I chase her.
Outside the café, I look left and don’t see her. Then I look right as she slips into a cab.
I hear someone yell behind me, “Your lass left her bag.”
I turn around and look at the tiny, little patchwork quilted purse and think, Perfect.
“Thank you. I’ll get it to her.”
Watching her cab pull away, I legit jump in front of another then hurry inside. “Dude, follow that cab.”
“All right then.” He laughs.
Pulling up behind Kendall’s cab, I toss a twenty to the driver then scramble out just as the cab pulls away from the curb.
I sprint toward them. Luckily for me, traffic stops and I’m able to get to them before they pull away from the hotel.
When I open the door, I see her sparkling blue eyes filled with tears.
“The lass needs to pay her fare,” the cab driver snarls.
“Watch your fucking tone,” I snap as I toss a twenty at him then pull her out.
“I left my—”
I hold up her purse.
“Thank you.”
She reaches for it and ends up stumbling over the curb and into me. And then … we fall.
I’m soaked, she’s shocked, and I can’t help laughing at the situation.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, pushing up off me.
“Don’t be. This is almost exactly how I pictured this night ending while I was on stage.”
She sighs as she stands.
“Well, I’d have been on top, and you’d have been the one soaked.”
“Ben Sawyer.” She stomps her foot and manages to splash us both.
Laughing, I jump up and pull her behind me toward the hotel entrance.
Once at the elevator, she pulls her hand away, and I turn to look back at her.
“I’m not having sex with you.” She whispered sex.
“Wouldn’t expect you to on a first date.”
“We haven’t had a date.” She sighs. “You should go.”
I search her eyes, seeing perplexity gleaming in them. “How about you let me come up and clean my sorry ass up a bit?”
She steps back into the empty elevator car, and I step in next to her.
When the door closes behind us, I turn to look at her, but before I have the chance to say a word, she whispers, “I’m not looking for anything. And by anything, I mean, anything like—”