Page 33 of Selfless

I bite the inside of my cheek, push my chair back, and glare up at Ryder. The fucker actually winks at me! God, I want to scream! But I remember I have the best revenge right in front of me. I get up and walk around the table. I grab Nick’s hand and pull him to stand.

“I’m so sorry, Nick,” I say, sounding sincere. Not like this date was going to lead to anything but still, Ryder doesn’t know that. I lean in to give him a kiss on the lips, but I’m yanked away instantly.

“Gotta go sis,” he says tightly, and I give Nick a smile as I allow Ryder to drag me through the restaurant.

As soon we reach outside, I shove him away. “What the fuck was that?” I shout.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says into his phone and then hangs up.

“You are unbelievable, you know that?” I snap. “I can’t believe …” I fist my hands down by my side.

“I needed to talk to you, and you’ve been ignoring my calls all day.”

“Because I don’t wanna talk to you,” I scream, wide-eyed. I feel they may pop from my anger. “How hard is that for you to understand?”

“Babe …”

“Oh, don’t you dare”—I point at him—“start that shit! You cannot just walk in and call me babe.”

“I’m sorry,” he says in a rush as if I’m going to interrupt again, but I don’t ‘cause I literally have nothing to say.

I can’t help but look him over. He’s wearing the same suit he was wearing this morning, but now his top two buttons are undone and his sleeves are rolled up, sans tie. He looks so good that it makes my heart beat faster and also makes me want to stomp my foot like a child throwing a tantrum and kiss him at the same time. This is so not fair.

I take a deep breath and pull my shoulders back. You can do this, Ashlyn. “I told you everything I wanted to tell you this morning in your office. I have nothing else to say to you.” Then turn around, giving him my back, and walk off down the sidewalk.

“Ashlyn, wait!” he calls out. I don’t stop.

I hear him call out my name a few more times, but I make my way through the busy Manhattan crowds not even sure where I’m going. I think home is the opposite direction, but I’m not about to turn around. I need to get away from him.

I have to slow down as the crowd gets thicker, and I feel a hand wrap around my upper arm and I’m yanked off the sidewalk between two buildings.

“Ryder!” I snap.

He pushes me up against the red brick building and pins my body with his. Before I can move, he places both of his hands on my face, and then his lips are on mine. “Ryder ...” I mumble as I try to shove him away with my hands on his chest.

He releases my face, and I think for a second he’s gonna back away.

Instead, he grabs my hands and pins them above my head against the brick wall. Desire pulls between my legs. “Kiss me,” he says breathlessly as those dark green eyes look down into mine. “Kiss me, baby. Please,” he begs, and I growl in frustration. He can’t do this! I won’t let him! “I’m …”

“Shut up, Ryder,” I growl against his lips. He presses his lips to mine again, and I struggle with the decision to kiss him back or shove my knee into his groin.

“Ashlyn?”

Hearing my name makes me panic. I lift my knee and Ryder lets go of me, stumbling away and bending at the waist. He coughs from the unexpected turn of events.

“Ashlyn?”

We both look at where my name was called, and I see Nick standing over on

the sidewalk, staring at us wide-eyed.

“Nick.” I say embarrassed of what he just saw.

He stands there with a to-go bag in his hand, and his eyes dash back and forth between us. I let out a sigh. “I’m so sorry, Nick. I didn’t mean for tonight to go like this,” I tell him.

He drops the bag, and it hits the ground as he takes a step back. “You kissed your brother,” he says horrified.

Ryder snorts, and I glare at him before I look back at Nick. “I can see it looked that way, but that’s not what happened.”

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