by Susan Stoker
When Ghost began to shake his head in denial, or disgust, Rayne wasn’t sure which, she put her hand on his knee. “Let me finish.”
Waiting until he finally nodded, she continued. “You’ve paid for every single thing we’ve done today, from the taxi, to lunch, to tipping the concierge at the hotel. When we were walking to the subway station, you put yourself between the traffic and me when we were on the sidewalk. You protected me from the crowds as we got in and out of the subway. You let me sit, while you stood near me, making sure no one got too close. You even carried my suitcase from the taxi to the hotel. Seriously, Ghost, you do these things and don’t even realize you’re doing them. That is a sign of a man who knows how to treat a woman. That’s what women think is romantic. Screw flowers, they’ll just die sooner rather than later. And even if you leave without saying goodbye to a woman, I’ll bet everything I own you take very good care of her before you take off…don’t you?”
She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it in person, but if she wasn’t mistaken, a slight blush bloomed on Ghost’s cheekbones at her words.
“So, call yourself a shitty boyfriend, but please, don’t sell yourself short and say you aren’t in at least some ways a romantic. Romance isn’t about the outer trappings society has pushed down our throats from the time we were little. It’s showing in all the little ways that you care about the person you’re with. That you’ll protect her if the shit hits the fan, that you’ll provide for her, that you’ll let her choose what she wants to do and where she wants to eat, even if it’s not what you would pick for yourself.”
Ghost didn’t say anything for several moments, and Rayne had gotten to the point where she thought maybe he wasn’t going to say anything, when finally he picked up her hand that was still resting on his knee and brought it up to his mouth and kissed the palm.
“Okay, you win. I know I should say goodbye here. I should leave you to enjoy London and carry on with your life as if you hadn’t ever met me.”
When she opened her mouth to protest, Ghost shook his head, and quickly continued on. “But I can’t. I’m not sure I buy into your fantasy of what romance is, but I can’t give you up yet. You’re funny, interesting, and I’m attracted to you. I want to see those three tattoos of yours more than I want to walk away. But know…I will walk away.”
“So it’s a one-night stand then.” Rayne’s words weren’t a question.
“Afraid so.”
“Fine. I’m a romantic, you’re bad relationship material, but I swear we’re on the same page here, Ghost. Just relax. I’m not going to pull out an engagement ring at the end of the night. I’m also not going to chain you to the bed as Kathy Bates did in that Misery movie. It’s fine.”
Ghost nodded.
Rayne couldn’t resist one last dig. “Damn, for a super-secret spy, you’re acting a bit like a wuss.”
She barely smothered a shriek, remembering where they were, when Ghost moved with deadly intent. She was lying flat on the pew with him pinning her arms above her head and resting his considerable weight on her upper body, keeping her immobile, before she could even try to evade him.
“Wuss?”
Rayne smiled, knowing he wasn’t going to hurt her in the middle of the day in the busy church with all the tourists wandering around. “Well, in my defense, you did want to talk about your feelings a bit more than any man I’ve ever been attracted to before.”
“One, I don’t think I like you talking about other men when your nipples are hard and begging for my touch…”
Rayne glanced down and swallowed. He was right. The way he so easily manhandled her but was careful not to hurt her, and the feel of his hard body pressing into hers, was turning her on, and her body was showing it.
“…and two, now that we’re on the same page, I can guarantee we won’t be ‘talking’ much later tonight.”
Rayne didn’t say anything, merely lay under him, waiting for him to make the next move. When he didn’t shift his hold for several moments, she arched her back the smallest amount and tested his grip on her wrists.
Finally Ghost took a deep breath, ran his eyes down to her chest one more time, then brought them back up to her eyes. He leaned down and kissed her lightly and carefully on the lips, then sat up, pulling Rayne with him.
