Chapter 52
FIFTY-TWO
Somehow, I managed to get away from Dean and through the terrace doors without completely falling apart.
Thankfully, the section of the ballroom connected to the terrace is empty.
Everyone’s been herded into the adjoining dining room for the dinner and auction portion of the event.
I can hear them through the partition—laughing and bidding.
The tinkling scrape of silver on fine china.
The bang of the gavel, signaling another bidding war over.
There’s no telling how many paintings my mother has won.
The emcee is right—my father will have to buy another penthouse just to give her a place to hang them, not that he’d mind.
My father would do anything for her. Making my mother happy is his favorite thing to do.
Hurrying across the deserted room, I recite my plan—the one that’d just been completely derailed by Dean Mercer.
Go downstairs.
Book a room—any room.
Take a shower.
Cry myself to sleep.
I can do that.
I’ll be freshly showered and in the middle of a long, ugly cry within the hour.
All I have to do is get through the next twenty minutes.
Pushing my way through the ballroom exit that leads to the elevator, I throw a quick, hurried glance over my shoulder, just in time to see Dean walk in off the terrace.
Sure he’s going to walk his way to the auction room so he can rejoin Paige, he surprises me by heading straight for me.
Shit.
Sure that I will fall apart if I’m forced to talk to him again, I hurry through the door and practically run for the elevator.
Punching the button, I let out a soft bleat of relief when its doors finally slide open.
Stepping inside, I hit the button for the lobby and turn, just in time to see Dean, standing less than ten feet away, watching me.
He doesn’t say anything and neither do I.
We just stand there and look at each other while the doors slide closed between us.
As soon as he’s gone, I let go. Slumping against the wall of the elevator, I battle back the tears. I can’t cry. Not yet. Not in public.
Keep it together, Millie. Just a little while longer.
In the lobby, I make my way to the reception desk.
There’s a small group of people clustered in a loose knot, not more than a few feet from it, all of them wearing formal wear.
The women in designer cocktail dresses. The men in tuxedos.
I recognize the man with the cane and the blonde woman from the gala.
The man is Henley Gilroy’s brother. From the way he’s got his arm wrapped around her, I’m assuming the blonde is his wife.
There’s another man—this one devastatingly handsome.
Dark brown hair. Clear green eyes. Tattoos peeking out from the cuffs and collar of his perfectly tailored tuxedo—Conner Gilroy, Henley’s husband—but the woman he’s with isn’t Henley.
She’s tiny—barely five feet tall, if she’s an inch.
Petite, compact frame. Long, dark hair and wide hazel eyes, set in an adorable pixie face.
I recognize her too. Her name is Tess—she was Henley’s maid-of-honor.
Ignoring them, I approach the reception desk while doing my best to pretend they’re not looking at me. I can’t blame them. I probably look as wrung out and disheveled as I feel.
Insane laughter bubbling on my lips, I set my clutch on the counter, in front of the smiling young woman behind it.
“Good evening, Ms. Blackwell,” she says, politely ignoring the fact that I look like I just had hate sex behind some bushes on the balcony with my horrible cousin’s on-again-off-again situationship.
“It’s so nice to have you back. What can I do for you? ”
“I’d like a room please,” I say, giving her a fast head shake when I see the denial form on her face. “It doesn’t have to be a suite. Any room is fine with me. I just need—”
“I’m so sorry,” she interrupts me as gently as she can. “But we’re booked solid.” Face creased with something that looks very close to panic, she shakes her head. “With the gala and—”
“It’s okay, Nat,” someone says over my shoulder.
Turning, I watch Henley’s husband, Conner approach the desk.
“You can give her one of our rooms.” Looking at me, he flashes me a dazzling smile.
“We blocked out a whole floor so we could keep the kids close while Cari and Patrick squeeze the billionaires.” His smile deepens enough to set off a pair of ridiculously sexy dimples—probably because he knows I’m one of the billionaires his cousin and his wife are currently squeezing.
“If you don’t mind sharing a floor with a bunch of rowdy Gilroys, we’d be happy to put you up for the night. ”
Dumbstruck for a few moments because while I know Henley enough to have been invited to their wedding, I don’t know this man at all, I finally find enough sense to shake my head. “No,” I tell him, even though refusing his offer is the last thing I want to do. “I couldn’t impose on your fam—”
“Yes you can.” Flashing me those dimples again, Conner turns to look at the equally dazzled desk clerk. “Give her room 1217, Nat.”
Like me, for a moment, Nat doesn’t seem to know what to do. “1217?” Snapping out of it, she shakes her head. “You want me to give her room 1217?” Looking down, she gives her computer screen a frown. “Are you—”
“That’s what I said,” Conner says, giving her another smile. “1217.”
“Oh… okay.” Giving him a quick, flustered smile, the poor desk clerk hurries through the motions of scanning a keycard before handing it to me. “Here you go, Ms. Blackwell. Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you.” Taking the key, I turn toward the man still standing at the counter beside me. “And thank you—this was very generous of you. I appreciate it. I don’t think—”
“You could stand the plane ride home with your shitty cousin?” he finishes for me before I have a chance. Giving me a lopsided grin, Conner shakes his head. “Don’t thank me—thank my wife. She’s the brains of this outfit. I just do what I’m told.”
Remembering the brief conversation I had with Henley about Paige, I feel my smile flatten against my mouth. “Well, tell her I said thank you too.” Flashing the keycard at him, I start to back away from the counter. “Good night.”
Giving me a low watt smile of his own, Conner moves to rejoin his friends before he thinks better of it and turns back around.
“You know… Hen and I—we almost didn’t happen.
” Shaking his head, he frowns at me like he’s not completely sure of what he’s saying or even why he’s saying it.
“For the longest time, I was sure we never would. Her mother did a number on her—spent her whole life convincing her that there was nothing about her that I could love… she was wrong. I love every infuriatingly fucked-up part of that woman, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, I couldn’t convince her.
Not until she finally realized that I wasn’t the one who was lying to her.
That I’d been the one telling her the truth, all along. ”
“Why?” It’s none of my business. None of this is my business.
I barely know Henley and I don’t know her husband at all, but for some reason, I ask anyway.
“What is it about her that you love so much?” For me, it’s an easy answer.
Henley Gilroy is beautiful and smart. Loyal and fierce, but even though I’m sure those must be his reasons, that’s not what he says.
“Because she’s real.” He says it like he knows it sounds crazy.
Like he knows I’ll never understand. “Because I feel real when I’m with her.
Because she’s the only puzzle I’ve never been able to solve.
Because she has freckles between her toes and nice penmanship.
” Laughing, he shakes his head. “I could stand here all night and most of tomorrow, running down the list of reasons why I love my wife, but all you need to know is that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
Nothing. I’ve done things that’ve made me hate myself, just for the chance to breathe the same air as her and I’d burn this city to the fucking ground, just to make her smile. ”
“I don’t understand.” Shaking my head, I look over his shoulder, at the trio of people waiting for him.
“Wait…” Remembering the rest of my conversation with Henley, I re-aim my gaze in his direction, my heart knocking against my ribcage, the uneven rhythm of it making me a little dizzy.
It makes no sense. Absolutely none whatsoever. “Was it you? Are you the one who—”
Tilting his head a little, Conner cuts me off with a quick smile. “Night, Millie.”
Turning away from me without giving me a chance to say anything else, Conner Gilroy walks away to rejoin his friends, leaving me to find my way up to my room, on my own.