Indigo Nights: A Sexy, Contemporary Romance (32 page)

I nodded. “Yeah, I would have. It’s not a problem. He didn’t mention if he would be coming today, or if he was going back to Chicago?” I was grilling my doorman for information. How had it come to this?

“Afraid not. Shall I tell him you were asking if he shows up?”

I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be back. That maybe he’d finally given up.

I couldn’t blame him.

I headed out of the building and grabbed my phone. Perhaps I could catch him before he left for the airport. My chest squeezed at the thought of not having him close to me anymore. How could I expect him to hang out in London indefinitely until I grew some balls and decided to have a conversation with him? What had I been thinking?

I headed across the street to the café. I burst through the door, and heads snapped in my direction. I didn’t care how much attention I was attracting. There were less than a dozen tables and only two that had people at them. Dylan wasn’t one of them.

I stepped back out into the street, looked left and right for a cab with its light on.

It wasn’t a long journey to the Langham, but it felt as if it took as long as a flight to Chicago. He’d never said that that was where he was staying but it was the only place that made sense.

I scanned the heads of the people in the lobby as I made my way to the reception desk. “Can you tell me which room Dylan James is in, please?”

The blonde woman smiled at me. “I’m sorry; we can’t give out the room numbers of our guests.”

Shit, I should have thought of that. “Right.” I pulled out my phone and called Dylan. I just needed to know he hadn’t left.

No answer.

I turned back to the receptionist. “Could you put me through to his room?”

“Please hang on.” She tapped away at her computer and scowled. “I’m afraid Mr. James has checked out.”

My stomach sank. I knew it. I’d been an idiot not to agree to a simple conversation with him. No wonder he’d lost patience. “Did he check out today, or yesterday?”

The receptionist winced. “I really shouldn’t say, but if it’s any help, I did see him this morning.”

“Thanks so much.” I didn’t quite know where to go. His phone had rung before going to voice mail, so he couldn’t be in the air yet. Should I head to the airport to try to catch him before he boarded? The flights to Chicago generally stopped for the day after lunch, so I’d have to hurry.

I spun and charged toward the door.

“Beth?” Dylan’s silky voice washed over me and my knees nearly gave way with relief. I turned and had to hold myself back from flinging my arms around him. His brow was furrowed. “Are you okay?” he asked as he held his hand out, then stopped himself and pulled back.

I stepped toward him. What was I going to say? How was I going to explain what I was doing here?

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You here for a refill? I’m sorry; I haven’t gotten to your delivery today. I had some stuff to take care of.”

“I’m not here for cake.” I should have planned it better; I should have thought about what I was going to say. I’d been so concerned about finding him that I hadn’t thought beyond that. “I wondered if . . .” I took a deep breath. “I thought maybe you left, and we never got a chance to talk.”

“My sweet, I told you I wasn’t leaving until I’d made things right. I’ve let you down about a lot, but I wasn’t going to go back on that promise.”

“But you checked out and . . .” I looked down at the carry-on he always travelled with.

“Marie found me an apartment just around the block. I wasn’t going far.”

He was so close. I couldn’t bear that he wasn’t touching me, so I reached for him. “I think maybe it’s time for that talk. I mean, if you want to. And we don’t have to do it now. I’m sure you’re busy and you’ve got things you need to be doing. Just whenever—”

“I have nothing that would ever stop me talking with you.”

Dylan

The reality of being apart from Beth for all these weeks had left me starving for her. Not being able to hear her voice, stroke her skin, breathe in the remnants of her baking that permeated her hair was torture. I knew with more certainty each and every day that I was prepared to do whatever I had to in order to win her back. And now here she was, taking the first step toward me. What we had felt so fragile, I didn’t want to push and scare her off, but all I wanted to do was pull her against me so I could feel her heartbeat next to mine.

I resisted. “Let me get rid of my carry-on.” I turned and quickly left my suitcase with the concierge before returning to Beth.

I glanced around the lobby. “Should we go and have some cake? Or we could go for a walk. It’s cold, but sunny.”

“A walk sounds good.”

I smiled, wanting to see in her eyes what she was thinking. Had she come to me knowing how this would play out? Was she going to try to send me home? I had to suppress my impatience, and stop myself from asking her to skip to the heart of the matter. Instead, I gestured to the hotel exit. “Shall we?”

She nodded and stuffed her hands in her pockets. We descended the small stoop, then headed north up Portland Place. We walked slowly in silence, our eyes firmly on the path in front of us. I so desperately wanted to touch her. I’d been hoping for this opportunity for so long and now that it was here, I didn’t want to fuck it up. I took a deep breath. “I—do you want me to . . . Can I explain?”

“You don’t need to. I’ve heard what you’ve said, and I’ve thought about nothing else—”

Had I lost her?

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked. Her hair fell over her face. I longed to see her eyes, and perhaps forgiveness in them.

“You can ask me anything,” I replied.

“What was lunch like?”

“With Alicia? Honestly?”

She turned to me, her eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, of course. It was okay. Good, even.”

Beth stopped in her tracks and covered her face. I tried to pull her hands away. “Good because I realized how I’d been angry at her for all these years for no reason. I don’t care enough to hate her anymore.” My fingers finally persuaded her hands from her face, revealing glassy eyes. I stroked my thumbs over her cheekbones, brushing my favorite part of her, the beauty spot on her left cheekbone. “And in a way I was even grateful because if Alicia and I had gone through with the wedding, I wouldn’t have met you.”

She tilted her head and closed her eyes, yielding to my touch. My body filled with relief. I allowed myself to hope she believed me.

She sighed and moved away from me, restarting our walk.

I did everything I could to resist pushing her, asking if she forgave me.

“And Raine Media? Did you have anything to do with my contract, or their second offer?”

