Lacey was Harrison’s height due to her heels, and her lips were pressed to his. I gasped. Or at least I think I gasped. I’m pretty sure the noise that came out sounded more like someone strangling a cat. Lacey and Harrison quickly broke apart. Harrison pushed Lacey away and wiped his hand across this mouth.
“Meg.” He turned toward me. “Let me explain.”
Tears blurred my vision. In a panic, I turned and pushed open the door to the stairs and rushed down them and out into the hotel foyer. Jeremy was in the parlor with Patsy. He must have seen me hurry past and out the front door because he followed me. I dashed out into the cool night air and the lengthening shadows and quickly made my way toward the side of the building, my breathing coming in gasps and gulps. Was this what a panic attack felt like? I’d never had one before but I was pretty sure I was in the midst of one.
“Meg. Wait.”
At the sound of Jeremy’s voice, I stopped near a hedge that curved around the building’s edge. I leaned over and braced my palms on my knees, trying to right my erratic breathing.
Jeremy caught up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “What happened?” His voice was caring. He leaned down and searched my face. “Are you all right?”
Still bending down, I swiped the tears from my eyes. “I’m fine,” I breathed, hoping that if I said it, I’d believe it myself.
“Are you crying?” He rubbed his hand in little circles over my back.
“No. I’m not!” I was too emphatic. Damn it. Plus, I was still staring into the hedge, which didn’t make my claim of being ‘fine’ all that believable.
“Meg, what happened?” he repeated. “Tell me.”
I expelled a long, deep breath before forcing myself to straighten to my full height. Jeremy’s hand fell away. What was there to tell? I pressed a hand to my forehead. “I saw Harrison and Lacey...together.”
Jeremy winced. “In bed?”
“No.” I drew up my shoulders. “Not in bed.” Oh, God. How awful would that have been? I closed my eyes. “They were...kissing. Near the lift.”
Harrison came around the side of the building and stopped short when he saw us. Guilt was plastered across his face. “Meg, I need to talk to you.”
I clenched my jaw and jerked my head to the side. “No, Harrison. Go back upstairs.”
“It’s not what you think,” he insisted, his voice tight. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take another tentative step toward me.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not what I think? Seriously? That is the most overused line ever. You can’t come up with anything better to say than ‘It’s not what you think?’”
“Let me explain,” Harrison pleaded, scrubbing a hand through his hair. I’d never seen his hair so mussed.
I ground my teeth so hard my jaw hurt and glared at him. “Were you or were you not kissing Lacey?”
Harrison made an impatient gesture with his hand. “I realize what it looked like, but—”
I squeezed my arms around myself. I’d put up with a lot from him in the last few weeks, but a deal-breaker was a deal-breaker. And ‘no cheating’ was number seven on my Future Husband Checklist. “I’m not blind, Harrison. I saw what I saw.”
“You’re being unreasonable right now.” His voice was calm and measured. I hated it when he told me I was being unreasonable. Unreasonable, dramatic, or my personal favorite, hyperbolic. Fine. Guilty as charged. I was being unreasonable for being pissed after seeing my boyfriend locking lips with a hot actress.
“Listen to me,” he continued.
Jeremy stepped between Harrison and me. “She said no.” Jeremy’s voice was menacing. Okay, that was slightly hot. “Give her some time,” he added.
Harrison turned away in disgust. “Fine. Meg, we’ll talk in the morning.”
I couldn’t even look at him. I kept my face sharply turned away, biting the inside of my cheek to keep the bloody tears at bay. Harrison stalked away as if he was pissed too. Damn him. As if he had anything to be pissed about. He clearly hadn’t appreciated Jeremy’s interference, but too bad.
“I wanted to punch him,” Jeremy admitted. “Not very Darcy-like, eh?” He put his hand on my elbow.
I gave him a half-smile. “No, but completely human. I appreciate the sentiment.”
“There’s still time,” Jeremy offered. “I can catch up to him.”
I shook my head and pressed my lips together. “No, thanks.”
Jeremy stuck his hands in his pockets. “So, they were kissing? That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” I heaved a sigh. “I kept feeling jealous and kept explaining it away. I’ve been defending his behavior this entire time, and now this. I’m an idiot.”
The moonlight illuminated Jeremy’s handsome features. “No. You’re not. You’re just loyal and you trusted your boyfriend. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
I paced away, still trying to right my ragged breathing. “I know she’s tall and beautiful and perfect and has nails that match her clothing, but—”
Jeremy did a double take. “Wait. What?”
“I can’t compete with Lacey. She looks like Megan frickin’ Fox.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he replied.
“The point is, she’s a gazelle and I’m a hobbit. I get it, but—”
Jeremy stopped me with a hand on my elbow. “Look, Meg, you’re making excuses for him. It doesn’t matter what she looks like, and by the way, you’re not a hobbit. Not even close.”
“I’m not?” I blinked. That was the nicest thing anyone had said to me in a while.
“No. And the point is, he should not have been kissing her, no matter what she looks like. He’s with you.” He said it so calmly and steadily, it made me realize what a fool I’d been to explain away all of Harrison’s bad behavior.
I pressed two fingers to my eye. “I never thought she’d want him, you know? She hangs out in Hollywood. I mean, Harrison’s cute and all, but he’s no actor, or, say, as hot as you...” I gestured to him.
Jeremy’s brows shot up. He pointed at himself. “You think I’m hot?”
I furrowed my brow, obviously skeptical. “You don’t know you’re hot?”
“What?”
“Nevermind. The point is that Harrison and I...we made sense. Or at least I thought we did. He meets every criterion on the FHC!”
Jeremy narrowed his eyes on me. “The FHC?”
“The Future Husband Checklist,” I admitted, wincing. Oh great, not only was my crazy flag flying, it was flying at full staff.
“Wow. Okay, I’ve got to hear more about that sometime. But even if he does meet every criterion, you deserve someone who is faithful to you.”
I put my hand on Jeremy’s sleeve and tried to ignore the sizzle of electricity I always felt whenever we touched. Down, girl. Geez, what sort of person was I, for being attracted to Jeremy in the middle of my probable break-up with the man I thought I would marry? I was so screwed up. “Thank you, Jeremy. For everything.”
“Let me take you to dinner,” he said, cocking his head to the side in that way of his. That way I found irresistible.