“See? Not so scary, is it?”
“Easy for you to say.”
I held onto his fisted hand. “Come with me.”
Arching a brow, he looked at me skeptically. “Stealing my phrases?”
“Yes. Come.”
“Where?”
“To the edge so we can enjoy the view.”
He exhaled loudly. “Fine.”
Keeping his hand secured in mine, I led him the short distance to the edge. The entire area by the pool was surrounded by a high glass wall, so it wasn’t like we were living dangerously or anything. Since this was an infinity pool it only gave the illusion that the water was falling over the edge of the building.
“Doing okay?”
“Yes, love.”
“Just like a bathtub, right?”
He relaxed a little, chuckling. “Whatever you say.”
“Come here.” I leaned against the pool’s wall and pulled him so he stood in front of me. Hooking my arms around his waist, I leaned close and kissed his chest. “Thank you for an amazing weekend.”
“It’s not over yet,” he grinned, tipping my chin up. “We still have all night.”
“I need my beauty sleep, Holden.”
“You’re beautiful enough.” He put a finger on my mouth. “And don’t say I’m being cheesy.”
His soft lips left kisses scattered up and down my neck. I buried my hands in his hair, never wanting to let him go.
“I like being in the pool with you,” he whispered on my skin before locking me in a heated kiss. “I like going to aquariums with you. And falling asleep with you. And waking up with you. And feeling you close to me everyday.”
He kissed me again, slower and deeper. The subtle flexing of his hips into mine sent a pleasurable tingle through my body.
“I want all of that and more with you. Permanently.”
Here it comes…
My skin warmed as his hands caressed and explored every inch of me. Any thought process I had flew out the window. Or in this case, jumped off the building.
“Live with me, Lia. Move to Glasgow. I want us to start our life together.” The smooth skin of his cheek brushed against mine. “Will you come with me?”
I didn’t hesitate for one second. “Yes.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Operating on little to no sleep was not a talent I possessed. The two-hour catnap I took on the early flight to Orlando recharged exactly nothing. I might have even dozed off in the cab on the drive back to my apartment from the airport. My only saving grace was the continued flow of elation from my weekend in New York. The dizzying joy from Alastair’s proposal kept me motivated through the morning. I was even happy to be at work.
9:32am Are you back? Are you ENGAGED?!?!?!?!
I laughed at Stephanie’s text, sending her a quick response.
9:34am Yes, I’m back and no, I’m not. I have news.
9:37am OMG. Tell me everything
9:41am ;-)
9:43am >_<
9:45am LOL Call you later
10:02am Come over after work. Darren’s driving me nuts
10:36am Will do
It wasn’t until just before lunchtime that I noticed mostly everyone in the newsroom was on edge. Nobody was overly chatty like they usually were. They all seemed to plow through their duties without paying much attention to anything else. Tyler and Wes weren’t their usual selves either. In all honesty, I couldn’t be bothered with it. I was in too good a mood to let whatever workplace drama was happening get me down. I focused on my work and kept my spirits high. And then, the phone rang.
“Lia Meyers.”
“Hello, Sparkle.”
Crash and burn.
“Nathan,” I whispered, gritting my teeth.
“You sound surprised to hear from me.”
“Well, you sort of fell off the face of the earth. Where have you been?”
“Around,” he answered, his tone clipped. “We need to talk.”
“No we—”
“Yes, Lia, we do. Come to the house after work. There’s something I have to show you.”
“No. I have plans.”
“Tomorrow night then. Be here at eight.”
He hung up without giving me a chance to answer. I placed the phone back in its cradle and sighed. Anger coiled in the pit my stomach. Yeah, I wanted to talk to him, too. How dare he put me through all this and jeopardize my relationship with Alastair. I was pissed at him and myself.
Pushing aside my annoyance, I threw myself into my work. During some down town I searched online for any and all information about The Archer Hour and, more importantly, the host. All the articles I found said basically the same things about Julian Archer; brash, difficult to work with and a loud mouth.
I grinned. No different from anybody in here, that’s for sure.
“You haven’t stopped smiling all day. ‘Fess up. How was your weekend?”
Sydney flashed a bright smile in my direction and clasped onto the small divider between our desks.
“In a word, phenomenal,” I said, leaning closer to her. “What’s going on in here? Everyone looks like someone just shot their dog.”
She looked around quickly and whispered, “Layoffs. Bruce has been holed up in Vincent Jennings’ office all day. Apparently the bigwigs in New York are lowering the boom on all the stations. Bad year financially.”
“Hmm,” I responded, widening my eyes. If that were the case, giving my notice wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
“Rumor has it the writers and producers are on the chopping block. I don’t think you have anything to worry about though.” She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “Louise and Jeanie might be,” she made a slashing gesture across her throat.
“Oh wow,” I mouthed.
Sydney nodded solemnly and went back to work. I flicked my eyes over to where Jeanie was sitting. She looked stressed. I felt bad for her. In spite of all the bickering and backstabbing, I didn’t want to see anyone lose their job.
