The Passion

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

FLYNN

I know if I want her to understand me, I have to tell her how I feel.

As I take the courage to use the word that I have been avoiding since we met, it leaves my lips with ease because I know it’s time to share it.

But my heart is racing as she is still quiet and not moving for a few seconds.

Until I hear the sniffle of tears coming from her.

She lifts her head up to look at me, and the smile on her face brings me instant relief. They are happy tears.

“I love you,” she manages to say as the tears continue to stream down her face, and I’m busy trying to wipe them away. “I tried to fight it, but I just can’t.”

And that is us. Serious, funny, and explosive, and that’s why we work.

“It was the helicopter cock that sealed the deal, wasn’t it?” I kiss her, not waiting for the answer. I just want to taste her and be in the moment of those three words forever.

And as much as I try to keep the kiss sweet, it’s heating into something far more.

Shifting her off me, I stand and take her in my arms. We walk to my room where I intend to make love to my lady.

Slow and sensual all night long.

Telling her over and over again, how deeply I love her.

There was no way I was getting out of bed this morning until she woke up and I had time to remind her again that she’s mine.

“You need to feed me, I don’t think I can move.” Her sleepy voice is like music to my ears. It’s one of my favorite ways of caring for her, showing my love through my food. Who would have thought that day I got off the plane in Australia and walked into Nic’s restaurant, that cooking would change my life in so many ways. I might not be a chef anymore, but it is still my passion, and finally I have someone to spoil with it.

“Stay here, princess, and I will bring you breakfast in bed,” I whisper in her ear. I’m spooning her from behind as we are both just looking out at the view of the sun rising over the London skyline. No matter how little sleep we get at night, it seems neither of us can sleep in as we are both so used to being up early.

Just a pair of workaholic insomniacs.

“Well, it’s not like I can get up, because I don’t have any clothes to wear.” Her reply makes me smile. I’m always one step ahead of her.

While she was still sleeping, I messaged Harper, and after a very long abusive reply for not letting her talk to Felisha last night, I organized for her to get some clothes and have Forrest deliver them to me. They should be inside the foyer, as I heard the elevator come and go earlier.

I then sent a message in the group chat. Today we need to forget about everything, and what better way to do that than at Nic and Tori’s farm.

Flynn: Any chance we can come out to the farm today?

Nic: Mine or Rem’s?

Flynn: Yours. Don’t want any hassle for Rem and Lou.

Nic: We are just out having some breakfast. Will head out there as soon as we finish.

Forrest: Is this a group thing?

Flynn: Yeah, can you do me a favor and bring Harper?

Flynn: Rem, invite Cherie too.

Rem: Will do. We are out at the farm already, so Forrest, can you bring Cherie too?

Forrest: What am I, the Uber driver?

Flynn: No, just the only single man, so you get the girls.

Forrest: According to the internet, you are still very single too.

Flynn: Don’t be a dick.

Nic: My nagging wife wants to confirm Felisha is coming.

Flynn: Yes, so tell her to play nice. The last 24 hours have been interesting to say the least.

Rem: By the way, I thought I told you to stay away from The Savoy.

Flynn: Since when do I listen?

Nic: I worked out years ago that you’re deaf.

Flynn: Harsh… but true.

Forrest: He’s not listening to me either.

Flynn: I don’t know, the box of condoms in the bedroom sent the message loud and clear. Don’t want to be an uncle, I get it. I used them. That’s listening.

Rem: Oh my God, that’s gold!

Forrest: Now who’s being the dick, Flynn?

Nic: Both of you!

Nic: Sort your shit out and see you all at 11. Flynn, I assume you have a plan to get her here undetected.

Flynn: Of course.

I don’t yet, but I’ll work it out. At the moment I’m just trying to make sure we have something to get us out of the apartment today and able to act like a normal couple. More importantly, I think Felisha needs a safe place to relax and just take a moment away from the craziness. I’m not sure meeting all the people who are my safe place is taking her away from the crazy or putting her into the middle of it. When she met everyone in Australia, she was in a terrible state and extremely vulnerable. I want to give her a chance to get to know them properly, as friends and not just as people who agreed to help her because of me. A chance to be her true self.

Rem: If you believe that, Nic, you’ll believe anything. Later.

Forrest: Don’t fuck this up.

Forrest: Oh, that’s right, you already did.

What is wrong with him? Why is he so aggressive this morning? He was okay when I messaged him earlier to bring the clothes, but something has got him riled up.

Flynn: Aren’t we Mr. Grumpy this morning. Leave that guy at home.

