My lungs are paralysed and I allow myself to wonder, hope, that he might have fallen as hard and fast as I have. I place my mouth over his and try to tell him in a kiss just how bad I’ve fallen for this incredibly attractive, filthy-rich unicorn.
‘I’d really like to go to the Cannes Film Festival,’ I say when we open our eyes, both breathless.
He chuckles. ‘Anyone can get an invite to the Cannes Film Festival.’
‘Oh, really, Mr Big Shot?’
‘Well, anyone who’s anyone.’
‘You’re such an arse,’ I joke, playfully flicking a hand at his chest. ‘This is incredibly surreal.’
‘Because I’ve been to the Cannes Film Festival?’
‘No, silly. Just, being here, with you. It’s… bizarre. One minute, you’re being snapped by paparazzi and the next, you’re lying on the floor of an old, converted barn with… me of all people. Little old me.’
‘I know where I’d rather be,’ he says, pulling me onto his chest.
I rest my head on his pec and watch the orange flames burn in the open fire.
‘I can’t remember the last time I had nothing to worry about. The last time I thought, I don’t need to rush home.’
‘You must miss him,’ Gregory says.
‘I do. Enormously. But…’
He nods but doesn’t speak as he tucks my hair behind my ear. Why is it this man can penetrate all my walls with no effort at all?
‘I hate myself for evening thinking it, but… I’m pleased his suffering is over. I haven’t admitted that aloud to anyone. I wasn’t ready to lose him and it wasn’t his time to go. I can’t stand the thought of how terrified he must’ve been in those last moments. I’ll never forgive Pearson for what he did. I wish I’d been there at the last minute to hold his hand and tell him everything will be okay, better even, where he was going. But I think Dad was tired, sick of being ill and being dependent. I miss him, I miss him so much, but more… more my dad from before. Before he got sick. That’s how I want to remember him and that’s how he would want to be remembered.’
Gregory presses his lips against my scalp. ‘I’m sorry, Scarlett. I’m sorry that your dad ever got sick, that I didn’t get to meet him and ask his permission to date you. More than anything, you’ll never know how much I hate myself for the way it ended and how I wish I could go back and stop it. I didn’t protect you. I should have and I’ll never forgive myself. This will end, Scarlett, and it’ll end the way Pearson deserves. I swear to you.’
The flames become blurred in the mist of my eyes. I wrap my arm around Gregory’s waist and hug tightly into his warm skin. I wonder where Pearson is right now and how this is going to end.
‘Will you be honest with me if I ask you something?’ I say after a long, contemplative silence on both our parts.
‘Yes.’
‘Did you make my firm promote me?’
‘No. I told them how good you are, which is the truth, and what a great job you did for me. I told them I’d stay with the firm on the proviso that you were the lead contact but I didn’t ask them to promote you. I actually found out about it because Amanda messaged Williams.’
A half-smile curls onto one side of my mouth but quickly subsides.
Procrastinating by rolling a finger around his chest, I finally mount the courage to ask my next question. The question that’s been bugging me and remained unanswered for too long. ‘What about Jack?’
Gregory shakes his head and sits up, knocking me from his chest. ‘Jack fucking Jones.’ He pulls two hands through his hair and I know I’ve ruined the evening. He stands, hands me my wine glass and takes a gulp from his own, then leans over the fire, one hand against the wooden mantel.
‘That son of a bitch. He deserves everything he gets and more. I can’t stand the thought of what he could have, what he wanted to do to you.’
‘But he didn’t,’ I whisper into his back as I rub my hands down his biceps.
‘If he’d touched you. If he’d even?—’
‘Shh,’ I say, turning him to face me.
‘People shouldn’t cross me, Scarlett. And now, they really shouldn’t cross you, either. He’s lucky things ended the way they did.’
My body shivers despite the blazing heat of the fire. Gregory makes me feel safe, but he’s dangerous. ‘Tell me.’
