Famously in Love

CHAPTER TEN #2

‘No.’ Patrick pressed the button to call the lift. My heart twisted before he continued. ‘I haven’t been dating anyone in a while, Jessy,’ he said, his voice almost … was he laughing? ‘Don’t believe everything you read online.’

I mean – sure. Right. Not that I had been able to avoid him online.

The lift doors opened, and we stepped inside. Patrick pressed ‘Roof’.

‘Are you sure about this?’ I glanced up at him, conscious we were … alone.

Which was ridiculous. We’d been alone before – but not since the almost-kiss. And not on a non-sanctioned date.

This was private. This was … intimate.

It was sending all sorts of mixed messages to my brain – which was unhelpfully supplying me with many, many ideas of what we could be doing in this lift right now.

I imagined him pushing me up against the mirrored wall and dragging my hands up his chest until I had to wind my legs around his waist to hold myself up.

The image came in such startling clarity that I was almost breathless with want.

‘Jessy?’

‘Yep!’ I jumped, disorientated. ‘What?’

‘We’re here.’

The doors opened to reveal …

Nothing.

I mean, not nothing. It was a rooftop, just like any other rooftop in the city.

There were air-conditioning ducts and fire escapes, and a pretty impressive view.

This place wouldn’t have been a bad location for the fireworks at New Year.

But there wasn’t anything about it that particularly screamed come jump off me.

Then I focused my gaze on the two women standing right by the edge of the roof holding equipment that could only be for one thing.

My stomach rolled and I took a step back towards the lift.

‘I’m not sure I can do this, actually.’ In fact, I was entirely sure I couldn’t do this.

I had never been afraid of heights before but, suddenly, being this high up was making me shake.

Maybe I just hadn’t had the chance to properly feel the fear.

‘Yeah, no. I change my mind. Throw me straight into the lunch, not off a building!’

Patrick’s grin was fucking stunning. My whole body lit up as the strength of his full smile hit me.

‘Come on, you’ve never tried abseiling?’ he said cheerfully, as though he’d suggested a game of minigolf instead of certain death. ‘It’s pretty exhilarating –’

‘Nope, nope, absolutely not.’ Where had this fear come from? Laura wasn’t afraid of heights – had Mum been? I’d promised myself I’d never forget a single detail, but just a couple of years later and the intricacies of her character were slipping through my fingers.

‘Jessy?’

I managed to drag my terrified gaze away from the clips the women were holding – which apparently somehow kept you safe a million miles from the ground – and looked at Patrick.

He looked … disappointed.

The excitement had faded from his eyes, but the smile still lingered.

The smile I was very quickly realizing I was obsessed with.

Fuck.

‘You – you’ve done this before?’ I managed to ask.

Patrick shrugged. ‘Yeah, a bunch of times. We … well. We had to do it for a music video, but it turned out I get a real kick out of it.’

It was coming back to me now – the music video for ‘Adventure’. It had looked fun – and totally bonkers. For someone stood firmly on the ground, obviously.

‘I know it’s a bit sad, trying it for a music video,’ Patrick was saying, as though I got my thrills in a far more exciting manner, and not from trying to avoid Karun finding out that I was using the work printer for Laura’s business.

‘But it really is fun. I’ll be right there with you,’ he reassured me.

‘We’ll be doing it together. I could even hold your hand the whole way. ’

His last-ditch attempt to get me on board was adorable, though probably impractical.

I swallowed, mouth dry. How many floors did the lift go up?

‘But you don’t have to. Obviously.’ He stepped directly in front of me, breaking my connection with the outside world, hiding it from view. Immediately my breathing settled – not, I told myself firmly, because he’s closer to me.

Because I couldn’t see my ultimate doom.

‘I would never make you do anything you don’t want to do, Jessy,’ he said intently, gazing down at me like he had that night at the Cassandra’s Chorus album party.

And just like then, I found myself getting lost in his eyes.

My centre of gravity shifted towards him, pulling me further into his orbit.

Wait – concentrate!

‘I just thought it could be something fun for us to do,’ Patrick continued, his voice low.

‘Without the pressure of Derek, cameras, the public – but if I was wrong, then I’m sorry.

It’s not a big deal, we can still head to lunch.

’ He shrugged, like it was nothing. Like it wasn’t the sweetest thing he’d done for me.

And it did matter. To Patrick. I could see in his eyes that the disappointment I’d seen earlier hadn’t actually gone away; he’d just hidden it from me.

Ugh. I was going to regret this.

‘Fine,’ I said quietly.