I pushed my hands through my hair. “No, I really didn’t. I don’t have time to get involved with that kind of detail. And anyway, I’ve seen your videos and tasted your baking. You don’t need my help.”

Beth tucked her hair around her ears as we continued to walk forward in silence.

“I’m learning how to do this, the relationship thing. Alicia and I were kids when we started dating. You know there’s been no one serious for me since then—except you. I’m really sorry, Beth. Please don’t give up on us.”

She stopped again just as a woman walking her Highland Terrier came from the opposite direction. I moved to the side to let the woman pass. I could feel Beth’s stare as I nodded and something stopped me from looking back at her. I was worried about what I might find. I couldn’t bear to see that hurt look in her eyes I’d spotted back in the restaurant when she’d seen me with Alicia. I couldn’t handle it if I saw coldness. So much of her beauty came from her warmth. I didn’t want to be the guy who changed that. “You can’t know how sorry I am,” I said, focusing beyond her shoulder.

She tugged at my lapel and I could resist her no longer. “I’m sorry, too,” she whispered as she gazed up at me, her eyes sad but still warm.

I shook my head. “No, you have nothing—”

She placed her index finger over my lips to stop me. “You’ve made your apology. Now let me make mine.”

She’d done nothing wrong, what did she have to apologize for? My gut clenched. I hoped she wasn’t about to tell me there was someone else.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just run away. I should have stayed so we could talk. But more than that, I’m sorry for being so hard on you. You’ve borne the brunt of a hell of a lot of baggage.” She tugged on both lapels of my coat. “Haven pointed out that I was overcorrecting, and she was right. I was so concerned that what happened with Louis didn’t happen again, so determined not to go back to the weak Beth I’d been before, that as soon as things were anything less than perfect, I threw in the towel.” She slid her hands over my shoulders. Even through my coat, my skin lit up from her touch. I was mesmerized by her beautiful red pout and the way her lips pushed together and out with each word. “The way you’ve treated me . . . you deserved a fair hearing, and I didn’t give you that. I didn’t trust my judgment; I’m sorry for that. I knew you better than I let myself believe.”

“I’ll never not forgive you anything,” I replied. “But you don’t need to apologize for holding me to a higher standard. I want to meet it and exceed it. I want to be the man who deserves you. I mean that.”

She smiled her huge smile at me and it warmed me.

It gave me hope.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to.”

“I forgave you before you explained.” She slid her finger across my lips. “I just need you to do one thing.”

My heart exploded with her words. I wanted to hold her close, eliminate the gap between us. “Name it.” I expected her to ask me to move to London, sell Raine Media, or refuse to see Alicia ever again. I’d do any and all of it.

“Kiss me,” she said.

My breath caught in my throat. That was it? My heart squeezed in my chest and I took a deep breath. “I think I can do that.” I snaked my arms around her waist as she brushed her fingers over my jaw. I’d not touched her in so long; I wanted to get this right. As she parted her lips, my nerves dissolved and desire passed over me like a cloud. My eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips and back again.

I bent down and took her bottom lip between my teeth, and groaned. It had been too long since I last tasted her. I wanted to tease her, make her desperate, but I couldn’t hold back. I cupped the back of her head, holding her close as I slipped my tongue into her hot mouth.

It could have been minutes or hours later when Beth pushed against my chest. Only then was I aware of the catcalls and shouting of some kids coming down the path.

“I think we’re putting on quite the show,” Beth said.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her red, swollen mouth. My dick throbbed uncomfortably in my trousers.

“Want to show me your new apartment?” she asked, trying to hide her face from the teenagers who were laughing as if they’d caught us naked.

I guess we couldn’t hide what we had.

“I really do.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street. Perhaps a cab would be better, quicker. I glanced around as I continued to stride down the sidewalk. I looked down at Beth who was doing a half run, half walk beside me. “In a hurry?” she asked with a laugh.

“I really am. I’ve waited so long to have you in my arms; I don’t want to waste a second of our time together. Am I walking too fast?”

She grinned and stuck out her hand. “Only for a girl in heels.” A taxi coming toward us pulled up to the curb.

Beth

Dylan hadn’t let go of me for a second since he’d kissed me. And what a kiss. My head was still dizzy from the warmth of his lips. I’d almost let myself forget how he felt against me—so hard and hot and determined. No wonder I’d fallen so fast for him.

We climbed out of the cab precisely four minutes after we got in, and Dylan’s fingers were closed around mine every second.

The cab drove away, and Dylan pulled me against his chest. “It feels so good to have you back.” He grabbed my shoulders and held me away from him as he searched my eyes for something. “I have you back, right?”

I smiled. “Yeah, you have me back. I don’t think you ever lost me really.”

He led me up the stoop to an old oak door. “It didn’t feel that way. I hated being apart from you.”

I squeezed his hand. I’d hated being apart from him, too. I shouldn’t have left it so long. But I couldn’t have regrets. I had to believe that whichever path brought us here was the right one; we were stronger now. The time apart had been a transition from a fragile relationship built on sex to something we knew could weather a storm. That couldn’t be a bad thing.

“Maybe I should have kept the room at the hotel. I could have ordered cake.”

“I don’t need cake.”

“Isn’t that blasphemy for you?”

I laughed. “I think it’s okay as long as I’m giving it up in favor of an orgasm.”

“My sweet, I promise you that.”

We turned left out of the elevator and down a dark hallway. “I think it’s this one.”

“It better be this one. I’m getting impatient.”

He shot me a lascivious look and raised an eyebrow. I tilted my head toward the door as if to say
Get on with it
, and he dipped his head and ran his tongue across the seam of my lips. It was a prelude to sex in a way our kiss on the street hadn’t been. That had been about a need to be close, reunited. This kiss was all about wanting each other naked.