Cherry Girl (Neil & Elaina 1)

“All right, are you done yet?”

E came in and sat in one of my chairs. “Do you mind?” he asked, gesturing to his shirt pocket where he kept the smokes.

“It’s fine,” I said, watching him light up and take a drag.

He grinned at me. “Well, I’m waiting.”

“And you can keep on waiting too, because I’m not talking.”

E cocked one brow at me. “You christened the en suite too. Impressive, mate. When you jump, you really go in at the deep end.”

“Piss off,” I told him. “How in the goddamn hell do you know that? Those suites aren’t monitored.” He’d been harassing me for years about why I never used the en suite the way he used his. I’d always told him it was a waste of money on me because I’d never take a woman there. Now, he’d made me a liar.

He laughed. “I saw Elaina coming out of yours, looking very…hmmm…how to describe her overall demeanor…” He tapped two fingers to the side of his head. “I know! She looked very…satisifi—”

“—Enough! You been taking fuckin’ acting lessons there, E? Better not hold out for a career in film though, because you suck at it. Best to keep your day job.”

He ignored me and kept flapping on. “Come to think of it, you look a little more relaxed yourself. Like you’ve worked some of the edge off. Was the bed comfortable in there?”

“You can stop now. Please stop before I have to shut you up. And, it will look very bad if I have to go to the brig for killing the boss, which nearly happened yesterday, by the way.”

He laughed some more, shaking his head, but then he gave me a genuine smile, something he didn’t do very often. “I’m glad for you, mate. I really am. She’s lovely and you both deserve this.”

“Thanks.” I sighed deeply. “Six years is a long time to wait for someone. But we’ve worked everything out now, and…well, I’m just not letting her out of my sight again.”

He nodded thoughtfully, losing the teasing tone and becoming serious as he smoked his clove cigarette in my office. “Six years…yeah, that is a long time.” I could imagine where his mind may have taken him in the moment. Poor bastard had been through the worst kind of hell and survived it intact, when most men would have ended the pain and taken the easy way out. Lots of veterans came back with demons and did just that. His experience in the war amounted to the very worst there was, but yet, Captain Blackstone still had bollocks of steel, and the Victoria Cross to prove it.

“You love her.” He didn’t ask, but simply made a statement.

“Completely.”

“Ahh.” After another moment of reflection he asked, “How did you know you loved Elaina?”

“It’s not something you have to figure out, E. The decision is made for you. When the right girl comes along…you’ll already know.”

He shook his head in dismissal as if he couldn’t imagine such a thing ever happening to him. Lots of women had tried their best to catch him. I’d witnessed it for years, but I’d never seen him even look at any of them beyond a shag or two. Everyone knew Blackstone did not do repeat business with pussy.

I remembered to ask him why he’d come to find me. “Hey, what were you on about yesterday when you busted in here, anyway? You never said what was so important.”

His expression changed again. This time to one of pride. “Guess which firm got tapped to secure the RF at the Games?”

“Her Majesty?” I couldn’t help bolting up out of my chair in excitement for what this meant for BSI. This was bloody huge.

“Yeah. They asked us to do it.” Ethan was grinning from ear to ear.

****

TO: emorrison @bsiltd.co.uk

How did you like your breakfast? xo N

Since Elaina ran the switchboard, texts on her mobile were hard for her to manage. So were calls, so our best mode of communication was going to be email when at the office. Oh, I could still see her at her station via the bank of security cameras that played out doings all over the floors housing Blackstone Security International, but the most important one for me would always be reception area on the executive level, forty-four. I had Elaina programmed to display on the biggest monitor in my office.

She didn’t care for me spying, so I didn’t advertise the fact to her, but I sure loved to be able to look up and see her while I was at my desk working. It just made me happy to be able to see what she was doing, who came into the offices, watching her move around and talk to people. I’d been starved for so long; it was painful to have to look away sometimes.

TO: nmcmanus @bsiltd.co.uk

I loved the cherry scone, but I loved my clothes most of all. Thank you for the note too. You made me have tears. P.S. Good ones xxE