The Cinderella Arrangement

by Vanessa Waltz

  There was a slight splash, and I knew that Will held me over the river, ready to hurl me inside. He looked crazy enough to do it. He loosened his grip, and I slid down slightly. I grasped his shoulders, and he tightened his arms around my waist. I was giddy from being this close to him and I was sure my face was burning.

  “Apologize,” he demanded, grinning. “Or I’ll throw you in.”

  I glared at him. He wouldn’t really throw me in, would he? “No.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  Icy water sank into my shoes. “No, stop! Ok, fine! I’m sorry!”

  Laughing, he stepped back, and I found solid ground. I never saw him look so happy. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “Me neither,” I said, my breath caught in my throat. I was back on the ground, but his arm was still wrapped around my waist. I could feel every contour of his muscles and his rapid heartbeat. If I lifted myself on my toes, I could kiss him.

  The laughter died and Will’s eyes blazed. His fingers splayed on my back and he seemed to finally be aware that he was holding me.

  He bowed his head, still smiling. All of his heat surrounded me; I felt his lips claiming mine, my mouth open in shock. The gentle heat I felt in my heart amped to a blazing forest fire. His hard body was against mine, his hands almost lifting me up. I dug my fingers into his wild hair and loved how soft it was. His kisses were filled with gunpowder; they were nothing like the sweet pecks Ben always gave me. I leaned into him and bit his bottom lip.

  Somehow, we stumbled back against the fence. Will’s mouth weakened me over and over, and then he was planting searing hot kisses under my jaw and down my throat. I moaned as his hands swept around my waist and moved up my abdomen. Then he seemed to realize where we were and he pulled away. Not completely, just enough to make me really disappointed.

  My nerves and skin were tingling all over, oversensitive. When Will’s fingers grazed my neck, I seized as if I was in pain.

  That was amazing.

  I wanted to kiss him again, but Will winked at me and stepped back.

  “C’mon.”

  How were we supposed to behave after that? Will didn’t try to touch me again, but when he looked at me, it was in admiration. He gave me a secretive smile that made me confused and hot all over.

  We walked to Upper Slaughter and back in silence, appreciating the old-world, gorgeous scenery.

  What a charming little village.

  As we returned to the car, my purse buzzed. It startled me so much that it broke me out of my peaceful mood. I dug inside and found it, my heart sinking. It was Ben. Why was he calling me?

  “Who is it?”

  When I blushed in answer, he stepped closer and read the screen. I answered the phone, ignoring him. “H—hello?”

  “Hey, Natalie.”

  I gulped at the sound of his voice and tried to turn away from Will, who seemed keen on listening in. “What do you want?”

  He cut right to the chase. “I saw pictures of you at the airport with a guy. Then I called your parents, and they told me you have a new boyfriend. What the hell, Natalie?”

  Well, fuck. I wasn’t aware that there were photos of us. “It’s really none of your—hey!”

  William snatched the phone out of my hands and pressed it against his face. I tried grabbing it back, but he was too tall. His expressive face was animated with energy, like a hound that caught scent of a rabbit. He sneered into my phone.

  “Leave her alone, you pathetic loser.”

  Wow.

  Ben’s reply was so loud that I could hear it. “Who the fuck is this?”

  “I’m William Pardini, who the fuck are you?”

  “I’m her fiancé!”

  His low voice chuckled into the phone. “Yeah, well, I don’t see a ring on her finger. She’s with me now. I suggest you take a hint and move on.”

  “I’ll kick your fucking ass!”

  Will bent his head back in mirth; his eyes glittered with savage triumph. “Oh, please try me. I beg you.”

  I leaped for my phone again and wrenched it from his hands. “Ben?”

  But there was nothing but dead silence on the other end. I looked at William, fury shaking all of my limbs. He was smiling as if he did me a favor.

  “Why the hell did you do that?” I yelled, shattering the quiet, peaceful environment.

