Chapter 3
Rex
Rahat woke up laughing, which was not like her at all.
Even after the fucking awesome night we'd spent together.
Usually in the morning, Rahat was like a bitter coffee, sharp with minimal words spoken.
It was like her brilliant brain needed to take an hour or two to fully boot.
After which, she was always a ray of sunshine.
A part of me wondered if this Rahat was who she always was in London.
This was her home, and her reasons for leaving it and coming to Colorado weren't exactly pleasant.
But this version... this version had come out of the bathroom as bright as a daisy and with a bounce in her step.
A smile split my face, as I remembered exactly what we'd done in that shower last night.
There certainly was something about the water pressure in the hotel that put a smile on her face, or maybe it was the superiority of the British plumbing.
But when she kissed me, something was off.
It felt as if her bubbly demeanour was being forced, and that was definitely not like her at all.
She grabbed one of my clean shirts and pulled it on while patting her hair dry with the towel. The wide neck hung off her shoulder, so I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and landed a kiss on the base of her neck.
"Sleep well?" I asked.
"Like a baby," she said, as she reached for the room service menu. "I could murder a full English right now. You won't believe how much I've missed them."
"We have bacon and sausages at home," I said, making her scoff.
"It's not even close to being the same." She turned in my arms and wrapped hers around my neck. Her eyes were bright, but they didn't carry the smile she was giving me. "You're getting one too," she added. "You don't get a say in this."
I chuckled. "That's fine with me."
"Good. Two Full English it is." She practically squealed as she bobbed on her toes. "They are going to be the size of the table, and I'm not going to be remotely sorry about eating it."
With that, she pulled back and made the order before picking up her phone and setting it back down again.
She didn’t unlock it. She'd just checked the screen and put it face down on the table. Her fingers rested on top for a second before she took the coffee I’d made with the in-room supplies.
She wrapped both hands around it and took a sip that elicited a deep sigh. She smiled and leaned into my side.
"Isn't it beautiful," she said.
I followed her gaze. It was a sight to be seen, that's for sure.
The morning light filtered through the clouds and painted the streets in thin lines of silver.
From our view on the tenth floor, the city spread out before us in layers.
Slate and brick rooftops stretched across our view, broken by the occasional pop of green from a rooftop terrace.
Beyond them lay the Thames, winding through the city like a ribbon of steel.
A busy red and white bridge carried a slow stream of traffic.
Glass towers crowded together, and the glass spear of The Shard rose above everything else.
I took a sip of my own coffee and draped my arm around Rahat as she shifted even closer. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to a dome, peeking out from between the buildings.
"St. Pauls," Rahat said before giving me a brief history on the cathedral.
I nodded and sipped my coffee as we watched the city set to work around us. "Yeah," I said, turning my gaze on Rahat. "It's a beautiful view."
She looked like a fucking angel in the morning light. She smiled and shook her head. She knew exactly what I meant, and I knew exactly what it felt like to have those lips wrapped around me.
I thought about her spread-eagled on the bed last night and the delicious noises she’d made as she came apart. My cock gave a heavy, insistent throb against my fly.
Her mouth opened and for a moment, I thought she was going to say something, but room service arrived at the door with our breakfast, which as well as a Full English, also included some pastries, yogurt, pancakes, mixed fruit, and cereal.
As well as glasses of milk, fruit juice, and a fresh coffee pot.
Rahat, once again, squealed in delight before getting to work. And yet still, something was off.
"You alright?" I asked as she delved into her grilled tomato and scrambled eggs.
"Peachy." She popped a mushroom in her mouth. "Why'd you ask?"
I shrugged. "I don't know." I sighed and set my fork down with a piece of sausage still attached. "Ever since you saw that man in the club. The creep who was looking at you. You've just seemed a little tense."
"Tense?" She raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I wasn't exactly tense when you had me coming half the night. Now eat before I steal your sausage." She nudged my plate towards me. "I can't wait for you to meet Priya," she said. "And the rest of my family of course. But you will absolutely love my cousin."
I picked up my fork and did as instructed, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something from me. "You knew him," I said after a moment. "He wasn't just some random creep."
She huffed out a deep breath and pushed her beans around her plate before taking a sip of juice. She set the glass down carefully, like she was buying herself time.
"Was he ever physical with you?" I asked.
"What?" She paused for a moment, the fork still in her hand, and shook her head. "He was... I did know him. A long time ago back when I was in uni. We never dated or anything like that. He was just intense."
"Intense?"
"Controlling. He had a way of making things feel like they were your idea when they weren't." She kept her voice flat, which I'd learned to read as her choosing her words carefully. "Like I said. It was a long time ago. He was a creep, but I barely knew him."
She speared a piece of sausage. The subject was closed.
"Right," I said, but something in my tone made Rahat look up and glare at me.
"Rex."
I held my hands up in surrender. "I'm not pushing."
She popped another mushroom in her mouth. "Good," she said after swallowing. "Because there's nothing to tell."
We finished the rest of the breakfast while talking about her family, and whether or not her aunt would make bhel puri or something more substantial for dinner.
Though it amazed me she could even think about food with the amount of breakfast we demolished.
I felt fit to burst when we finally got dressed.
But when I pulled on my jacket, the word 'intense' was still bothering me.
Intense didn’t make a woman flinch when she spotted him across a room. He’d hurt her once. I was sure of it. But I could appreciate that she wasn’t ready to talk about it. Yet. But I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t notice.