Nic: Why do I always feel like the father of this group. Can we all play nice today while we have new friends visiting?

Nic: Be there at 11 and don’t be late, otherwise I will be the grumpy one!

With that, the messages went quiet, which is usually what happens when Nic has spoken. He might not want the title, but he is definitely the father of the group. It sort of goes hand in hand with the boss title.

“Hmmm, clothes, yes, we might need them later for the farm. Not sure naked horseback riding is on the list of planned activities.”

“What? What farm, what are we doing?” Her excitement overtakes her as she sits upright in a flash. Turning her body toward me, the sheet pools nicely around her waist. Yes, I could get used to waking up to this sight every morning.

“You keep flashing those tits in front of me and all plans are now canceled and we aren’t leaving this bed.” I start to sit up to suck on one, only to be shoved back onto the bed, and the sheet is dragged up her body very quickly.

“There is no way you are getting anywhere near this body for at least another twelve hours. I can hardly move now as it is.” She rolls her eyes at me, and although I joked about it, I actually had no intention of sex this morning. I want Felisha to know that there is more to us being together than our awesome sex life.

“Well, it sounds like you need to get into some serious training then. Like an Olympic athlete. They train for hours a day so their body is endurance fit.” I try to sound serious although she knows I’m not.

“You did not just compare sex with you to an Olympic marathon.” Raising her hand, she pretends to hit her forehead at the ridiculousness of my comment.

“All I can say is that I haven’t heard you complaining so far. So, let’s work on that fitness… tonight.” Just as she is about to chastise me again, I roll over and stand up from the bed, watching her eyes drop from my face down my body and the soft smile that she is showing without realizing it. “We need to feed you now, and then we are spending the day with my friends out at Nic and Tori’s farm. And I have invited Harper too, because I guess if you are with me, we adopt her into our group too, and I’m perfectly okay with that.” I leave her staring at me with her mouth half open in shock, and I love that I can give her this little reprieve.

With no shame, I walk naked to the bathroom and half close the door while I’m going to the toilet and slip on my shorts again. I hear her scrambling out of the bed and throwing the shirt over her head, and then she’s off in search of her phone is my guess.

I walk out to the living room to her texting like crazy on her phone, and there are no prizes to guess it’s to Harper.

“Babe, there is a bag in the foyer that Harper packed for you. Hopefully it will have everything in it you need. If not, we can have her bring whatever you need with her to the farm. Now go shower and freshen up while I make breakfast. We have an hour and half before we need to leave.”

Her fingers pause, hovering over her phone, while she looks toward the elevator and sees the bag, then looks back at me.

“Seriously, how do I deserve you?” is all she can say, and she looks so cute in my shirt, blissfully happy. It’s just how I want to see her when we are together.

“Just remember how you feel right now the next time I piss you off.” It’s a reminder of all the things I haven’t told her that are just building up, ready to send her into a full explosion, but we will worry about that when the time comes.

“True,” she says as she grabs the bag and runs back into the bedroom.

Sassy now chooses to move out of her bed, looking up at me with the sweetest face as she walks into the kitchen.

“You are only being nice because you’re hungry. One day you will work out that I’m actually a nice guy.” She purrs as she rubs on my ankle. “Although as long as you love Felisha then I guess I’ll put up with you being a bitch the rest of the time.” It’s almost like Sassy is human and knows exactly how to play me. She gives me the sweetest face as I pull out her food and start dishing it into her bowl and pour some milk into her bowl next to it.

Give it five minutes after she is finished, and that cute face will be hissing at me and the world will be normal again.

“I can’t believe my life has resorted to lying down in a car at least once a week to hide from the cameras, and it feels almost normal.” Felisha is looking out the window and has been quiet for the last ten minutes of the trip.

We are almost to the farm, and my guess is that she is starting to feel nervous. I want to tell her she has nothing to worry about, but until I show her, the words will mean nothing.

“What made you think of that now?” It’s been over forty minutes since we left the apartment, and she is only just commenting on that now. The windows on my Audi are so darkly tinted that I figured if she was just out of sight for that first part of the trip in the city, once we were on the open road no one is going to see us. But I didn’t stop to think how it must feel for her to now be my secret girlfriend.

“I don’t know, no reason really.” And I know that’s not the case, but instead of pushing further, I decide it’s better to change the subject.

“I forgot to ask, but I assume you have a country estate and grew up riding horses?” When she doesn’t answer, I look across at her, and the tortured eyes looking back at me have me worried.

“They’ve all seen me in that video. How can I look them in the eye? We need to turn around.” Her voice is quivering.

