‘What have you done then?’ I cross the room to where Tilly places the tray on the coffee table and help myself to a Danish, never more aware of the mulled wine I drank last night.
Oh god.
Last night.
The memories of practically dry humping Ryan flood back to me, along with a rush of blood straight to my cheeks.
I should have pushed him away. I shouldn’t have let him kiss me. I’m no better than the groupies congregated outside my castle walls, waiting for any opportunity to throw themselves at Mr Eligible himself.
Oh god.
Shame washes over me. I’ve let myself down. How on earth can I expect him to respect me if I carry on like that?
Mind you, if I remember rightly, I wasn’t looking for his respect. I was looking for his...
Megan interrupts before my thoughts can fully disappear into the gutter.
‘I haven’t done anything. Don’t shoot the messenger…’ She nods towards a tiny envelope nestled amongst the flowers.
My fingers snatch the envelope quicker than if it was the last cream cake on the baker’s shelf. My name’s scrawled across the front. I’d recognise the writing anywhere, even ten years later.
Megan watches on, smugly triumphant, as I slip the note out.
Have your passports at the ready… R xx
Blood pounds through every vein and artery so powerfully I’m sure it’ll wake Victoria. Where does Ryan think he’s taking me? Surely not back to the States with him? And I thought I’d been forward? Jesus, one kiss and the man thinks I’m his again.
‘He can’t be serious.’ I stare at it in disbelief.
‘Oh, he’s deadly serious.’ Megan nods, her eyes gleaming with excitement. ‘The helicopter’s on the pad waiting to take you and Victoria. Estimated time of departure is ten o’clock. You better get that skinny butt of yours in the shower and wake your sister.’
My mouth opens and closes like a goldfish; saliva pools in my throat.
Surely he doesn’t expect me to up and leave and drag my sister with me? No wonder Megan’s sporting her ‘I told you so’ face. She called this the second we heard he was coming.
I swallow thickly. ‘I don’t know what type of mushrooms you’ve been eating for breakfast, but I can’t just swan off to the States with a rockstar I used to know, and I certainly won’t leave my home or drag my sister out of her final year of school to do so.’
Megan’s laughter erupts around the room like a hyena and she slaps her thighs repeatedly as the guffawing continues. Every time she tries to open her mouth to speak, she dissolves into fits again.
‘You think it’s funny? The man’s made it as a celebrity, so now he thinks he can just click his fingers and I’ll go running back to him. How entitled and presumptuous of him.’ I might have promised to go to the States with him once upon a time, but that was a very long time ago.
The deliberate clearing of a deep masculine throat echoes from the doorway. Tilly must have left it ajar on her way out.
Ryan leans against it. He looks ready to hit the road, or sky, in a pair of dark jeans and a grey jumper that hugs his torso in all the right places.
His shoulders shake with pent-up laughter as he rakes his shaggy hair from those enormous smouldering eyes. He looks like a grown-up version of the boy I used to love, but the two beefy security guards flanking him remind me he’s so much more. More powerful. More successful. More proficient. And seemingly, even more used to getting what he wants, when he wants.
‘Oh, Sasha honey, if I thought it was as easy as that, I’d have clicked my fingers first thing this morning and had you running straight to my bed.’ His gravelly voice, loaded with promise, sends shivers through my stomach and lower.
‘I can’t just up and leave, Ryan! I have a life here!’
Ryan crosses the room, closing the distance between us. Warm, strong hands hold my waist as he drops a kiss on my head. ‘Relax. It’s only a day trip. One you’ll enjoy, I promise.’
As his words sink in, colour floods my cheeks again. Since the man arrived I seem to be in a permanent state of hot and bothered, anger, embarrassment, or all-consuming arousal.
‘Now who’s the presumptuous one, sweetheart?’ His chest brushes against mine as he heads towards the coffee. I cross my arms over my chest to cover the effect he creates on my treacherous body.
‘Well? What are you waiting for?’ Megan shoots me a wink. ‘Go get ready.’
