Chapter 19
Bonnie
In a pub, with cosy corners, a jukebox, and a clientele of mostly old boys nursing pints of Guinness, Elijah settled me into a booth.
“Don’t move.” He stepped over to the polished wood bar, placed an order then waited, leaning on an elbow and never taking his eyes off me. I wasn’t about to bolt again. Not yet anyway.
When he returned, two drinks in hand, I raised an eyebrow in question.
“White rum and Coke,” he explained.
“Sure alcohol is a good idea right now?”
“A very good one, sugar included. My nerves are destroyed.”
Mine were, too. I’d been to despair and back, and only his words about giving each other a chance to speak had quieted the beast inside me.
I took a deep sip and shivered at the cold. “How did you find me?”
“I had my tech team search street cameras for you, as well as call major department stores to ask their security teams to look out for you as a high-profile VIP.”
The woman at the lingerie shop. She’d been reporting a sighting, not calling me in. Damn, did he have resources.
I swallowed and got back to the point. “She’s really a family friend?”
Elijah nodded once. “I’ve met Melinda a couple of times at events when I was Mom’s plus-one.
There is no previous romantic entanglement, even if my mother hinted otherwise.
If Melinda came here hoping the same, I would’ve set her right.
” He took a deep breath. “The first time I ever saw you, in Crowley’s, I was on the phone to my mom.
She asked then if Melinda could use the place.
I was so hooked on the angel I could see in front of me that I barely processed the question, and it didn’t stick in my mind, so I didn’t even consider it this morning when planning to come here. ”
Something unravelled inside me. “Is that the truth?”
“Entirely.”
“You didn’t set me up? I thought it was your way of showing me I was one of many.”
Something shone in his eyes that spoke of honesty and a decent, patient man.
“I didn’t. I would never do something like that.
For the record, I’m not seeing anyone else.
I’m not married and I never have been. I haven’t had a girlfriend in at least a couple of years.
Any dates I’ve been on ended without drama.
No other woman thinks I’m hers. That’s your right alone. ”
It was too much. I hung my head, at long last, reason calming my too-big emotions.
He touched my arm. “You believe me.”
Miserable, I nodded. My temper had taken me on a journey from scandal to outrage. All the drama had been mine. “I’m so embarrassed.”
When I peeked at him, Elijah was grinning.
Fire stirred in my belly. “What?”
He poked his tongue in his cheek. “That was a big reaction to thinking I was a cheat.”
“So?”
“It means you care.”
I dropped my face to my hands, hiding the instant burn to my cheeks. “I didn’t say that.”
He coaxed me to look at him again, a warmth in his gaze that did things to my heart. “You did with every one of those actions. Real talk now. I care about you more than I think you’ll let me say. I wanted you from first sight, and I did everything I could to throw myself in your path.”
I swallowed hard. “Long way of saying stalker.”
He twisted his lips. “I claimed you, Bonnie. I didn’t do that so I could throw away everything we’re building together on a lie. Think I’d do that to you and our four kids?”
I shook my head, but he wasn’t done.
“All I need to know is one thing. We can work through this.”
I took a deep breath and summoned my strength. I’d caused the damage, I had to fix it. “Take me back to your apartment.”
His waiting car drove us back across the city.
In the lift, travelling up, my hands shook. I hid them behind my back and ignored Elijah’s questioning glance.
In the apartment’s entryway, inside the property, I knocked on the wooden frame. “Hello?”
The woman skittered down the hall, a stack of clothes in her hands. She set them down on a side table and came to us. “You’re back. Thank God.”
I slid a look at Elijah. “Give us a sec?”
He lifted his phone. “Mitch is calling me anyway. I think he might quit if I ignore him any longer.”
He ambled down the long room to the big windows, flicking a lock to let himself onto a balcony.
I centred myself on the woman and stuck at my hand. “I’m Bonnie. Damn, this is awkward.”
She gave me a quick handshake. “No, no. I understand. I would’ve reacted in exactly the same way.
I’m Melinda, and I’m only here because our mothers know each other.
