I shook myself out of my reverie and gave the driver the intersection of my building. Addison’s eyes met mine, and I instantly changed my mind. “Can you just drive around for a while?”
“No problem. Whatever you want. Any specific part of the city?”
“Stay on the island.” The driver nodded and without a word, pulled into the stream of traffic.
“After everything, you’re going to make me do this here?” Addison asked, with a shake of her head. “Really?”
“After everything, you think I stole your fucking book?” I mocked. “Maybe all of my bestsellers were written by ghostwriters. Is that what you think of me?”
Her face crumpled and she shook her head. “No. But I’m not doing this in the back of a cab with someone listening. Can you please stop the car, sir?” she directed her request to the burly cabby. “May I get out?”
“Sure miss,” he replied.
Within seconds we were pulled over less than five blocks from where we started.
Addison clutched her bag on her lap and opened it for some cash she left on the seat next to me, then pushed open her door and exited.
“Shit! I exclaimed, panic setting in. There was no way I could let her run away from me. She was upset and I had no way of knowing where she’d go, or if she could get hurt. We were miles from her small studio apartment, and I had no way of being sure she wouldn’t get lost in her precarious state.
“Addison!” I called after I’d opened the window. She looked back, but then hastened her pace away from me. We were on Park Avenue and E. 64th, and she was heading west toward Central Park at a half walk, half run. “Goddamn it! Hold on.” I threw another hundred on the seat next to the ten she put there. “The fare is on the seat. Thanks.”
I should let her go, but something deep inside wouldn’t let me. Things weren’t settled between us, and if anything, we needed to have it out so we could both move on, I reasoned. But the truth was, she was crying and didn’t know where she was going. I couldn’t just let her run around New York in her condition. I started after her in a light jog. I didn’t bother calling her name again because she’d only run faster. I saw the red awnings of Plaza Athe´nee hotel in front of us. It was barely noon and it might turn heads if we went inside, but I didn’t care. I’d considered the Museum of Modern Art as I’d passed for our discussion, but it didn’t offer enough privacy.
I caught up to her and took her elbow. “Wait!”
She gasped in surprise and we were both breathing harder than normal from our recent chase. We stood on the sidewalk looking at each other.
“Come on,” I said, heading into the 5-star establishment, ushering Addison in front of me. The doorman opened the door without a word. “Thank you,” I murmured.
Once inside, I released her arm and turned to face her. “Wait here,” I said firmly. It was my intention to book a room.
“You’re getting a room?” She asked, astonished. “Sex isn’t going to fix this, Jax.”
I huffed indignantly, my yes locking with hers. “Yeah, I know, but a room offers a hell of a lot more privacy than one of the restaurants or the lobby. Unless you’d rather that?”
“Oh,” Addison said quietly.
The hotel had an old-world charm with arched doorways between the restaurants and the lobby, dark wallpaper and dark wood. I’d stayed in this hotel a couple of times after events that were held here. The place was pricey and elegant. The colors and ambiance more masculine than the newer hotels in the area. There was a sitting area with a TV and dark grey velvet sofas across from the admissions and concierge desks and I ushered her to one of them. “Wait here, and don’t run off the minute my back is turned,” I commanded. “You wanted to talk, so we’re going to have it out.”
After I’d booked the room, I went back to her where she stood. “Let’s go,” I said, nodding toward the elevators.
Once inside, I glance at the small envelope containing the card key. My mind registered the number briefly before I pushed the button for the twenty fifth floor. I didn’t know how much the room was, or even what kind it was, and it didn’t matter. The air in the elevator was charged, but I kept my eyes on the small key envelope I was fiddling with in my hands. 2539 had been written on it in black Sharpie by the desk clerk. This place was dripping with money.
When the elevator arrived on the twentieth floor, I ushered Addison to precede me into the hallway. I led the way to the room at the end of one hall and tapped the key lightly on the sensor pad. When the light turned green, I opened the door and held it open until Addison walked past me into the room.
I barely registered the wet bar on one wall by a sitting area and the deep red wallpaper, but the kind sized bed screamed its presence. I’d been gone for a month and so desire surged. We hadn’t made love in as long and even though I was angry, I wanted to sink into her softness and kiss her senseless, to take comfort from where I wanted it most. Already my body was reacting to just being in the same room with her. For the first time in my life I was pissed off that someone had aroused me. I felt that my dick, which was beginning to throb and spring to life, was a traitor to my heart.
When the door closed behind me with a decisive click, I threw the key down on a side table that was situated just inside the door, and then leaned back against it, shoving both of my hands into my pants pocket. I watched her remove her coat and lay it over the back of one of the sofas. I inhaled deeply through my nose. Her body was slender, but she had subtle curves in all the right places. My eyes devoured her, roaming over her from head to toe, and my cock reacted.
I stood there, watching her, brooding, inhaling a deep breath, I willed my body to shut off. My eyes closed and I leaned my head back against the door.
“Jax,” she began with a shaky voice.
My head snapped up and my eyes opened. I didn’t think there was anything she could say to explain things, but for some fucking reason, I was here, alone with her in a posh hotel room. Aching. “Just tell me why?” My voice did not emit any of the inner turmoil that I felt.
She was standing between a dark olive upholstered couch and the huge bed. “I trusted her. I thought—” she said quietly with a barely visible shrug. “You did, so why shouldn’t I?”
My brow dropped into a frown. “Because I told you not to sign the fucking contract, that’s why! That’s why. Even if I could get over the shit storm you’ve landed us in, I can’t accept that you trusted Gloria, but not me.” My throat began to swell, and I swallowed hard against it.
One hand rose and she pressed the back of it against her trembling lips. I could tell she was crying, though the distance between us and the dimness of the big room prohibited seeing tears roll down her face. “I know. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“You were more than wrong!” I shouted, pushing away from the door and walking quickly toward her, but stopping a few feet from her. She was so brilliant, I sometimes forgot how young she was. “Honestly, Addison, how could you be so reckless and naive?”
She stood straighter and dropped her hand to her side, facing me. Her expression turned from broken to angry. “Gloria said the publishers didn’t want my book, so ghostwriting was a way to go to get my foot in the door. I didn’t want you to think I was using you to publish! She didn’t say that it would be this manuscript. You could have warned me she was a snake!”