Chapter 30
Will and I went straight to the bar, where he put champagne in my hand and grabbed his glass of whisky without letting go of my other hand.
I shifted my weight and squeezed his fingers.
“Ease into it, Elle. They’ll adore you.”
I was so nervous.
“But why are they staring like that?”
“Who wouldn’t? Christ, you’re amazing.”
Damn him. I needed more than an expression of ego-driven pride. I lifted my chin, narrowed my eyes.
“Will.”
He took a drink of his whisky.
“Maybe it’s a poorly mannered society compared to your politically correct upbringing, but you’ll get used to it. People are just curious.”
His gaze moved over my shoulder, and he nodded at someone as he pulled me by his side.
A man came up and gestured for my hand with a little smile.
“Ah, there she is, the lovely one I’m dying to thank for my job security.”
He squeezed my hand with affection.
“I’m James Jackson. Glad to meet you, Miss James. Welcome to London.”
“Thank you. It’s so nice to meet you too,” I said.
He was tall and elegant with light-brown skin, warm brown eyes, and a showy grin. His head was shaved, his facial hair tightly groomed. His presence felt a little like Will’s, intelligence, authority, and charm whirling around him.
Will flashed his marvelous grin.
“She might as well sign your checks.”
Obvious trust and respect and even friendship floated between them. James had made principal at the firm, directing Will’s staff and operations, researching ideas for investments and acquisitions. In other words, he’d become Will’s right-hand man.
Will raised his hand and called out to a client.
“David, come have a drink with us.”
The two men shook hands in a manner that surpassed just a cordial business greeting. David might’ve been a new client, but he had attended Oxford University with Will...they had partied and chased women together, I wagered.
“This is my wife, Caroline,” David said.
She offered her hand to Will.
“It’s quite nice to finally meet you. David talks about you nonstop.”
Will gripped her hand for a moment.
“Does he? We certainly have some catching up to do. I want you to meet Ellie James.”
Caroline turned to me and smiled.
“Hello, Ellie, love. Let’s go somewhere and chat while they talk about their boring business.”
Thanks to my gran, I could play the elite-class social game as well as anyone. After a quick check of my nerves, I reinforced my posture and set my glass on the bar, and just like she’d done to Will, I offered Caroline my hand.
“Champagne?” I asked.
Stunned at first, then tickled, she took my hand and grinned without uttering a word.
Before letting me pull away, Will squeezed my other hand, expressing his approval and his amusement.
I led Caroline to one of the sofas, calling over my shoulder at Will with a playful smile.
“Will, send us over a bottle, please.”
He dragged his stare up from my ass and winked and then jerked his chin, sending the bartender over with our bottle of Dom.
Pretty, pretentious Caroline, the stay-at-home mom, talked about her lack of girlfriends, her collection of designer shoes, and her two young children. She also pushed hard for a story about Will and me, admitting she read the tabloids.
I gave her my own version of the old story about destined lovers, and she devoured it like a stupid fairy tale.
If only.
My shallow exchanges with Caroline reminded me how much I missed Jess. I mean, we’d been together nearly every day since our freshman year at UConn.
“Come on, darling Ellie. More! I’m now living vicariously through you.”
Kirsty joined us and sat on the other side of me.
“Thomas hasn’t said much. I’d quite like to hear more too,” she teased.
I swallowed a mouthful of champagne and shook my head.
“No, seriously. There’s not much more to tell. Our father’s worked together for the British government at some point, but that was before I was born.”
As Caroline filled our glasses again, I glanced over at Will, where he carried on with a group of men, leading a spirited conversation about a historic referendum they recently voted on.
He looked my way with a sensual, hungry expression in his eyes, and I knew immediately how mind-blowing in bed he would be later. We held each other’s gaze. I chewed on my lip.
Caroline interrupted my silent conversation with Will.
“Show me to the toilet, Ellie.”
Kirsty volunteered to go in my place, thank God, so I took the opportunity to get a minute alone with Will. I summoned him with my finger and a flirty smile.
He excused himself and came right over. As he tugged on his collar, he put his mouth close to my ear, so very close.
“Elle, I’m mad for you…don’t be a fucking tease.”
Goose bumps raised on my skin.
I slid my hands up his arms, then removed the knot in his tie and slipped it loose.
“If you’re mad for me, you should take me to bed.”
His throat rumbled, and he grabbed my arm, squeezing it.
“You’re sweating, Will. Why are you still in your jacket? Here, give it to me.”
He pulled his jacket off, and I laid it neatly over the back of the sofa, then unfastened the top button on his shirt while he worked his cuff links. I held out my hand before he could put them into his pocket.
He raised his brow but dropped them on my hand.
I smiled up from under my lashes and discreetly slid my hand into his front pocket.
“Thanks. I wanted to put them in there myself,” I said.
He started getting hard.
“You don’t play fair, witch. You will be sorry.”
I shrugged and rolled up his sleeves with neat folds, slowly dragging my fingers down his forearms and wrists before dropping my arms.
“Better?”
He nodded, stepped closer, said nothing.
“Everyone’s watching, you know, hoping to see what you’ll do next.”
He stared at me, his eyes burning. Then he lowered his head and brushed his lips over mine, making me shiver.
“Give me ten minutes to wrap up, baby, and we’ll get out of here.”
I was tired of Caroline’s questions, so I wandered onto the terrace for some fresh air with Thomas. I only half-listened to his conversation with Ben as my mind unfolded everything Will had said about the paparazzi and going back to Eastridge.
For some reason, I compared his words to my last nightmare.
Someone’s coming for us.
Catching me unaware, Will appeared between Thomas and me and smacked a newspaper against his brother’s chest.