“You’re gonna be the death of me. I can’t make out with you in a pew in Westminster Abbey. I might be insane, but even I’m not willing to push my luck that far. Too many ghosts looking over my shoulder give me the willies. Come on, Buckingham Palace isn’t too far from here. It’s where Princess Diana, and Katherine and William, had their very public wedding day kisses. I figure you being the romantic you are, you would be interested in that, right?”
Ghost knew he’d made the right choice when Rayne’s eyes lit up and she said breathlessly, “Really? You’ll take me there?”
“Come on, Princess. Let’s go look at a balcony.”
Chapter Five
Ghost smiled over at Rayne as the royal guards did their thing. The rain had stopped for the moment, but the clouds still hung low in the sky, a foreshadowing of the storm that was sure to return. It might not be raining, but the humidity in the air created a light mist, which he knew could turn into a downpour any second. But it was as if the weather knew Rayne really wanted to see the changing of the guards and the balcony where the British Royals paraded themselves when the world demanded and expected it of them.
“They do this every day?” Rayne asked breathlessly, not taking her eyes off the spectacle in front of them.
Ghost smiled. He’d been smiling like a fool all day, but didn’t give a shit. Rayne made him happy. She saw the world through such a fresh lens. He would’ve thought no one could be that…clean, if he wasn’t seeing it with his own two eyes. Fletch and the others on the team would give him no end of shit for the goofy-ass grin that had been on his face since he’d been in Rayne’s presence. “Yeah, Princess. They do this every day.”
She wrinkled her nose in the cute way she had. “But it’s so…ostentatious.”
Ghost busted out with a short laugh. “It might be ostentatious, but it’s tradition. And the Brits are big on tradition.” He loved how Rayne wasn’t afraid to say what she was thinking. She hadn’t held back with any of her thoughts throughout the day. She’d complained, loudly, that the tiles were wet in Westminster Abby and someone was going to fall and crack their head open, And while blood on the floor of the church was probably not a new thing for the centuries-old building, it probably wasn’t a good idea in today’s day and age of sue-happy tourists. Ghost had noticed that not long after Rayne’s vocal observation, someone had brought out a carpet and unrolled it in front of the doors and placed a “wet floor” sign nearby.
“I get that it’s something they’ve always done,” Rayne continued, “but can’t they do something else to keep up the tradition? I mean, the soldiers have to get sick of all the pomp and circumstance, and it’s a traffic hazard. They have to stop the cars every time they change the guards. It’s crazy.”
Ghost held back his laugh and tried to change the subject. “So is the balcony everything you imagined it to be?” He expected an immediate affirmative answer, but as she was wont to do, Rayne surprised him.
She tilted her head and gazed up at the empty balcony on the other side of a large fountain in the middle of a roundabout. They were standing on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the huge wrought iron gates surrounding the palace. Ghost had tried to get her to get closer to the gates themselves, but she said she’d rather stand across the street so she could take it all in.
“Do you think they’re in the palace now, looking out at us standing here and at the people walking by, wishing they had more normal lives? I mean, I’m here thinking how awesome it would be to be married to a prince, to live inside the palace and be waited on hand and foot, but as you so eloquently pointed out earlier today, the world isn’t a picnic and it’s probably not all that romantic to be a part
of the Royal Family after all.”
“Rayne—”
As usual, she talked over him. “I mean, Diana probably thought she’d hit the jackpot. She was young, much younger than I am now, and she grew up in England. Grew up thinking the Royal Family was all that and a bag of chips…American chips, not chips like french fries as they call them here. Then she married into it and we all know now that it wasn’t a walk in the park for her. I just—” She broke off and looked over at Ghost and shrugged, almost embarrassed at how she’d been carrying on. She finished quickly, “Yeah, it’s cool to be here to see the balcony.”
“You want me to take your picture?”
“Really? Yes, please.” Rayne posed on the sidewalk with a goofy grin on her face and pointed up toward the small balcony on the front of Buckingham Palace. Ghost handed back her phone, and Rayne pulled him over to her. “Come on, a selfie this time!”
