I whisper back “I’m okay. We’re okay. You have nothing to fix. Just be happy for me. Please. I’m sure I’ll be home soon. We both know I’m going to hate it there. Like the Brits know how to make a decent burger and shake. I’m not going to make it,” I say it loudly enough for Gavin to hear, trying to get a rise out of him.
He doesn’t even respond. It’s as though a zombie has taken over his body. He’d never let a burn like that slide normally.
“We’re good, Max. You have to forgive yourself.” I kiss his cheek and step aside.
Max and Gavin have a boy good-bye: a bro hug followed by a “see ya,” topped off with the guy head-nod. They’ve been through so much together in the last two weeks that I would have expected something more personal. But they’re boys. They can communicate anything via grunts and nods.
Max grabs me for one last hug and plants a very wet kiss on my cheek. He pulls away with a big smile on his face, looking very proud of himself for leaving me covered in slobber.
He looks at Gavin and says, “You’d better take care of her, G. Or I will personally come across the pond and kick your ass. If I hear about any more tears, I will end you. You feel me?”
Gavin would typically jump all over him, but he just looks solemn and says, “You have my word, Max. If any harm comes to her, you can come and wallop me.”
I watch Max walk away, and then we head over to security.
Gavin’s funk is wearing on my patience. When I hear our flight announced over the loudspeaker, I storm off to get in line. At the last minute, I change my mind and drag him off to the British Airways lounge.
“Lily, we should get to the plane.”
“Sit.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Sit,” I command.
He obeys. “Okay. I’m sitting.”
“Is this how it’s going to be?”
“What are you talking about?”
“This? Us?” I point back and forth between us. “Is this how we are now? Because this is killing me. I can’t go to London with you like this. I get that you have to deal with your own feelings about what happened. Can you do that without shutting me out? I know you wish you could have done something to stop what happened to me. But you have to realize everything that happened probably still would have happened even if you had been here. You have to let that go. You can’t change what happened. But I’m hurting now. I need you now.”
“I know you do, and I’m sorry. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry. I know I’m fucking it all up.”
“You need to jump out of this rabbit hole and get back to me. Like now. I can’t do this by myself, Gavin. I’m running away to London to run toward us. If there isn’t an us waiting there, then I don’t know why I’m going.”
“You’re right. I—”
“Of course I’m right, Oxford. I’m always right. Nice of you to start figuring that out.”
Finally, a smile.
“Hey, there’s that smile I fell in love with.” Oops. We haven’t used that word yet, and that may be the lamest way possible to tell someone you love them for the first time.
His smile spreads ear to ear and then turns into a mischievous grin. I’ve let the cat out of the bag, and he’s going to torture me with it. Thank God Gavin is back.
“I’m sorry, but what did you say?”
“Okay. Good talk. Let’s get on the plane.” I turn to head toward the gate.
He grabs my hand and pulls me back to him. “Oh no. You’re not getting off that easy.”
“Gavin, it’s been weeks since I’ve gotten off.” I hope sexy talk will distract him.
“Well, we will certainly have to remedy that, once you are given the go-ahead by the doctor. But that’s not the point, and you know it.”
“Gavin, we have to go. They aren’t going to hold the plane for us.”
“Lily, fuck the plane. What did you say?”
“Why?”
“Because, if I’ve learned one thing through this whole sordid mess, it’s that I love you more than I ever thought possible. I need you like I need oxygen. When I’m not with you, I feel like a shell of myself, utterly incomplete. I love you, and I thought I heard you say that you love me too.”
Well, hot damn.
“You would show me up by saying it better than I did.”
“Lily, I’m British. Of course I was going to say it better. We’re far more eloquent.”
“No, your accent is just prettier so it sounds better. That doesn’t mean that you are!”
“Lily.”
“Gavin.”
“Say it.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, Oxford. I love you too. Are you happy now?” I’m trying to act put-off, but I have a huge smile and feel as though a weight has been lifted.
“I’ve never been happier.”
“So does that mean sulking, broody Gavin has left us?”
“Yes, I think so.”
I jump up and wrap my legs around him, giving him a whole body squeeze while planting a million kisses on his face. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You had me worried there. Now, let’s go catch this plane.”
We make it just as they’re about to close the doors. As we get settled into our first class seats, he says, “I can’t wait to show you everything. I think you’re really going to love London.”
“I hope so. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Once you’re there, you will finally get it.”
“Get what?” I ask.
“That everything’s better in England.”
“Oh, it’s on, Oxford. It is so on.”
Lily and Gavin’s story continues in
When Fate Isn’t Enough
Coming February 25, 2015
the page for a sneak peak!
I used to think dating the hottest man in the room would be amazing—that I would revel in being the envy of other women. All the mean girls in my life would finally suck it.