“Oh, baby. Stop that right now. I can tell you that none of them have seen you naked in that video because they have more integrity and respect in their little toe than your father has in his whole body. Rem has seen a couple of seconds of it to confirm it was me before he did anything about the threat in the initial email, but not anything of you.” I want to pull over and take her into my arms to reassure her, but there is nowhere to do that right now.

Instead, I reach over with my left hand and take her hand in mine, squeezing it tightly and resting it on the console between us.

“You’re just saying that.” I can hear in her voice that she is putting the walls up that she uses every day in her business life.

“No, don’t do that. These people are my friends, and within ten minutes of us arriving, I’m sure they will be yours too. Don’t bring Lady Kentwall the fierce businesswoman to the table. I want to walk in there with my Felisha on my arm. The woman, beautiful inside and out, that has let me inside the armor and feels able to be her true self. That’s who my friends are dying to meet.” I hope she trusts me enough to believe what I’m telling her.

“I’m trying.” She looks at me, almost pleading for me to make it better and take away the panic for her.

And the only way to do that is to shock her out of her thoughts.

“So, do you think Forrest and Harper have fucked yet?” I smile at the way her jaw instantly drops, and she sits up a little straighter in the seat, having grabbed her full attention.

“Why would you say that? Harper wouldn’t…” She stops and then starts laughing. “Who am I kidding, she totally would.”

“Forrest is a dark horse. I never know what he does in his private life, but he was acting weird this morning, and I don’t know if it has something to do with me or what’s going on with him.” I’m probably putting one and one together and getting three, who knows. “But I’ll bet you, if they haven’t already, then before your birthday they will be sleeping together.”

“And if they don’t, what prize do I get?” And the little twinkle in her eyes is back, just the way I like it.

“Lady’s choice.”

“You have to admit my strawberries with chocolate sauce are better than your cheese toasties.” She looks very pleased with herself.

“Oh, the lady plays hardball. You could have picked any sexual favor you desired, yet you went with that.” I turn down the farm road and know we are getting close. I’m glad that I have managed to distract her so by the time we get there and Tori gets hold of her, any anxiety she is feeling will be gone.

“Because anything I chose to do with sex means you can’t lose either way. I’m not stupid.” She laughs at me as I pretend to pout.

“Stupid is not a word I would ever use to describe you.” I laugh as we turn in through the gate and head down the long driveway that is lined by trees just starting to bud with new green leaves.

“I don’t know, with some of my recent actions, that word would describe me perfectly.”

I squeeze her hand and then lift it to my lips. “We agreed we aren’t talking about any of that.” As much as I wanted to know what was said last night when she was with Fulton Anderson, I was too enraged, and we agreed that we need to move past it.

“Now, welcome to Nic and Tori’s country estate. Hey, you never answered my question before, do you have a family country estate?”

“No, my father sold it when I was young, complaining that it was a waste of money and his money was better spent on other assets. So, my pony that I was waiting until I was old enough to ride was sold with the farm, and there went the dream of learning to ride.” The look of disappointment on her face tells me it hurt her deeply at the time.

“I don’t know, you were riding perfectly last night.” Parking the car, I lean over and kiss the hell out of her before she has time to chastise me for my comment.

I don’t even get two steps out of my car, heading around to open the door for Felisha, before Tori is already at the door waiting for us like an excitable puppy.

Speaking of dogs, Syd, Nic’s black-and-white border collie comes running to greet me. But he will have to wait until I get Felisha out of the car.

“Wow, who is this gorgeous puppy?” She bends down and loves him up, and I’m starting to work out that deep inside my girl there is an animal lover who has been trapped and now gets a chance to come out.

“This is Syd, and yes, you guessed it, short for Sydney. The man misses home.” Patting my leg, I call him off trying to lick Felisha’s face; he is trained so well he actually obeys. Not like my pain-in-the-ass cat.

“Let’s go, Syd, before your mother over there gets impatient.” Taking Felisha’s hand, I walk to where Tori is standing.

Before I can say a word, Tori leans forward and takes Felisha’s other hand.

“Nic, Rem, and Blaise are out the back, and the others haven’t arrived yet. You can leave Felisha with me. Go on, off you go.” Tori waves her hand at me to shoo me away.

“Hello to you too, Mrs. Darby.” I look down at Felisha, and she gives me a subtle little nod to let me know she will be okay. I’ve seen her bring a whole room of tough businessmen to their knees, but this is Tori.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea, but I doubt I have much choice.” Leaning down, I kiss Felisha on the forehead, making sure she knows how much I care. “Don’t tell her anything, she will only use it against me later.”

