Physical Touch (27 page)

“Mitch, darling. Is everything all right with you? You just ran off like the building was on fire.”    

His tone was forceful, leaving no room for question as he shrugged off her hands. “Please return to the party, Elle, and get your hands off me.” He watched as she huffed and skulked away, while Sasha still stood there mystified as to what was happening.  “Please, Sasha. I need to get to her and explain that what she saw wasn’t what she thought she saw.”

Sasha’s eyes blazed in repugnance. “Oh really? And what do you think she saw, exactly?”

It was obvious that he would need to get through Sasha first before he’d ever be able to explain it to Rylie.

“I think she misinterpreted what she saw between me and Elle. I’m not
here
with her. I’m
here
as a favor to my mother, who asked me to bring Elle. I’m not here on my own accord and she’s not my date. But I think Rylie may have seen Elle’s very possessive and aggressive hands on me, leading her to believe a different story.”

Sasha’s eyes grew dark and assessing. Her hands went to her hips, clearly in her judging stance. Mitch would have told her to “fuck off, I need to go after her,” but knew his only chance was through the voice of reason of her best friend.

His voice grew soft and his hands were shaking, his eyes pleading with her to help him rectify the situation and find Rylie. After several minutes, she finally exhaled and nodded her head in agreement.

“Fine. I’ll help you. But you have a lot of explaining to do. You should’ve come clean before tonight and told her about Elle. It was a douche thing to do and now you’re going to have to pay for it.”

All he could do was agree with her. “I know.”

They both darted off into the main reception foyer, trying to yell for Rylie over the booming music from inside the ballroom. A half dozen people turned to see what the ruckus was about, giving each other sideways glances and staring at Sasha and Mitch as if they were both missing their heads. 

Returning from the grand staircase, where she didn’t see any sign of her, Sasha ran back to the ballroom doors to find Mitch standing there, frantically typing in his phone. That reminded Sasha about the keys to the car, which were in her clutch. She opened it up and dangled them in joyous triumph, flashing him a gigantic smile. 

“She can’t get far without these! Her purse was too small for them so I put them in mine for safe-keeping.” When he gave her a look of confusion, she threw up her hands in exasperation. “That means she must still be around here somewhere, nimrod.”

“Great. I’m going to check the perimeter and the terrace, you go downstairs and check the atrium.” As he gave her directions, Jax came stalking out into the hallway toward them.

“What the fuck is going on?” he inquired, first looking at Mitch and then centering his attention on Sasha, who was small and petite next to both of their large towering frames. “And who the hell are you?”

“Jackson Koda, meet Dr. Sasha Lee, Rylie’s friend and boss.” They both quickly shook hands and nodded their greetings. “Rylie was here, Jax. She saw me with Elle and I think assumed I was
with
Elle. It probably didn’t look good in her eyes, but now she’s run off and we need to find her.” 

“Okay, tell us what to do.”

“You two go downstairs and check the lobby and bar and out on the street. She could’ve jumped in a cab. I’m heading out to the terrace. Text me if you find her.”

“Will do. You’re coming with me, Shorty.”
Jax directed Sasha. “Let’s go.”

Yep, she did it again.

She was running away from all of her stupid, girly feelings and the humiliation she felt when she saw Mitch with another woman. A woman who he said he didn’t have. He told her not once, but twice, that he wasn’t with anyone, that he didn’t have a girlfriend. And yet she witnessed it with her own two eyes. Clear as
day and more painful than a thousand paper cuts to her heart.

The moment she jumped in the waiting cab and fled for home, she put her plan in place. She’d dialed up Mark, told him she was coming and then told him she’d call him as soon as she got to the airport. Then she went online the moment she got to her apartment to purchase her ticket. Throwing as few items of clothing and necessary toiletries in her suitcase as she could, she grabbed her passport and walked out the door.

The only slight, teeny, tiny problem interfering with her hasty plan was that she lacked her car and car keys. But she knew they’d be in good hands with Sasha until she returned. And then, of course, there was an issue with Sasha and her job.

The worst thing that could happen was that Sasha could fire her ass for leaving without notice. No, the worst thing was that Sasha could kick her ass for leaving. Either case, she was going to hear an earful the next time she spoke with her. Which could be any moment, because according to her phone display, she’d received four calls from Sasha and two texts. And then there was the ten she saw from Mitch.

