Page 41 of All Tied Up
She frowned, then seemed caught off guard. “What room? Here?”
I nodded.
“There’re no available rooms here. This night has probably been booked solid since last New Year’s Eve.”
It had been, but the right amount of money could get people to do things. Like give up their suite with a view of the ball drop and move to another hotel. Also ten cases of Carver’s Bootleg Whiskey Exclusive Label could make things happen. Like the helicopter that I took from the airport to the helipad closest to the hotel. The fucking traffic was insane, and I hadn’t had time to sit in a goddamn car while Noa was on a date.
Placing my hand on her lower back, I led her out of the elevatorand around to the hotel’s main elevators, which would take us to our room. When we stepped inside the next elevator, I took the key card and tapped the small black reader before pressing our floor number, then glanced over at her. Those eyes I loved so fucking much widened in surprise.
“You do have a room,” she said as her eyes flickered up to mine.
I nodded.
“How?”
Smirking, I licked my bottom lip and let my gaze drift down her body. The silver satin material had a shimmer to it as it clung to her body. Fuck, she was breathtaking. But she’d dressed like this for another man. Because of it, he might not get to live. The rage slowly burning under my controlled surface was getting stronger, the more I thought about it.
“Did he kiss you?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Who?” she asked.
“Your fucking date, Shakespeare. Did he kiss you?” I asked slower and with more threat in my tone than I wanted to use around her.
She crossed her arms beneath her tits, causing them to jiggle. “Since I don’t have a date, I still do not know who you are referring to,” she snapped at me angrily.
Nice try, Shakespeare, but I saw him.
I’d memorized his face. He’d pay for touching her.
“I watched you for thirty-five minutes before you left the table and came searching for the restroom. Don’t lie to me.”
Her full lips pursed, and she lifted her chin slightly. I loved the way she tasted right below there; the smooth, creamy skin on her neck tasted like fucking peaches.
“Did you now? Tell me, Ransom, why is it that you can’t seem to text me, or call me, or explain to me why you have chosen to ignore me, yet you can track me down at a VIP party that is very difficult to get into?” She paused and pointed back at the closedelevator doors. “There were celebrities at that thing. The tickets weren’t easy to get, and like this hotel, it was sold out. But not for you. Because you can get in anywhere you want, but you can’t send me one goddamn text!” She was breathing hard when she finished, and I could see she was close to losing the control she had on those tears she was fighting back.
I cupped her face with both my hands, which only caused her to sniffle and her bottom lip to slightly jut out.
“Just because I can’t text you or call you doesn’t mean I’m not keeping track of you, making sure you’re safe. There is no limit to what I will do when it comes to you. I just need you to trust me, Shakespeare. Wait on me. And don’t go out with another man,” I told her, then used my thumb to catch the tear that slid down her cheek.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I miss you. I miss texting you. Our back-and-forth. If I’d known sex was going to end that, I don’t think—” Her voice broke, and another tear slipped out. “I don’t think I would have done it.”
Fuck. This was ripping my chest wide open. Damn them all for this! She’d done nothing, and she was suffering. I couldn’t let their fucking commands continue to hurt her.
The doors opened, and I moved a hand to her back and nodded my head toward the hall before I led her out. Turning right, we went to the end of the long hallway to the last door that belonged to the suite I’d managed to secure us.
There were probably some rooms in hotels nearby that were more affordable and easier to get, but they weren’t in this hotel, and I hadn’t wanted to take her out into the insanity to fight through the crowds to get to another one. And they didn’t have the ball-drop view that this one had. I wanted her to have that. I wanted to be with her when it fell, ringing in the new year.
Two hundred grand in cash and thirty grand worth of Carver’s Bootleg Whiskey had been the cost. I hadn’t even flinched.
When we reached the door, I used the key card, then pushed it open for her to go inside. Stepping in behind her, I saw the white twinkling lights from the Christmas tree I’d ordered to be set up in here. She hadn’t put one up in her apartment this year, and from all our text over the years, I knew that putting up a tree was normally a big deal for her. She’d make cookies and play Christmas movies, and often, Jellie would take the train over from Boston to join her.
There hadn’t been one cheerful, over-the-top decoration that she’d talked about in the past anywhere in sight. That was my fault too. I’d taken her holiday joy from her, and fuck if I wasn’t going to make up for it the best I could.
“Th-there’s a tree,” she said with a touch of awe in her voice.
“And the chocolate-covered strawberries and cupcakes are both gluten-free,” I said, walking up behind her as she stood, taking in the scene.
Nancy, the head at the concierge desk, hadn’t let me down. But then I’d handed her three grand, rolled up and secured with a rubber band, to get this done quickly.