“My lips are sealed.” Felisha pretends to zip her mouth, but I know that will never work.

“Oh, that won’t work with her, she will weasel it out of you anyway.” Reluctantly letting Felisha’s hand go, I start to walk around the side of the house.

“We will just be talking about handbags and nail polish,” Tori yells to me as I leave them.

“Lies, all lies,” I call over my shoulder as I feel like I’m leaving Felisha to the wolves. Well, just one wolf really. Elouise is not at all like Tori, so hopefully she can control her today.

“Finally, some girl time,” I hear Tori declare excitedly as they disappear in the front door.

And as much as I’m worried, I can’t wipe the smile off my face.

I never thought I would find someone who would make me want what my friends have.

A family, even if it’s just the two of us.

FELISHA

Walking into the house, I can see Tori has exquisite taste.

“Oh, Tori, your house is stunning.” I follow her through to what looks like a large sunroom where a very pregnant woman, who I’m guessing is Elouise, is sitting.

Tori waves it off like it’s nothing. “Nic insisted I add my own touch here and the apartment so I feel like they are my homes too. And let’s be honest, he paid someone to do it before me, so at least now it has a bit of both of us in the style.”

“Flynn said you had a background in design as well as marketing. And I can see the design is first class. No wonder the hotels look great.” We may be in the same industry, but I’m learning we are all on the same team now, and they will never be in direct competition with me if we can all help it.

“Oh, thank you. If I can get the boys to stay out of my domain, it all comes together.” Which has us both laughing because I can imagine what it must be like for her with four alpha males as colleagues helping make the decisions. “Anyway, before I get carried away talking, this is Elouise, Rem’s fiancée. I’m still getting used to saying that, but I’m claiming the fact she was my best friend first before I had to share her.”

Elouise was attempting to get up out of the chair, but I’m quick to put my hands up.

“No, no, please, don’t get up for me. I’m glad to meet you finally. Flynn talks about you all, and now I can hopefully get past the awful first meeting and start fresh.”

“Whatever Flynn said will be exaggerated or made up,” Tori calls from where she is walking back from the kitchen with a tray of glasses and what looks like iced tea.

“Funny, he said the same about you.” I need to stand up for my man.

“Oh, don’t make a pregnant lady laugh.” Elouise is trying to squeeze her legs together. “This baby insists on sitting on my bladder, and that’s not much fun when you start laughing and pee yourself. Being pregnant is not glamorous at all.”

“Oh, stop it, you are glowing and are already an awesome mother to Blaise. And you…” Tori is looking at me as she places the tray on the table in front of Elouise. “We’ll keep you. I’m the first to admit my husband is a pain in the ass, but I won’t let anyone else trash-talk him either. Welcome to the club. Anyone who can fall for that man-child outside is an absolute queen in my eyes.” She hands me a glass full of iced tea, and the two friends raise theirs in the air to mine. As we clink them together, I can’t help but smile.

These two women may be a lot younger than Harper and me, but I already have a feeling we will be best friends in no time. I didn’t know how badly I needed people outside my current circle of toxicity, until now. I know Harper is my only true friend, the rest are just work associates or women from the upper class that you are supposed to act like you are all connected, just through having a title. Being called Lady doesn’t make you one.

The conversation started flowing, and I couldn’t help but smile when Flynn popped in to check on me, pretending he needed to use the bathroom. It’s not until I hear Harper’s and Forrest’s voice coming through the house that I realize it had been over half an hour since we arrived.

“Yeah, well, you don’t understand the roasting I’m going to get for being late,” Forrest grumbles as they enter the room, which has Tori laughing.

“Oh, just ignore him, Forrest, I do.” She waves his comment away like it’s nothing. I’m starting to understand. Nic is the boss, but Tori is the bossy sister to them all.

“You’re married to him, you can get away with it.” He continues out the back door, looking like he has a storm cloud over his head.

“Welcome, ladies.” Tori stands at the same time I jump up to hug Harper.

“You owe me, I need every detail later,” she whispers in my ear, and I let out a tiny giggle because this must be killing her. We normally share everything, and Flynn practically cut her out last night which is what she was afraid would start to happen when he came onto the scene. I’ll make it up to her later.

“Felisha, this is Cherie. She owns her own gym and is setting up a new charity with Rem and Elouise. Harper, I’m sure you already heard all about it on the car ride here. Anyway, we can talk more about that later. Time to head outside,” Tori fills me in as she is helping Elouise up out of her seat, and we all head outside to an amazing view of the fields and hills in the distance.

