Chapter Eight
Michael
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”
I sat at my mother’s kitchen table after pouring out my story to her. Not everything. Just the basics. My run had burned off the anger, leaving a huge ache in my chest, and I desperately needed her advice.
“Though I have to admit,” my mother said, darting a glance between me and Robert, who stood against the counter eating a breakfast sandwich, “I didn’t know either until after you two left here. She’d said something odd, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
I spun the jar of cream on the table. “What did she say?”
“She was looking at your picture gallery on the stairs. She said she was ‘just going down memory lane.’ After you left, I went to look at the photos and saw the one of you and Dom. That’s when it hit me. I could see the resemblance between Danielle and Dom. He kept me company a lot when I came to visit you. He showed me pictures of her. Of course, she was only a girl back then, but…” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I thought you knew.”
I grunted and gave the jar another spin. “Guess that’s what I was to her. Just a trip down memory lane.”
“No, darling.” She took the jar from my hands and placed it to one side. “I don’t think it was that at all. Her feelings were written all over her face when she looked at you. That girl adores you.”
I sat back against the chair. “Then why wouldn’t she tell me?”
“You lived with Dom for four years,” she said. “You already know the answer to that question.”
I did. Or I’d thought I did. “It’s just… She seemed so brave, so bold, so…confident.”
“I think she is all those things. But she’s also a woman who’s had her fair share of disappointment and heartache growing up.” She referred to the things I’d shared with her about Dom. “I’m not excusing her for leaving without saying goodbye, but to me, it sounds like she was afraid of rejection or you being angry with her.”
“I am angry.” And hurt.
My mother crossed her arms. “Actually, I’m not sure what difference it makes whether she told you or not. You knew who she was after you found the keys, and you didn’t say anything to her about it. You lied by omission.”
“But I didn’t know until after I found the keys. She knew who I was all along,” I grumbled, knowing my logic was skewed and not quite fair.
Robert looked up and pinned me with a fatherly gaze that said he was about to impart something profound or philosophical, and I wasn’t going to like it.
“Only two things I want to know, son.” He swiped crumbs off his hands over the sink. “First one is, do you love her?”
“Yes.” But was it really that simple?
“Okay, that answer makes the second question relevant.” Robert crossed the kitchen to stand behind my mother. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “If you’ve been waiting for her all this time and if you love her, what the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you going after her, fighting for her?”
I shot out of my chair. “If she’d wanted me to come after her, she would have told me how to find her.”
“Robbie’s right.” She patted Robert’s hand. “You and I both know it was difficult for me to trust after your father. I didn’t ever want to let myself love a man that way again. That meant getting hurt. But Robbie didn’t give up on me, and I’ve never been happier. Perhaps Danielle needs a little pursuing.”
My stomach twisted as my mother’s words hit home. I remembered how hard it was to watch Robert pine for her when she shut him down and to see the fear and hesitance in her, especially when they obviously loved each other.
Was that all it would take to win Danielle? Was it up to me to be strong, to be the one to risk everything for what we could have? If she truly didn’t love me, yes, I’d be lost, but at least I would know I’d done everything in my power to win her heart.
I looked at my watch. “She might already be on her way back to the States.”
“You’ve said many times you’d move heaven and earth for the woman you loved.” Robert waved a hand. “Catch the next flight out. Go after her.”
“Yes.” My mother beamed with excitement. “You can get her address from Dom. It won’t be as if you’re looking for a needle in a haystack.”
I looked at Robert. “Will you take care of my schedule?”
“For as long as it takes.”
“Thank you both.” I kissed my mother and hugged Robert.
“Keep us updated?” my mother asked.
“I will.”
I sprinted home to pack, book a flight, and call a rideshare. As I was about to shut the door, I took another look at my home. Moving heaven and earth to keep the woman I loved was a tall order, but if I had to leave London and move back to the States, I’d bloody well make it happen.
****
Danielle
Passport in hand, I waited in Dominic’s kitchen for the taxi I’d called to take me back to Michael’s. I traced the UK stamp with my index finger. I’d have to work on getting my work visa if I accepted the job offer at the museum. I was still undecided.
Disappointing Dominic would be hard, but knowing I could run into Michael at any given moment scared the hell out of me, especially if things didn’t go well when I confessed the truth.
“Wish me luck.” Dominic picked up his backpack.
I looked up at him. “You won’t need it. Just be honest and open with her.”
“Like you’re going to be with your guy?” He adjusted the pack on his shoulder. “Are you ever going to tell me who he is?”
“Depends on how it goes when I tell him…stuff.”
“Text me and let me know.” He gave me a mock frown. “And I mean it. Don’t leave me hanging.”
I nodded and gave him a hug, then he hurried to the front door. I checked my phone to see if my ride was close. Nope, but that gave me time for a snack to settle my stomach. My nerves were shot.
The front door squeaked open as I peered inside the fridge.
“Hey, man. I’m on my way out, but Daisy’s here.”
Who was Dominic talking to?
The low, rumbling response answered my question. Michael.
I slammed the fridge shut and met his gaze over Dominic’s shoulder. My throat went dry. God, he looked good. And he didn’t seem at all surprised to see me here.
“She’s on her way out, too, but she got the job, so she’ll be back,” Dominic rattled on, not realizing I heard every word. “Well, maybe. She hooked up with some guy this weekend and fell in lo—”
“Dominic!” I wanted to crawl in a deep, dark hole and never come out. Oh, wait. I’d already dug that hole, and I was supposed to be climbing out of it.
A soft smile lifted the corners of Michael’s sexy mouth. “Is that right?”
Dominic turned to look at me, then at Michael and back to me. His eyes narrowed. “He’s the guy?”
