“I’m so happy we’re finally meeting. I’m so pleased you came,” she said. Oh my god, why wasn’t she keeping up? Was she purposefully trying to stop me from telling her what I was trying to say?
“So am I,” I said, humoring her.
“I wore my best dress. Isn't it lovely?” she said, spinning, showing me her dress. For fuck’s sake. I forced a smile.
“You look lovely.” She smiled. “Lisbeth, the two of us…”
She cut me off. One minute, she was showing me her dress, the next her arms were around my neck and her mouth plastered to mine.
8
Edwina
“What was that, Eddy?”
“What? Oh, sorry.” I had to just been telling her and an acquaintance a story about boarding school when something caught my attention. She was looking at me expectantly.
“Is everything all right?” Missy asked me, sensing my anxiety right away. No, nothing was okay. I scanned the crowd again. He was gone. I knew that I saw him though. I had to come to this party for Missy's crush from our school days and guess who else was in attendance. I thought I saw someone that looked like him walking out of the French doors to the garden.
“Eddy?” Missy asked me again. The concern in her eyes was clear. What's going on, she asked me silently.
“So sorry, could you guys just excuse me for a minute?” I started walking away before they told me that it was okay for me to go. My heart was pounding, and my legs seemed to be taking me towards the French doors without my brain's permission. What did I even want? It wasn't like we had any unfinished business. Well, in a way I guess we did. I did leave without saying anything to him last night. That was hardly a slight, but he was allowed to be upset about it. Our relationship was barely that. I was drawn to him though. What if he was upset about the watch? Well, that was mine now that after the game. I didn't have anything to say to him, but I needed to see him.
My body was drawn to him and I wanted to talk to him now that I knew we were in the same space. What I should have done was ignore him at all costs. Still, I walked through the French doors out to the garden. Maybe I was hallucinating and it wasn't even him. Just that thought made me painfully aware of how much I did want to see him.
Where did he go? There were a few people who had come outside to smoke. I paid no attention to them, looking around the manicured lawns. There was a path dotted with lights. My instinct told me to follow it. I walked down the path, for about twenty yards, coming to turn when I saw the back of a man standing in front of me. He wasn't alone. There were a woman's arms wrapped around his neck they were engaged in a passionate embrace. I froze on the spot, shocked for long enough to confirm that the man was Niall. I didn't know who the woman was, but I didn't want to find out. My mouth dried out and I felt like my heart was getting ready to burst its way out of my chest. I turned around to go back to the house and immediately slipped, kicking up some gravel.
“Is someone there?” I heard the woman ask. I said nothing, retreating quickly to the house like they were chasing me. My face was burning. I felt like a peeping tom. It was worse than that. I felt betrayed. I was embarrassed that I had walked up on the couple kissing, but I was even more embarrassed that I had even expected anything of Niall. I don't know, maybe part of me thought he was single. Even if he was single that didn't mean he owed me anything. Come to think of it, that behavior was perfectly acceptable for a single man. It was none of my business. I had ditched him the night before anyway. I didn't want anything from him. There was nothing more to get from him. The ache in my chest still raged and I found myself peering over my shoulder to make sure they weren’t following.
I had to get out of here. I suspected that at any moment I would probably burst into tears, which was an embarrassment I didn't know whether I'd be able to get over. I looked for Missy.
“I have to leave,” I told her when I finally found her, cutting in the rudely into a conversation she was already having. Missy excused herself from her conversation and pulled me away slightly.
“What?”
“I have to get out of here, Missy. We’re leaving.”
“Don't be silly, we just got here. I haven't even talked to Dirk. I want to flirt with him but I'm rubbish at flirting. I need someone with me, and you are my wing woman.” I was shaking my head vigorously throughout her speech. I needed to get out of there. If I had to face Niall, I had no idea what would come out of my mouth or what my body would do, and I didn’t want to know.
“Missy, please.”
“Wait, Shh. Dirk is making an address.” The whole crowd fell silent and turned their attention towards Dirk who was standing on the little stage that the live musicians were performing on. I tried to get Missy's attention again, but she shushed me.
“I never thought I would have a turn out like this for my birthday party. It's the greatest gift any of you could have given me. I want to thank you all for coming, I know that some of you have crossed oceans to be here and that means the world to me. It's a special occasion, my birthday, of course,” he paused for laughter, “but that isn't the only thing that makes today special. Could you come up here please, Jamie?”
A woman in an emerald green gown, presumably Jamie went up and stood next to him on the little stage, taking his hand.
“Today, I asked Jamie to be my wife and she said yes.” The crowd erupted into applause. He dipped her dramatically, planting a kiss on her which prompted whistles and cheers from the audience. Oh, dear. Well, that was a development I wasn't expecting. I looked over at Missy. She was staring at the pair open-mouthed. I grabbed her hand to get her attention. She looked over at me slowly.
“Okay. We can go.” I hated how defeated she sounded, and that this was what it took to get her to agree to finally leave, but she was my ride here and I really needed to leave. It was sad, but now we had something in common. Both of us had come to this party and both of us had been slighted by the men we fancied. There was ice cream and champagne at her place; we could fix this when we got home but we needed to get there first. We were about to leave when I felt a hand on my back. I turned around.
