Chapter 28
Will went to his office hours earlier, and I had no idea when I’d see him again. He’d said not to wait up and to have dinner either in the suite or with Thomas and Kirsty.
I ran my fingers through my hair. The ends were splitting. The color was boring. And I wanted to change it…to create something visual that would strengthen the idea of the new me…or the real me.
So I picked up the hotel phone and called the hotel concierge service, and he almost immediately secured an appointment for me at a premier salon within walking distance.
That would have never happened for just me, but Will’s name turned heads and moved mountains in London.
My phone chimed with a text message from Thomas.
Don’t open the door until I’m on the other side. Hit me back when you’re ready to go.
I’m ready now.
He knocked on the door in like thirty seconds.
When I opened it, Ben and Joe Turner stood behind him.
As the four of us left through the main lobby entrance for my appointment, Thomas grabbed one of the morning newspapers.
“So it begins,” he said.
He held up the front page, displaying a photo of Will and me…an intimate moment between us, standing by his car when we arrived the night before.
Seeing the photo literally tripped me up as I stumbled on an unlevel pavement seam. I didn’t even know what to say.
Thomas grabbed my arm to steady me.
“The writeup announces Will’s return to London after a months-long hiatus and speculates about the connection between his absence and the woman pictured with him.”
Ben nodded.
“Will set that up. I’m quite sure about that,” he said.
The camera flashes he ignored.
Thomas tossed the paper into a bin along the street curb.
“Yeah, it’s one of his fuck-around-and-find-out messages.”
As we covered the three city blocks to the salon, we tried to blend into the pedestrian traffic and not draw attention.
Ha. As if…one woman boxed in by three big men pushing other people out of the way.
When we arrived, the owner greeted me with a pretty sunrise mimosa, and two hours later, I stepped out of the stylist’s chair with shiny caramel waves and bright blonde tips.
Thomas loomed protectively. He hadn’t let me out of his sight for even a minute.
“Well? What do you think…it’s different, right?” I asked.
Thomas smiled, took my hand, and led me toward the door.
“I think you’re lovely and my brother’s a lucky man.”
My thoughts shifted quickly to Will. I wondered what he would say.
“Thanks, Thomas. That’s really sweet. Hold on, I need to check out and pay.”
But before I could stop at the desk, Thomas pulled me outside onto the city pavement.
“No, you don’t. I’ve already done that.”
“Wait, what?”
“You can’t use your own credit cards. And my brother’s ego wouldn’t allow it even without the current security risk.”
“But Thomas?—”
“Move your feet or I’ll carry you,” he teased.
I stared at him with my eyes narrowed.
“Listen, Ellie, you’re here with us now. I guess you could say this family is progressive as well as being traditionalists. And when it comes to our women, we lean traditionally. Will won’t allow you to use your own money, not when he has so much himself. So don’t trouble him over it.”
“Trouble him…what? So you’re saying you buy Kirsty’s things?”
He shook his head.
“Our relationship isn’t the same. I don’t see her as my future.”
“Oh no, Thomas.”
He stared hard at me.
“What?”
“She’s in love with you. You know that, right?”
I had noticed the look in her eyes whenever he touched her. She loved him.
He shook his head again and cursed under his breath, reminding me of Will.
Thomas had promised me one trip to a small block of shops after lunch. So we took his car and drove over to the shopping hub on Bond Street.
I picked up some pajamas, socks, and a pair of boots for Lissie, so she could muck around in the gardens, and a few things for myself…including the red dress Will told me to get.
Our last stop was at the dress boutique, where people gathered outside on the pavement.
How odd. They’re not coming inside.
Thomas stepped close.
“It’s the media…here to get more photos of you.”
A cold sweat chilled me.
My heart drummed in my chest and in my throat.
I grabbed Thomas’s arm.
“Would you take me back to the hotel?”
“Yes, of course.”
He stared at me for a minute…I was sure he could see the color leave my face.
With his hand on my back, he guided me to the door, but then his demeanor shifted, and he shoved his arm out in front of me.
“Stay behind me, Ellie. Ben, let’s get her to the car.”
As soon as we stepped outside, camera flashes and shouting by the notorious London paparazzi overwhelmed us.
Anxiety hummed in my ears…it pulsed in my blood.
Don’t count. Don’t count. You don’t need to count.
“Ellie James, pose for us, love,” someone shouted.
They knew my name.
Thomas, Ben, and Joe held me securely inside their security formation while the paparazzi surrounded them. Thomas stiff-armed an aggressive photographer.
“Back the fuck up. You’ll get your photos, so cut the bullshit and give us some space.”
A man pushed a mic mounted on a long pole close to my face.
“There are photos of you with Will Hastings circulating. Was it you he was with in America? What’s the significance of your presence in the UK?”
Thomas batted the mic down.
“Ellie and my brother are together…and we’ll make no other comments today.”
“Let her speak, Hastings,” someone else shouted.
Others from the street joined in. They all shoved and yelled.
I clutched Thomas’s shirt, my knuckles turning white.
He protected me inside his arms and shouted to the other guys.
“Come on…move it. Clear me a path to the car.”
Paparazzi reinforcements arrived, and they continued pushing and shoving each other, competing for better shots.
It was all just senseless. What was the point?
We didn’t yet have a clear shot to the car, so Thomas moved us into a brick alcove next to the store’s entrance and put my back against the wall, using his body to shield mine.
“I’ll get you to the car as soon as I can, Ellie.”
I gripped his arms and locked on to his eyes.
“Yes, okay. I know.”
Ben appeared close behind Thomas’s back.
“Thom, come on…follow me. Stay right on my heels.”
Thomas looped his thick arm tightly around my waist.
“I’m going to be holding on to you, Ellie. You must not let them separate us. No gaps between us. Understand?”
I wiped angrily at the stupid fucking tears running down my face and nodded.
He winked.
“Quite right. This is nothing at all.”
At three a.m., Will slipped into bed and pulled me into his arms.
I turned to him, putting us face-to-face, and we wove our arms and our legs together like the threads of a well-made tapestry. I buried my face at the base of his neck.
The city lights outside the windows gave him just enough light to see me. He twisted strands of my hair around his finger. Exhaustion was clear in his voice.
“There’s a beautiful blonde in my bed.”
I pressed my mouth against his warm skin, and a secret smile curved my lips.
“And she’s mine,” he added.
“How did you know it was me?” I teased.
He cupped my chin, pushed my head back, and inhaled against my throat.
“As beautiful as you are, I know you by your scent alone.”
“Will, that’s a little creepy, you know.”
He inhaled again and moaned.
I dragged my fingers over his jawline, through his beard. He hadn’t trimmed it, so it was longer than his usual scruff.
“You seem really tired…sweet dreams.”
He let out a small grumble as we joined our lips and closed our eyes.
“Baby, I was lost before you came home to me…lost…destructive…”
His vulnerable whisper faded, and we quickly fell asleep.
But just five hours later, rain pounded against the windows and woke me.
And he was gone again.
A huge bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder followed it.
I jolted upright as my breath caught in my chest.
The sudden memory of Will’s words shook me, not the storm.
There had been more. He had said more.
“…Christ, how I love you.”
Oh no, oh god. How could I have missed that?
There had been times in my life when I’ve feared something and didn’t know how to handle it, so rather than face it, my brain locked down and blocked it out for me.
Is that what I’d done this time as well…to Will?
I twisted to his side of the bed, and my hand came down on the thorny stem of a red rose.
He loved me.
I had definitely done it again.