She arrived back at her place, grabbed her bag, and watched from the corner as the black luxury car pulled away.
“Hi,” Cora said from the front steps of Sorcha’s apartment, a cigarette in her hand.
Sorcha had messaged her friend on the way back from Rian’s, so she was just glad she wasn’t going to be alone, and had someone to talk this out with. They both entered the building, climbed the steps, and once inside of her place she shut the door and leaned against it.
“So, tell me. The texts didn’t give me shit,” Cora said, the curiosity clear on her face.
Sorcha pushed away from the door and walked past the kitchen, but she stopped when she saw a vase with so many white and red roses in it she couldn’t even count them all. On the table was a card and box wrapped with blue tissue and tied with a white bow. Sorcha glanced at Cora, who was propped against the couch. “What’s this?”
Cora shrugged. “No clue. There was a note when I got here twenty minutes ago from the landlord that you had a package at his office. I picked it up for you.”
Sorcha nodded. “Thank you.” She set her bag down and grabbed the card. Inside it just read, “It’s not over”, and it was signed with the initials RH. The postage on the card stated that these had been ordered today. “God, he had these sent over while I was still at his house,” she said to herself, but Cora came to stand beside her.
She whistled low under her breath. “Seems like a week was plenty of time to have the arrogant Mr. Hartford falling head over heels for you,” Cora said and snatched the card out of her hands. Cora read the card and set it on the table. “Open the box.”
Sorcha reached for it, unwrapped the dainty little thing, and when she opened the lid her heart stopped.
“Holy shit, look at the diamonds and pearls on that.”
Inside were the bracelet and earrings that Rian had given her on the night of the dinner party, the ones with the little sparrow and the dainty little jewels on them.
“That’s one hell of a parting gift.” Cora walked into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine. “You have a lot of explaining to do, because I have a feeling Rian Hartford doesn’t give that kind of shit out to just any woman he screws.”
Sorcha looked at the earrings and bracelet again. She looked at Cora, who held out a filled glass of wine to her. “I think I want more with Rian than just this one week.”
Cora gave her a sympathetic look, and said, “Honey, we need to get a major buzz on if we are going to go down that road.”
And for the next hour Sorcha spilled everything that had happened in the last week, and how she was digging herself a hole when it came to wanting a man like Rian Hartford.
Chapter Sixteen
Monday morning
Sorcha stepped off of the elevator and into the office of Rian Hartford. It was early, and she didn’t expect him for another hour or so, but already her nerves were a wreck. After drinking a bottle of wine with Cora last night, and then looking at the jewelry after her friend had left, she knew what she wanted to do. Aside from the animosity that they had shared these last six months, and the fact her being with him for that week had been less than normal in any sense, Sorcha couldn’t deny that what she felt for him wasn’t just a passing emotion. She set her purse on the table, and the bracelet Rian had given her slid down her wrist. Her heart beat faster at the sight and feel of it. The sound of the elevator approaching told her Rian was early. She had refrained from calling him after Cora had left to thank him for the gift, because she would much rather tell him in person. What surprised her the most, though, was that Cora backed up any decision she had. She was a true friend, and if things didn’t work out, then Sorcha knew Cora would still have her back, and be that shoulder she needed.
She turned and saw the elevator doors open, but her happy mood turned sour when Beatrice stepped off in her ivory pumps and matching skirt suit. The word “cunt” slammed into her head as the other woman came forward.
“I’m here to see Rian,” she said with this snooty little voice.
“You don’t have an appointment, and I’d know since I schedule all of them.”
Beatrice flipped her hair and went to move past Sorcha, but before she made it a step she turned again and narrowed her eyes at her. “I did a little digging on you, because I was curious on why Rian would confront me on talking with you and slapping you. Normally he couldn’t care less, but still I was curious. I thought maybe you had something on him and that was why he gave a shit, but turns out you really are no one.”
“What the hell do you really want?” Sorcha had walked away once, but she wasn’t about to do it again.