Page 3 of The World

“Pardon?” His eyes were still angry, still hot as hell, and when he turned them up at me, they created some kind of static interference that made my mouth disconnect from my brain.

“I mean, you had to have wanted something pretty badly to be so put out about losing a handful of tickets,” I heard myself say in the most dismissive way possible.

He sucked in a breath that had him nearly vibrating with fury. “I wonder, were you born an asshole? Is it nature or nurture?”

“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded, forgetting my own provoking behavior in my outrage.

“It means, I generally believe that the world is good and most people in it are kind. But every once in a while, I meet a rude, entitled asshole and I wonder, have you always been this way?” He looked me up and down the way Simone had earlier, but with no affection whatsoever. “Or did the attitude come with the designer suit?”

My jaw dropped.No onespoke to me that way. Not ever. I was polite. Occasionally, even charming! Everyone knew it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be traipsing around the freakin’ globe to represent my company. This guy… thiswriter person…was obviously deluded.

“And you know the worst part?” he continued relentlessly. “You have everything. You’re hot, you’re young, you have a friend by your side.” He hooked a thumb in the direction Simone had gone. “You don't seem to be hurting for money. And you don’t seem to appreciate any of it. I feelsorry for you.”

Then he justwalked away, leaving me stunned and gaping.

“Hey, where’d the cutie go?” Simone said, reappearing by my side. “I have his tickets.”

“He’s not a cutie,” I said hotly. “He called me a hot, rich, entitled asshole who doesn’t appreciate his life, then he…walked off.”

The injustice of it burned. I appreciated the things I had! I appreciatedSimone! Sure, I’d missed the last five events she’d begged me to attend, but that wasbusiness.Unlike most of the people who’d given up on me, Simone understood.

Didn’t she?

“Hot, huh?” Simone followed my gaze into the crowd, though the guy had long since been swallowed up by the press of people, and tapped her smiling lips thoughtfully.

I turned to her. “That’swhat you heard me say? That he called me hot?Did you hear the part where heinsultedme?”

Her lips twitched. “Yup. Then dared to walk away fromtheTaika Parata without even giving you the last word! So traumatizing.”

“I’m not entitled,” I told her. “I work hard.”

“You do,” she agreed. Then she grinned. “I notice you’re not arguing thehotpart, though. And if you think I didn’t catch the wayyouwere looking athim, you’re crazy.”

I scowled. “You’re insufferable. And to think I flew in from Lisbon a day early for this.”

She wrapped both hands around my elbow. “You came here to support me because you’re a very good friend,” she said seriously. “A very good friend who made me a solemn promise. And you’re going to stick to it.”

“Solemn promise,” I scoffed. “You didn’t even explain how the raffle works. If we’re not going to do these activities together, what’s the point?”

“The point is, sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone, Tai. Sometimes you need a perspective shift. Sometimes you need to be open to surprises.” She held up a handful of tickets and smiled devilishly. “And sometimes you need to remember how to make nice.”

Two

~Ethan~

I needed a drink.I could barely afford one, and sure as hell notmorethan one at an event like this, but the suit at the raffle table had managed to do the almost-impossible: he’d pissed me off.

What an ass. What a tall, chocolate-eyed, floppy-haired, high-cheekboned, sexy-enough-to-make-me-babbleass.

Wait, no. Scratch that.

He wasnotattractive. Not… not even alittleattractive.

I nudged my way through the crowd, stepped up to the bar, and lifted a hand to get the bartender’s attention. His eyes skipped over me like I was invisible.

Par for the course tonight. Universe -1, Ethan - 0.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I hated losing my temper. Back in O’Leary, New York, where I grew up, people called me Sunshine, for God’s sake, and only partly because of my yellow hair. I was glass-half-full, all day long. But there was something about suit-guy that pushed my buttons.