Until I Met You (17 page)

I looked at his beautiful, smiling face, tr
ying to search for answers.  I quickly remembered my drunken antics from last night and put it down to that.  What else did I say to him?

“Don’t worr
y about it, Angelina.  You were fine.  There was one thing that confused me though.”

“Oh
yeah, what’s that?”  I thought he was going to tell me that I let something slip or did something over the top.  I wasn’t prepared for what he said next.

“When Jack was being protective of
you, you mentioned something about your knights in shining armour have come to rescue you again.  What did you mean by that?”

M
y whole posture changed and Seth could sense it.  “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head.  “They’re just protective of me, that’s all.  Can we carry on our walk now?”

He looked at m
y panicked face and said no more.  I could tell he wasn’t happy with my answer, but he was going to have to live with that.  I wasn’t going to offer him anything more than what I said.

He walked alongside me in silence for a moment.  I couldn’t stand the atmosphere between us now.  He knew something about me that I didn’t want an
yone who came in my life to know.  He knew I held a secret.  A dark, disturbing secret.

“Tell me about
your family?” I asked, trying to change the subject, and snap us out of this awkward silence.  He looked at me like he was asking if I was okay, so I smiled.  He smiled back and started his story.

“Well,
you already know about my parents, and you’ve met my uncle Paul.  Besides that, I have a younger brother, who’s a little jumpstart, and an older sister who runs a charity organisation called Little Stars.  It’s to help children with illnesses and disabilities.  We like to raise as much cash as possible, so that we can buy families all the equipment they need in their homes to cater for their child.  We have specialised experts who can assist with families on hospital outings, or day trips out.  We also go on a big holiday each year, where the children get to swim with Dolphins in Portugal, or meet Mickey Mouse in Florida.  There are all sorts.”

When I asked him about this, I didn’t expect that.  I had a blinkered view of rich people.  I guess a lot of people do.  I didn’t think man
y gave to charity.

“I take it from that look of yours that
you’re shocked?”

I tried to shake m
y head, but I think it was written all over my face. 

“I get it, I’m a pla
yboy, and playboys only think of their bunnies.”

“No, of course not, I didn’t mean to...”  Oh shit, this was going badl
y wrong.

“Don’t worr
y, Angelina.  I’m not having a pop at you.  I think a lot of people think that way about me.  I like to go out and have fun with lots of girls.  People’s natural reaction is to call me a playboy who likes to drink away his money and party with lots of women.  What people don’t realise is that whatever profit I make, thirty percent of it all goes to charity.  I’m not a bad person, Angelina.  I just don’t like to shout about what I do.  I don’t do it for the praise.  I do it because I want to help others—others who are not as fortunate as I am.”

I stopped our pacing for a minute and looked up at him.  I felt reall
y bad for being just another one of those people Seth was talking about, who had a misconceived idea of what he was about. 

I touched his arm, not caring about keeping m
y distance.  I needed him to know that I’m not the witch I portrayed myself to be.  “I admire you.”  Those three words were all I said.  It was all that needed to be said.  He wasn’t expecting apologies, or for me to rave on about how much good he does in the world.  I knew he didn’t want that. 

The mischievous grin was back.  “What about the no touching rule?”

I laughed and turned to carry on walking.  “Ah, you see, dear Seth.  The rule was there was no touching
me
inappropriately.  There was no rule about me not touching you.”

He placed his hands in his pockets and that little movement had the heat burning in m
y stomach.  He quickly caught me staring at him and smiled.

“
You know, you can touch me as much as you want.  I know behind that hard exterior of yours, there’s a passionate, caring, beautiful woman just bursting to get out.  The cracks will show eventually.”

I placed m
y arm in his as we walked, contented to just feel him close to me.  And for the first time since I met this beautiful, sexy playboy—I didn’t argue back.

Chapter 11

I knew spending the next two days with Seth was going to be the end of me.  I was falling head over heels and I knew it.  I didn’t want to feel this way, but I couldn’t help myself from the endless pit I was diving into.  It didn’t help that my whole family were feeling the same way, too.  Who wouldn’t?  He had charisma, sex appeal, courteous to a fault, and the most caring heart I had ever seen a man possess.  How can someone so beautiful on the outside, be this beautiful on the inside?  He was a once in a lifetime grab and my mum soon told me so. 
“They don’t make many men like him these days, dear Angelina.  You have to grab him and hold him tight before he slips through your fingers and some other girl catches his heart.  Whatever you do, don’t let this one get away.”

Her words radiated around m
y head the whole time we were there.  It was torturous enough knowing that he wasn’t going to touch me.  Sometimes I felt slightly neglected that he didn’t at least try.  I knew why he was doing it, but it still disappointed me nonetheless.  And the thought of him being with another woman now filled my stomach with a fistful of knives.  I didn’t want to picture this, and I knew why I felt this way.  There was no denying it to myself any longer.  I was falling in love with Seth Jacobs.

I think he could tell there were cracks forming.  In a wa
y I didn’t like it.  What if I give in to him and he realises he doesn’t like me anymore?  I was—after all—a challenge to him from the very beginning.  What if once he’s completed his mission, he crushes me?  The thought was frightening beyond words.

