Page 96 of Let Me Say It Again

Son of a bitch. I hit the palm of my hand on the leather seat next to me. “Alistair, do you see this congestion clearing up anytime soon?”

I only asked him because I hoped to hell that he had a different answer than the one flashing in my mind.

“It’s raining, sir, so—”

“I know.” I ground my teeth. I could have finished that thought for him. It rained, and that always meant unavoidable traffic that lasted longer than I cared for.

When it came to Jade and getting what I wanted, I had zero patience. The word “wait” wasn’t in my vocabulary.

Fuck. Getting Alistair to follow Jade’s cab seemed like the best option at the time, but now I was beginning to think it was all for nothing.

I took my phone out and tried calling her. Straight to voicemail. Her phone was off.Real nice, Jade.

Peering out the window, I watched the rain pelt the ground. “Fuck this,” I spoke to myself primarily, shaking my head the entire time.

Alistair heard me, though, and looked back at me in the rearview mirror. But he didn’t say anything in response.

“I’m going to get Jade, and then you can drive us both home,” I said, seriousness in my voice.

He nodded, most likely understanding that I had to do this.

Getting out, I cursed myself for everything that I’d done that led me to this point. I cursed myself for hiring her as my assistant. For having her drop off my dry cleaning. For lying toMark about us being engaged. For dry fucking her. For sharing a room with her in Newport. For sleeping with her and loving every second of watching her come for me, letting her walls down and being fully in the moment. If I closed my eyes, I could still remember exactly what she looked like at each of those times. I could have painted them if I had a lick of artistic talent. I didn’t, by the way. The thing I cursed myself for the most, though, was not stopping her from walking out of that charity event. From not grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to me and kissing her senseless.

Then maybe she would have known where I stood—wanting to marry her for real one day and her being my very real fucking fiancée now.

Slogging through the puddles, I let the rain fall down on me, because what else could I do?

Horns were honking, people were screaming profanities. I stuck up my middle finger a few times and prayed no one could suddenly hit their gas pedal and take me down.

She was only a few cars in front of me, and yet, it seemed like I’d been trekking through the damn Alps. By the time I finally got to her cab, I was drenched, cold as shit, and annoyed that I couldn’t live without this woman. This woman who was going to be the death of me. But also, this woman who was going to give me the life I wanted to live. With her.

Jade was looking the opposite way naturally, so I rapped on the window hard, so hard that my chilly knuckles actually had a twinge of pain from the intensity. Not that I gave a shit because my heart hurt a whole lot more.

She turned her head, her mouth falling open, and her eyes growing wide. “Red?” she asked as she opened the door and let me in.

I got in, Jade already moving over.

Now, this wasn’t the time for this, but I couldn’t help but think about how I despised the rain. Snow I could handle. New York’s ridiculously hot summers? Sure. I was used to it all. But rain? I hated it.

“Hey!” the driver shouted as I got comfortable. “You can’t just—”

“I’ll pay triple whatever she owes you,” I said without blinking. I’d buy the fucking taxi from him if it meant he’d leave me alone and shut the hell up through what I was about to say to Jade.

Without another word, he stared at the road ahead.

“Red, what are you doing here?”

“I’m coming to get you. What areyoudoing, Jade?”

Her eyes were glassy, and I could tell she was filled with emotion. I knew the feeling well. Except I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and punch a wall. “I don’t understand—”

“You don’t understand, what? That this ring belongs to you?” I maneuvered my body on the seat and pulled the ring out of my pocket. “Because it does.” I held it out for her to take.

She looked down at it, but didn’t make a move to take it.

No worries, I’d hold it all fucking day and night for you, Jade.

Finally, she said, “It’s not that simple.”

---