  Several passersby looked at me in alarm, but I didn’t give a shit. William was still laughing. I grabbed the scruff of his collar and couldn’t decide whether I wanted to shove or punch him.

  “What did I do?” he said, shrugging. “You two were on your way out anyway.”

  I released him. “That doesn’t mean you get to antagonize him.”

  “Calm down.”

  “I will get so much shit for this.”

  I opened the car door and sat in the backseat scattered with Tom’s fur. The car door opened a crack, and I whirled to him, expecting to see a gloating smile on his face. Instead, he looked scared.

  “Natalie, can I come in?”

  I looked away from him and shrugged as if I didn’t care. I heard the sound of him sliding inside the car and closing the door. The air felt stifling.

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Duly noted.”

  The leather squeaked as he turned toward me. “Why are you so upset? I thought you and him were over. I was trying to—”

  “To what?” I exploded. “To mess with him? To bring drama into my life?” I slammed my fist into the leather seat in front of me. “Damn it, I was doing fine. I had everything I wanted and then Jessica had to get Luke. And Ben fucked up, so I threw six years of us away. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

  It all came crashing down on me. The possibility of being alone forever felt real. I was like a ticking clock—already twenty-six. I thought I found that love with Ben.

  “You threw him away because you weren’t in love with him.”

  Will’s voice was smooth and self-assured. That made bile rise in my throat. What did he know about any of it?

  “I did love him!”

  “If you did, you wouldn’t have come on this trip with me. You wouldn’t have kissed me.”

  He took my arm, and I wanted to jerk away, but I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. I was trapped, and he was drawing me into his sticky web, toward certain disaster.

  “Natalie, you’re better than him and you deserve better. He doesn’t love you, if he did, he wouldn’t have fooled around right after you broke up. He would have fought for you. That phone call was just him pissing on his property.”

  Will slid closer and pulled me onto his lap. My chest shook at the sudden contact as if my body had been craving human contact for months and was now finally getting what it needed. With his arms around me, stroking my hair, I sighed into his chest and felt my muscles unknot.

  “You’re not doing a good job of keeping things professional.”

  He sighed. “Why did you come here with me?”

  My thoughts were barreling along like a high-speed chase. Why had I come? “Because I’ve never been to Europe and—and I wanted something different. A change.”

  “That’s right.”

  His voice throbbed in my ear almost like a sigh, and suddenly a light flickered on and I felt hot all over. I was in the arms of a gorgeous man in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

  He would have fought for you.

  I looked up and our faces were inches from each other. I unclasped my fingers from his neck and smoothed them over his chest. His breath caught in his throat. Now his gaze seemed to tremble within mine—he was uncomfortable with this closeness.

  A smile appeared on his face. “I guess I should apologize for taking your phone, but I’m not that sorry.”

  Though I didn’t want to, I slipped from his lap and his arms unwound themselves. “Let’s get back to the bed-and-breakfast. I need to work on those designs.”

  “Okay,” he said, giving me a stran
ge look before he got out of the car.

  While William was in a meeting with Mary downstairs, I sat at the small white desk in my room with my tablet PC and drew. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted a pastoral or a fairy-tale, children’s-book-type theme. There was something idyllic about this place that I couldn’t articulate in words. I cycled through the photos I took during the day. It reminded me of movies I watched as a child when I believed in magic and secret gardens and fairies. The Cotswolds almost made me believe in them again.

  The kissing gate in front of the cottage was ensnared with vines and flowers, almost as if it was guarding something secret. I drew little, circular avatars of the gate, the cottage with a little river wrapped around it, the mill, the green pastures and moody skies. William and his team could decide which ones they wanted. Then I began the website banners, and there I could incorporate every detail I loved about the Cotswolds and this bed-and-breakfast.

  “Nice work.”

  “Shit!” I was so immersed that I didn’t hear Will creep up behind me.

  Will smirked as he took a seat on the bed. “Too bad all of it will probably be for nothing.”

  “Why?” I said, aghast.

