Anyone But You: A BRAND NEW feel-good celebrity, second chance romance (Love is in the Air Book 2)

Chapter Sixteen

Scarlett was halfway down the hill when she heard Dylan calling her name. She stopped, unsure whether to be glad or mad that Dylan had finally realised she’d left.

‘Scarlett, wait! I’m sorry. I get so single-minded when I’m doing music things. Please don’t leave.’

‘It’s okay, I’m not upset. It’s your time here. I’m just an intrusion. You stay and spend time with your friends, I’ll be fine.’

‘I thought you’d gone to the bathroom. It wasn’t until ages after that Cara said you’d left. Why did you leave?’

Scarlett’s resolve crumbled. She put her hand up to her head as if it might help clarify her fuzzy and uncoordinated thoughts. It was so hard to work through her emotions when she’d been so resolutely convinced she’d never get involved with a man again. ‘Maybe it’s for the best.’

‘No, I don’t want to hear about what’s best. You don’t want that, either. Stay, and we’ll talk about it — about us, and about what’s causing you pain.’ He scooped up her hand, his eyes pleading. ‘Let’s go home. Wait.’ He smacked his head, as if an idea had just occurred to him. ‘Was it because of Cara?’

Scarlett sighed. ‘She didn’t help, admittedly, but then neither did you, when you introduced me asa friend.’ Scarlett swallowed back the wobble in her voice, aware of her hypocrisy when she’d been the one avoiding commitment. ‘I’m a bit weary, is all. Sorry.’

‘I know, we didn’t get much sleep last night.’ He peered into her face, trying out a gentle smile to jolly her along. ‘Cara is ancient history, but we’re still good mates.’

‘You don’t say.’ She peered back up the road almost expecting Cara to come bounding after Dylan, large breasts bouncing. Suddenly, it seemed silly to have left. She sighed. ‘Oh, Dylan, I really am sorry.’ She shook her head not knowing what else to say.

Turning her back to face him he kissed her softly. ‘Listen, I’m good with troubled people, look at Stanley and Beanie — welded to my side, they are, so, you’re an easy one to deal with.’ His eyes were merry and he smiled gently peering into her unhappy face. He rubbed her arms. ‘Come on, it’s all good. “You’re the one that I want,” as John Travolta famously once sang, and I’ll work hard for you to feel the same about me, one day soon.’

She gave him a watery smile. ‘As I said, I’m not myself these days. I was always so strong, so determined.’ She shook her head annoyed that she had been so needy.

‘You have nothing to prove, Scarlett. Give yourself a break, yeah?’ His gaze was searching.

She nodded. ‘You’re right.’ But she wasn’t so sure she deserved one.

‘Let’s walk along the beach to the pier, like we said we would. The band can cope without me.’ Dylan grabbed her hand and led the way saying, ‘I think you should know that this is no ordinary pier. It’s the best pier in the country, and I’ll show you why, after we’ve had a coffee.’

* * *

Eventually Dylan drained his coffee cup and placed it on the saucer with a determination that meant business. ‘Right, if you’ve finished, we have the second part of the Southwold inauguration coming up, with the wonderful Under the Pier show. It’s totally silly, but fun.’ He stood and took hold of her hand, turning her fingers over. ‘You have to push this pretty little hand through some bars and hold it there, while a rabid dog tries to eat it. You okay with that?’

‘Totally. Why wouldn’t I be?’ She blinked big, innocent eyes at him, as he ushered her towards a booth, where a large metal dog’s head, its jaws wide open, was positioned inside a cage.

She frowned. ‘It’s not real, is it, so why wouldn’t I manage it?’

Dylan, grinning, popped two twenty pence pieces in the machine, grinning. ‘Go on, then.’

She gave him a patronising look as the metal dog’s eyes opened and it began to pant. Of course she could do it; it was just a toy. She stuck her hand in the cage directly below the dog’s mouth, but winced as unexpectedly warm drool dripped onto her fingers as its jaws opened.

The metal dog then began to shake and growl as it showed its fangs, working up to a frenzy of snapping and panting, the movement vibrating through her hand.

Wavering, she sent a nervous glance towards Dylan. ‘I really don’t like it.’

Dylan smirked as she determinedly held her hand steady, while the huge fangs started closing in. The drool increased, turning into a steady stream.

‘Yuck, it’s horrible,’ she wailed. The urge to pull her hand away grew more appealing. ‘Thirty seconds to go.’ Dylan stated, making a show of timing her, as her hand trembled.

The dog drooled some more and the panting grew louder as it growled and prepared to bite. Scarlett screamed and whipped her hand away. ‘Argghh.’ She shook the drool off, laughing. ‘No way. That was horrible. I can’t believe I flunked it.’ She wiped her hand playfully on Dylan’s jeans.

