Chapter 18
ELSIE
“No, you cannot.” They’re the first words that find my lips before anything else.
Brett emerges from the crowd, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter and before he even makes it to my side, I swear I can feel him coming, my body responding to his like an iron filling to a magnet. It’s the push, the pull of his presence. It tethers me to him, like a dog to a leash, tying me to the most ruthless, most gorgeous, most frustrating man in New York City.
And I refuse to let him know it, turning my anger on him as soon as he approaches, his muscled body filling out his plain black T-shirt and leather jacket better than anyone should be allowed. With his haunting eyes on me—one bright ocean blue, the other green—I can’t tell him how much it hurts to see him just st
