Page 10 of Forever Only Once
Chapter 3
Hazel
I lookedat the man with the long beard, rumpled hair, thick thighs, and broad shoulders, taking in his woodsy scent that went straight to places that made me warm. I wanted to crawl under the table and pretend that none of this had happened.
Why hadn’t I introduced myself right away? Why hadn’t I asked if this was the right man?
I had been blown away by his smile and looks, and I was probably now sitting at a table with a serial killer. Great, so this was how I was going to die—the sheer stupidity of an accidental blind date.
Hell.
My phone buzzed at that moment, and I didn’t bother to look down before reaching for it. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the man beside me. I answered it without even looking away from Cross, wondering what the hell I was going to do. How were we going to get out of this particular situation?
“Yes?” I said into the phone.
Paris began sputtering. “I am so sorry. I am a horrible person.”
I shook myself out of my reverie and frowned, pulling my gaze from Cross’s face. “What?”
“Stavros. He can’t come. His daughter? The one I told you about? She needs an appendectomy. Like right now. He’s in the emergency room and frantic and texting me to let me know that he can’t make it. He feels horrible, and I’m sure we can reschedule, but his baby girl is getting her appendix out right now and is about to go under anesthesia for the first time. Obviously, he’s freaking out, and currently in a fight with his ex-wife. Fun times.”
Paris said that practically in one or two breaths, and I winced, trying to catch my own breath.
“Oh,” I said.
Well, that sounded about right.
“I’m so sorry. We’ll fix this. The way tonight is shaping up is not the best way to start our plan.”
I just shook my head and then realized that she couldn’t see me.
“Don’t worry about it. If you talk to him again tonight, tell him that I hope his daughter heals quickly and that everything’s okay.” I wasn’t going to touch on the fact that he and his ex-wife were fighting, because that was not something I wanted to get in the middle of. “I need to go, but I will talk to you later.”
“Are you going to leave the bar? You can come over here. I’m not doing anything. Which is kind of the point of all of this, but I digress.”
I held back a smile at Paris’s words, knowing her self-deprecating side was wholly honest. As it was, I couldn’t keep my gaze off the man in front of me.
One I shouldn’t be staring at.
“No, I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I should go.”
Paris tried to say something else, but I cut her off and then hung up. Then, I looked across at the man who had sat down at the wrong table.
“Um…” I had no idea what to say.
Cross smiled, even though it looked sort of like a wince at the same time. “I heard part of that. So, your date had to cancel? And I assume it was a blind date if you didn’t know I wasn’t him.”
“I want to slink away in sheer mortification right now, but I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to say. No, my date is not coming because there is actual surgery and blood involved. Unless that’s just an elaborate excuse. Maybe Stavros saw me, said ugh, and then left.”
“That’s not the case,” Cross said, and I snorted.
“That’s quite nice of you to say, but you’re a stranger sitting at the wrong table. And now I’m dateless. I really should order that vodka martini and then call it a night.”
“If it helps, I sat here for a meeting that my business partner was supposed to attend but was put on my plate at the last minute. I just found out that the client isn’t coming at all. So, yeah. That’s why I didn’t know who you were.”
I sat there, confused, and so out of my depth.
“I’d say you should join me, but that would be weird, right?”