“From what he was telling us, he feels exactly the same for you as you do for him,” Shelby said. “So go get him, go get that happy ending.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. She started walking toward the plane, watching Blake as he clattered eagerly down the steps. By the time he hit the tarmac they were both running, and she flew into him like she was tackling him. He caught her, the wall of his body not wavering in the slightest. He wrapped his arms around her, lowered his head, and she met his lips with her own.
If the last kiss had been breathtaking, this one was magical. She lost herself to it, feeling his strong arms pull her against him. One of her hands reached into his thick hair and she grabbed it so hard he gasped, but he only kissed her harder until the ground faded away, the airport faded away, the entire universe faded away and there was just the two of them, their old souls finally united.
This time it was Ellie who pulled away, but only because she had to make sure it was really him, that this wasn’t a dream. She looked up at his impossibly handsome face, at those deep, blue eyes overflowing with kindness and affection. She touched his cheek gently, as if afraid he might pop into nothing.
“It’s really you,” she said.
“It’s really me,” he replied.
“You look… different,” she said.
“I feel like a new man,” he replied, kissing her lips briefly. “I am a new man. And it’s because of you. You gave me the strength to get through. You gave me the strength to be free.”
“But what about your company?” she asked. She could feel her pulse racing in every part of her, and all she wanted to do was kiss him again.
“I don’t care about that,” he said. “I don’t care about any of it. I just care about you.”
He leaned in to kiss her again, then paused, his eyes drifting to something behind her.
“Maybe we should board the plane,” he said. “We have an audience.”
Ellie looked up at the huge window above them. Shelby was there, three more women in attendant uniforms standing by her side. Even from here she could hear them cheering, and Shelby grinned down at her, raising her thumb in celebration. Ellie grinned back—a smile so wide it hurt her cheeks—and both she and Blake were laughing as they climbed the stairs and entered the jet.
22
Blake’s head was spinning, and not just because they were accelerating down the runway in preparation for take-off.
He gripped the arm rest with his right hand, and held tightly to Ellie’s with his left. She was sitting next to him in one of the ten plush, leather seats on the company jet, her head resting on his shoulder as she stared out of the window. He only had eyes for her, he literally couldn’t look away. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but it wasn’t the superficial beauty that people saw in supermodels and movie stars. It wasn’t the false, manufactured beauty that he thought he had admired in Michelle. This was something else, something new. She seemed to glow from within, as if there was a sun buried at the heart of her, filling the world with warmth.
The plane bumped, Blake’s stomach lurching as they soared into the evening. Ellie clutched at his hand, a small gasp escaping her. He pried his fingers free and wrapped his arm around her shoulders instead, pulling her close. He’d never been a great flier, but once again there was something about Ellie that was giving him a courage he’d never had before. When he was with her, he felt as if he could do anything. He hadn’t lied to her, he really did feel like a new man, and it was her doing.
They soared in silence, Ellie watching the rolling hills and highways below as lights gently twinkled on, Blake watching her and marvelling at every piece of her. She was wearing the most incredible dress, a loose, flowing, sleeveless one covered in prints of sunflowers. Her shoulders were bare, her neck perfectly slender beneath her unruly hair. She was absolutely perfect.
Part of him still couldn’t believe he’d dropped everything and run for the airport, but he knew it had been the right thing to do. He might have lost everything he’d worked so hard to build, but in doing so he’d managed to find the one thing his life had been missing. He held Ellie more tightly, and she pressed herself into him. He swore he could almost hear her purring.
“Is it real?” she asked, pulling away so that she could look at him.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’m still trying to work that out myself.”
“I just thought you were going to disappear,” she said, pushing her glasses back into place. “After what you said to me earlier.”
“I was,” he replied, ignoring the plane as it shook its way through a thin layer of clouds. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you suffering because of me. I didn’t want to drag you beneath the waves as I was drowning.”
She reached up and placed her hand on his chest. It was the most wonderful feeling, as if she was feeding something into him. He placed his hand on top, his heart revving so hard that he was worried it might explode.
“What changed your mind?” she asked.
“You did,” he replied. “You mentioned escape, and I realized that’s what I’ve been trying to do for so long.”
“But you love your company,” she said. “Heartbook is everything to you.”
“Exactly,” he replied. “It feels like it has been my entire life. Heartbook has ruled everything. I gave my youth to inventing it, I gave the best years of my life to building it. My relationships have always been connected to Heartbook somehow. And…”
He hesitated, not sure if he was ready to share this piece of truth about himself. He felt ashamed to even think it, and he couldn’t bear for Ellie to hear it, so he bottled it deep down inside.
“There has only ever been work, I feel like I’ve missed out on so much. Meeting you opened my eyes to what else was out there, it opened my heart to everything it has been craving. I think I…”
He almost said it, he almost told her he loved her, but he held back because he knew it couldn’t be true. Love could take years, it could take a lifetime. It certainly didn’t happen in a day or two.
Did it?
