chapter 31
1433 Words
Heidi
Just before one o’clock, I’m lying in the sunken bath, surrounded by bubbles, when there’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Heidi?” Titus calls.
“Come in.”
The door opens, and he peers around the corner. Eyebrows rising, he comes in.
I lift a soapy leg up and wave a foot. “Hello.”
He chuckles and leans against the wall, hands in the pockets of his shorts. “Have a nice morning?” he asks.
“I did, thank you. You?”
“Yeah, amazing. Caught several trout.”
“Oh, fantastic!”
“It really was. Such a beautiful river, and it was a gorgeous day.” His gaze lingers on me, watching the bubbles rising slowly, rainbow-colored in the sunlight. “Talking of beautiful…” He smiles.
I blow some bubbles from my hand at him. “Want to join me?”
“I’m a bit fishy.”
“Perfect place to wash it off.”
“That’s true. Well, if you don’t mind.” He turns to go back into the bedroom.
“No, strip off here,” I instruct.
He turns back wryly, and I wait for him to argue, but instead he toes off his shoes, grabs a handful of his T-shirt by the back of the neck and pulls it over his head, then undoes his shorts and steps out of them. Finally he takes off his underwear, then he steps down into the bath and lowers himself into the water.
It’s a big bath, with the tap in the middle, and we sit at either end. He puts some gel in a hand, slides under the surface to soak his hair, washes it, then ducks again to rinse it. He emerges wet and glistening, the water running off his tanned skin.
“Slightly less fishy now,” he says.
I smile, my gaze lingering on his shining tattoos. “How’s Alan?”
“Good. He brought tea and cheese-and-pickle sandwiches for a snack.”
I laugh. “Very English.”
“Yeah. We had a chat while we took a break.”
“Did you get the third degree?”
“No, not really. He asked about my family in New Zealand. Said if I lived here, we could go fishing like this as often as we wanted.”
“Vicky said much the same thing after the yoga.”
“Do you think they’re working on us?” he asks.
“Oh yeah. But in a nice way. I don’t think there’s a nasty bone in either of their bodies. They genuinely want you to stay.”
He lifts some bubbles on his hand and studies them. I keep quiet. I don’t want him to feel as if he’s being badgered.
“She said it was difficult to get Alan to take time off,” I say eventually.
“Yeah, he said the same, and that it’s important to smell the roses. This break has been good for me. I honestly can’t remember when I last took time off. Well, Mack’s wedding, technically, but I slept through most of that so…”
I grin. “So what have we got planned for the rest of the day?”
“Carrie and John are coming around at two. I asked them to tell me their story.”
“Okay, I could chop up some of that fresh fruit in the fridge if you like. Do a platter to nibble, and we could sit out on the patio.”
“Sounds great. After that, maybe I’ll do a bit of work, then at six we’re back up to the house for the murder-mystery evening.”
“Did Alan give you your character card?”
“He did. I’m Lord Lawrence Edgmont.”
That makes me laugh out loud. “Brilliant.”
“I’m a debonair gambler who’s a big hit with the ladies, apparently. What about you?”
“I’m the Countess Heidi Carlton. A notorious socialite and good-time girl.”
“Countess?”
She grins. “I thought it was appropriate.”
He chuckles. “What are you going to wear?”
“I brought the dress that grandma mentioned. Vicky’s got a cigarette holder I can borrow, apparently. How about you?”
“Just a suit, and I’ll slick my hair back and draw on a mustache.”
“Shall we make a pact not to take any photos?”
“Definitely. By the way, you must remind me tonight, Saxon wants a Zoom call, anytime after about eight p.m., so when we get back from the party.”
“Okay. Is there a problem?”
“No, I don’t think so. Saxon has been running the first tests of the AI program predicting which embryos would lead to a live birth at Wellington Hospital. They’ve got an eighty-five percent accuracy so far.”
“That’s great.”
“It’s good, but I’m hoping we can do better than that. We’re just going to have a chat about it.”
“I’d like to meet him.”
“He’ll be at Huxley’s wedding.” His foot finds mine beneath the bubbles. “I wanted to talk to you about our journey back, by the way.”
“Oh?”
“Hux gave me the details of your flight, and I made sure I was booked on the same one— the third of August, right? Wednesday?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re economy class.”
It’s a statement, not a question. “Yeah…”
He runs his foot along my thigh. “How about we get you upgraded? Travel with me in first class, in a double suite?”
My eyes nearly fall out of my head. “First class? Jesus.”
“I always fly first class. Any i***t can be uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen Palin’sAround the World in Eighty Days. Wasn’t it Alan Whicker who told him that?”
“Might be. What do you think?”
I stare at him, completely taken aback. “Are you serious?”
He laughs. “Yeah.”
“But those tickets must be thousands of dollars.”
“Something like ten thousand, I think. I’m not sure.”
My jaw gapes. “Ten thousand dollars?”
“Pounds.”
I make a strangled sound. “Holy fuck.”
“Heidi, I can afford it, believe me. Let me spoil you.” His gaze is sultry, tempting.
“But it’s only days away. There’s not enough notice.”
“I’ve already checked. They have one suite free on that flight, so I’ve put a hold on it. They lower the central divider between two adjacent suites and make a double bed.” He flicks his eyebrows up. “Don’t you want to join the Mile High Club?”
“Oh my God.”
“You get leather seats. A small lounge. A private bathroom. And did I mention the double bed?”
My lips curve up. “You’d really do that for me?”
“As a thank you for coming with me this weekend. It’s the least I can do.”
Ten thousand pounds… twenty thousand New Zealand dollars. Holy s**t. It’s a huge amount of money. But then he’s a billionaire. It’s a drop in the ocean for him. But that’s not really the point.
“It’s a lot of money to take from a man when we’re only having a fling,” I murmur.
He shrugs. “I’d do the same for any of my friends.”
“Really?”
“No.” His lips curve up.
He holds my gaze for a moment, and eventually I smile too. “All right,” I say softly.
“Good. I’ll go and book it now. We should get out anyway—Carrie and John will be here soon.”
I watch him get out of the bath, glorious in the sunshine, all shiny and wet and oh my God he’s so f*****g gorgeous. He dries himself with the towel, then wanders out, uncaring of his nakedness, and I blow out a long breath before I start to get out too.
He’s just being kind, I tell myself. Saying thank you for coming with him this weekend.
But deep inside, I know it’s more than that, and my heart leaps.
I don’t know why. We’re still based on the opposite sides of the world. It’s still crazily complicated, and there’s no easy answer.
But he doesn’t want our time together to come to an end, and that’s a start.
- Writer
