Chapter 10
Ten
As Keir pushes me into the back seat of his limousine, I try to tell my stupid heart to stop its frantic beating. My heart is racing double time as I stare at Keir, the handsome billionaire that I just spent the entire night with.
He is all but a stranger to me.
My one and only one-night stand.
That was before I found out that he’s a liar.
A liar who has a wife.
And that was before a journalist popped up outside Keir’s hotel, waving around a flash drive that he claimed was evidence of our affair.
Shortly thereafter, the blackmailer was killed in a hit and run, right before our eyes.
I can see it all now, his black-red blood seeping away onto the cement around his head. His eyes, still open, looking heavenward, his mouth stretched open in a slightly shocked expression.
I saw him die.
…and then I let Keir sweep me away, his strong arms around me as I tried to make sense of what I had just seen.
Now I’m disgusted with myself… but not as repulsed as I am by Keir. I have to try to talk some sense into him, to make him see reason.
I turn toward him, clasping and unclasping my hands.
“Keir, you don’t need me to stay with you. You can figure out whatever you need to without me ever being involved.”
Keir squints out his limousine window. “I don’t think so, Ella. It’s best to keep you close. Besides, you aren’t missing out on anything. It’s not as if you have to be here to dance in the next ballet production.”
My cheeks feel hot. I toss my head and lift my chin.
“Not that it is any of your business, but I haven’t been declared permanently injured. The diagnosis is probably coming, but the doctor hasn’t decided yet.”
His eyes tighten. “From what I understand, it’s only a matter of filling out the paperwork.”
I give him side eye. “You’re a real asshole.”
“Tell me something I haven’t heard a million times before.”
“Even if I agreed to this—”
“I’m not really asking.”
“Even if I agreed to this,” I say, loudly enough to drown out his voice. “Which I haven’t. We couldn’t drive straight to the airport. I need to pack a bag. I need a toothbrush, I need clean underwear, I need—”
Keir flicks his fingertips like he’s too busy to listen to the rest of my statement.
“Whatever you need will be provided. All you have to do is ask.”
My face is so flushed but I am determined to stick it out. “You can’t replace my birth control, my tampons, special hair products, or my wigs.”
“Wigs?” he looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “What do you need wigs for? Your hair is perfectly fine.”
My dark hair is long and blown out, which took over three hours to do this week. I run my hand through my hair and purse my lips.
“You don’t know anything about it, because you’re a man. But I put a ton of time and energy into getting my hair to look… how did you put it? ‘Perfectly fine’.”
He shifts in his seat and runs his fingers over his tie. “If I agree to take you home to pack, you’ll come with me to Scotland with no more argument. Is that what you’re saying?”
A tiny part of me tells me to say no. Between the weird conversation I had with my dad and seeing the blackmailing journalist get hit by a car, my head is spinning.
But Keir is staring me down, expecting me to say yes.
And if I’m honest, it sounds way more exciting to go to Scotland than back to my crappy apartment.
“Well?” he demands.
“Fine,” I relent.
“Driver!” Keir calls out. He lowers the partition and jerks his head to me. “We’re making a stop before the airport. Ella, tell him your address.”
Fifteen minutes later, I am sliding out of the back of the limo. Keir rolls down his window, calling after me as I head to my front door.
“Twenty minutes! After that, I’m coming in to get you. Don’t make me wait.”
I raise my hand and flip him the bird, bristling as I get my door open. As I head inside, I might have actually heard a chuckle coming from the limo. Shutting the door, I put my face in my hands and take a deep breath.
Straightening, I lean over and can just make out the time. If I’m quick with packing, I can probably call either Kaia or Joy. Those two are my usual partners in crime and my confidantes.
The thing is, though, I’m pretty mad at Kaia still. And Joy…
I haven’t talked to her since Daddy told me that she has cancer. After the day I’ve had, I can’t trust myself not to break down when I hear her voice.