‘Hey, these are my best.’ He twisted away from her, slapping at her hand.

‘You have best jeans?’ she asked, rubbing the back of her hand on her own jeans. ‘I’d hate to see your worst.’ But she was laughing, teasing him as if they were back on a normal footing.

He twirled her around and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her roundly. He deepened the kiss and groaned as she pulled away.

‘Better stop, we’re in public.’

‘You’re right, but you are so delicious. Later though,’ he whispered in her ear, sighing as he straightened. Pausing for a moment he looked around. ‘Right then, back to business. The next task, should you choose to accept it, is to come face to face with Crankenstein’s anger.’

Scarlett once more, thought it would be a breeze. ‘This is one nutcase invention,’ she said looking at a scary metal convict, with a stripy uniform and huge eyes, sitting behind a row of prison bars. ‘But I can handle it.’ Her lips set in determination, as Dylan brought Crankenstein to life with money and instructed her to turn the handle at the bottom of the contraption. His cage rattled as she turned the large handle at the bottom of the metal bars.

Dylan shouted, ‘Go faster.’

She cranked it harder, glancing over at him. ‘What’s supposed to happen, it’s just a bit of cage rattling? Shit!’ She jumped backwards, as Crankenstein suddenly roared at her, baring huge teeth, his face popping through the bars. Scarlett put her hand to her chest as her heart raced, panting as the convict slid back to his chair. ‘Jeez, nearly gave me a heart attack. It’s not funny!’ she said, fanning her face.

Dylan slapped his thigh, laughing. ‘Priceless. We can save the Under the Sea treat for another day.’ He threw his arms around her again, hugging her. ‘Just the wee-wee men now, and then we can go home.’

The wee-wee men in the water sculpture proved to be just as entertaining, as, right on time, the metal statues’ trousers dropped and they peed on the metal flowers, while a gathering crowd laughed and tossed coins into the pool of water.

‘That was such fun,’ Scarlett said, smiling, her earlier unhappy mood completely melting away.

‘Stick with me, I know how to show a girl a good time.’ He winked. ‘And it only cost me eighty pence.’ He preened and she laughed.

‘Well, if it’s free, we might as well walk to the end of the pier and I’ll treat you to a bag of chips afterwards.’

‘You’re on,’ Dylan said, and they strolled to the end of the pier leaving the bustle of the crowd behind, braving the wind that whipped their clothes flat against their bodies and blew their hair across their faces.

‘These are the plaques I was telling you about,’ Dylan said, indicating small brass plaques that lined the wooden balustrade. He rubbed a sleeve across one that was clouded with sea spray.

‘Some of these messages are heart-rending, aren’t they?’ Scarlett said, as she ran her fingers over the plaques that would preserve someone’s treasured memories of a loved one forever.

‘Yeah, but most are uplifting, and it’s a charming way to remember your loved ones.’

‘You’re just an old romantic at heart.’

‘Stick around, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.’ He kissed her again, lingering and deep, hooking her fleece in his fingers to pull her closer.

‘Dylan. Save it for later.’ Scarlett pulled away reluctantly, wishing they were warm and cosy in Dylan’s bed once again.

‘I want later to be right now.’ He kissed her fingers before letting go of her hand. He turned towards where a fisherman sat at the end of the pier. ‘How’s it going?’ Dylan asked the man.

The man pointed to the sea, then up at the sky, and said something Scarlett didn’t catch.

Dylan laughed and nodded in understanding, and watching him, Scarlett felt her heart twist in a familiar way — the way she thought love might feel, if she had to name the sensation.

Dylan was a good man, and she didn’t mind that she was falling in love with him. Indeed, she couldn’t help it, even though it scared the hell out of her; all those buried emotions surfacing again. As far as she could see, she had two choices: she could stay and take a chance on him, or she could go and never know what might have been. She didn’t even need to consider which way to jump.

She returned Dylan’s usual sunny smile, as he rubbed his hands together and threw a glance over at the sea. ‘Why don’t we go fishing? I haven’t been for years.’

‘Um, I’ve never been fishing. It’s a bit blowy, isn’t it?’ Scarlett shivered and pushed her hands into her pockets.

‘Yeah, I guess so. We’d be better off indoors. Will you stay here tonight, with me?’

She smiled ruefully. ‘Yes, please. I’m sorry about my wobble back in the pub. All in all, this has been a great day, Dylan, thank you.’

The sun dipped behind a cloud, as Dylan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, jiggling his eyebrows. ‘Wait until tonight, darling, you ain’t seen nothing yet.’

She bumped him with her hip. ‘You’re not supposed to mention such things. It’s not gentlemanly.’