Cherie is not at all like Tori. She seems more reserved and has an athletic build, average height, with light brown hair. She’s dressed casually but still looks gorgeous, and I have a feeling she likes to just sink into the background in crowds. Time will tell as I get to know her more.

A little boy with dark curly hair, who I’m told is Blaise, Remington’s son, is busy running around with Syd and throwing the ball for him to chase, and the men are standing around a very impressive barbeque. Flynn and Nic, of course, are fussing over the food, and there are salads being retrieved out of the fridges in the outdoor kitchen and placed on the table by Rem and Forrest.

I’m in awe.

My father would never be involved in the food part of the entertaining. He would serve alcohol and talk business to the men, and that’s it. How times have changed in this world for the better.

Finally, we are seated, and Nic proposes a toast to friends, and everyone starts eating and the hum of conversation is the most glorious noise I have ever heard.

Laughter, banter, and just pure happiness. No business talk, and it’s like they live a different life when they get out here to the farm.

I’m envious for the simplicity they have all managed to find.

Cherie, who looks super fit from always working out in her gym, seems to be everyone’s friend. She’s seated next to me and isn’t afraid to give each of the guys their fair share of sass.

Flynn explained that she is helping Elouise and Rem head up a new charity for kids, so although we aren’t talking shop, I’m fascinated and ask her questions on the whole project.

Not wanting to overstep, and I will speak to Flynn about it later, but I would love to help. Obviously, it’s their thing, but it sounds like a perfect place to donate money. I grew up in such a privileged life; if I can pay it forward to help others, it would make me happy.

As much as I want to switch off, when you have a business the size of ours, you’re still on call twenty-four hours a day. My phone in my pocket has been buzzing, and as much as I want to ignore it, I can’t. There are a few messages, but the phone calls are my father, and he just keeps calling. Flynn can see my phone and puts his arm around me and pulls me closer.

“It’s okay if you need to take it. We all understand. But if you want to ignore it, I’ll happily go and throw it into the lake.” I know he is trying to make light of the heaviness every time I have to talk to my father, but it’s not really helping.

“Sorry, excuse me.” I stand up and walk away from the table and around the corner of a large bush to hide myself from all the prying eyes. I know they don’t mean to, but they are curious what I’m doing.

As I finally get out of sight, the phone starts ringing again so I answer this time.

“I’ve told you never to ignore my calls.” My father’s voice roars down the phone, and it scares me with the anger in it. I know we haven’t been super close over the years, but up until a few months ago, we worked well together and could have conversations without any hostility even when we didn’t agree. But something has changed, and I just feel sick to my stomach at the way he treats me now. It’s getting worse as we get closer to my birthday.

“Would you like me to answer you while I’m on the toilet?” I don’t care I’m lying to him.

“Don’t be so vulgar, Felisha. I don’t need to know where you were. What has gotten into you lately? No daughter of mine would say things like that to her father.

I’m not in the mood to stand here and listen to whatever he is calling to chastise me about this time.

“What do you want?” I get straight to the point.

“I just got a phone call from The Sun newspaper for a statement to confirm your engagement to Fulton Anderson. I told you to stay away from that man.”

“What the fuck!” I yell as he continues yelling at me.

“He is trouble, and instead you go out last night and look like the hussy you are in front of people with high standing in our city. And then to find out you are engaged from a newspaper because you didn’t have the decency to inform me or have him ask my permission. I’m utterly disgusted and will not approve of this marriage.”

“I don’t give a fuck if you approve or not because there is no engagement. Who the hell told them that?” Hearing footsteps behind me, I know my yelling will have brought Flynn rushing to me, and Harper is probably beside him.

“He did.” My father’s voice both takes my breath away and makes me want to vomit all at once.

What the hell is happening?

Flynn catches me as I’m about to sag to the ground. I lean against his body and look into Harper’s concerned face. I know this has to stop right now.

“I’m not marrying Fulton Anderson because I’m in love with another man who would never disrespect me like he just has.”

Flynn’s arms get tighter around me, and both our breathing accelerates with fury.

“Who the hell are you throwing yourself at now and thinking it’s love? Pathetic like your mother. I thought you would have realized by now there is no such thing as love.”

I know by now Flynn is close enough to hear what he has said.

“I feel sorry for you. You are a sad, old, soulless man.” Tears fall down my face, and as I turn to face Flynn, I say the words that make me feel stronger than I have in a long time.

“I’m in love with Flynn Taylor, and he is ten times the man you will ever be.”

Hanging up on my father, I know I have just lit the fuse to the bomb.

And I don’t care one bit.