“We’re not installing a shark tank.”
“Why not? Ice-T has one,” Blake protested. “I saw it on an MTV Cribs rerun. Besides, I’m the client. If I want a shark tank, I should get a shark tank.”
Farrah huffed in exasperation. “First, you should not be taking life inspiration from Ice-T. Second, you’re right. You’re the client and if you want a shark tank, I’ll get you a shark tank. But it kind of goes against the understated theme you want, don’t you think?”
Blake shrugged. “It’ll be a statement piece?” He hid a grin at the annoyed look on Farrah’s face.
Annoyance was good. It was a step up from indifference.
“I’m kidding,” he said, taking mercy on her. “We can scrap the shark tank.”
Blake and Farrah sat on a bench by Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, poring over the sketches she’d put together for his condo. He was the one who’d suggested they meet in the park instead of at a cafe or his apartment. It was a beautiful day, and he hoped the casual atmosphere would encourage her to lower her guard.
It was working, sort of. Farrah seemed more relaxed than she had during their walkthrough, but he hadn’t succeeded in getting her to talk about anything except work—yet. The day was still young.
“Thank God.” Farrah scratched something out on her notepad. “So, design two, no shark tank?”
“Yep.” Honestly, Blake liked all the sketches and had chosen one at random. He trusted she knew what she was doing. “Okay. That’s it for work today. What do you say we take a walk?”
Farrah slanted him a sharp glance. “I have to get started on the next phase of the project.”
“Right now? At this very moment? Come on, it’s Friday afternoon,” he cajoled. “Look at this weather! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the—”
“Joshua, Peter, if you don’t stop that this instant, you’re grounded for the next two weeks!” a woman screamed as a young dark-haired boy head-butted his twin. His brother pushed him in response, and the two fell to the ground, wrestling.
Their mother stormed over with fire in her eyes. “Have kids, they said. It’ll be so rewarding, they said,” she muttered loud enough for Blake and Farrah to hear.
“The kids are out in full force.” Farrah completed Blake’s sentence. Her eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Yep.” Darkness swirled in his chest as he watched the kids wrestle. The pain wasn’t as sharp as it used to be whenever he saw children, but now and then, he wondered what his life would be like had things with Cleo worked out. Would they have been happy? Would he have enjoyed fatherhood, or would it have felt like a noose, constricting around his neck until he couldn’t breathe?
Questions he’d never have the answers to.
Blake shoved the insidious whispers of guilt aside and flashed a charming smile. “So, how about that walk? According to my trusty mental map, it’s well within the boundaries.”
“I guess I could go for a walk,” Farrah said reluctantly. “It is a beautiful day.”
Success.
Farrah was ice, but he was fire, melting her down inch by inch. Blake had a lot of things to atone for. She thought he’d played her in Shanghai, and he was tempted to let her continue thinking that. It was, in his mind, more palatable than the truth, which was that he was a fucked-up human being. A part of him wondered if he should even pursue Farrah again.
She was too pure, and he was too broken. The world saw a businessman with a perfect smile and perfect life, but the image Blake presented concealed the jagged shards and haunting thoughts inside. It was a side of him he’d never let Farrah see, not only because he didn’t want to drag her into his spiral of shame and regret, but because he was afraid she’d take one look at the chaos and run the hell away.
If Blake were a good person, he would leave Farrah alone so she could move on with someone more deserving. But he was a selfish bastard, and now that she was in his life again, he couldn’t let her go. She was the light to his darkness, the angel to his demons, and his only excuse for trying to crawl back into her heart was that he loved her.
Even after all these years.
Even after all that had happened.
Their elbows brushed as they left Bethesda Terrace. Tingles shot through Blake’s arm, chasing away his doubts, at least for the time being.
“Have you been to the Ravine and Loch?” he asked.
Central Park was one of Blake’s favorite places in the city. It covered over 800 acres, but most people flocked to the popular spots: Bethesda, Sheep’s Meadow, Bow Bridge. He preferred the hidden gems, the quiet spots that surprised you with their beauty if you were lucky enough to stumble upon them.
“Nope.” Farrah munched on her lower lip. “I don’t come here often. I usually stick to downtown.”
“Hmm. One of those.”
She side-eyed him. “What do you mean, one of those?”
“People who think downtown is the only part of Manhattan worth visiting.”
“Uh, yeah, it’s the best part of the city. Midtown is the worst and uptown is boring.”
“Downtown snob.”
“You live in the West Village!”
“True, but I regularly venture past 23rd Street. Downtown is great, but there’s cool stuff up here too.”
“What do you know? You’ve only been living here for a few weeks,” Farrah grumbled. “I’ve been living here for years.”
“Yet I’ve been to the Ravine and Loch you haven’t,” Blake teased. He made it a point to visit at least one new place every time he visited New York. That was one of the city’s biggest draws: one never ran out of new things to see or do.
“You are seriously making me regret this walk.”
Blake’s dimples made a timely appearance. “Trust me. You won’t regret it once you see this place.”
It took them another half hour to reach their destination. During that time, Blake coaxed personal details out of Farrah, like what she did for her recent birthday (in mid-March, a month ago) and whether she was still friends with Olivia, Kris, and Courtney. The four of them had been glued at the hips in Shanghai.
Farrah had gone to Jamaica for her birthday and yes, she was still friends with them. In fact, Olivia was her roommate.
It wasn’t much, but it was a start. At least she was talking to him about non-work-related topics.
Meanwhile, Blake regaled her with tales of his travels, including the time he’d visited Luke Peterson, one of his closest friends during study abroad, in Wisconsin, and bought a crap ton of cheeses as souvenirs. Some of it hadn’t been wrapped properly, and when he opened his suitcase to unpack, it’d stunk so bad he had to toss the entire bag and its contents into the trash.