‘Why not? We are an item now, I take it, since . . . well since last night. You know?’ Once more, he directed intense, querying eyes towards her, his smile gentle but uncertain.

Scarlett loved the way he assumed their relationship was solid after one night of admittedly great sex, but wished she felt as confident. They had moved from a tentative start at dating to full-blown seriousness in no time at all, and she’d barely had time to think. She wondered how he would feel when it all came out about Sky and Axel, but decided to put that thought to the back of her mind.

‘When we get back to London, I’m going to move house, I can’t have my girlfriend staying over in that place,’ he continued, his voice indistinct as the wind snatched it away.

Scarlett’s eyes widened as she glanced at him. She had never met a man more determined, or so open about his plans. It was daunting, but actually quite lovely, too.

He caught the look. ‘What? You know what I’m like. I saw you, and knew you needed me in your life. I also decided to be a singing sensation, and look at me now. I’ve already done a gig in Camden with my new best friend, Harrison what’s-his-name.’ He preened and flicked his hair, mocking himself.

Scarlett smiled, although she wished he hadn’t brought up the spectre of London. She wanted to live in her fantasy bubble a bit longer.

As if sensing this slide from happiness, Dylan swung her around to face him once more. ‘You know, the great Harrison what’s-his-name offered to assign a girl to me. That’s the kind of world we live in now.’

‘What?’ Her sigh was audible that time. ‘I hate all of that. And the fakery that surrounds fame.’ She bunchedherhandsinto fists, stuffingthem into her pockets.

‘Why do you say itlike that?’

‘What?’

‘Fame. Likeit’s a dirty word.’

She let out a shuddering breath, preparing to tell him something that haunted her, even now. ‘I did a tour with a young female pop star a while back. It makes sense for them to hire a private aircraft, so they can sleep properly and no one bothers them for autographs, and stuff. They tend to keep the same crew, so I was a good few months on the road with her, so to speak. I got to know her really well, and I discovered she was mostly friendless and depressed and drank to excess to numb her loneliness, since her meteoric rise to stardom.

‘Anyway, she used to beg me for vodka, to steady her nerves, as she put it. Once, I caught her asking the ground staff to nip across to another aircraft and ask them if they had any booze, because our catering hadn’t yet arrived. It got so bad that we were told by her management to offload every drop of alcohol from the aircraft before she was allowed to board. I can still see her beseeching red-rimmed eyes, and her restless fingers plucking at her clothes as she became more agitated. She was as pitiful as a thirsty toddler. It was heart-breaking.’ Scarlett shook her head as she recalled the memory.

‘Poor kid.’ Dylan kicked at a stone, chasing it with his toe.

‘Yeah, but the worst bit is, that as soon as the concert ended one of her bodyguards would bring vodka and champagne to her hotel room, even onto the aircraft if we were flying back someplace. Cue a few hours of solid drinking with various hangers-on downing whatever they could lay their hands on, until my cute little star could barely stand.’

‘That’s terrible. I guess she was an adult, though. You can’t blame the management.’

‘No, but my point is, they didn’t care about her. They just wanted her to remain sober long enough to perform on stage, so they made their money. She’s in and out of the Priory every other month now and can barely sing a note.’

Dylan looked at the ground as he walked, his hands deep in his pockets. ‘I shan’t be like that. I don’t like vodka.’

Scarlett laughed bleakly. ‘That’s okay, then. I’m sure you’ll be immune to the other hazards of the job, too.’

‘Are you sure you weren’t a school teacher in another life? I swear you sound just like my mother.’ Dylan flung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side and kissing the top of her head.

‘Sorry, I’ll shut up now.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ Dylan said. ‘I won’t be lonely like she was, because I’ll have you, and you’ll keep me on the straight and narrow.’

Scarlett really wished he hadn’t said that. If only he knew how useless she’d been the one time she was really needed. She bit her lip. It was definitely the right moment to tell him why she’d found it so difficult to start a new relationship, but she was almost sure she’d become emotional, and she really didn’t want to bring the mood down again.

Regardless, she took a deep breath. ‘When we get back to yours, I’d like to talk through something with you,’ she told him.

He glanced sidelong at her. ‘Is it a good something, or a bad something?’

‘Erm, it’s just me offloading, really.’

Suddenly he looked serious. He nodded. ‘I think it’s time you told me what’s going on, and I want to know all about your thoughts and dreams, your worries and . . .’

‘Yes, I know. I get the idea.’ She widened her eyes. ‘You want my body and soul, don’t you?’

‘Yup.’ He kissed her forehead. ‘So long as you know.’

She smiled as she tucked her head into his shoulder. She would tell him everything — well, almost everything. And once it was all out in the open they could move on. Together.