Ghost knew he shouldn’t. Knew he should tell her he had the type of job where he couldn’t risk pictures of him showing up on the Internet. He could simply ask her not to post it anywhere, but even if she agreed now, she could forget, or get pissed, and it could somehow show up anyway. It just wasn’t smart to be in pictures with hook-ups. Period. They’d been warned by the colonel, and everyone on the teams knew to avoid having their picture taken at all costs. But Rayne knew him as John Benbrook, not Keane Bryson, and after tonight, he’d never see her again. Besides that, he didn’t think she was the type of woman to plaster her every movement on social media. She’d flat out said she’d never had a one-night stand before, so he thought it was pretty safe to pose for one picture with her.
Ghost put his arm around Rayne and pulled her close. She laughed and held out her hand with her phone.
“Smile!” she ordered. Rayne took the picture and turned the phone to check it out. She turned to him with a frown. “You didn’t smile,” she complained. “Come on, take another, and smile this time, dammit.” Her words were stern, but the tone was teasing.
For reasons Ghost didn’t understand—but he didn’t stop to analyze his actions—he pulled out his own phone. “On mine this time.”
Rayne smiled up at him, obviously pleased he also wanted a picture of them together.
“Okay. But be sure to get the balcony in it. Don’t cut off our heads. Oh, and if you can get the—”
“Hush, woman, I got this,” Ghost told her in a mock growl. “I’m a professional.”
Rayne giggled and put both her arms around his waist and leaned in. “A professional? Professional what, is the question.” She looked up at him again, smiling, joy leaking out of every pore in her body. “Okay, but don’t blame me if you don’t get the good stuff in frame.”
Ghost looked down at the woman in his arms. He had one arm around her shoulders and the other was outstretched with his phone in his hand, ready to snap the picture. “I’ve got the good stuff in it, don’t worry.”
Rayne smiled and turned her head to look at his phone.
“Okay, on the count of three,” she bossed. “One…two…three!”
Ghost snapped the picture and put the phone back in his pocket before Rayne could snatch it out of his grasp to look at the photo he’d just taken.
“Ghost! I need to look at it and approve it!”
“Approve it?”
“Yeah, you know, make sure it’s good enough to keep. I might look like a dork!”
“You don’t look like a dork,” Ghost told her with complete honesty.
“Whatever. You didn’t even look at it and besides, guys’ opinions can’t be trusted.”
“Really?”
“Yup. You don’t care about things like hair and makeup or if the picture is blurry.”
“Your hair looks fine, you aren’t wearing much makeup, and the picture wasn’t blurry.”
“How do you know? You didn’t even look at it! What if my eyes were closed? Then you’ll see it later and be all sad because instead of being able to brag to your buddies about the chick you had in London, you’ll have to—”
“I’m not going to brag about having you.”
Rayne didn’t understand the tone of Ghost’s voice. She tilted her head and said seriously, “I thought all guys bragged about their conquests.”
“First of all, men don’t do that shit. It’s a dick thing to do. Second of all, I have no desire to show your picture to my friends. This time is ours.”
“But—”
“It’s not that I don’t want every one of my buds to be jealous as hell that I hooked up with a beautiful woman after a wonderful day in London…but what I do, and who I do it with, is my business. And yours. No one else’s.”
“Wow. Um, okay. But you should know,” Rayne wrinkled her nose and shrugged apologetically, “I’ll probably talk about it with my friend Mary. I mean, I won’t go into details, but after that text I sent, she’s going to want to know how it was. As of right this moment, I don’t know how it will be, but if I had to guess, I’m thinking you’re gonna knock my socks off. And since it’s my first one-night stand, I’m going to have to spill to my bestie. Girl code and all that.”
She felt Ghost chuckle against her. “You never say what I think you’re going to say.”
“Hopefully that’s not a bad thing.”
“It’s not a bad thing.”
“Okay. So…can I see the picture to make sure my eyes weren’t closed?”
“No.”
Rayne rolled her eyes at him. She finally let go of his waist and looked up at the sky as the rain started gently falling again. She sighed. “Okay, fine. You win. It’s raining again,” she stated unnecessarily.
