I’d gotten a red-eye from Glasgow to New York and arrived in the early hours of the morning New York time. My hotel had twenty-four-hour check-in and was a block from Silver’s. I might have asked Jay to track her down.
After sleeping for a few hours, I’d showered, eaten, and immediately made my way over to the Winton in the hopes of catching Silver in her room.
Here she was.
Standing in front of me like the best fucking thing I’d ever seen.
And her eyes were bloodshot and swollen.
I stepped toward her without thinking. “Have you been crying?”
Silver retreated warily. That hurt like a motherfucker. “What are you doing here, Ramsay?”
At the sound of a door opening down the corridor, I glanced along it to see a guest leaving their room and a housekeeper coming off the lift with a cleaning cart. “Can I come in?”
Her brow wrinkled in confusion, Silver stepped back with a nod and held the door open. As I moved past her, I studied her slightly swollen eyes and saw the tear tracks through her makeup.
Shehadbeen crying.
At my close perusal, Silver turned away and shut the hotel room door.
The room smelled of her perfume.
Memories of burying my nose in her throat just to inhale her pushed in and I shook them off. Now was not the time for that. “Christ, hotel rooms in this city are a fucking rip-off, aren’t they?” London and New York were two of the worst cities for charging an absolute fortune for rooms you could barely swing a cat in.
“Is that why you came all the way to New York? To complain about square footage?”
Smirking at her sarcasm, I lowered myself onto the edge of the bed.
She raised an eyebrow. “If this is about the wall, I told you I won’t tell anyone.”
I suppose she had every reason to think my coming here was for something selfish. In truth, it was. Only it wasn’t for the reason she assumed. My gaze washed over her. Despite the tear stains, Silver was beautiful, sexy. As always. However, she’d abandoned her usual Henley and jeans for a long-sleeved jersey dress that clung to her figure. My gut clenched at the way it followed the exaggerated curve of her narrow waist into her generous tits and gently sloped hips. “You’re stunning.”
Silver leaned her shoulder against the wall. “Somehow I doubt you came all the way to New York for a booty call.”
I flicked her an annoyed look. “You know me better than that.”
“Do I?” She pushed off the wall, dropping her defensive posture. “Because last I checked, I don’t know who you are.”
“That’s not true. Look … you’ve probably guessed by now, but I didn’t keep my past from you because I didn’t trust you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Does Quinn know about your past?”
Fuck.
I held her fiery stare. “Aye, he knows. He’s the only one from Glenvulin who does.”
“If you told Quinn but not me, then you trusted Quinn but not me.”
Frustrated, I growled, “I don’t care if Quinn judges me for my past. I care ifyoudo.”
Silver sucked in a breath, her shoulders slumping. “Do you think I would?”
I shook my head. “No. I just used it as an excuse. To push you away.”
“To protect me?”
“Maybe. Maybe it’s more that I didn’t think I deserved you.”