” She pointed to Elijah who had his back to us, on the phone and gazing out over the water.
“I needed a place to stay, and his mother offered mine. I don’t have any designs on your boyfriend. ”
Another tight knot unravelled inside me. I’d believed him. But it helped to hear her say the same. “My favourite hobbies are jumping to conclusions and flying off the deep end. I’m really sorry I treated you like that. I must’ve given you such a scare.”
She gave a short laugh. “Wasn’t it more the other way around?
I feel I should explain something. On the day I arrived, the housekeeper told me to use the primary bedroom as the other was having some electrical work done to it.
I swear I wasn’t in his bed for any other reason than my sleep pattern being messed up. ”
The balcony door opened, and Elijah stepped back inside, right as the lift chimed softly. He heaved a sigh. “Mitch is here. Told you I wouldn’t get away with it for long.”
The doors parted, and the assistant strode in, his gaze sinking over Elijah then leaping to us. No, to me. The look turned appraising. “Good,” he finally said.
Melinda sucked in a breath. “I need to finish packing. I found a hotel nearby so I’ll be gone soon. I only hung around to see if I could help… Well, you know.”
Elijah flashed her a polite smile. “Sorry, but thanks. Mitch, can you give Melinda a hand with anything she needs?”
Mitch’s calculating gaze took in Melinda but stalled. He swallowed then moved in to talk to her.
I sidled up to Elijah. “Can we go home?”
His fingers intertwined with mine, and he checked my eyes. “Of course, if you want. I thought we could stay. I could take you shopping. We could see a show and go to nice restaurants. Let me spoil you.”
“I’d honestly just like to return to hiding out. Just you and me.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Then that’s what we will do. I’ll have them ready the jet.”
Never in a million years would I expect to be used to sentences like that, but this time it was welcome.
Hand in hand, we joined Mitch and Melinda.
Elijah addressed them both. “Change of plans. We’re going back to Deadwater. Melinda, you’re welcome to stay on here.”
She blinked. “That would be awesome. If you’re sure?”
Elijah raised a shoulder. “I’ll even throw in Mitch to take you out to dinner. How does that sound?”
To my surprise, Mitch, who I was ready to judge as he’d done me, blushed. Even the tips of his ears reddened.
In the back of the car, heading to the airport, I cuddled in to Elijah.
“What was that with the dinner invite?”
“Didn’t you notice? Mitch was all big eyes for Melinda, and she ducked her head when he spoke to her. Thought I’d give them a helping hand.”
“You matchmaker.”
“What? I’m a happy man. I want everyone else to be the same.”
I buried my face in his shoulder. My run around London had stolen a lot of my fire, and all I wanted now was to curl up with him and hide. Somewhere no one else could find us, and where I wouldn’t have the chance to ruin things again.
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed to say.
Elijah kissed me. “Why do I get the impression that I’m privileged to hear you say that?”
I sniffed. “Because most of the time I’m right?”
His smile healed something inside me I didn’t know was broken.
When we got to the plane, Elijah held my hand to stop me leaving the car. He eyed the aircraft then came to me. “If you don’t want me spending money on you in stores, will you let me treat you in another way?”
I lifted an eyebrow in question.
There was something so loving in his eyes. It almost took my breath away.
“You’ll be doing me a favour,” he tried again.
“Out with it, Westwood.”
“What if we grab our passports and disappear someplace hot? Just us, no interference. No expectations. A week of sun and sea in a tropical paradise.”
Unbelievable. More so because I didn’t even try to protest. A week away with him sounded perfect.
But I’d underestimated my man.
With only two hours in Deadwater to pack and get back to the airstrip, it was a race against the clock.
At my flat, he met Genie and Jessie, both of my girls wide-eyed at the boyfriend reveal, but quickly jumping to help me find bikinis and sandals.
Genie even lent me a gorgeous gold sarong to wear on the beach.
Then a short stop off at the hotel apartment gave us everything else we needed, and we flew into the sunset.
