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“He was perfectly fine,” she argued.
She was right. There wasn’t anything wrong with him, other than he couldn’t keep his eyes off of the parts of her that I desperately wanted. The champagne was clearly going to my head.
“How much did he give you?” I asked.
“Excuse me?” she asked sharply.
“The check. How much was it for?”
“None of your business.”
“Probably not as much as mine.”
“You are a pompous asshole,” she said before turning to go.
She couldn’t be more right.
“Heart, wait.” I reached for her hand.
She looked down as I intertwined my fingers in hers. I didn’t realize how much I missed this until now.
“Let go of me,” she said.
“I just wanted to help.”
“I don’t need your help, Daniel. I’m perfectly capable of doing my job. I’m perfectly capable of doingeverythingwithoutyou.”
She tugged her hand away, but didn’t walk away. She just stood there with her arms crossed in a beautiful party dress, staring into the crowd of people.
Chapter 29
Addison
I tried to calm down and not show Daniel that I was visibly shaking as I stared out at the crowd of Manhattan’s elite all in their thousand-dollar cocktail dresses and custom tuxedos. Seeing them sipping on champagne and tossing money around like it was nothing only made me more aware of how much I wanted to disappear in that moment. I didn’t belong here.
I tried getting out of it, but Brian insisted I come and try to schmooze the wealthy while they were a little tipsy and giving money away. Of course, I should have known there was a chance I would see Daniel, but I had no idea he would have the balls to pull off what he just did. In front of a potential donor, no less.
Maybe a part of medidknow I would run into him, which was why I spent a little more money than I would have liked to on this dress at the consignment store and maybe added a little more rose blush to my cheeks. Now, here he was in front of me, and I had no idea what to do. It wasn’t like I had any friends here to lean on.
“Heart,” he said softly.
I blinked back hot tears before shooting him a look. “What?” I asked sharply.
“Can we please just talk?” he asked.
“This is hardly the place.”
He looked around the banquet room for a moment and then signaled for me to follow him. I hesitated before reluctantly giving in. Would I ever be able to say no to this man?
He pushed open a pair of double doors that led out into an empty hallway. He fidgeted with his tux jacket, buttoning it up and then unbuttoning it. I was growing impatient.
“Well, you have me here. So talk,” I said, crossing my arms.
He let out a deep breath through his nose. “Well, it’s kind of hard when you’re being so…”
“So what?”
“Hostile.”