She feared the inevitable. She knew there was no getting out of talking to Sasha, but maybe she could delay it until she hit another continent. Mitch was another matter altogether. She didn’t owe him shit. He was a user, a playboy, a liar and a cheat. And not necessarily in that particular order.

As the cab drove her to Logan, her thoughts drifted again to what she witnessed and experienced that night. A night that was supposed to be filled with fun and friendship that had turned on a dime to humiliation and anger.

God she was so angry. She should’ve stayed and punched him in the balls. She should have stayed behind and railed on him for making her feel like a piece of worthless shit. And for what? What reason did he possibly have for lying to her like that?

One moment he tells her he loves her and is buying her flowers and talking about their future, and the next he’s practically flaunting the canary woman in his face! Well, okay, maybe not to that extreme, but it hurt, nonetheless.

The pain was excruciating. She knew it would hurt. Now she finally understood what her father felt when her selfish-ass mother up and left them. It felt like her heart had been hollowed out with a spoon, yanked out with forceps, and then covered with igniter fluid and scorched in a burning pile of coals.

Her solution was to get the fuck out of Dodge. To put the five thousand or so miles of distance between them, at least for a little while, so she could forget about the
asshat who used her and made her feel cheap and dirty.

When she arrived at the airport, she called Mark again to let him know her flight details and when to expect her. This time, instead of sounding excited, he sounded determined to keep her away.

“Rylie. I’d like nothing more than for you to come visit me. For you to see what’s going on in the world and to help out. But it’s obvious you’re not in the right frame of mind right now. You’re upset. You’re not thinking straight. Come on, you don’t have to do this now.”

“What the fuck, Mark? You didn’t put stipulations on this when you asked me to come before. I’d even endured all the needles and vaccinations a month ago knowing I’d be coming to visit you. I thought you would want to see me. I thought you loved me...”

She could hear the words she spoke, but knew she was saying them for someone else. Someone else who had told her he loved her, but obviously didn’t want to give up his lifestyle to accommodate her.

“You know it’s true, Ry. I do love you. But you’re just using that as an excuse to escape your pain. You need to stay there and deal with whatever shit’s going on with you and Camden.”

She was pissed that he brought Mitch up in their conversation. How dare he even speak his name. She wanted to eradicate him from her mind. Obliterate her thoughts and feelings altogether.

“I can’t. I need to leave.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Several moments had passed and Mark hadn’t said a word. Rylie was lost in her own thoughts as she sat limply in the airport terminal chair, just outside of security.

“I think you’d be making a big mistake if you left right now, Rylie. Sasha will skin you alive the next time she sees you if you get on that plane. You can’t do that to her or your career. She may be your friend, but she has a business to run. She can’t have employees running off without notice.”

They finished their conversation when Mark was interrupted to handle a medical emergency and had left her sitting in the airport terminal in a conflicted state. Her flight wasn’t set to leave for another two hours and she promised she would call him before she boarded.

Her heart ached. She was putting her job and career in jeopardy if she just upped and left. Even though she highly doubted Sasha would ever call in her chips, but there was always a chance. Her head throbbed with the onslaught of a stress headache. Rylie crouched low in the seat, letting her head hit the back of the chair. She closed her eyes to shield herself from the harsh lights of the terminal, wanting to black out and erase everything from the previous four hours.

****

Mitch was nearly out of his mind thinking throug
h the scene that Rylie had witnessed and what she must have seen between he and Elle. He had put up with Elle’s unstoppable flirting for hours and kept his impatience under control every time she let out her whiny, high-pitched laugh, or continued to paw him at every inopportune moment. But when he realized Rylie was there and saw the pain and crude awareness that went through her eyes, it nearly brought him to his knees. 

There is no way he’d ever meant to hurt her. All he wanted was a chance to turn back time and explain to her about Elle and the reason he was with her at this event.  Why hadn’t he just told her the truth in the first place, so she knew she could trust him? 

You’re a dumb shit, that’s why
.

This was a mess and he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. 

And there she was, running away from him yet a third time. They would definitely need to sit down and talk through that little quirk of hers. If they were going to have a life together, she would need to know that she couldn’t just run off at the drop of a hat when things got tough or difficult. My God, she was so stubborn. But he loved that about her. 