“What the fuck,” he said.
Ethan must have noticed the tension. He came right out and grabbed the newspaper.
“Where did this one come from? Christ.”
He arched up into Thomas’s face to say something only the two of them could hear.
Thomas snapped something back, but then made his way back inside.
I pried the paper out of Ethan’s fingers.
“What is it? Let me see.”
I’d seen most of the tabloids earlier that day but not that one—the one with a closeup of Thomas and me. I knew the exact moment it had been snapped, after pushing me into the alcove and shielding me with his body.
I turned to Will and put my hands on his chest.
“You know what happened, Will. You know it’s just another tabloid lie.”
He took hold of my wrists.
“It’s fucking inexcusable. Until I’m finished here, you’ll go inside and sit.”
Ethan interrupted before I could snap back.
“Ellie, let me talk to my brother for a minute.”
I pulled my wrists free and walked away, trusting Ethan would manage his brothers.
Will followed Ethan to the bar while glaring over his shoulder at me. I turned away. Only minutes later, Ethan stood over the sofa, offering me more champagne.
“I need your help, Ellie.”
I shook my head at the glass.
“How can I handle him if you can’t?”
“No one can. It’s about influence, not control. And you own more influence with him than you understand. Learn to tap into it.”
I shrugged.
What the hell is he even talking about?
Ethan sighed as he sat down, took a drink from his glass, and then he went on.
“Darlin, the public seeing a photo like that stings his ego. It would mine as well. The photo is no one’s fault, and he knows that. He’ll come round in a minute.”
“His reaction?—”
“—was what it’ll always be when it comes to you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Sometimes, you and your brothers are like a pack of wolves or something.”
Ethan laughed.
“Yeah, well, maybe.”
But something more weighed on me. When Ethan was around, my heart yearned to draw on his connection to Isabel. Another way for me to hold on to her. The time and place never seemed appropriate, but in that moment, I just didn’t care.
“Did you love her, Ethan?” I blurted.
He paused with his whisky at his lips, frowned, and then swallowed what was left.
“We were different than you and Will are together.”
I narrowed my eyes. I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to be honest.
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“I know you miss her, Ellie, and it kills me to see your pain. She talked about you quite a lot…Isabel loved you. And yes, since you’ll keep pushing, I did love her.”
A single tear rolled down my cheek.
“Stop crying. Save your tears for my brother.”
I wiped the damn tear away. Because Ethan was right. Will comforted me and cared for me with deep tenderness. He protected me physically as well as emotionally. I wanted it to be Will’s shoulder that I leaned on, cried on. Only his.
William Hastings was everything to me.
I popped up from the sofa.
“I need to talk to Will,” I said.
“Good. And listen, we’ll talk more about Lissie when I’m home next week. You have my word. Go on and get my brother set right.”
I pushed down the hem of my dress and headed to the bar. Will drained his glass while watching me walk to him. I slid my hands up his forearms.
“Tell me, what are we doing, Will?”
His eyes challenged mine, but still, he didn’t say anything.
I pushed my fingers under his folded sleeves and pressed him harder.
“What is this? It’s not about a photo.”
His gaze dropped to my hands on his arms, then to the floor.
“Elle, if I hurt you?—”
“—you didn’t, not this time.”
He jerked his gaze up, and I could see self-reproach in his eyes. He pushed a strand of hair away from my face.
“Forgive me,” he ordered.
“I’m not upset with you.”
Leaning in, he pressed his lips against my temple and spoke softly against my skin.
“It won’t happen again.”
I pulled back and stared into his eyes. Ethan’s words about influence echoed inside my head. That was when I knew Will would never walk away from me, never abandon me.
I slipped my hand into his, and we left the lounge together.
Out in the corridor, Will pulled me to a stop before the elevator.
“Elle, I want to be sure you do understand me.”
I met his eyes with mine, waiting for his words.
“I’ll destroy any man who touches you, any man who threatens to take you away from me. Even just the appearance of it isn’t tolerable for me. You must never forget that. That’s what I’ve become with you, and there’s no way back from it.”
I realized then, staring into his eyes, his soul, that I’d taken pleasure in drawing out this baser instinct in him—an instinct resembling a feral beast that he had no control over, not when I was the one triggering it.
As strong a man as he was, he still needed reassurance that no other man existed for me, that a point of return no longer existed for me either.
I was madly in love with him.
“Say something, Elle.”
I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t say a word.
I just couldn’t stop myself from pushing him more.
Will ran his hand through his hair and cursed, then he tucked his finger under my chin, pulling my face closer to his.
“Do you want me to get on my knees and beg you to love me back?”
A sharp breath caught in my throat.
“You did say it,” I whispered.
The muscles in his face relaxed, his expression softened.
“I’ve loved you from the moment you first looked at me with those beautiful eyes.”
As soon as he said the words, I knew they were the reason for my triggering behavior. I wanted him to love me. And more than that, I wanted him to love me beyond just love.
Slowly, tears rolled down my cheeks, one at a time.
I had never traded a confession of love with another human being. I didn’t know how to verbally express my feelings to anyone other than Lissie. Silence. That’s all I could give him.
But really, I should have known better. Will would take what he wanted from me.
He jerked me into his arms.
Our mouths collided.
I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and encouraged him with my tongue to deepen our kiss, to leave me breathless, to love me with all he had, and to feel how much I loved him without hearing the words.
In the very next moment, my back hit the floor, and Will was on top of me.
I loved him was all I could think. I loved him.
A sharp pain rushed along my spine.
High-pitched ringing filled my ears.
“Don’t move,” he shouted.
An explosion had blasted out from the lounge.