I pinned Dominic with a hard gaze, hoping to convey my need for him to let me handle my own shit. “Please, just go.”
“All right, all right.” He turned back to Michael. “If you break her heart, I’ll kick your ass.”
Michael’s gaze never wavering from my face, he nodded. “Duly noted.” As the door shut behind Dominic, Michael added, “So you got the job.”
My heart pounded against my ribs. “I did.”
“Are you going to take it?” Was there a hint of hope in his eyes?
“That depends.”
“On?”
I wavered. Telling him would make it final. He’d either accept my apology or reject it…me.
“You…me…us. Whether you’ll let me explain. I can’t live here knowing our—” I swallowed around the desert in my mouth. “That what happened between us might affect your friendship with Dominic.”
“It won’t.”
“Maybe not on your end, but Dominic…” A thought struck me hard. What was he doing here when Dominic was supposed to be in South Africa? “It’s not a coincidence you’re here, is it? That you just showed up here?”
“It isn’t,” he snapped. “I came to see you, though you certainly didn’t make it easy.”
“You’re mad.” Of course he’s mad. You knew he would be.
“Damn right, I am.” He stalked toward me. “You left without a word, as if what we shared, as if I meant nothing to you.”
Despite the urge to back up, I stood my ground. “That’s not how it was.”
“How was it, then? Because that’s certainly how it felt.”
“I— Wait. You knew who I was?”
Some of the accusation in his stormy gray eyes disappeared, and a flush stained his cheeks. “Yes.”
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “Michael, how long did you know?”
He sighed. “Since the morning I found the keys.”
All the conversations after that moment, all the questions, his moodiness… “You were trying to get me to tell you?”
His lips thinned, and he quirked a brow. “Ya think?”
“I thought you were—” I bit my lip to keep it from quivering.
His expression softened, and he moved closer, almost but not quite touching me. He lifted my chin with a forefinger. “You thought I was what?”
“When you went off into your thoughts and got all quiet…” I closed my eyes, unwilling to let him see how much it hurt to say the words. “I thought you were ready to get rid of me.”
“Why would you think that?” He thumbed my cheek to wipe away a stray tear.
I opened my eyes. “Because I thought you were a player.”
“I wasn’t the one playing games or keeping secrets. Well, not in the beginning. But even after I knew who you were, it wasn’t a game. I thought if you really wanted to be with me, you’d tell me the truth.”
“I couldn’t, not in the beginning because I…” I lowered my gaze to stare at the logo on his T-shirt. “I used to have this big crush on you when you and Dominic were roommates. When you flirted with me at the exhibit, I thought I could finally act on all my, er, fantasies about you.”
He chuckled. “You had fantasies about me?”
My gaze flew to his, and relief poured through me. He wasn’t mad. I let myself smile for the first time since he arrived. “Yes, lots of them.”
“Hmm, we’ll have to examine those fantasies, but later.” He settled his hands on my hips. “You were saying?”
“Right.” Unsure what to do with my hands, I rested them on his biceps. “The first morning, I realized what I’d done, the mess I’d made. I was going to sneak out, but then I couldn’t find Dominic’s keys, and—”
“Thank God for that.”
“—then you were so sweet. You went out of your way to help me, and you seemed to want me to stay. I couldn’t possibly tell you the truth. I wanted to be with you for as long as I could. Telling you was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take. I thought you’d be angry or that being Dominic’s sister might muddy the waters, and you’d send me away.”
“You had it all figured out then.”
“No, not at all.” I tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t be budged, so I dropped my forehead to his chest. “I’m so sorry. It’s all a mess. Believe me, falling in love with you was not in the plans.”
There. I’d said it. Now, it was up to him.
My phone pinged, but I ignored it, waiting for Michael to say something, anything.
Another ping.
“You should get that.”
So that was it. Without saying a word, he’d said it all. I pulled the phone from my back pocket and checked the screen. “I have to go. My taxi is here.”
“Weren’t you going to my place?”
“Yes, but I really should get to Heathrow. My flight leaves soon.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
I jerked my head up. “What?”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight again.” He sighed. “I know you’ll think this sounds ridiculous, and you probably won’t believe me with all your trust issues, but I’ve been waiting a long time for you. The fact that we just met makes no difference. I love you. I want us to figure out what we have together.”
“You do?” I’d hoped he’d give me a chance to win his heart, but… “Really?”
“I do. I can’t breathe without you, luv. I’m going to New York until you sort out whatever needs sorting, so you can come back here with me.” He placed a finger on my lips to stay the words bubbling to the surface. “And when I call you luv, I want you to know I mean it.”
“I was only going to say that maybe I could move my flight so we can go together.”
Ping.
“Dani, you need to get rid of that taxi, so I can kiss you properly.”
I quickly fired off a text to let the company know I didn’t need a ride and to charge me for the time the driver had been waiting plus a healthy tip. Curling my arms around his neck, I whispered, “Now, where were we?”
Instead of kissing me, he said, “Ask me again what kind of girlfriend I want you to be.”
I frowned. “That was not where we were.”
“Ask me.”
“Back to options, are we?” I muttered and heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, what kind of girlfriend do you want me to be?”
He grinned. “Well, if my options are still the same, I could choose between the serious, clingy, totally in love girlfriend or the one who’s only in London to get lucky. Right?”
“Right.”
“Well, I changed my mind. I want the serious, clingy, totally in love girlfriend, but only if she’s you.”
I melted against him, my palm sliding along his oh-so-hard dick. “What if I still want to get lucky in London?”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Michael brushed his lips over mine. “My question is, will I be getting lucky in New York.”
~*~
Thank you for reading Getting Lucky in London .