“Eddy, I have to talk to you.” I froze seeing Niall. I wasn't sure that he had seen me, but now that he was here, obviously about to offer an explanation I no longer wanted to hear, I was not interested. How did you explain away a kiss? How did you kiss someone by mistake, or kiss someone like that and somehow not mean it? I pulled my mouth into an artificial smile.
“I'm afraid we have nothing to discuss.” His face darkened. He knew exactly what I had seen and why I was upset.
“I can explain.”
“Nobody asked for an explanation, I don't understand why you feel the need to offer one,” I said.
“Eddy, who is this?” Missy asked.
“How rude of me,” I said, continuing the battle of wills with him. “Missy, this is Niall Bridges. Niall, this is my friend Artemis.”
“Everyone calls me Missy,” she said, cutting her eyes at me. Yes, that Niall Bridges, the one from last night.
“Charmed,” Niall said shortly.
“So, you're the famous Niall.”
“Please don't, Missy,” I whispered harshly. A blonde woman was approaching us from behind Niall. We made eye contact. She waved at me.
“What's all this then, and why wasn't I invited?” she chirped happily, coming to stand at Niall's side. My stomach tightened.
“Sorry, I don't think we've met,” Missy said because I already knew who she was.
She waved and smiled. “I'm Lisbeth Lane. Niall’s fiancé.” I didn’t think it could get worse but then it just had. That word hit me like a punch in the gut. It was already too much for one night, and now this had to happen. A girlfriend or woman he was seeing was one thing, a fiancee was a step too far. My body numbed. I nodded at the woman, conjuring the last of my politeness.
“Pleased to meet you, Lisbeth. I wish we could stay and chat, but we were actually on our way out.” I studiously refused to
make eye contact with Niall. The woman seemed to shrug it off, smiling and nodding, saying it was a pity but we could catch up later. I grabbed onto Missy's arm and practically pulled her with me towards the exit.
“What a coincidence meeting him here. The way you were talking about him, I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to meet the famous Niall Bridges.”
“Please drop it, Missy.”
“You're really upset about this, aren't you,” she said. I didn't answer, and she didn't push the subject thankfully. We walked out of the house and down the stairs to the pavement to wait for the car. What a night. I didn’t want to think about Niall anymore. I looked over at Missy.
“Sorry about Dirk by the way.”
“Ah, well,” she said.
“Did you know about Dirk getting engaged?”
“What? No of course not. This is the first time I’ve seen him in over a decade. I haven't kept up with him. I wasn’t expecting it but how could I have anticipated it?”
“I'm sorry though. It must hurt.”
She nodded, then shrugged. “Oh well. I should have looked him up on Facebook first or something so it wouldn’t have been such a shock.”
“Don't beat yourself up.” I heard footsteps, somebody coming down the stairs behind us. I looked over my shoulder. Oh, for the love of God. At this point, the man was stalking me.
“Eddy? Eddy. We need to talk.” He rounded on us, visibly upset.
“We're leaving, Niall.”
“Where are you going? I’m coming with you.”
“I'm going back to Belshire and you’re not invited.” A car approached us on the pavement, but it wasn't ours. Niall waved it over, then pulled the door open when it stopped. And then, he grabbed me, pulling me towards the open door by my arm.
“What on Earth are you doing?” I yelled.
“I'm calling the police,” Missy said. Niall stopped and looked at me. He wasn't a crazy man off the street trying to kidnap me. I knew him, and yes, as much as I told him I didn't want to talk to him, there was a part of me that did. He wasn't going to hurt me, that went without saying. After everything we had been through, I trusted him. I still wasn't sure that I wanted to hear what he had to say, but that pull between us was getting stronger and stronger the more I stood there with him. I didn't want our last confrontation to be the one where a woman announced she was his fiancée. I turned to Missy.
“You can go. I'll meet you back at your house.” Missy looked at me warily.
“Are you sure?”
No, to be honest, I was not. I had no idea what was about to happen, and I was at least eighty percent sure that whatever Niall had to say to me would just ruin my night further, but I had to find out. I knew it would bother me if I left things as they lay.
“Yes. Everything's fine. I'll meet you back at the house. Go.”
She shot Niall a glare. “If you hurt her, I know five separate people who can ruin your life with one phone call,” she said to him.
“That's good to know. Thank you.”
I let Niall bundle me into the car, then moved down the back seat so he could get in after me.
“The hotel,” he barked at the driver before raising the privacy screen. I sat awkwardly on the leather seats of the car. This was not supposed to be how this night played out.
“Why did you leave without saying anything in the middle of the night?” he asked once the screen was up.
“I'm sorry?”
“Why did you leave in the middle of the night? Why didn't you stay?”
Just how much had he had to drink tonight? “Sorry,” I said. “I'm not exactly in the habit of sleeping in strangers’ hotel rooms.”
“When did I become a stranger?”
“I'm sorry that you're so offended, but I fail to see what I did wrong.”
He frowned. “Are you sure you don't know?” I shrugged. “Why didn't you tell me that the Baron is dead?”
