“Helicopter?” I ask, wide-eyed. “You have a helicopter?”
“I have three helicopters.”
“Where’s it going to land?”
“I’ve got a helipad on the roof.” He smiles at the incredulity on my face, then bends down and presses a lingering kiss to my lips. “I need you to lay low today,” he tells me. “Just chill in the house with Tori, watch movies, don’t answer the phone unless you recognize the number, don’t give the reporters anything to report on.”
I start to say something, but he interrupts before I can so much as get a word out. “Please. I know it sucks. But it’s only for today, maybe for tomorrow. Please. I need to know you’re safe while I’m doing all of this or I’m going to lose my fucking mind.”
“I’m not a moron, you know. I wasn’t going to argue. I was going to ask you to be careful.”
“Oh.” He looks a little nonplussed, like that so wasn’t the answer he was expecting.
“I may be an attorney in training, but I really don’t argue with you just to argue, Ethan. Besides, to be honest, there is nothing less appealing to me right now than having to face the vultures at the bottom of the driveway.”
“I know. And I’m sorry you have to go through this.” He gets another text, just as I hear a helicopter approaching. “I need to go,” he continues. “I’ve got security guys on the way here. I’ll be texting you their photos as soon as I get them. There will be two in the backyard, two in the front yard, one in the alcove down by the water and two inside the gates at the bottom of the driveway. You won’t need to have anything to do with them, but I want you to know they’re there. And I want you to make sure that if, for any reason, someone comes to the door, it’s one of the men in the photos I’ll be sending you.”
“Seven security guards? Seven? Seriously?”
“I’d hire ten times that if I thought I needed to keep you safe.”
“Okay, mushy hour is over,” Tori tells him with a groan. “Besides, from the racket overhead, I’m pretty sure the helicopter has landed. So grab your briefcase and go save the world. I’ll take care of your girl.”
“I never had any doubt of that.” He grins at Tori, the first real smile I’ve seen from him all day.
“Amazingly enough, your girl can take care of herself,” I say, mildly insulted.
“Of course you can. But eight more people can take care of you even better.” And with that puzzling bit of knowledge hanging in the air, he takes off down the hallway at close to a jog.
“Soooooo,” Tori drawls after several long seconds pass in silence. “You want to watch a helicopter take off from your roof?”
“Actually, yes. I really kind of do.”
“Hot damn!” She claps her hands with glee. “Let’s go!”
Chapter 21
“Prince Charming, riding off into the sunset,” Tori says mockingly after Ethan’s helicopter has finally disappeared in the distance.
“Totally accurate,” I agree. “Except for the fact that it’s barely eight in the morning. And he’s flying, not riding. And he’s not technically Prince Charming…so really, if you think about it, you’re O for three.”
/> “Or you are. He’s your husband, after all.” She holds open the door that leads back inside, gestures for me to go through it.
“Yes, he is. And even without all those things, I think I’m going to keep him.”
“Uh, yeah. That’s for sure. I mean, if you don’t, I will.”
I just roll my eyes as I lead the way down two flights of stairs and back to the kitchen. “So, since we’re trapped in here all day, what do you want to do? John Hughes movie marathon?”
“How about a Scandal marathon?”
“I don’t know. I kind of feel like there’s enough scandal in my life right now without adding Olivia Pope into the mix.”
Tori bursts out laughing. “Good call. John Hughes movies it is. I call Ferris Bueller’s Day Off first.”
“Really? I wanted Breakfast Club.”
“You always want Breakfast Club. And then you fall asleep before we can watch any of the other movies. I swear you have boring-as-fuck narcolepsy or something.”