I tried not to let the general gloom in the building affect my work for the rest of the day. Once the show ended, I hopped in my car and drove to Stephanie’s place. With Alastair in New York on business, I was free to drive myself to and from work. I didn’t even have anyone shadowing me in an SUV. Paxton was with Alastair and I had zero clue where the other guy was. Maybe he’d gone back to England.
I parked on the street in front of the condo and rang the bell. Darren answered with a flourish and hugged me.
“Steph tells me you’re on the verge of marriage. Amazing, love.”
“Darren,” Stephanie yelled from the living room, “leave her alone.”
Keeping an arm draped over my shoulders, he led me inside. The stark emptiness of the condo saddened me immediately. The couch was still against the wall but the television was on the floor and boxes littered every corner of the room.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered.
“Ugh, I know,” Stephanie scrunched her nose. “It’s like purgatory. I’m literally living out of one suitcase and ordering food every night. I can’t wait to just get there so I can feel settled again.”
I plopped on the couch next to her. “I still can’t believe you’re leaving on Friday. Are you excited?”
“Nervous. I’ve been in touch with Cassie all day. She sent me some mock-ups of the print campaign. It looks amazing. I just hope I don’t mess it up.”
“Stop fretting, lass,” Darren smiled. “You’re very talented and they know it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have hired you.”
“Yeah, yeah I know.” She turned to me. “So what do you know about this Brent Garrison guy? He emailed me this morning and wants to have lunch next week. Is he cool? A douche? What?”
Leaning into the cushions, I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Um, he’s alright, I guess. Didn’t you meet him last month at the garden party?”
“Sort of. He seemed to remember me from that cocktail party we went to in Glasgow but I couldn’t plac
e him for the life of me. He knows you though.”
Yep, he sure does.
“He’s okay. I mean, I don’t know him on a professional level. I don’t really even know him on a personal level.” I shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll get along.”
“He’s handsome,” she grinned.
“Anyway,” I rolled my eyes, “do you guys want to go out to dinner tomorrow night? It might help if you get out of this bare bones place for a little while.”
“I’m game,” Stephanie answered, turning to Darren. “How about you?”
“I will never pass up dinner with pretty girls.”
“Great, I’ll make reservations somewhere downtown.” She poked me in the side. “Enough with the small talk. What happened this weekend?”
“Uh oh, girl talk.” Darren lifted an eyebrow. “Are you going to spill everything, Lia? Even the saucy bits?”
“I wasn’t planning to,” I said dryly.
“Oh good. I have to listen to the so-called ‘ladies’ in the office talk about how fit he is and what they’d do to him in the supply closet if given the chance.”
My jaw must have dropped to the floor. Darren stopped talking and smiled.
“Sorry. They’re very vocal about stuff like that.”
“I’ll put an end to that bullshit next week,” Stephanie grumbled. “That’s my best friend’s guy they’re being so crass about.”
Darren and I laughed at her sour expression.
“So,” she continued, eyeing me with glee. “What happened in New York?”
I launched into a semi-detailed description of my weekend. I made sure to tell them all the G-rated parts; how gorgeous the penthouse was, the nice dinner - minus the encounter with the Garrisons - and the aquarium. Stephanie looked like she was about to burst wide open. She couldn’t stand it when I danced around the really good parts of a story.
“That’s all fine and dandy but what happened?” she exclaimed.
I widened my eyes and crossed my arms. “You mean, apart from him giving me the keys to the penthouse to use as I please or him asking me to move to Glasgow?”
Stephanie’s glass shattering squeal was only topped by the suffocating hug she locked me in. I thought she was going to simultaneously smother and shake me to death.
“I knew it. I knew it,” she yelled, bouncing up and down. “When are you coming? Are you flying out with us this week? Oh my, God. I love this.”
I caught Darren staring slack jawed at Stephanie and giggled. “You okay over there, MacCourty?”
Stephanie stopped her aggressive hug-fest and squished her cheek against mine. “Do you have any idea how f-ing ecstatic I am for this girl?”
“I can guess,” he said. “Just try not to kill her or break a rib in the process.” He smiled at me. “I’m happy for you, Lia. Alastair is a good guy. We’ll all have to go out and celebrate once you get there. Have you decided when?”
“Not yet. I still have to give my notice at work and find a mover,” I paused, “and tell my parents.”
“They loved him,” Stephanie said, loosening her grip on me. “They’ll be thrilled. Don’t worry about them. You can use the movers that packed all my stuff.” Her face brightened. “Have you told Dayna? She’ll be so excited.”
“I haven’t told anyone. I just got back this morning and, you know, worked and stuff.” I frowned. “There’s some drama going down at the station.”
“Anything bad?”
“Rumors about layoffs. It was so unpleasant to be there today. Everybody was walking around like they were on death row.”
“No worries about that, lassy,” Darren grinned. “You’ll be long gone before anyone’s made redundant.”
“Oh!” Stephanie exclaimed. “Does Alastair have a job lined up for you? He does own a majority of the broadcast media there, you know.”
“Does he?” I shot her a look, grinning. “He mentioned there’s a news magazine program that’s hiring. No, he doesn’t own it, so stop with all that. I’d feel weird working for him anyway. It would look…odd.”
