and model looks and the fabulous sex…and how I’d woken up in his bed hysterical. I gave up the joke of trying to be brave and let the tears come.
It took some time, two cups of coffee, and a move to the couch to get the story out of me. But Gaby is pretty good that way. She’s relentless.
“I silenced your phone two hours ago. That duffel bag was making so much damn noise I wanted to kick it.” Gabrielle stroked my head resting on her shoulder. “You’ve got voicemails and text messages up the wazoo. I think the poor thing was about to blow, so I saved it a cataclysmic death and shut the fucker off.”
“Thank you, Gab. I’m so glad you’re here this morning.” And I meant that. She was like me in a lot of ways. A California native in London, studying conservancy and running from shit back home that haunted her. The only difference was that her father actually lived in London so she was not totally on her own here in the UK. We’d found each other during that first week of classes nearly four years ago and never really let go. She knew my dark secrets and I knew hers.
“Me too.” She patted me on the knee. “And you’re going to make an appointment with Dr. Roswell, and make plans to go clubbing with Benny and me, and a stop into Charbonnel et Walker so we can gorge ourselves on sinfully rich chocolate.” She tilted her head. “Sound good to you?”
“It sounds divine.” I forced a smile and tried to pull myself together.
“And maybe you should give this guy a chance, Bree. He’s good in the sack and he wants you bad.”
I turned my fake smile into an authentic frown. “You’ve been gossiping with Ben.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Or at least call him back.” Gaby lowered her voice to a whisper. “He doesn’t know anything about your past...”
“I know.” And Gaby was right. Ethan didn’t know about me.
Gaby rubbed my arm.
“I wasn’t really mad or offended by him last night. I just had to get out of there. I woke up screaming in his bed and I—”
The urge to cry right now was just as strong as before. I tried to force the impulse down.
“But it sounds like he wanted to comfort you. He wasn’t trying to push you away, Bree.”
“But you should have seen his face when he burst into his bedroom with me howling like a lunatic. The way he looked at me…” I rubbed my temples. “He’s just so intense. I can’t explain him properly to you, Gab. Ethan is like nothing I have ever encountered and I don’t know if I could survive him. If last night is any indication then I sincerely doubt it.”
Gaby looked at me, her beautiful green eyes smiling with confidence. “You are much stronger than you think you are. I know this.” She nodded firmly. “You are going to go get ready for work and then after a productive day in service to the great masterworks of the University of London, you’re coming home to get ready for our night of decadent pleasures. Benny’s already on board.” She poked me in the shoulder with her finger. “Now move it, sister.”
“I knew it. Ben outted me the instant he could.” I smiled at her, the first genuine one I’d felt in twelve hours and heaved my ass off the sofa. “I’m on it, Gab,” I said, rubbing where she’d poked me, “I surrender.”
~*~
I’d been at work for a few hours when Rory came through the back with a vase of the most gorgeous deep purple dahlias I had ever seen. He marched up to me with a beaming smile on his face. “A delivery for you, Miss Brynne. You have an admirer it seems.”
Oh shit! I did a double take. The bow on the vase was not really a bow. It was his silk purple tie from last night. Ethan had given his tie to me after all.
“Thank you for delivering them back here to me, Rory. They are gorgeous.” My hand shook as I reached for the card on the plastic holder. I dropped it twice before I was able to read what he’d written.
Brynne, Last night was a gift.
Please forgive me for not
hearing what you were trying
to tell me. I am so sorry.
Yours,
E
I read his note a few dozen times and wondered what to do.
How did he manage to confuse me so readily? One moment I felt sure I needed to flee Ethan and the next I wanted to be with him again. I looked at my purple flowers once more and knew I most definitely needed to acknowledge his gift and that handwritten apology though. To ignore it would be cruel.
Text or call? That was a hard decision. Part of me wanted to hear Ethan’s voice, and another part was scared to hear mine when I tried to answer his questions. In the end, I went with a text and felt like a total wimp. I had to power up my phone first and the barrage of missed calls and message alerts that flashed when it turned on made me ill without even listening or reading. It was too much for me at the moment so I ignored everything and fired up a blank text screen.