Page 32 of The Arrogant One

Or maybe, even worse, he was dating her.

Or—oh God—what if he was married to her?

My brain was spiraling, and everything inside me started to burn.

I felt sick.

I slowly returned my gaze to Bryn, filling my lungs, holding in the air as I silently replied to her question,Ihadfeelings for him, yes, but the words never actually left my mouth.

My heart rate was even higher than it had been before I saw him in the restaurant; now, it was making my entire body shake.

I put down the glass and raised my hand to point. “Look over there, in the corner—do you see the foursome? The guy who’s facing us, in a black button-down, with heavy scruff on his face and deep green eyes that are so bold you can see them all the way over here?”

“Yep, I see him,” Cat said.

“Me too,” Bryn agreed.

I sucked in another breath. “That’s Lockhart.”

“What?” Bryn gasped. “No way … he’s with …” Her voice drifted off, as if she didn’t want to say the words I was already thinking.

As soon as she turned quiet, Lockhart’s gaze shifted. It was as though he had heard her, but that was impossible; the bar was too packed, and the dining room was extremely loud.

But he was looking straight ahead now.

And his eyes were directly on mine.

SEVEN

Hart

If there was such a thing as a dream come true, it was happening right now. Because less than fifteen yards from where I was sitting in the dining room of the sushi restaurant, Sadie sat in the bar. She was positioned at a high-top, a martini glass close to her mouth, her hands wrapped around the thin stem.

She had been visiting me in my sleep since my lips had kissed her pussy, and every morning, I’d wake up, wondering if I was ever going to see her again.

Hoped was more like it.

But instead of looking at me like she wanted to get on her knees to suck the cum out of me, matching my desire to lick the orgasms out of her, she was glaring at me as if she wanted to fucking kill me.

And that expression intensified with each second that passed.

Whatthe hell?

What the fuck did I do wrong?

She’s the one who left that morning, not me.

She said something to the other two women she was with, and then she set her glass down and got up from her chair. She didn’t look at me as she crossed the bar and went through the front of the dining room toward the hallway, where the restrooms were located.

I could eye-fuck her for the rest of the night and play this little back-and-forth game of bullshit, trying to figure out what was on her mind, or I could ask her myself.

Given that direct was the path I preferred, I said to the group, “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” and I went to the hallway.

Since this was a restaurant I frequented with friends, I knew the restrooms weren’t onesies. At least in the men’s room, there were several stalls and urinals, so I cracked open the door to the ladies’ room, checking if there were other women in there besides Sadie.

From here, I had a clear view of the stalls, where there weren’t any feet, and of the sinks, too, where she was standing. She gripped the sides of the porcelain and was staring at herself in the mirror.

Fuck, she was beautiful.