And then my bedroom door opened up again.
We stared at each other again, both of us quietly laughing as I begged with my eyes for her to be normal. She shrugged and gave me a look that said I don’t know, I’m a wild card, I might very well ask if he’ll propose.
And before I knew it, her eyes flew past my shoulder.
And when I turned around, Iain was standing there in his still perfectly crisp suit, his grey tie knotted and his gaze on me as he said, “Morning.”
Then he looked over my shoulder, giving an upward nod and saying, “Good morning, Mia,” which for whatever reason made me melt a little as well.
I peered at her to see her thankfully being normal as she said good morning back, though she did offer a little wince as she said, “Sorry I was of no help last night. In fact, I think you might’ve been better off not talking to me at all,” she joked, reminding me that she’d sent Iain on a wild goose chase through Manhattan by rattling off names of a bunch of places she knew I most likely wasn’t at.
Iain laughed. “That’s alright. I found her in the end.”
Mia smiled, eyebrows up as she held her coffee cup with two hands. “I can see that,” she said.
And since I could feel her starting to get weird, I turned to Iain and said, “I’ll walk you out,” ushering him out the room while shooting a warning look at Mia over my shoulder.
Which was probably a mistake, because after she and Iain said goodbye, she waited till the front door was open before calling out, “If you have any Holland-related questions in the future, I’ll be sure to be of more help next time!”
Oh my God. I closed my eyes, pausing briefly in the front door as I contemplated going back into the kitchen and shooting her the best death look I had in my arsenal. But Iain had to leave for work and I had plenty of time to deal with Mia, so slipping on a pair of sandals, I followed him into the hall, trying to figure out what about Mia’s words just now had bothered me most.
I figured it out by the time I got to the top of the stairs with Iain.
In the future.
The words replayed in my mind as he gazed down at me, letting the silence stretch between us for a second and forcing my pulse to pick up with my vague sense of uncertainty.
But then he put his finger under my chin, tipping my head up and looking me in the eye before kissed me softly in the stark quiet of the hallway, completely melting me with his touch.
I was
legitimately lightheaded by the time he pulled away, but I forced myself to get out a coherent sentence.
“Thank you for coming here last night,” I murmured, making his lips curve up at the ends.
“Thank you for letting me find you.”
“I’ll pay you back, by the way.”
“For what?”
“That fever dream of an epic orgasm last night,” I said, and as he laughed, I forced myself to get my head back. To lead toward the question I needed to ask before he left, because it was Thursday today. His birthday was Saturday and Adam was visiting on Monday.
And according to our agreement, all this was supposed to end as soon as Adam was in town.
“So, am I going to see you before this weekend?” I questioned, watching him stroke his chin and frown a little.
“I’m not sure. I have a lot to get done beforehand so I don’t have to worry about anything coming up while we’re gone,” he said. Then he smirked at me. “Still not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“It’s a surprise, so no. But don’t worry, it’s as low-maintenance as you requested,” I said, referring to the specific Iain terms I’d agreed to via text regarding the planning of his birthday, which was one, nothing with actual birthday fanfare—meaning no cakes, presents or singing. And two, nothing that cost me more than a hundred-fifty dollars.
The first part was easy to follow since I wasn’t a huge fan of birthday singing either. The limited budget, however, nixed pretty much all the grand ideas I’d originally had.
Thankfully, I was good at making simple things work.
“Alright, well, I should get going.” Iain silenced his ringing phone without looking at it—the second time since we’d been out in this hallway. “I’ll keep you posted about what my day looks like today and tomorrow, but we’ll definitely see each other Saturday,” he said earnestly.
I nodded.