Thomas & January (Sleepless 2)

“What about our belongings?”

“They’ll transfer them into the new vehicle. Apparently they were very apologetic.”

“Shall we wait in the lobby near the doors so we can watch for them?”

“That’s a great idea,” he said with a wink. That wink told me two things. One, he was freaking adorable and did things like wink. The only other person I knew who winked was my grandpa. Two, that he was excited about privacy with...Lil’. Ol’. Me.

He took my hand and guided me through the doors. The officers waved and saluted after apologizing for the misunderstanding. We exited through the heavy double doors with the tiny pocket window, letting it slam against our backs.

“God, I would never want to go to prison,” I said.

For some reason, this made Tom laugh. He was doing a lot of that lately. “First off, that was not prison. That wasn’t even jail. That was a processing area. And secondly, you could never go to prison because you’re too good of a person to go to prison.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you know that, huh? The only thing we seem to exchange is saliva.” My face literally melted into my neck at that statement, but I pretended it did no such thing.

“I know you’re embarrassed, you know.”

“Yes, it’s a curse.”

He stopped me short and swung me in front of him, “It’s lovely.” Well, if that didn’t make me blush harder. Dang it. His smile got deeper and he brought his hand up to my face, guiding his hand across my cheek. I sank my face into his palm. “You’re lovely, January.”

His other hand swept my falling hair off my shoulder. “I should probably take my braid out,” I said, fingering the mess it’d become. I broke away for a moment and sat on a bench near the station’s glass doors. Tom sat next to me and just watched, seemingly mesmerized.

I pulled the chopstick holding my messy bun up and put it between my teeth so I could unbraid my hair. Once I’d worked out all the kinks with my fingers, I let it all fall to my shoulders. “That feels so much better,” I said around the chopstick as I twisted the length around my hand and held it away from my face for a moment.

Tom removed the chopstick from my teeth and stuck it within an inside pocket of his leather jacket before dragging my body closer to his and making me face him. “I’ll watch the doors,” he said softly, his eyes roaming my head as he laced his big, warm hands through my hair. My eyes became heavy.

“Stop making me sleepy, Thomas Eriksson.”

“I can’t help it. It’s like I need to run my fingers through your hair.”

“It’s my favorite thing in the world,” I said lazily before opening my eyes to the most handsome face I’d ever seen in my entire life.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing, I just...”

There was a knock on the station’s glass doors and a young woman in the rental company’s uniform waved. We walked over to her and met her on the sidewalk.

“Mister Eriksson?” she asked and he nodded. “I’m so sorry about all this. We’ve upgraded your vehicle for you for the inconvenience and taken care of your bill. Is there anything else we can do for you?” she asked, handing over the keys.

“None, thank you,” Tom answered.

“Just give us a ring, love, if there is,” she said with a sweet smile.

“Will do. Again, thank you.”

The woman ran to an awaiting car behind us and we climbed into our new rental. It was definitely an upgrade. Like, mega upgrade. It was a giant SUV, the likes of which I’d yet to see in Ireland or England thus far. Land Rover. Score! Jason had done this, I’d known it as soon as I saw it.

Thomas

We reached London in just under an hour. The GPS came in handy, taking us right to The Chesterfield in Mayfair. As we drove up to the hotel, or palace, depending how you looked at it, I was stumped. We both stared in fascination.

“Why would Jason put us here?” I asked no one in particular.

But January answered anyway. “Because he loves us?”

I looked at her in disbelief. “Do you even know Jason?”