The night-times were even harder.  Knowing he was right next door wearing that blood
y baseball cap, was agony.  He didn’t take it off the whole weekend, because he knew deep down how much I liked him in it.  The first night in bed, a familiar ringtone was coming from my bag.  I didn’t know how he managed to sneak it in my bag every time, but he did.  The conversation was long, despite the fact we had been with each other all day.  We just seemed to be able to relax with one another, and enjoy each other’s company.  It ended with him pleading with me to keep the phone.  He said he would be very upset if I gave it back to him.  I told him that I didn’t want to upset him and he sounded happy about that.

Sunday morning was upon us sooner than I would have liked, and we had Julia, Jack, and David join us for breakfast.  They all wanted to spend some time together before we left, and I was happy that I got to see them one last time.  David was still smitten over Mindy, who we only got to see very briefly whilst we were here.  She was another one who swooned over Seth like she was a lovesick puppy.  It would seem there was no one out there who wasn’t completely immune to his charms.  Everybody loved him.

Seth gave m
y mum and dad a present before we left, as a token of his gratitude for letting him stay.  They were both over the moon with what he got them.  My mum had a day at the spa, all expenses paid, and my dad was given a voucher to drive a super car of his choice.  They both loved him even more now—if that was at all possible.

Sa
ying goodbye was harder this time as I already knew how much I was going to miss them.

“Don’t leave it too long before
you come and visit us again, will you, Angelina?” I nodded my head as my mum continued her speech to Seth.  “And you, my dear boy.  I want you to know that you’re welcome here anytime.  It was so lovely to meet you.”  She grabbed him for a hug and he dived right in.

“It was wonderful to meet
you, too.  You’ve all made me feel very welcome and I’m really grateful for the hospitality, especially as I just sprang myself upon you so suddenly.”

“Spring awa
y, dear boy—spring away.”  Everyone laughed at my mother as we all took turns saying our goodbyes.

“I’ll call
you when I get home, okay, Mum?”  I gave her a big hug and soon followed suit with my dad, Julia, Jack, and David.  Seth shook the men’s hands and hugged my mum and Julia.  My sister’s face was all flushed once he pulled away.

“
You take care of my baby sister, and my niece or nephew you got growing inside there, okay?”  I nudged Jack on the shoulder and he looked at Julia with a smile.

“Of course I will. 
You have no worries there.”

“I know I don’t,” I said, smiling at both of them.

Once we were both in our cars, we waved to my family and off we went.  I followed Seth home as I knew I would need his help once we got back to London.  About half way there we stopped off for a little break and had some coffee.  Seth was all smiles about something and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what had brought on this sudden beam of happiness.

Once we got to London, I found out wh
y.  I parked my car in the usual spot, Jonathan told me about.  I rang him first thing to let him know I was coming home and he said that he would bring Jerry over for me, and make sure I had my space available for when I got back.  Sure enough it was there and I parked up, getting my bag out from the boot.

I met Seth b
y his car to say goodbye, but instead he surprised me by getting out of the Jag and pulling me in for a kiss.  My goodness, I was a goner.  I was not expecting that and the shock caught me off guard a little.  He was gentle and sweet, stroking my cheek and nibbling on my bottom lip.

“We’re not in Cornwall an
ymore.  I can kiss you and touch you as much as I like.”  His lips were on me again and I melted.  If only he realised the desire this man sparked inside of me.  I was up in flames with it; no amount of water could put me out.

Cars were now gathering a line behind Seth’s Jaguar, but he didn’t seem to care.  The horns were starting, but we were so lost in our kiss, it didn’t matter what was going on all around us.  It was just me and him and nothing else in the world mattered.

He reluctantly pulled away from our embrace and cupped his finger underneath my chin.  He rubbed noses with mine and exhaled a deep sigh.  “Angelina, you smell of roses and taste of honey.  How am I ever going to get along tonight knowing that you smell and taste this good?”

“Mmmm,” was all I could answer.  I was in happ
y, dancing, Angelina land and didn’t want to leave.  He giggled at my reaction, knowing full well the affect he was having on me.

“Now that, my dear, Angel,” he said, caressing my cheek.  “Was worth waiting for.”  He nibbled my lip again and I shuddered.  All these feelings he brought out in me were like nothing I had ever felt before.

The cars were still blaring their horns and Seth did something completely unexpected.  He turned to the cars, placed his hand on his heart and then bowed.  It was the funniest spectacle I had ever seen.  The people in the cars couldn’t help but smile at this crazy gentleman causing a tailback of traffic, all so he could give a girl a kiss.

Seth dutifully got back into his car and put his window down.  “I’ll see
you tomorrow if that’s okay, Cookie?”

I couldn’t help but sa
y yes.  Who wouldn’t after the romantic gesture he just made?  Talk about being putty in his hands.  I was so mushed up; I was practically seeping through his fingers.

“And by the way,” he said, stopping briefly.  “Charlie’s didn’t really have rats, did it?”

I started laughing and shook my head.  I remembered quickly what it was like when we went to retrieve his bag.  He was practically shuddering the whole time he was in the place, and I could tell he really wanted to get out of there as quickly as we could.

“I thought not,” he said, waving and accelerating away.

Once I settled in at home, I was welcomed b
y a chorus of chirping coming from the one and only Jerry.  I let him out for the rest of the day because I felt so guilty leaving him for three days.