Chapter 43
L ater, Ward waited by the fountain for Hannah at Central Park South, nervously moving from one foot to the other as he watched a parade of monied New Yorkers emerge from limousines that, in this part of town, had surely only travelled a couple of blocks.
Despite all this showy stuff, he had a bad feeling about tonight. It still made no sense to him as to why the Panthers’ owner had insisted they all be here tonight for his wife’s fancy benefit.
Sumners had a reputation for doing whatever it took to get whatever he wanted, and Ward knew he’d steamroll right over anyone who got in his way. Before his anxiety could work him into another funk, however, he spied Hannah gliding across the road towards the hotel. He hadn’t seen her car pull up and it seemed like she hadn’t seen him yet either.
The sight of her stopped him in his tracks.
He wasn’t sure just what he’d been expecting, but when he saw her in a glistening midnight blue dress that fitted like a dream, and silver stiletto heels accentuating her slender calves, his brain just about went into sensory overload, the sight of her rendering him almost paralysed.
Look, he already found her attractive. That much was painfully apparent. But having only ever seen her look good in more casual day-to-day attire, he wasn’t at all prepared for what a godamn heartstopper she was when she decided to go all-out.
‘Jesus,’ he muttered, under his breath as he moved to the Plaza entrance to catch up with her on the steps. ‘I really am in big trouble here.’