Blake hadn’t been able to eat cheese since.
Farrah laughed, causing his chest to glow with warmth. He’d missed that sound so damn much.
There wasn’t a lot of foot traffic in the North Woods, and Blake could hear the soothing sound of the waterfalls in the distance before they saw it.
“I can’t believe this is in the city.” Farrah followed him through the woods toward the stream. “I feel like I’m in upstate New York.”
“For good reason. It was designed to look like the Catskills or Adirondacks.” The roar of waterfalls intensified. Blake stepped out of the woods and spread his arms. “Welcome to the Loch.”
“Wow,” Farrah breathed. The stream meandered through the Ravine’s verdant canopy, creating a scene so idyllic it felt like they’d stepped into a painting, and the white noise from the waterfalls drowned out the city commotion in the distance, transporting them to a secret paradise where only the two of them existed. The fresh, earthy scent of the streamside vegetation tickled her nose, and she sucked it in with an eager inhale.
Blake settled on one of the big rocks by the stream and patted the seat next to him.
After a brief hesitation, Farrah sank beside him. “I feel like a tourist in my own city.” She tilted her face up, her hair shining with various hues of black and brown beneath the sunlight. It was an unusually warm day for mid-April in New York, not that Blake was complaining. “This place is so relaxing.”
“It’s better than therapy.” Blake ran his hand over the sunbaked rock, taking solace in its rough, warm solidness. “I try to visit every time I’m in New York. Although I live here now, so I guess I can come all the time.”
“Why did you move here?” She sounded genuinely curious.
“I love the city. I’m opening a new bar here and figured it was time to settle down in one place.” He shrugged. “Everything aligned.”
Farrah wrinkled her brow. “Settle down? Haven’t you been living in Texas?”
“No.” Blake curled his hand around the edge of the rock until it dug into his skin. “My family’s there, and I visit from time to time, but I’ve been traveling, going where business takes me. A few months here, a few months there. It’s fun, but it gets exhausting.” He noticed the smile on Farrah’s face. “What’s so funny?”
“I remember a time when Shanghai was the only city you’d visited outside the US. Now you’re basically a professional globetrotter.”
He chuckled. “I wish. Most of my travels are for business, but I sneak in some fun here and there.” Study abroad had opened his eyes to the possibilities that lay beyond the white picket fences and Sunday football games of Texas suburbia, and he’d never been able to go back. Not for more than a few days at a time.
The bad memories and his strained relationship with his father also played a role, but he kept that to himself.
“What’s your favorite place you’ve visited so far?”
Blake thought about it. “Depends. If we’re talking food, Tokyo. Nature? Norway. Wonders of the world? Machu Picchu.”
“You went to Machu Picchu for business?” Skepticism drenched Farrah’s voice.
“Llamas love beer and fútbol. My business doesn’t discriminate based on species,” he said, eliciting another laugh. Blake grinned. Two in one day. Now they were getting somewhere. “On a serious note, I want to expand Legends into a bigger international brand, so I travel a lot, researching markets, meeting with licensing partners, that sort of thing. Machu Picchu was just for fun, though. Have you been?”
“Not yet.” Farrah traced a star with her finger on the rock. “I’ve been so busy with work I haven’t been able to travel as much as I want, except for my birthday weekend. Though I have more flexibility now since I don’t have an office job. Not that I’m planning to take a vacation in the middle of your project,” she added quickly.
Blake wouldn’t mind—as long as he could go with her.
“Landon told me you left your design firm right before you took on my project.” Talk about fortuitous timing. “Are you looking to start your own company?”
“Maybe one day. Not now. I’m working with you as a freelancer, not a one-person studio.” Farrah traced another star. “Anyway, that’s not why I left.”
When she didn’t elaborate, Blake asked, “So why’d you leave?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We have time.”
“Not really. It’s getting dark.”
She was right. The bright afternoon sun had softened to the warm yellow of golden hour. Sunset approached, turning the sky into a palette of soft pastels.
“We could continue this over dinner. Not a date,” Blake added when Farrah frowned. “Just a meal between old friends.” He was stretching the definition of “friends,” but at least she didn’t correct him. “There are a couple of great restaurants around here.”
“Maybe, but I can’t.” Farrah unfolded herself from the rock. “I have a date.”
The green-eyed monster reared its ugly head again. “Oh. Boyfriend, or just a date?” he asked. Light, casual, but hard tension ran beneath his words.
She hesitated. “Just a date.”
Relief fizzled through him—at least she didn’t have a boyfriend—but the tension remained. Was this the same douche who’d texted her the other day? Where the fuck was he planning to take Farrah? Probably to some cheesy Italian restaurant where he’d try to get her drunk on red wine in the hopes of hitting a home run on the first date.
Farrah doesn’t like red wine, you asshole.
Some might call him crazy for holding a mental conversation with a guy he’d never met, but those people could fuck right off.
Blake shoved his hands into his jacket pocket as they exited the park. The city’s energy crackled in the air and danced along his skin, burning off some of his steam.
It wouldn’t do him any good to act like a jealous prick, so he recalibrated.
“If you change your mind about dinner or your date turns out to be a flop, I’ll be at The Egret on the Upper West Side. Best damn burgers in the city—at least, until my place opens.” Blake grinned until his cheeks ached. “Their drink specials run till eleven, so I’ll be there till late.”
Farrah ignored the bait. “Good night.”
“Good night. Enjoy your date.”
Total lie.
It was wrong and petty of him, but as Blake watched Farrah walk away, he couldn’t help but hope she had a really, really bad date.
