Page 113 of The Puck Stops Here
Her head raced with what it could be while her heart raced over that kiss.
She’d been so caught up in the sudden karmic opportunity and utterly convinced that the AWOL twin would be Blake. That good boy Aiden would be prompt and ready with his trademark grin. And her quick glimpse in the hall had delivered everything she would have expected – freshly shaved jaw, golden tan, white tee, pale jeans –allAiden.
Only itwasn’t!
She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing out the guilt, the heat, the wrong man!
If only she hadn’t been so determined to take advantage of a fresh opportunity. If only she hadn’t been so fixated on her phone. If only she’d clocked him properlybeforeshe’d sent her phone flying.Beforethe panic had taken over that he would spy something incriminating on the lit-up screen.Beforethey’d become entangled in the dark and his need had been so evident that she’d been high on her own triumph.
Thenshe might have seen the slight nuances. The lack of a scar to his cheek, the extra line to his left dimple, the way Blake always made her shiver with a thrill… fuck fuckfuck.
And now… now what?
She’dkissedBlake!
Hisbody,hisneed,hiskiss – the realisation that it had been him all along… the desperation to rewrite the moment entirely and not knowing which way to go. To know it was Blake and to revel in it. Or to have avoided the catastrophe altogether.
The latter!the phone persistently ringing in her hand told her. The bloody latter!
She hopped from one foot to the other as she waited for the lift to arrive at ground level, and as soon as the doors parted enough to let her out, she was gone. Racing through the foyer and bursting into the frigid New York air as she swiped the video call to answer and promptly froze. Bella was sobbing!
‘Oh my God, love, what’s wrong?’
* * *
A little while later Astrid hung up the phone, but she couldn’t move from the alcove she’d found herself in. She was a quivering mess. The news from Bella beggared belief.
Chase wasn’t the unfaithful bastard she’d believed him to be. And Astrid wasn’t the homewrecking mistress she’d branded herself as either. There had been so much more to that sorry scene in the hotel room all those months ago… and if Chase had only taken the time to explain things to her back then, this never would have happened. None of this.
Astrid wouldn’t have embarked on a crazy karma plan that saw her smacking one on the wrong guy. And Bella wouldn’t have played an innocent man for a fool… no, that wasn’t quite fair. Because Chasewasn’tentirely innocent.He’d left her to thinkthe worst.
But he was hardly the devil.
And he certainly hadn’t deserved what he’d got.
Half of Operation Just Desserts was imploding, and she was the common denominator. A total liability.
She wanted to race around the corner and help Bella.
She wanted to race back upstairs and fix Blake.
Neither were an option without the truth spilling free and the domino effect of that… no, just no. It was a nightmare.
It also meant she couldn’t oversee the photoshoot. The last thing Blake needed was her on the other side of the camera. Fin would never get a decent shot.
Lifting her phone, she forced out a message to Stella and Fin making her excuses. And then she messaged the twins in their group chat to say she hoped it went well, that she’d review the photos with Fin later. Then she messaged Blake privately…
Astrid
I’m so sorry.
It sat on delivered.
She stared at it, willing him to read it, willing him to respond…
* * *
Several hours later, the message remained delivered and unread. And no amount of checking was gonna change it.