“Whatever. This is too exciting. Now I’m not as sad to leave you.”
She hugged me again, only this time like a normal person.
“I want in on all the hugging.” Darren jumped on the couch and wrapped his arms around both of us. “You two are going to be a handful for us Scottish lads. Not sure if we’re ready for the American storm coming our way.”
* * *
I walked into my apartment a little after ten, feeling happier than I’d been in a long time. Everything was finally clicking in my life. I had a bright future, an amazing boyfriend and the best friends on the planet. Grabbing the laptop from my dresser, I plopped on the bed and sent Dayna a quick email, telling her about my big move. I also warned her not to tell our parents until I had a chance to talk to them.
10:22pm Still awake, love?
10:23pm Yep. Just got home from Steph’s
The phone rang in my hand a millisecond after I hit send.
“Eager boy,” I answered, grinning.
“What can I say? I wanted to hear your voice before you fell asleep.”
“You caught me just in time then. I’m exhausted.”
Alastair’s low chuckle rustled a few sparks in my stomach. “My timing is impeccable as usual.”
“How were all your meetings? Thrilling?”
I heard a tapping sound, like he was rapping a pen against a desk. “I don’t want to bore you with work, Amelia. There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”
The sobering edge to his tone sent me into a slight panic. He changed his mind and doesn’t want me to live with him. I squeezed the phone, scolding myself for having such ridiculous thoughts.
“It sounds serious,” I said.
“I need you to promise me something.”
I swallowed hard. “What?”
“If Nathan tries to get in touch with you or asks you to see him before I arrive, you are to tell me immediately. Do you understand?”
All the blood in my veins chilled. “I guess.”
A heavy sigh cascaded through the phone. I could almost see him running a hand through his hair. “Have you heard from him already?”
My hesitation to answer gave me away.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” he grumbled. “I don’t want you speaking with him or seeing him.”
“He called me at work. I didn’t really think anything of it.”
“Just do as I say.”
I sat up straighter on the bed, confused and annoyed by what he was telling me. “Enough with the bossy crap.”
“Trust me on this,” he groused. “He’s up to something and I’m too goddam far away to protect you. If I didn’t have these bloody board meetings tomorrow I’d be there with you now.”
“You’re scaring me, Alastair. Stop it.”
“I’m sorry, love,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to do that. Scott is back from London to keep an eye on you. He should have arrived tonight. Check outside and let me know if you see the SUV. I’ll feel much better once I know you’re completely safe.”
I went into the living room and looked out the window. Nobody was parked near my unit except for residents. “I don’t see it.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’ll call you back in a minute, okay?”
“Sure.” I could barely speak. Overcome by an impending sense of doom, I kept a watchful eye on the parking lot for several minutes. What could Nathan possibly be up to now? A spear of light sliced through the darkness, spiking my heart rate. The loud ringing of my cell phone scared the crap out of me. For Christ’s sake, relax.
“I see a car,” I answered.
“That’s Scott. I just spoke to him. He’ll be there all night if you need anything. I’m having Paxton fly down first thing in the morning.”
“Don’t you need him?”
“No. I’m canceling my plans to attend the client dinner so I can fly back tomorrow night.”
“
Don’t do that, Alastair. You put me ahead of your responsibilities far too often. If Paxton and Scott are both here, I’ll be okay. I promise.”
Now I knew he was scrubbing his face with a hand. I could hear him becoming more exasperated. “You are my number one priority, Lia. Nothing else.”
I tapped my nails on the windowsill, watching the silhouetted movements inside the SUV. I didn’t like feeling as though I was a caged animal again, even though I knew his intentions were pure of heart. “And you’re my number one priority, chief. I worry that you spend too much time fretting about my safety and well-being. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. You need to focus on your responsibilities outside the sphere of our relationship. Nothing earth -shattering is going to happen in the next thirty-six hours. Go to your client dinner. Take care of your work. I know how to reach you if I need something.”
Blood pounded in my ears as I waited for his response. I couldn’t even hear him breathing anymore.
“Fair point,” he finally said. “As usual.”
I smiled, hearing the tension in his voice slide away. “So, in summation, Mr. Holden, you will stay in Manhattan and do your job. I’ll putz around Orlando with two shadows until you get here. Agreed?”
“Ever considered a career in negotiations?”
“No,” I giggled. “But I’m always stroking somebody’s ego at the station so maybe that’s why I’ve become so good at being persuasive.”
“Their egos better be the only thing you’re stroking.”
My. God. I clutched onto the windowsill and took a second to compose myself. Lethal.
“Speechless again, Meyers?”
“You need a warning label. That’s all I have to say.”
His deep, throaty laugh filled me with warmth. I loved how it sounded, especially after hearing him so tense and worried.
“I miss you, chief.”
“Ditto, love. This place feels so empty without you here. I can’t wait until we’re under the same roof permanently. You’ll be ready to fly back with me this coming weekend, yes?”
The immediacy of his request made me nervous. Of course I was ready to be with him, I just needed more than four days to tie up all my loose ends.
Unravel Me Page 18
