Page 30 of Lilly
Once I’ve finished, he wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and kisses my forehead. He’s so gentle with me and I can only imagine gentle is the last thing he wants to be—especially if the urgency of the kiss he gave me when he arrived was anything to go by. It may have been gentle, but there was a promise behind it. A promise that made my knees weak withanticipation.
“Go and get packed. I’m taking you away for theweekend.”
“What?”
“You heard—now go pack. And make sure you bring that black dress you wore out last time. I really liked that,” he says, dropping his hooded eyes to run the length ofme.
Butterflies erupt in my stomach when they come back up tomine.
“O…okay,” I stutter before rushing towards mybedroom.
I pull out a small case and start throwing things into it. I don’t need to turn around to know that Lucas is stood in the doorway watching me. I can feel hispresence.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask when he grabs my case from the bed and starts to move towards the front door. I quickly slide my feet into my Converse and rush afterhim.
“I’ll explain when we’re in the car. Come on, it’s already late enough and I’ve got plans foryou.”
I don’t respond; I just lock the flat door and follow him into the lift. The atmosphere is thick as we descend in the enclosed space. I so badly want him to kiss me properly but I’m aware that if he does the only place we’d probably end up tonight is back upstairs and in mybed.
“So you said you’d explain,” I remind him when he pulls out of the carpark.
“You’re my guest for a charity auction I’m going to at the end of the month so we’re going to London so we can get you adress.”
My mouth falls open as his words register in my brain. “What if I don’t want to go?” I ask, trying to be irritated by his demanding attitude. Unfortunately, my body is thrilled that he wants to spend more time withme.
“It’s a charity for underprivileged kids. You can’t sayno.”
“That’s a low blow, Lucas. How could you use kids likethat?”
“Because I was one ofthem.”
His words shock me into silence. I look over at him and his eyes are a little wider than usual. I don’t think he meant to say that outloud.
“Have you been to the London Dalton before?” he asks suddenly, obviously trying to change thesubject.
“No, I’ve only ever been in the Cheltenhamone.”
“This might be a shock then. It was the first one I took on when my dad allowed me to work for him. I had a lot to prove. He never said it but I know he was waiting for me to fail, to fall back into my old ways. He was worried about me being back in London but I told him to trust me and I think he’s glad he didnow.”
“Did you live in Londonthen?”
“I’m not sure you could describe it as living. Iexistedin London. It wasn’t a good time in my life and it’s not something I like to talkabout.”
“Okay,” I whisper as I think about the secrets I have. It looks like we both have skeletons hiding in our closets. “How’s it going inYorkshire?”
Lucas spends the rest of the journey talking about his burnt down hotel. I get the idea that he really needed to get it all off his chest so I sit and listen and make the right noises in the rightplaces.
* * *
“Mr,Dalton, such a pleasure to have you with us,” the concierge says as we enter his swanky London hotel. He was right when he said I would be shocked. It is very different to Cheltenham. The hotel sits inside a very similar old building but inside has been modernised within an inch of its life. Everywhere is blue and silver to match the Dalton brand but it’s much more like the design work I’ve been doing than the hotel chain look I was expecting. I now understand why Lucas was so taken with my ideas. It looks like we have similar designtastes.
As predicted, we head straight up to the top of the hotel to the penthouse suite. The colossal size of it makes Lucas’ suite in Cheltenham looktiny.
* * *
“Lilly,are you nearly ready? Our reservation is in five minutes,” I hear Lucas shout through the bathroom door. Practically as soon as we entered the room he told me to get dressed as he’d organised a table downstairs for dinner. I wanted to take in the stunning room but all I’ve really seen so far is the bathroom. It’s a nice bathroom—I’m not complaining, but I don’t get that excited by them. Plus, I haven’t seen Lucas all week. I was hoping for a bit of time together before having to go out inpublic.
I turn my straighteners off and run my fingers gently through the curls I’ve just created. Even I can see that I look better in this dress than last time. Instead of hanging around me, it is now hugging my body. Let’s face, it my figure is too athletic to ever really be described a curvy, but I’m definitely seeing more curves than a couple of months ago. The woman looking back at me in the mirror now has a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face. It’s a very different look to what I had been beginning to get usedto.
