Love From a Book

Chapter Three - Elsie

Oh my god! No! Not Casper! I run to him and drop to my knees in front of him, tears running down my face. "Casper, oh my darling boy." He's covered in blood it's like something straight out of a horror film. His whimpering breaking my heart. Mr. Drop-dead gorgeous, oh god, I've realised I don't even know his name, takes over. He's on the phone to a vet, and his driver comes over to investigate. He starts asking the other driver of the car questions.

I can't even deal with that now. My only concern is Casper. I stroke his head to keep him calm, the tears still pouring down my face. "Elsie? I need to move him, darling. We need to get him to the vet. Let me get to him." I stand and move out of his way so he can bend down to pick him up. Lou has seen the commotion and rushed out with towels and a blanket. "Here, use this for the back of the car and to keep him warm. Elsie, keep me posted, girl. I'm here if you need me, " and she grasps me in a hug while my viking mystery man bundles my dog into the back of his car "Come on, Elsie, let's go," and he ushers me into the back with Casper. He secures Cari in the boot and climbs in the front next to his driver.

I stroke Casper all the way to the vets. It's the longest journey of my life, even though it can't have been more than ten minutes away. We arrive outside, and he jumps out as soon as we pull up, gently picking Casper up from beside me. I follow him inside, where he tells the vet what happened, and Casper is rushed away for x-rays. He comes towards me and lightly taps my arm to get my attention. "Elsie, come sit down, I'll get you some water." I look at him and then down at myself. We both look like we've just stepped out of a horror film. We are covered in blood. Oh... no... Caspers blood... i feel my own blood drain and the floor rising towards my face. He must see it, too, because the last thing I see is him reaching out to catch me. "f**k!"

I wake up in a humongous bed, in a very large and ornate room. No a suite. It's definitely a suite. Where am I? s**t CASPER! "He's in theatre. I've given the vets both our numbers to call as soon as he's out of surgery. You fainted, most likely from the shock, so I brought you to the hotel to rest, it was closer than my place and I figured less awkward for you than a strangers house." I look up and see him standing in the doorway to the bedroom looking like he belongs in a catalogue. He's changed his clothes from earlier, he's wearing more casual wear now, some slacks and an open collar shirt, instead of a suit. "I'm so sorry, and thank you... i..." and to top off my embarrassment, I start to cry.

As if it's not enough that I passed out in front of a ridiculously hot guy now, I have to add crying in front of him to the list too. He clears the length of the room towards me in a few short strides. His hand caressing my face and his thumb brushing my tears away. "Hey now, don't cry, treacle, everything will be okay. You'll see." I relish the feel of his touch. It's been a long time since a man touched me. But I'd be a fool to think a man like him would ever be interested in a girl like me.

"I'm just glad I was there to help. There's some water on the side here. I'll give you a few minutes to freshen up, and then if you come into the lounge, I've ordered some food. You need to keep your strength up." He hesitates a moment like he's debating something, then he gets up and leaves the room. I take a sip of the water, it's cool and refreshing, like it's not long since come out of the fridge, so I down some more. I get up and it's only now that I realise I'm not wearing my clothes from earlier. Oh god, he changed me? That means he's seen my body. Oh god, I didn't think this day could get any worse, but apparently, it can.

I head to the bathroom, and upon closer inspection, I can see I'm wearing a man's t-shirt that on a thinner, more beautiful woman would probably be cute and oversized. However, it fits me perfectly I've only got my underwear on underneath it. s**t! I can't go out of here and sit in the lounge of a fancy hotel suite in just what I presume is his shirt and my underwear.

I look around the bathroom, searching for anything I can put on, a robe or something, anything! I spy some clothes on the little stand next to the shower with a note, I pick the note up, It's embossed with the hotel logo "Hazelwood Hotel", Jesus I could tell this was a fancy hotel but the Hazelwood was high end luxury hotel. The rest of the note reads, "I had your clothes dry cleaned as they were covered in blood," and its signed with the letter D.

My clothes are folded neatly and perfectly dry cleaned. God, how long was I out for? I catch sight of myself in the mirror, and god, I look a right state! My mascara has run from when I was crying, and it's left panda smears under my eyes. And my hair is just as unruly as ever! I have hair that kind of hair that can never decide what it wants to do. It's naturally curly, but most of the time, I style it into soft waves if it behaves. Today it's not behaving. I can still see little splodges of Casper's blood on me, so I decide to take a quick shower.

I dry myself off and wrap my hair up in one of the towels. Hopefully, it will be kind to me and dry in nice curls and not a frizzy mess. I change into my freshly cleaned clothes. I use the towel to scrunch my hair, getting the excess water out, and doing my best to encourage proper curls to form. I check myself in the mirror one more time, well I'll have to do, at least I look a little fresher than before, I place my towels in the wash basket by the door and make my way out to find my mystery man.

He's sat on a beautiful green chesterfield sofa looking stunning as ever, reading a newspaper. He looks up as he hears me approach. "You look better, although i must say, I preferred you in my shirt." I blush furiously. "Err... yes.. thanks for having my clothes cleaned, although I'm mightily embarrassed that you've seen me in my underwear and I don't even know your name." He doesn't even look remotely bothered when I mention he's seen my underwear. Although I'm thanking my lucky stars that I actually wore my decent underwear today and not some holey tatty ones. "My name is Dean Thomas. And I could hardly put you into bed covered in blood." That's true, I suppose. And at least I've finally found out his name. Although still highly embarrassing. "Come, you need to eat," and he leads me to the dining area.

The table is full of absolutely delicious looking food. Delicate pastries like croissants and my favourite pecan plaits, salami and other deli meats like prosciutto ham and sliced beef, aswell as buttered bread rolls, sliced tiger loaf, olives, a variety of dips, so many different types of cheeses. The there's scones with pots of jam and cream, mini cakes, platters of fruit plus a pot of tea and cafetiere of coffee with a jug of milk and a little pot of sugar. "Wow, you didn't have to go to all this trouble." He smiles."It's no trouble Elsie, come on, dig in, and once you've eaten, we'll go check on Casper."

I sit down and select a few little bits for my plate, but I pick at it, feeling too embarrassed to eat what I really want to. All my life, I've been a slighter larger than average girl, and so whenever I've dined in company throughout adulthood, all I've ever heard are little comments like, are you going to eat all that? Do you know how many calories are in that? Oh, you like your food, don't you? And even, Oh, that's why you're so big. Previous partners at the start of the relationship have always claimed to love a girl with a healthy appetite, but they don't, they want girls that calorie count and only eat salads and well that just isn't me.

"Do you want tea or coffee?" He asks me. "Coffee please, I only drink tea in the evening." he pours me a coffee to which I add a drop of milk. "You're not eating much, Elsie." he raises her eyebrows at me. "I'm not hungry," and then my traitorous stomach growls, completely betraying me. "Of course you not, that's why your stomach just growled," he frowns at me.