When we got to our destination, after a long flight, a short hop on a sea plane, then a little boat, I realised I would barely need clothes at all.
Elijah had somehow magically organised a private island for us.
He carried me off the boat to a beautiful beach house on white sands, surrounded by a teal-blue tropical sea.
Inside was a hanging bed, gauzy curtains, and purple flower petals everywhere.
At the far corner of the property was a jetty with a boat, and the man who hadn’t let me go quietly informed me that meals were bought in twice a day from somewhere unseen.
We had the whole place to ourselves.
Just us, snorkelling, swimming, taking our boat out.
And so much sex. There wasn’t a place on my body he didn’t explore with his tongue. There was no part of him I didn’t get down and familiar with. And to kiss the tiny scar on his chest where my heel had left a mark. If Elijah had meant for this to bring us closer, he’d been right on the money.
By the end of the week, my head was so turned that I couldn’t remember who I’d been before him. Only that he was mine.
We flew home tanned, tired, yet so relaxed.
And so in love.
Neither of us had said the words, but I felt them all through me. I’d never fallen in love before. But I felt it in how we touched. How he breathed me in. In the way I felt when he was near, or if we were apart from each other for more than a few minutes. My body had tuned in to him.
It scared the shit out of me.
It had me wanting to share everything with him. Throughout our week, we’d talked endlessly, about what we were like as kids to our funniest stories at work.
Finally, on the plane, I managed the words to confide about my mother’s death.
He knew I’d dropped out of university for it, but nothing more, so I’d told him every detail.
The heart failure that had stolen her from me.
How I’d spent a decade trying to function around the loss.
Only recently had I started feeling ready to move on, hence why I’d pushed my business forward. Albeit fantastically badly.
He listened, quiet questions showing me he understood. I didn’t cry, but he held me tight and gave me the space to mourn and the ten years I’d felt so untethered.
I loved how intently he listened.
When I was done, and the air steward had served us dinner, Elijah switched seats so he was opposite me, like we were in a meeting. “Last week, you started telling me your business plan. Continue. Every detail.”
Familiar excitement curled in my belly. “Are you really interested?”
“In every word that comes out of your mouth. Tell me it all.”
I walked him through what I knew. Most underwear sales were online, but to get any visibility, I’d need either a huge ad budget or viral posts. Then the product needed to be somewhere for people to actually buy it, with enough stock to make money that I could live on.
“An investor was my first plan. I could buy the product, model and post images of it myself, and use their money for the upfront costs. But then I pissed off the person in charge of small business grants in Deadwater and blew that plan out of the water.”
He angled his head. “Douglas Tucker?” At whatever was in my expression, his gaze darkened. “Tell me exactly what happened that night in his mansion.”
I did, getting a cathartic release from sharing the details. Of how Tucker had targeted Jessie, who Elijah had now met, so he could imagine how damaging Tucker’s plan would’ve been.
Elijah’s jaw was so tight. “Tucker and I were supposed to meet to discuss shared investment opportunities. That’s why he called me, when you heard me say his name. I need you to know I’ll never do business with him. I swear it.”
I breathed out. It meant a lot. Not just him believing me, but taking action against Tucker, even if indirectly. “Thank you.”
He shook his head. “The bare minimum men can do is refuse to associate with predators. I will do more.” Something ticked over in his gaze. “His actions basically ruined your chances. What if I became your backer?”
Warmth flooded my chest. “No.”
“But—”
“Would you take my money if I offered it, or would you want to succeed off the sweat of your own back?”
He stared at me for a second then blew out a breath. “Do you know Mitch, the asshole, warned me that you could be a gold digger? If he could hear this conversation.”
I couldn’t stop a laugh. “Feel free to share.”
Elijah smiled back. “If you won’t let me invest in what I know will be a killer product range, how about lending my skills as a businessman? I might be able to help, even if just to bounce around ideas.”
That, I could accept. And at last, I was ready to ask the question. About his history. The way he’d created an empire. All the details I’d been too worried to hear. “I’d love to hear your story.”
Maybe I’d learn something good.