Ellie smiled at him again and he felt his whole body respond to her. It was unlike anything he had ever felt, his stomach turning as if the plane had suddenly done a loop-the-loop. She pulled her hand away and he felt cold at the loss of her. He craved her like she was air and he was a man underwater.
But what if she didn’t feel the same way? All the clues pointed to her being as smitten with him as he was with her, but he had to be careful he didn’t scare her away. He unclipped his seatbelt and stood up, stretching. He hated being this far away from her, but he wanted to give her space—he had practically kidnapped her, after all. She pouted at him, then giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Sorry,” she said. “This is all just…”
“Insane,” he replied. “I know. But it feels good. It feels right. Doesn’t it?”
Ellie nodded.
“A hundred per cent right.”
“I just hope your mother likes me,” he said.
“She will,” said Ellie. “She met my last boyfriend. To be honest, if I went home and told her I was dating a turkey she’d think it was an improvement.”
“Er… thanks?” said Blake, and she laughed.
“That was supposed to be a compliment,” she said. “It came out wrong. But don’t worry, you’re whisking me to her in a private jet, she’ll be impressed. Oh, wait, I should tell her that we might be arriving at a different terminal.”
“It’s already done,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind. I had somebody call her and let her know we’d be arriving into Roberts Field, not Portland. There’s a car there waiting for us, it’s only an hour’s drive, rather than six.”
“Really?” she said. “That’s great! I didn’t even know these things were possible. I guess money really can buy anything.”
“Not for much longer,” Blake said. “It’s a company jet. The only reason I’m on it is because they
haven’t stripped all of my credentials yet. I can’t even guarantee we’ll be able to fly it home. From now on, I won’t have anything to give you. Well, anything other than this.”
He opened the overhead compartment and pulled out his dog-eared copy of The Swiss Family Robinson. Sitting down, he handed it to her.
“It’s a little used,” he said. “It was my mom’s, and it’s not an early edition like the one you lost, but it’s a rare print. I want you to have it.”
This time it was Ellie who was almost in tears.
“You remembered,” she said.
“Of course,” he replied. “I remember every single thing you said to me.”
“Because you care,” she said, and he nodded.
“I care.”
She folded herself into him again, her head resting on his chest. She flicked through the book, the evening light flowing through the windows and caressing her hair, rippling over her skin, dappling the yellowing pages of his childhood novel. She was like something from a story herself, something too good to be true. And maybe it was, he thought. Maybe this, like everything else in his life, would come crashing down. But for now, with the girl of his dreams sitting next to him as the plane cut through the evening skies, he felt like the luckiest man in the world.
23
“Wow!”
Her mom had only just opened the door, and that was the first word out of her mouth. She looked Blake up and down with her twinkling eyes, then flashed Ellie a smile.
“Really, wow!”
“Mom!” Ellie exclaimed, feeling the heat creep into her cheeks. “Could you be any more embarrassing?”
Blake laughed, and Ellie slapped him gently on the arm. He pretended to be hurt, wincing dramatically, and suddenly Ellie was laughing too. What was it about Blake that made her feel like a teenager again? They’d spent the entire flight cuddling, his strong arms around her shoulders, his hands cradling her, her head resting on the muscles of his chest. They hadn’t kissed again, but they hadn’t needed to. She had been happy just to be with him, just to be touching him. He had made her feel as if she would never need another thing in her life, other than him by her side.
“Mom, this is Blake,” Ellie said, leaving out his last name for now. “Blake, mom.”
“Call me Isla, dear,” she said, taking his hand. “You can call me mom if you like, but that might be weird.”
“It’s a pleasure,” said Blake. “I can see where Ellie gets her smile from.”
“Oh shush,” her mom said, blushing. “You two had better come in before you swoon all over my porch. I’ve only just hosed it down. Come on.”
Ellie tutted, following her mom into the house. It was past ten, and the ranch was drenched in darkness. Her mom didn’t have a lot of livestock, and the goats and chickens and horses she did own were quiet. A few birds still hurled their calls into the night, but the peace of the countryside was almost absolute. Ellie closed her eyes for a moment and listened to it, remembering how much she had loved that absence of noise when she was little. San Francisco never stopped shouting, and right now she would be happy to never go back.
The door closed behind them and Ellie opened her eyes. The farmhouse wasn’t huge—it was probably tiny compared to wherever Blake lived—but it was cosy, and it was loved. Bookcases sat against almost every wall, stuffed with old novels and coffee table art books and various trinkets her mom had collected over the years. There were also dozens of framed photographs, and Blake made his way toward one on the other side of the room.
“Oh, gosh, no!” Ellie exclaimed as she recognized which one it was. She ran after him but she was too slow. He had picked up the frame, already laughing. “That isn’t me!” she said. “That definitely, absolutely, one-hundred per cent isn’t me.”
“Well whoever it is, she’s adorable,” Blake said, admiring the picture of a thirteen-year-old Ellie standing with a group of people outside the school gates, wearing a pair of huge, red glasses and a pink shell suit. She was holding a book, grinning with happiness and showing off her braces.
“Reading club,” she said, blushing. “Man, I was so uncool.”
