s him. I can see it written across your face.”

Kellan’s eyebrows shoot up, and a glint of amusement appears in his eyes. “Hot guy, huh?”

He throws back his head and laughs—a raucous, hearty laughter that makes his perfect chest vibrate.

Suddenly, the generously spaced room is too small and I can’t breathe. My vision blurs.

“Excuse me,” I say and jump to my feet, snubbing Mandy’s quizzical look as I grab her arm and yank hard. “I need to talk to you.”

Somewhere, at the periphery of my perception, I hear Kellan mumble something about staying the night, but I can’t be sure because all I can think is that this trip was one big mistake I shouldn’t have made.





CHAPTER FIVE





“What are you doing?” I ask as soon as we’re outside. My voice is shaking. Not from anger, but from something indefinable. The temperature has dropped considerably, and the dark clouds are a lighter shade of gray, the wind softer.

The storm’s calming down already.

“No, what are you doing?” Mandy sounds annoyed as hell. “You didn’t fuck a Boyd?”

“Obviously, not everyone’s life goal is to hook up with semi-famous guys,” I mutter. “Besides, is someone else occupying your brain? The guy has a girlfriend.”

“Which you didn’t know when you first met him.” Mandy’s expression changes from anger to suspicion. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew him?”

“I didn’t recognize him,” I lie.

I don’t want to lie, but I need to. Mandy needs to drop the whole thing before I die from embarrassment.

“Let me guess. You forgot to mention he drove a Lamborghini?” She throws up her hands in mock surrender. “Oh my god, Ava.”

Why’s everyone obsessed with a stupid car? Particularly one that’s not even worth its price tag, if you ask me. I mean, most human beings couldn’t possibly afford the insurance rate, let alone the payment plan. And you can’t park the thing anywhere without people gawking and at least a few thinking about stealing it.

It’s insane.

“Again, I had no idea,” I mutter.

“Yeah, right. Even someone like you must recognize it,” Mandy says dryly. “There’s nothing forgettable about the car, or the guy driving it, for that matter.”

She’s right.

There isn’t.

But I can’t admit that to her.

“You could have fucked him,” she mumbles. “You know, get back in the game.”

“Oh, my god. Will you just shut up about him?” I shoot her a venomous look and turn away.

“Fine. Whatever. I was just trying to help.”

“How so? By pointing out the one wrong decision I can’t change? Or that my love life sucks?”

She scoffs but remains quiet.

Of course, I regretted not taking him up on his offer three months ago. But what I regretted more was driving home and telling Mandy about it that night because the moment I did, she started calling all her friends to ask whether anyone might know him. Which they didn’t, obviously. Next came the Internet searches. The Friday nightclub stakeouts. And eventually, the reproach that I didn’t do what any woman with her panties in the right place would have done.

“You know…” Mandy starts. Oh, I know where she’s heading, and I’m not having it. “You could always—”

“Don’t say it,” I interrupt.

She holds up her hands. “Fine.” And then she walks back inside, leaving me alone.

The early evening air’s crisp and cools my head. After spending a few minutes on the porch, I decide that seeing Kellan again is of no importance because tomorrow I’ll be gone and his memory will be soon erased from my mind.

When I return to the living room, Mandy’s nowhere to be seen. Kellan’s hard body is sprawled across the sofa, his long legs stretched out, his arm draped across the cushions.

Fuck! I’m alone with him.

My heart speeds up. The entire situation feels way too intimate. My tongue flicks over my dry lips as my gaze sweeps over the room in a desperate search for Mandy.

Where the hell is she?

“She’s upstairs,” Kellan says coolly. “I offered to let you both stay.”