During my eight-hour flight to London, I learn that dating the sexiest man on the plane is nothing but trouble. Every time I run to the restroom, I come back to a flight attendant or female passenger batting her overly mascaraed eyes at him or pushing her cleavage in his face. By the third hour, I’m so over it. Gavin and I started our relationship under unusual circumstances, so I’m used to it just being the two of us held captive somewhere. That’s shielded me from the piranhas in push-up bras. I can’t say I blame them. Gavin Edwards may be one of the sexiest men to walk the earth. He has dark blond hair and chiseled features. He’s kept his body in pristine condition from his days as a model. In fact, his body may actually be better now. But his most striking feature is his eyes. He should have to register those baby blues as a weapon. Once I’m caught in those azure pools, I turn to mush and would do anything he asks. Such and unfair advantage.
“Oxford, tell me that it is not always going to be like this,” I say when I sink into my seat after another trip to the bathroom.
“Like what?”
His hypnotizing blue eyes make me think for a second he might not actually know the impact he has on women. But then he flashes me that “you will be putty in my hands” smile, and I remember that he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Like this,” I gesture toward the flight attendant. “Women throwing themselves at you all the time. This trip is supposed to be an escape from stress. If I have to be on hussy-watch every time we go to the grocery store or take the dog to the vet, I may lose my mind.”
“I don’t have a dog,” he retorts.
“But maybe we’ll get one, and if we do, clearly we need to get a male vet because if we get a woman vet, she may want to play doctor with you.”
“You are positively adorable when you’re jealous.”
I snatch the bag of peanuts off of his tray. Oh, honey roasted. I adore first class. “It isn’t really jealousy as much as pity. They’re so pathetic, and I just don’t think I can stand to watch it day in and day out. Like take Double D over th
ere. Does she really think that if she unbuttons one more button, you’re going to leave the woman in your lap to go join the Mile High club?” Gavin laughs and starts to say something, but I interrupt him. “If you’re already a member of the Mile High club, I don’t want to know.”
That only makes him laugh harder. I love to watch him smile.
He twists a lock of my long blonde hair, seductively flashing those eyes at me. “Has it really been that terrible?” he asks.
“Yes. We’ve lost so much time together. After all I’ve been through, I think I deserve your undivided attention.”
He unbuckles his seatbelt and stands. “Stand up,” he orders.
“Why?”
He gently tugs on my elbow. “Stand up!. Stop being difficult.”
I stand and roll my eyes at him. “I’m standing, now what?”
He leans in and gives me the kiss to top all other kisses. The kind of kiss that leaves you dizzy, breathless and desperate for more. I can almost hear jaws dropping and drool forming puddles on the floor.
When he finally breaks away he winks at me. “That should solve that problem, luv.” He sits and resumes working on his laptop, as though he didn’t just kiss me stupid. “Oh,” he continues. “In case there was ever a doubt, you’ve always had my undivided attention.”
I can feel my face flush as I sink into my chair. “I feel like I should be asking you to join the Mile High club.”
Gavin returns to his seat and refastens his seat belt. “If it weren’t for that pesky heart problem you have, we would have.”
I was recently kidnapped by a sociopath trying to find money that my late husband—may he rot in hell—stole from a Mexican drug cartel. In the end, I kicked the ever-loving crap out of my kidnapper and got away, but my heart did not escape unscathed. I now have to keep things sedate until I get the doctor’s go ahead.
“So are you going to kiss me like this everywhere we go to ward off the gaggles of women trying to get in your pants?” I ask.
He brings my hand to his lips, then kisses the top. “If I have to. If it were up to me, I would retire, buy an island, and do nothing but naughty things to you all day long.”
“Why can’t we go with that plan? It sounds mighty good to me.”
He cocks his head to the side, giving me a knowing glare. “You wanted find yourself again, re-establish your identity, and be independent. You don’t want me taking care of you because you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. Does any of this sound familiar?”
He has me there. There’s nothing worse than your own words coming back to bite you in the ass.
I met Gavin about four months ago when my husband and Gavin’s wife were in a fatal head-on collision. Due to my late husband’s connection to the drug cartel, and Gavin and I were placed in FBI protective custody for a while. I believe we have the worst possible answer to “How did you two meet?”
Gavin wanted to run off into the sunset, but I insisted that I needed time to get my life together and shake off all of the rust that had formed while I wasted away married to Ashton. Gavin had wanted to spoil me rotten and buy me everything my heart desired, and I insisted that I needed to do things on my own. My life was a train wreck, but I sorted it out myself. I literally kicked ass and took names. I can walk with a bit more swagger now, and I know that there isn’t much I can’t overcome.
“Well, can we do the whole island thing sometime? I mean, maybe you don’t retire and buy the island, but can you rent it for a while?” I ask sheepishly. Normally I would have found some way to twist his words against him and give him a zinger, but all I can think about is him giving me a zinger! One kiss has me completely frazzled.
“Why, Lily Clark, you’re positively randy, aren’t you,” he says a bit too loud. “You’re blushing. You are just breathtaking when you blush.” He kisses me again, but this time he isn’t trying to show off. His kiss is soft and tender. “Have I told you how much I’ve missed you?”
“No, but you can.”
He whispers sweet nothings into my ear until I fall asleep.