“I think you were the coolest,” he replied, replacing the photograph. “I think you still are.”
“She hasn’t changed a bit,” said mom, laughing. She was watching them both from the other side of the room, her eyes crinkled with kindness.
“I have!” Ellie said. “I’m completely different. Don’t you dare gang up on me.”
“Come through to the kitchen,” mom replied, leading the way. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry so I made French toast.”
Ellie was so excited she almost started jumping up and down. She managed to contain herself, taking Blake’s arm and walking him through to the kitchen. The smell of fresh bread and cinnamon filled the air, making her feel truly at home.
“It’s amazing,” she said to Blake. “You have to try it.”
“And if you don’t like that, I whipped up a batch of brownies earlier,” said mom. Blake grinned.
“Why do I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven?” he said.
He pulled out a seat for Ellie and she took it. Then he unbuttoned his jacket and sat next to her.
“A true gentleman as well,” said mom. “How refreshing. You should have seen the last guy Ellie brought home. He actually chewed his food with his mouth open.”
“Don’t even mention Josh,” Ellie said. The thought of him made her feel sick. She looked at Blake instead. There was seriously no comparison between the two men. Blake carried himself through life with a straight back and his head held high. Josh skulked around like a weasel. Blake’s deep voice belonged to a poet or a storyteller, whereas Josh had just seemed to whine and moan all day long. These were just physical differences, of course, and she had never been one to pick a man because of what he looked like. But with Blake, what she saw on the outside seemed to perfectly reflect what lay within. His bright, ocean-blue eyes radiated kindness, his smile was full of warmth. He was the exact mirror opposite of Josh, inside and out.
“Are you okay?” Blake asked, taking her hand.
“I’m more than okay,” she said.
How had she got so lucky? Even the thought of it, that this might just be luck, made her panic. What if she was reading it wrong? What if Blake was just here because he felt sorry for her, or because he knew it was a good place to hide from the world? What if he didn’t care at all? A million doubts circled her mind like a cloud of squawking crows and she pulled her hand away, pretending to fiddle with her cutlery.
Slow down, she told herself. You’re still cursed, Ellie Mae. Don’t let this fool you.
Blake must have sensed her thoughts, because he made no more attempts to hold her hand. Mom served up French toast with Crème Brule and lashings of freshly whipped cream, warming the brownies in the oven before putting down a plate of them. Ellie realized that she was right, that Blake didn’t just have eyes for her, because he looked at the brownies like he was in love with them. He devoured five pieces in almost as many minutes before crashing back in his chair and putting a hand over his stomach.
“Those are amazing,” he said. “But I think I might have overdone it.”
Mom laughed, fixing up coffee for her and Blake and tea for Ellie. They chatted while they drank, mom fielding Blake a hundred and one questions all of which he answered with candor and humor. He spoke about his own upbringing, about his father passing and his mother running the restaurant. Mom laughed and nodded and Ellie could tell instantly how much she liked him. It made her relax a little, because mom had always been a great judge of character.
It was only when Blake reached the end of his teenage years that Ellie started to worry.
“And what do you do now?” mom asked, the question that Ellie had been dreading. But there was no escaping it. If she and Blake were going to be together in any way, then mom would find out the stories about him. Ellie took her glasses off and cleaned them on her dress, r
eplacing them with a sigh. She shared a look with Blake.
“I work in IT,” he said. “A company called Heartbook.”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” mom said, nodding. “The social whatsit thing. Ellie tried to get me to create an account once, so we could Hearttime or whatever. But I could never get the hang of it. What’s wrong with a good, old-fashioned telephone?”
“Absolutely nothing,” said Blake.
“What do you do for them?” mom asked. “IT? Wasn’t there some kind of scandal yesterday? Some inappropriate comments or something? I saw it on the news. What was the guy’s name… uh… Burt, or Bryant, or…”
Ellie saw the moment it clicked. Her mom’s eyes widened and she looked at Blake, then at Ellie, then back at Blake.
“Or Blake,” Blake said, and the air seemed to deflate out of him. “Look, I’m sorry, I—”
“It’s not true,” said Ellie, grabbing his hand and pulling it onto her lap. “It’s all a lie. Blake would never say the things they accused him of.”
To her surprise, her mom reached over and took Blake’s other hand, holding it tight between her own. He looked at her, and for all his handsomeness and strength he looked almost like a little boy.
“Blake,” said her mom. “My Ellie Mae is one of the most decent and most wonderful human beings on this entire planet.”
“I know,” he said, but she hushed him.
“What I’m saying is that she sees people, she sees them for exactly who they are. Even with Josh, deep down she knew what kind of person he was. She just didn’t admit it to herself.”
Ellie nodded. She’d known, she just hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“Ellie can look into a person’s eyes and read their soul, and if she has looked into your eyes, and if she has read your soul and understood what kind of man you are, then I trust her completely. If she tells me you are kind, and you are decent, then I believe it. I can see it myself.”
My Antisocial Billionaire: A Clean Billionaire Romance (My Billionaire A-Z Book 1) Page 13