  “I’m just not sure this place lives up to the Pardini brand. People who go to our hotels expect excellence. Luxury. This…” he shook his head as he gazed at the ceiling, his eyes focusing on the chips of paint here and there.

  “Oh, come on. This is affordable, isn’t it? And it’s a cottage. It will be cramped and small.”

  He shrugged. “This isn’t what I had in mind.”

  Giving up, I returned to my drawings. No matter what, I would put all of my effort into them.

  The next day, we bid farewell to Mary and gathered Tom back into his cage to drive to the next destination: Bath. Will offered to drive, but I shot him down with a look.

  No freaking way.

  Back at Cheltenham, we returned the car and took the train to Bath Spa. We found ourselves on a hill, with rows and rows of yellow and beige houses. The train tracks ran straight through the suburbs. Fantastic green hills surrounded us, but we were far away from all the attractions.

  “Why couldn’t we call a cab?”

  “Because we’re here to experience England like everybody else. Or something like that.” He smiled at me.

  “Did you go to boarding school too?”

  “Nope,” he said, sounding proud of that. “I went to private schools in Chicago with my brothers. Mom didn’t want to send us away.”

  I wondered about his upbringing. I knew that his cousin, Luke, was bitter about being sent away to a school.

  “So did you grow up getting everything you wanted?”

  “Yeah. I was a spoiled little shit. When I grew up, I became an asshole. I was just drunk on the power of being really rich and able to get literally anything I wanted. Then…” his face darkened.

  And then you got into a car accident, and it changed you.

  “I didn’t become a human being until a few years ago.”

  It was such a strange thing to say, and yet I understood what he meant perfectly. Up until that point, Will lived like a wild animal; taking what he wanted and devouring every opportunity without a thought of how it would affect anyone else. Then he changed.

  “I think I became human when I escaped my parent’s clutches and could think for myself for once in my life.”

  He smiled knowingly.

  “I’m scared of that part of me. I was the only one of my brothers to go off the deep end. So that’s why I avoid relying too much on my wealth.”

  Because that’s when bad things happen?

  “Life shouldn’t be easy.”

  “No, but it sure is nice to have cash sometimes.” I gave him a sly smile. “Never know when you’ll need to bribe someone.”

  He chuckled. “Luke called me to bitch about that.”

  I shook my head. “You guys behave like children. Why do you hate Luke so much?”

  Will made a face. “I don’t hate him. I think he’s an arrogant bastard.”

  “He is not a bastard.”

  “He told me to stay away from you, as though I’m a toxic person.”

  We had the bed-and-breakfast in sight. “I think he’s angry with you because your dad tried to sell the shares in his trust.”

  He wheeled around. “What?”

  My heart jumped. “Didn’t you know that? Luke is suing your dad.”

  “Holy shit. I can’t believe he’d do that.”

  I could see Will’s mind boiling with what I said the whole day. We finally reached the bed-and-breakfast, which was owned by a cheery man with an affinity for country music.

  Designing the logo for the Bath location was easy; the Roman baths were the main attraction, and it was easy to draw a quick sketch of the yellow pillars and the green, bubbling pool. Below, I heard Will grilling the owner about his profits. His heavy footsteps climbed the stairs, and I braced for when he would burst inside the room.

  He had a habit of violently opening doors and scaring me to death. Sure enough, seconds later, the door swung open and banged the opposite wall. He scowled when he realized there was no bathroom attached. And there was still only one queen bed.

  “We can share the bed. It’s no big deal.”

  Will removed his jacket, glaring at me as if I was up to something, but he was too tired to argue. Both of us were exhausted from walking to and from the Roman baths and exploring the abbey.

  My hands were feeling stiff, and I swiveled in the chair, wringing my fingers.

  “Take a break for God’s sake. Watching you work is exhausting.”

  I set the stylus down and sighed, leaning into the chair. My eyes widened when Will took the hem of his white t-shirt and lifted it over his head. It was like being injected with adrenaline. Suddenly, I felt much more awake.