That wide smile was back. It was intensely intoxicating – and ninety per cent of the reason I’d eventually capitulated. ‘Fine?’

‘Fine, let’s throw me off a building,’ I said with a smile I hoped he was convinced by.

His laughter warmed me, even as we stepped out on to the blustery rooftop. ‘I’ve got you.’

He spoke in reaction to my tight taking of his hand. A breeze tugged at my hair. How could Patrick just … just walk calmly, like we weren’t going towards our deaths?

‘Hey, there. Found us OK?’ one of the abseiling women said as we approached. ‘Careful of that line!’ she yelled over the edge of the building. ‘Great timing, there’s only a few minutes’ wait.’

‘Great.’ Patrick nodded.

The lady took another look at us – Patrick, really – before she exclaimed, ‘Oh my God, it’s Patrick Tetlow, right?’

Patrick stepped closer to me and curled his arm around my waist. ‘Yeah.’ Heat sparked everywhere his arm touched me. The white top I had hastily put on this morning had been pushed up by his forearm, leaving his hand on the strip of bare skin around my waist.

Which I had definitely not noticed. Obviously.

‘Wow, my daughter is such a huge fan!’ the woman gushed as I watched Patrick’s face transform into …

Well. Work Patrick. I couldn’t think of a better name for it. It was the look he got when he was interacting with the public, his fans – These Exiles fans. Professionalism descended and he was somehow distant, despite being physically close.

‘Can I get a photo?’ the woman was saying, her voice a little breathless now. ‘For my daughter, of course. Could your – could you take it?’ Her question was directed at me, and I instinctively looked up at Patrick – searching his face for approval.

I couldn’t imagine how exhausting it had to be. Trying to just enjoy your day without having strangers always wanting something from you.

‘Let’s take a selfie,’ Patrick said lightly, stepping just a few inches from me and smiling tightly.

‘No one is going to believe this …’

The photo was taken in moments and Patrick returned to my side just as quickly. I tried not to delight at how protected, how close, I felt with him as he pulled me into his side again.

He was with me. He was mine.

The thought shimmered through my mind before I could stop it, but it felt so … right.

Patrick brushed his knuckles along my arm, and I grinned like an idiot. I was getting awfully used to this physical contact between us. And I wasn’t sure it was a smart idea. There were no cameras here. No reporters, journalists or paps to peddle our love story in the next day’s papers.

And I liked it.

‘Amazing, thanks for that! Right, have you ever done this before?’ the instructor asked, her silvery hair brilliant in the sunlight.

I shook my head, not trusting my tongue. If I opened my mouth now, one of two things would come out of it. A request for help, or projectile vomit.

Damn you, Anna, and your cheap handbag tequila.

‘– and just like that, you’ll be down on the ground.’

I blinked. Fuck. What had she said?

Patrick squeezed my hand, and I fought the desire to launch myself into his arms and beg him to take me.

Take me into the lift and downstairs to safety, to be specific.

‘Why don’t we go over it again?’ Patrick said, clearly sensing my panic.

I threw him a grateful look.

He caught my gaze and gave me that uncertain little smile I was fast becoming addicted to, then jerked his head to the silvery-haired woman who was explaining how not to die.

This was ridiculous. I was about to go to my death on a spindly little rope, and I was far more interested in examining the colour of Patrick’s eyes. Not quite green, not quite hazel. Was there even a word for that shade?

Right. Concentrate.

The next few minutes were – well, not exactly a blur. Deciding I would prefer to live than plummet to my untimely death, I really did pay attention to the instructor, whose name I now knew was Katarzyna, watching carefully to see how she used the ropes and various other pieces of equipment.

‘I must be mad,’ I muttered to myself, carefully snapping the hard-hat fastening around my chin.

Patrick, who somehow looked just as hot wearing the ridiculous bright orange headgear, grinned. My stomach fluttered. ‘I didn’t know you were afraid of heights.’

‘Heights? Heights? No.’ I peered over the edge of the rooftop at the ants driving about in toy cars below. ‘Falling to the ground in an uncontrolled and terminal manner? Yes.’

His snort of laughter should not have made me feel better. ‘I’ve got you.’

And those three little words should not have made me smile.

Oh, hell. Here we go.

‘– and then just swing yourself over the edge,’ Katarzyna said, far too cheerfully. ‘There you go!’

It was Patrick who had moved, smoothly and without a care in the world, up and over the side of the building.

My heart was hammering. ‘Patrick?’

‘I’m OK – honestly, I’m fine.’ Fine, fine, was that all we could say today? ‘Come on over, it’s amazing.’