I’m woken by a hostile drink cart. The attendant’s gotten the hint and doesn’t hit on my boyfriend when she delivers his scotch, but she’s a bit cranky now. I feel a bit cranky when I hear some persistent giggling coming from a few rows over. I look over at two women pouring through tabloid magazines and looking over at Gavin. He has been on the covers of the gossip rags for weeks now. My kidnapping and rescue became big news, and the media loved putting Gavin’s beautiful face in the center of it.
He shares this week’s cover with Olivia Philips, Gavin’s longtime friend who has been hoping for more. Depending on the cover, she’s heartbroken, or they’re secretly carrying on while I’m in a coma, or she’s pregnant with his child. Where do they come up with this crap?
“Maybe you should go sign an autograph?” I say, nodding toward his fans. “I’d do anything to stop their girly squealing.”
Not wanting to encourage them by looking, he continues to work on his laptop. “Just ignore it. I’m not that interesting. It will settle down,” he says flatly.
“While we’re on the subject, what are we going to do about Olivia? And by ‘we,’ I mean you.”
He stops typing, and faces me. “I fired her. I’ve cut off all contact. I’m not sure what else needs to be done,” he says. “I’m still not sure why she pulled all those stunts, but I don’t care to find out. I’ve cut her out of my life. Problem solved.”
I look down at my nails, which for once are actually manicured thanks to my hospital bed beauty treatments courtesy of my best friend Emily. “According to US Weekly, she’s having your child.”
“Yes, and John Lennon is alive and well—he was just captured by aliens. They’re looking for a story, and they’re going to print all sorts of things. You just have to learn to ignore it.”
“Hmm, so you say.”
He closes his laptop and returns it to his bag. “Is this a roundabout way to ask me if I slept with her?” he asks pointedly.
“No!” The truth is I’m dying to know more about his relationship with a woman he swears is “like a sister.”
“If you want to know, just ask,” he says as he lays his head back and closes his eyes.
I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of catching me in my passive-aggressive fact-finding scheme, but my curiosity outweighs my stubborn pride. “Okay, you’ve got me. It’s killing me not to know. So spill it.” He chuckles, and I shoot him a dirty look. “I’m thrilled you find my insecurity so amusing.”
He takes the sleeping mask from my lap. “Insecurity is natural. The fact that you can’t just own up to it is what I find adorable.”
I wait for him to continue, but he goes back to trying to sleep. After a minute or so, I hit him in the arm. “Out with it!”
He takes the mask off and looks at me. “No, I have never slept with O. Just the thought disturbs me. I’ve known her all of her life, and I’ve never seen her that way. She’s dated several of my friends, including one of my best friends, and that’s a line I won’t cross. Moreover, she’s a spoiled brat. I overlook it because she’s like family, but I could never overlook it enough to be in a relationship with her. I know everyone thinks she pulled this crap because she’s interested in me, but I don’t buy it. I think there’s more going on here.”
“Like what?” I ask. “Her actions are pretty textbook for a mean girl who’s after a guy.”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think that’s it. But I have no desire to find out. Like I said, she’s out of my life.” Clearly he has no understanding of crazy women. Cutting her off is only going to add fuel to the fire.
“So you say, but I don’t think this is that last we’ll hear from Ms. Philips. What about all of the other women you were spotted with while you were gallivanting around the world? Any of them I have to worry about?”
He scratches the sexy scruff that’s filled in the last few days and groans. “Luv, we’ve been
over this. I was on a business trip, not a dirty weekend. As I went to those events unaccompanied, I was often asked to escort the daughter or sister or niece of a client. Most of them were dreadful.”
I tap my fingers on the arm rest between us. “You didn’t sleep with any of them?”
“Bloody hell, woman,” he growls. “How many times are we going to go over this?”
I see fury in his eyes, and if we weren’t on a plane, I’m guessing he’d be shouting at me. Always the refined British gentleman, he doesn’t want to make a scene.
“No,” he says through gritted teeth. “I didn’t sleep with anyone.”. “I was forced into spending time with them for business, and that is all it was. I did not seek out those women, and I did not engage them. You have nothing to worry about, no matter how bad it looked in the papers.”
I hold my hands up and shrink back in my seat, showing him I’m backing down. “Settle down. Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” I say. “I trust you. I know you never would have stuck around through all the hospital drama if you didn’t truly care for me. But I feel like we need to clear the air so that there’re no secrets. I didn’t think you would sleep with someone else, but if I don’t ask…”
He doesn’t veil his hurt. “That’s not trust. I’ve been nothing but direct and honest since the moment I met you. Does that count for anything? I won’t lie to you, either straightforwardly or by omission. I’m not sure what else I can do to prove that to you.”
I wince because he’s right. Gavin is the most sincere, forthright person I’ve ever met. He always says what he means without games. So many of the important people in his life lied to him without hesitation. His parents. Brooke.
Before I can respond, he says, “It’s a whole industry created on embellishing facts and fabricating stories. Thousands of people make their living spinning fiction and calling it news, and it provides entertainment for the masses. It’s hard to do, but you have to learn to see it as just that. Fiction.” I lift up the arm rest so I can snuggle close to him.
When Fates Collide Page 37