“You had enough balcony?”
“Yeah.” Rayne turned back to the big palace for a moment. “It really is beautiful though, isn’t it?”
Ghost didn’t answer.
Rayne turned to him. “Okay, I’ve tortured you long enough. What’s next on the agenda?”
Ghost knew just what he wanted to do. “You ever been on a Ferris wheel?”
“Of course.”
“Not like this one. Come on.” Ghost took her hand in his as he hailed a cab.
Chapter Six
“I’m not sure about this, Ghost,” Rayne said nervously, holding tightly to his hand as they walked into one of the compartments on the famed London Eye. The day so far had been wonderful. Rayne had no idea how she’d gotten so lucky to have randomly chosen to sit next to Ghost in the airport, and then have their flight canceled, and now to be spending the day with him in the city. But she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She’d simply go with it and hope everything worked out in the end.
“It’s fine, Princess. You think I’d have us do anything where you might get hurt?”
“Uh…”
“I wouldn’t. You’re safe with me.”
Rayne looked up at Ghost. Safe with him. If she could’ve, she would’ve melted into a puddle at his feet. He made fun of her for being a romantic at heart, but if he could only hear his own words. She’d tried to tell him how everything he’d done so far was romantic, but she was certain he didn’t believe her.
The thing of it was, she did feel safe with him. There was no way anyone would bother them. They’d take one look at Ghost, and know instinctively he was a man not to be trifled with. It was what she thought the first time she saw him at the airport. “I know.”
The taxi that had picked them up at Buckingham Palace had a very sketchy-looking driver. If she’d been by herself, she would’ve passed on it and either walked or hailed a different car. But not Ghost. He pulled her into the backseat, leaned forward with his phone, snapped a picture of the driver’s identification, and then pushed a few more buttons on the phone. He’d then told the driver to take them to the London Eye and said in a deep, clear voice that meant business, “I’ve just sent your identification to a friend, an officer on the London Police force. If you value your job, you’ll get us there in one piece. He’s expecting a text from me in ten minut
es, which is plenty of time for us to arrive. If he doesn’t get it, the entire force will be looking for this taxi…and you.”
The driver didn’t say anything, but nodded, Rayne thought, nervously. She had no idea if Ghost really did know someone who worked on the police force here in London, but honestly, nothing would surprise her. She still didn’t know what he really did for a living, but she was beginning to think her guess of spy or bounty hunter was closer than she’d thought. She’d been kidding at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure.
The driver had pulled out into traffic and taken them to the famed tourist spot across from the Abbey without any general chitchat. All Ghost had said when they’d left the vehicle after arriving was, “Have a nice night.”
“Come on, you’ll love this,” Ghost told her, bringing her back to the present and the huge sort-of Ferris wheel, leading her to the small bench in the middle of the compartment.
When the door shut behind them, Rayne asked in surprise, “We’re the only ones in here? This thing can hold at least thirty people, what’s going on?”
“It’s raining and it’s a random Wednesday night, Princess, there aren’t a lot of people around. I slipped the guy fifty pounds and he agreed to let us have the compartment all to ourselves.”
Rayne frowned. “You bribed him?”
“Yup.”
“But…” Rayne couldn’t think of a good protest.
Ghost laughed at her shocked reaction. “Just enjoy it, Rayne. It’s fine.”
“Okay. Whatever, but if you don’t really have a friend on the police force and you get hauled off to jail when we get off, don’t expect me to pay your bail.”
They sat together holding hands as the huge wheel started to turn. It wasn’t the same as the Ferris wheels back home in the States. This one moved extremely slowly, Rayne couldn’t even tell they were moving, except for the landscape getting smaller and smaller as they rose into the air.
Rayne stood up and held on to the rail at the window. She felt Ghost come up behind her. He put his hands at either side of her hips and leaned into her, pointing out landmarks in the huge city as they slowly rose higher and higher above the River Thames.