Fuck fuck fuck –

‘Aarrgghhhhh!’ I yelled to no one in particular as I swung myself over the edge.

The ropes held – and beside me was a grinning Patrick, a man who had never looked this free in the whole time I’d known him.

Or, you know. Stalked him online.

‘Isn’t this great?’ he yelled, dropping a little further down.

‘Patrick!’

Panic should not rise in my chest at the sight of a guy I did not care about dropping a few feet down a skyscraper.

‘Just relax into it,’ Patrick yelled up at me. ‘I won’t let you fall.’

Which wasn’t true. The man had absolutely no control over my descent whatsoever.

Still. It made me feel better, in a way I was quickly learning only Patrick could.

Which was something I was absolutely not going to examine here and now, dangling off the side of a building.

Slowly, I began to walk down. This is nuts! Laura and Anna are never going to believe it!

But as I reached Patrick, then matched his pace as we continued to descend, I had to admit that this was kind of … fun.

Exhilarating.

Patrick chuckled, and his laughter warmed me. ‘You’re enjoying this!’

‘I am not,’ I shot back, holding a little tighter to my rope as we made it down another floor.

‘I knew you’d like it,’ he said happily. ‘And I wanted you to actually enjoy yourself. I mean – you deserve to have fun. This wasn’t your fault, after all – you didn’t ask for any of this crap.’

I was hardly going to argue with him. Not fifty or so feet off the ground.

Besides, he was … different, like this. Freer. More open. This was a side of Patrick he clearly kept close to the chest, that few people were privileged enough to see.

I couldn’t help but be grateful. Flattered, even.

And then he said something I was not expecting. ‘Race you to the bottom.’

‘Race to – Patrick!’

He was gone, swiftly yet controlled. Faster than I could ever even think to go.

‘Patrick!’

Despite my better judgement, I did the stupid thing. I looked down.

The ground swam in dizzying circles and, in the centre, all I could see was Patrick.

Patrick. His eyes, shining up at me as he stood on the safe, solid ground.

‘Jessy.’ His voice sounded far away. ‘You can do this, Jessy.’

The deep, shuddering breath I slowly inhaled wasn’t enough – but nothing would be, not until I was back in his arms.

‘I can do this,’ I muttered quietly, gripping the rope tightly. ‘I can do this.’

Slowly, slowly, and then faster, I stepped down, until I was almost leaping down the side of the building, my lungs burning and my mind spinning and my stomach soaring and –

And then I was on the ground, but I wasn’t, because I was in Patrick’s arms and he was holding me.

Holding me safe. Holding me close. Holding me in a way that Derek would have heartily approved of.

One arm gripped tightly around my waist, the other slid downwards. I looked up, heart pounding, a thank you on my lips … and instead found myself kissing him.

A real kiss, this time.

And fuck me, what a kiss. Heat and relief and sweetness and passion, his tongue twisting pleasure in my mouth that I hadn’t felt in – had I ever felt like this? Adrenaline pumping and spirits soaring and Patrick’s hands holding me tight, as though he never wanted to let me go.

I lost myself to the kiss, eyes closed, head tilted, giving more of myself than I had ever thought possible, my whole body reacting to the heat, the vibrancy of this man –

I was kissing Patrick.

I had kissed Patrick.

This was not part of the plan.

I pulled away, cheeks burning, to see him with a stunned look in his eyes.

‘That … that was –’

‘A mistake,’ I said hastily, breathless still.

Shit, what was I thinking? I could not go around passionately kissing this man! This was all fake! A sham!

We were playing pretend, and I’d let my fantasies run away with me.

Or maybe Anna’s words had lodged themselves deeper in my mind than I’d realized. Either way, in less than a month we would be saying our goodbyes and never seeing each other again.

Patrick was blinking as though I’d knocked him on the head. Which, considering how swiftly I’d fallen those last few feet, maybe I had. ‘Mistake?’

‘Yeah, yeah, stressful situations can lead to intense and unexpected romance – have you never watched Speed?’ I’m pretty sure I was misquoting Sandra Bullock, but I was even more sure the reference would be completely lost on him. ‘It could happen to anyone.’

‘Anyone,’ Patrick repeated, staring at me as though I had grown another head.

Think, woman, think!

I glanced up at the building we’d just thrown ourselves off and groaned inwardly. There was only one way I was going to properly distract him from my brief loss of sanity.

Smiling as brightly as I could manage, I said, ‘Should we get in round two before today’s real dangerous activity – lunch with your record label?’