  “What are you doing?” Shut up, idiot! Let him take his clothes off!

  “I’m just getting ready for bed. You don’t have to stare.”

  I could not look away. Under his t-shirt was a carved abdomen. His defined chest and shoulders made my mouth water. My eyes raked up and down, noting the small dark patch of hair on his chest and the faint line dipping below his belly button. He caught me watching him and smiled. “Like what you see?”

  Of course I do and you know it.

  Then he yanked his jeans down and my breath caught in my throat. “Jesus.”

  A pair of tight, black briefs hugged his ass. I wanted to bump against him and run my hands all over him, but he merely slid into bed and closed his eyes, smiling slightly.

  Now what? Do I join him? He said he had no interest in me, but he kissed me.

  I already wore my pajamas, which were just a loose t-shirt and flannel pants, with no bra. I walked to my side, cursing the loud noise of my feet creaking the wood floorboards. Peeling back the comforter gave me a nice view of his body. I slid inside and joined his warmth, shaking with nerves.

  But Will showed no sign he knew that I was in bed with him. His eyes remained closed. I turned away from him and listened to the sound of him breathing and his legs moving under the sheets.

  How strange it is to be in bed with someone I’m not sure I’m allowed to touch.

  There was another movement under the sheets and I felt the pad of one finger running a line down my neck, over my shoulder and body, over my bony hip. His other fingers joined to stroke my upper thigh.

  Heart racing, I turned into his body. His heat spilled all over me and he kept his hand anchored on my hip. His eyes opened, revealing red-rimmed exhaustion, and yet his gaze was rigid.

  There was a strand of black hair in his eye and I reached for it with my fingers to push it behind his ear.

  “You surprised me today. I thought you had no sense of humor.”

  “I thought you were a bastard.”

  He grinned and squeezed my hip. “And now?”

  “You’re still one.”

  I sought his pouting, bottom
lip and sucked it into my mouth. He sighed, and I ran my hands down his neck to stroke the broad muscles of his chest, stopping here and there to squeeze. His touch slipped under my shirt and slid up my back. He moaned when he realized that I wasn’t wearing a bra.

  We both gasped when his thumbs moved around, stroking the sides of my tits. My nipples hardened under my t-shirt and he rotated his fingers, teasing the sensitive flesh. Then he groped my breasts, and I kissed him harder, burying him in the bed. He seized the two hard nubs and pinched them between his thumb and forefinger. Our lips finally parted and both of us breathed as though we ran a marathon.

  I sat up and lifted the shirt from my head, fixing Will with a smoldering look.

  “Jesus.”

  Smiling, I lay on top of him and relished the contact of his naked chest. I could hear his breath thick with desire, going mad with my half-naked body.

  “No, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

  But even his arms refused to let me go. My back shivered as he ran his hands down and squeezed my ass. “Why not?”

  “Because if we keep going, I will fuck you.”

  “So?”

  He gave me a half-frustrated, half-smoldering look. “I don’t want to be a one-night stand.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  His fingers weaved through my hair and pulled slightly. “And when I’m with someone, I want them to be thinking of me and only me.”

  I was lost.

  “You’re not over your ex yet. I like you, Natalie. I like you more than you realize, but I want a real chance with you.”

  Something hot shot up my legs when he said that. I looked at his heavy-lidded eyes, his slightly flushed, hollow cheeks and the downy black hair and I couldn’t understand why the hell he thought I pined over Ben while I was in bed with him.

  “That’s a really sweet thing to say.”

  His smile widened. “I know. Now, kiss me.”

  I sank to my elbows and grabbed his hair, kissing him harder than I’d kissed anyone in my life. His mouth was soft against mine, barely able to keep up. I played with his ears, running my fingers over them because I knew that it would drive him crazy. He suddenly got up on his elbows and flipped me onto my back. Will groaned as he sat back, admiring the view of my body. His erection dug into my hip and I felt a leap of excitement. Looking disgusted with himself, Will got off my legs and turned away from me.