Chapter 4

RHIANNON

I must have been the stupidest woman in the whole of planet Earth, sleeping with a man I had just met.

The moment little streaks of sunlight filtered in through the open windows, I crept out from underneath his arms and threw on my clothes as quickly and noiselessly as possible.

I took a moment to glance back at him. From the way he looked incredibly handsome with his eyes closed and the duvet thrown haphazardly over him, the tattoos I could visibly trace around his body, to the light snores that escaped the mouth I had obsessively ravaged last night.

A blush crept up my cheeks at the memory. I had been completely over myself, so I hadn’t cared about the repercussions of anything. I should have cared, especially when I still didn’t know who this man was.

And I did care, because this man knew my name. His entire house was like some Bruce Wayne property, and being there with him felt like a dream. Pretty sure men like him saw nights like that as just a one-night stand, and he was no different.

It had been a spur of the moment. And now, I needed to get back to my normal life, so I didn’t look too desperate.

With a quiet kiss goodbye, I found my way out of his maze of a home, ordering an Uber that would take me to Ash’s apartment. I wasn’t ready to go home yet—to see Hailey and force out her reasons from her.

When I checked my phone in the Uber, I saw dozens of messages from Ashley, none from Hailey.

I take it she wasn’t so worried about me.

Ashley’s first text read 6:30 a.m.

Ashley: Hello?

And then right after, 6:45 a.m.

Ashley: Where are you???

And then another, 6:47 a.m.

Ashley: Have you been murdered?? Is the guy bad news?

Ashley: Who am I kidding—if you’ve been murdered, then you wouldn’t see this text. Does that mean I need to call the coppipies?

Ashley: Cops, I mean. Stupid keyboard.

Me: Haha (eye roll emoji)

Seconds later, text bubbles popped up on the screen.

Ashley: The queen lives! Hallelujah.

Ashley: Are you coming to my place, or do I have to leave you to enjoy some “alone time”?

I could already tell the thoughts in her head. Silly, immoral thoughts she was unashamed to accommodate.

Me: Look out the window. I might knock on your door soon.

And like I expected, she was waiting in front of her apartment, an impatient frown on her face as the Uber stopped me in front of the place. And she hovered around me like a housefly the moment I stepped out.

“Why are you back so early?” she pestered as we moved up the stairs. “Did he kick you out?” Then she gasped dramatically. “Did he pull the ‘you’re just a one-night stand’ card? The son of a—”

“Ash! He didn’t do any of those, okay?” I told her before she let out the string of curse words, and she paused abruptly on the steps, giving me the scrutiny eye.

“Then, what happened?” she asked.

“Can you let me into your house first before asking me all these questions?” I said.

She didn’t move an inch for a second or two, and then she did, unlocking her door and moving aside to let me in.

Not allowing me a moment to settle into the couch, she demanded, “Tell me everything that happened, now!”

And I told her. Every juicy detail from getting drunk in his car, the hot make-out session, to ending up in the bed of a man whose name I hadn’t even bothered to catch.

When I was done, she just stared. Anticipatingly. “Is that all? No early morning lovey-dovey romance with your newfound love?”

“He’s not my newfound anything, Ash,” I remarked. “And no, there wasn’t any lovey-dovey romance with him. I just got out of bed, hopped into an Uber, and drove straight down here. End of story.”

She looked at me like I had grown horns on my head.

“You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me,” she mused.

“Well, I’m not.”

“You don’t get a name out of him or know even a dime about who he is, and the first thing you decide to do when you wake up from a fantastic night with that kind of man is to pack your things and run?” Ashley summarized the entire ordeal, and I nodded.

“For all I know, he could’ve woken up right at the moment I thought being by his side till he woke was best and gone all, ‘get out of my house, I’m done with you,’ and that wouldn’t have sat well with me,” I said with a sulk. Even though something in me told me I had concluded too fast and too wrong.

“But you didn’t give him a chance to. Who knows, he might be more interested in you than you think he is,” she told me. I wanted to consider it for a moment, and at the same time, assure myself that what I did was best.

I was drunk. He was probably as drunk as well. We had one night of pleasure like two strangers in a business transaction, and that was it. Nothing more than that.

“It doesn’t matter,” I waved off, ignoring the surprise that crossed her features as I stood and headed to her kitchen. “I’ll borrow your bathroom and clothes. I need to head to the bakery early.”

“I can’t believe you’re my best friend, Ria,” Ashley scoffed in disbelief.

“Yet you still love me,” I blew her a kiss, entering her kitchen and searching out whatever takeouts she must have stored in her fridge.

“But did you at least get a picture of him?” she yelled after me. “That way, we could do a little search and know who he is.”

“Searching him up would mean I want to see him a second time,” I yelled back, sticking a Tupperware of what looked like macaroni into the microwave.

And maybe I did want to see him a second time. But wasn’t that stupid of me to want that?

“Girl,” Ash snapped, and I could feel the sass in her tone. “It’s called knowing the man you slept with. Give yourself that privilege. You may never know if he’s some big shot whose attention you finally managed to grasp.”

“Well, I don’t want to know,” I said, coming back into the living room to see her sprawled on the couch, eyes following my every move. What would I do when I knew who he was? Whoop for joy that I left and called what we had a one-night stand before he did? Or bawl my eyes out because I left the one perfect man I’d ever had in my entire life?

I just couldn’t take a guess. And whatever it was about him, I’d rather it remained in last night.

“He’ll forget about me, and I’ll do the same. And if my many Tinder dates don’t work out, I might just settle on being a nun like Hailey said I was.” The memory of her was already enough to dampen my entire mood, and Ash’s as well, because her face contorted into a deep, disgusted frown.

“That beady-eyed, conniving daughter of Lucifer,” she snarled.

“Easy, Ash,” I sighed, just as the microwave pinged off. “She’s still my sister.”

“I swear, she doesn’t deserve you,” she clicked her tongue as I went to get the food out.

Maybe she didn’t. Or maybe I didn’t.

“Anyway, about the man,” Ash drawled, following me into the kitchen. “What if he finds you later on and proves to you he doesn’t just think you’re a one-night stand? What would you do then? Jump off your high horse and ride his royal carriage?”

Honest truth was, I didn’t know what I would do if I saw him again. Apologize for leaving so early? Explain how far below his class I was and how unfavorably it would be for him if he associated with me?

What were the chances someone like him, in his wealthy extravagance and posh lifestyle, would find a barely holding-up bakery owner like me in the entire Los Angeles?