That was a good one. I didn't have a snappy comeback for that. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the interrogation. I was a little offended that he was subjecting me to one. I had questions too.
“Why didn't you tell me you had a fiancée?” I shot back instead of answering.
“Because I don't.”
“Does Lisbeth Lane know that you deny her in public?”
“It's complicated.”
“Oh please.” I rolled my eyes. It was never that complicated. Either you were together or you were not together, that was it. I felt sorry for Lisbeth Lane. I never would have done anything with him if I knew that he was attached.
“She thinks that she's my fiancée, but she isn't. Not really.”
This was not a productive conversation. I didn't want to continue. I'd never thought Niall was the type to play games like that. It made me want to take Lisbeth’s side because I felt like we might have had more in common dealing with Niall and his half-truths. The car lurched to a stop at a red light. I reached for the handle and pulled the door open. Niall reached across me and slammed it shut again.
“I want to go.” He heard me, I know he did because then, he used his body and his lips to physically stop me from leaving. He gathered me in his arms and kissed me roughly. I was so angry that he would use that sort of tactic on me, but it only lasted so long. My lips softened and I kissed him back. My body betrayed me whenever it came to him. I didn't try to stop it. I let go. I thought that last night would be our last time, but I would take this. I was angry at him, and I was crazy about him at the same time.
He reached under my dress and pulled on my panties. He had to get off of me so that I could pull them off completely. He leaned over me again, but I pushed him back into the seat, mounting him. He grinned up at me, unbuttoning his trousers and freeing his cock. He couldn't have it his way, this time I was getting what I wanted.
9
Niall
She was single, that was all I needed to know to claim her. Not that her being attached would necessarily be a problem, it was no problem the first time that we got together. My breath hitched as she sunk down on to me. Every fucking time. She felt amazing. I had never been so drawn to anybody before. I heard her giggle as she ground her hips. I took hold of her and matched her movements. She moaned, biting down on her lip to stifle the sound. I was 100% sure that the driver knew what was going on back here but I didn't care. I had much more urgent matters to attend to.
I wish we were in a bed, I would be able to do a much better job in the bed, but while we were here, I wasn't turning her away. Not when she wanted me as badly as she did. I was glad the feeling was mutual. We went at it like rabbits, nothing but sweat, desire and giggles whenever the car lurched suddenly and we were thrown about on the back seat.
“Are you close?” I asked. She giggled in my ear.
“If you have to ask, it's because, it's because...” She trailed off, moaning as she got her release. I was certain she was about to say something smart. Maybe I’d ask her once I was done. It didn't take very much after she had gotten hers. Making her cum made me come. I shot inside her powerfully pulling her down onto my dick with every stroke.
I hugged her close to me instead of letting her slide off onto the seat. We planted, our bodies and minds coming back to the present. Because she was sitting on top of me, her eyes were almost level. I looked at her and brushed her hair back off of her forehead where it was stuck with sweat.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“I have never been more attracted to anybody in my life,” it just came out.
I didn't even know where it came from, but it was true. She looked a little shocked. Slowly, her mouth twitched and I thought she was going to smile, but she frowned.
“Niall, this was a mistake.”
There's no way that was a mistake. Two times in two days was not a mistake.
I was convinced that it was not a coincidence either. I was supposed to keep finding her. We were supposed to keep meeting each other. Something or someone was making sure th
at we stayed in each other's lives and I wasn't complaining. In her life was where I wanted to be, especially now that I knew she was available. There was nothing standing in my way. Except her it seemed.
“We can talk about it when we get to the hotel.”
“The what?”
As the car stopped outside the hotel, Eddy threw her door open and darted out. In a flash.
Jesus fucking Christ. I jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut, heading after Eddy. She was on the pavement waving her arm to flag down a taxi. No, she was running away from me again. What was with this woman and running away from me?
Eddy, don't.
I wanted to stop her. But then saw her get into the back of the taxi. It left before I got to them.
Fuck. I kicked my shoe against the pavement, doing nothing but scuffing it. There was no way for us to get closer. One minute, we were literally tangled in each other, and the next, she was running away from me literally. Once again, she was gone with no way for me to contact her.
What the hell did I do? Follow the taxi? It was too late now.
I tried to back up to my suite. This trip had been the most surprising of the mixed bags in the best in the worst ways. Usually, I didn't have these many problems with women. I fell into the armchair in the living area. Women. Oh Christ, Lisbeth. I never got around to telling her that our fake engagement that was supposedly on, was off. I wasn't marrying her. That was just the black and white of it. I hated that she had been dragged into this, she seemed like a nice if slightly simple girl, but she didn't deserve to get dragged into some scheme by our elderly fathers.
And then the Baroness. She was running hot and cold and I didn't know what to do. I didn't believe her when she said she wasn't attracted to me. Technically she hadn't said that she wasn't attracted to me, just thought she wasn't comfortable with pursuing it. The well then, where the hell did that leave us. Was it me? Why did she keep running away? How did I keep driving her away?
Admit You Love Me: A Secret Baby Romance (Irresistible Billionaires Book 2) Page 6