I pack as quickly as I can. Traveling back and forth to Atlanta every couple of months has actually prepared me for this moment. I sprint through the process and zip my second suitcase in less than five minutes.
My phone buzzes on my bed. It’s a video call from Kaia, my best friend and one-time competition for ballet solos. I blanch; within a year, we are both out of the spotlight, no longer dancing at the New York Ballet.
Her first two calls of the day went to voicemail. For a few brief seconds, I almost let the third one go the same way.
But at the last moment, I pick up the video call. Kaia is there, looking pretty and blonde, her cheeks blushing a becoming pink. She looks at me, her expression concerned.
“Ella! Are you okay?”
I screw up my face. “Not really.”
“I am so sorry about Keir. I had no idea he was married. If I knew, I never would have tried to matchmake. That’s not my style at all.”
I suck in a breath, trying to decide how much to tell her.
Not everything.
At least not right now.
“Keir is taking me to Scotland for a while.”
Confusion spreads across her face. “Wait, what? Are you going as his au pair? Or did you two really hit it off?”
I hesitate. Mostly, I don’t want to actually lie to Kaia. She’s my best friend and I have no intention of misleading her.
She misreads my hesitation, her eyebrows flying up. “Are you freaking kidding me right now? Sex with Keir was so good that you actually think that there might be something between you two?”
Images flash in my brain, unbidden. Moaning, hips jerking, the taste of Keir’s naked skin.
“No, no,” I correct her quickly. “It’s just business between us. Trust me, Keir is a total jerk.”
Her eyes narrow. “Then why work for him?”
“Money.” The lie slips off my tongue without me even meaning it to.
“Oh.” Her face relaxes and she scrunches up her nose. “It always comes down to that, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I wait a beat. “You’re probably not supposed to fly now that you’re so pregnant. So you can’t even promise to visit me.”
“Will you be gone that long?”
I shrug. “I honestly don’t know.”
Kaia is quiet for a few moments.
“I think it’s good that you are getting out of the city for a while, Ella. I’ve watched you drift around sadly for a couple of months. It seems like what you need is a break. And Keir is giving you an opportunity to have that, even though he is a jerk.” She pulls a face. “A married jerk.”
I expel a breath. “Yeah. The good thing is that I know exactly what the boundary is now.”
In the middle of that sentence, I tear up, my voice wobbling. Kaia bites her lip.
“I’m so sorry that you’re sad, honey. If Keir doesn’t treat you like a fucking queen, let me know. I will have Calum fly over there and make Keir wish he had never been born. Hoes before bros.”
I get a text and it scrolls across my screen. You have two minutes to get your ass in the car or I’m coming inside to get you.
It has to be Keir. But how does he even have my number? If I had to guess, I’d say that Calum was more involved in our little tryst than he’d like to admit.
I roll my eyes and sigh. “Keir is rushing me to leave right now.”
Her eyebrows rise slightly. “You’re leaving today?”
“Yup. Keir is a steamroller and I’m just trying to not get flattened like a pancake.”
“Well, have a good flight. Be safe. And definitely don’t forget to call me when you get a chance.”
“All right.” I take a deep breath. “I love you.”
“I love you more.” Kaia blows me a kiss.
Just as I hang up, there is a banging on my front door. I check my hair, switch my shoes for something more comfortable, and then walk to the front door. When I pull it open, Keir leans in, his expression just short of sullen.
“Haven’t you ever heard the expression time is money?”
“Has anybody ever told you that you’re really pushy?” Rolling my eyes, I point to the stack of suitcases. “I just need to get these outside to the limousine. Then we can go.”
“Let the chauffeur get them.” Keir grabs my hands and tugs me toward the door. His grip on my hand reminds me of him spreading my legs and diving down to my pussy, his clever tongue touching me…
“Ella, for fuck’s sake.”
I look up at him, my whole face flushing. “I... I didn’t…”
He shakes his head at my stammering and pulls me out the door toward the waiting Rolls Royce.