He loved her. 

Now he just needed to find her more than ever so she could stop running and he could be the man she needed. An honest and truthful man. 

After
he, Sasha and Jax had spent over an hour searching the hotel for Rylie and continually calling her cell phone, they had nearly given up, until a phone call from Mark interrupted their search. He hightailed it out of there and to the airport, where he now stood looking down over the sleeping form of the woman he loved.

“I know what you think you saw…” he started softly, watching Rylie’s body jerk to life in front of him. He knew what he would see when she opened her eyes. Anger. Hatred. He could deal with anything right now, except defeat.

As soon as he said the words out loud, Rylie’s eyes snapped open and she whipped her head up to give him an icy cold glare. 

“You don’t know shit, asshole.”

“I’ll give you that one. Yes, I’m an asshole. I plead guilty on all accounts.” Mitch dropped to his good knee in front of Rylie, his hands instinctively moving to touch her. Needing to connect on some physical level. “I’m an asshole because I wasn’t upfront and completely truthful with you about tonight. Rylie, I never, in a million years, would do anything to hurt you. Please believe that…this event has been planned for a long, long time. Did you know my mother is the co-chair?”  He was playing the family card, hoping it would soften the blow a bit more. Her expression hadn’t changed. Her glare was still an iceberg.

“Margo Camden, my mother, is a woman of many hobbies, but drumming up money for good causes and bleeding heart campaigns is where she excels.”

Rylie scooted up in her chair, her back stick straight, still ready to defend herself. “What the hell does this have to do with anything, Mitch? What does it have to do with you and me and that canary girl you were with tonight?”

Mitch cocked his head to the side. “Canary girl?”

“Her dress made her look like a canary. I’m sure she’s just as flighty.”

He chuckled at her description. Without even knowing her, she was dead on. 

“Her name is Eleanor Stanwood. Well, she has a married name, but I don’t know what it is.”

Rylie reared up, like a cat ready to fight. “You mean she’s married?”

“No. No. She is the daughter of my mother’s best friend, Betsy. My parents asked me well over a month ago, right after my surgery, to escort Elle tonight because she was just getting over a bad divorce and needed a night out. But then you happened,” he paused, resisting the urge to reach out and touch her face. To hold her hand. To kiss her lips. To pull her in his arms. 

“Jesus, Rylie. I don’t know why I just didn’t tell you upfront about this obligation tonight. If I had, none of this would have ever happened. In fact, after we got back from Miami, I should have just cancelled out on this night altogether. I’m a stupid, fucking idiot.”

Rylie shifted slightly, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms tight around her legs. “Yeah.”

Mitch watched her with fear and trepidation, worried she would bolt at any moment and run through security before he could stop her. She sat there for several painful minutes, her chin resting on her knees, Mitch still on bended knee in front of her. Praying she would forgive him.

“So, I was about to leave for Africa,” she began, letting out a long breath. Mitch’s heart stopped, not wanting her to go further. Not willing to let this end here. “But I can’t go now.” Her voice was full of sadness and despair.

“Yeah?” he asked hesitantly, moving up to take the seat next to her. “Why is that?”

“Because, while you may be a stupid, fucking idiot, you look really hot in a tux.  And if you hadn’t been there tonight, dressed up like double-oh-seven, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to tell you that I think you look really hot in a tux.”

Mitch sat there dumbfounded and at a loss for words, a jolt of happiness bubbling up from deep within. Even in the midst of her anger and the pain he’d caused her, she was still the sweetest, god-damned beautiful woman he’d ever met. 

“Rylie,” he whispered, taking one of her hands from around her legs and pressing it to his mouth. “I love you. And if I hadn’t come tonight and you hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have had the chance to tell you I love you and that I want only you.”

Mitch stood up slowly, taking her hands into his and bringing her up against him, so she could feel the beating of his heart. His hands wrapped around her waist, holding on to her for dear life. His fingers traced an infinity symbol along her back, as she shivered and arched into him, reaching up to touch his lips with hers. 

She pulled back and forced her chin up to look at him, a smile beginning to take shape on her beautiful mouth.

“But I’d rather you take me home so I can get you out of this tux and finish our game. I think the bases are loaded.”