Indigo Nights: A Sexy, Contemporary Romance (26 page)

“Would you mind running me into town if I just use the bathroom quickly?” I asked Don. I had a few hours before Dylan got home and wanted to pick up some ingredients at a specialty kitchen equipment store I’d found online. I also wanted to find a frilly apron so I could greet him as he’d requested.

Although I was meeting with the TV studio on Monday about a possible extension of my slot, and maybe a few stand-alone episodes, I wanted to make the weekend about us—I was hoping we’d spend most of our days together, indoors and preferably in bed.

I was uncomfortable with the attention I was getting from the breakfast show. I’d baked to distract myself from my drinking, not for attention, so it was as if I was in some way being misconstrued—a fraud almost. I was a home baker, not a TV personality.

When I’d set up the YouTube channel, and even when I signed up for
A Chicago Saturday
, I’d never really thought about the impact it would have on me beyond giving the last four years some meaning outside of keeping me sober. I liked the idea of sharing my love for baking with as many people as possible, and I hadn’t really thought through the implications. That the interaction between viewer and presenter wasn’t one way. I had to hear their opinions of my desserts, which could be kinda tough. Since the shows had aired, Amber kept asking me about interviews and photo shoots. She’d also suggested I get an agent and a publicist. I really wasn’t sure encouraging attention was something I wanted.

I wanted to share without being shared.

Three of my six slots had already aired, the fourth was due to air tomorrow.

Apparently I was a hit.

It had all happened so fast.

“I could take the day off,” Dylan said.

I hadn’t even made it out of bed, yet I felt as if I’d been up for hours. I guess we had, trying to squeeze in every last drop of time together. Since I’d arrived in Chicago at the beginning of the weekend, we’d slept little, talked more and made love even more than that.

It was as if confessing we loved each other had stripped us bare. There was nothing between us anymore, no barriers, no walls. We were a unit. It was safe and intimate and I didn’t want to let the world into it. I wanted to freeze time and just revel in this time together. My life had taught me that the bad times didn’t last, but neither did the good. And although I knew I’d love Dylan for the rest of my life, I also understood that these moments together were special and needed to be savored.

“I just realized my flight’s tonight, and we don’t have any plans to see each other again.” There was a tightness in my brow where I was scowling.

Dylan propped himself up on his elbow. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t have any trips planned, and neither do you.” I wasn’t concerned. I just thought we should decide when we would next come together and come together.

He leaned over me, hovering above my mouth. “I’m flying over on Thursday,” he said, then pressed his lips against mine.

I clasped his shoulders. What? “You’re coming to London?”

“I am. But you know, we have to have a conversation about where we’re going to live at some point.”

I grinned. “We do?”

“Sure we do. I can’t have my wife and kids living on a different continent, can I?”

“You’re ridiculous.” I laughed, throwing off the sheet and climbing out of bed.

“I’m not proposing.” He followed me into the bathroom.

“Good. Because we’ve known each other five minutes.”

I stared at him in the mirror and he shrugged. “I know. But I also know that I’ve never felt like this about anyone.”

My stomach tugged and flipped. I loved hearing how he loved me because I loved him right back, just as hard. It was just so nice to hear him say it. It felt like we were . . . even. I’d never had that before. I’d always felt like I was two steps ahead of the guys I dated before Dylan.

“I’m not saying we have to have the conversation now, although that works for me. I’m just saying, at some point we need to discuss where we’re going to live our lives.”

He was right, but I didn’t want to leave London and I couldn’t see him moving continents when his business was here. Whenever I thought about it, I didn’t see a solution, so I tried
not
to think about it. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

I nodded. “I agree. At some point we’ll need to talk about it, but right at this moment I need to get in the shower.” If we came to an impasse, what did that mean? Would we be over if there wasn’t a solution?

Dylan’s phone buzzed from the bedroom and he forgot about following me in to the shower. Although I’d never say no to him, we both needed to get up and face the day. Sex was a great distraction, but real life intruded every now and then.

Dylan

“Stop calling me.” I hung up before Alicia could respond, threw my phone on my desk and looked out at the city. Her calls were getting more frequent. Why was she so determined to contact me now?

If I hadn’t met Beth, I might have been tempted to hear her out. I supposed there was a part of me that didn’t want to have been wrong about her, that there’d been some huge misunderstanding between us that led to her leaving. If she turned out to be a hard-faced bitch, it meant I hadn’t seen it. That I had a blind spot that left me out of control, someone who might be taken advantage of again, which wasn’t something I liked.

Being with Beth had shifted things for me, shown me that what Alicia and I’d had was thin and flimsy. I’d never felt for Alicia what Beth evoked in me. I wanted to care for and protect Beth. With Alicia I’d felt obligated to provide for her, because that’s what a man did, but it hadn’t been about making her safe and happy, which is what I wanted for Beth. My sense of protectiveness over Beth was part of the reason that her leaving to go back to London today stung so bad. We’d had a perfect weekend and I wasn’t ready to let her go.

Beth was thoughtful and kind—not just to me, but to all the people in her life. I grinned. Of course, she had the most incredible body. My phone vibrated on my desk; I turned my chair back around to see Alicia’s name flashing. Again. This was seriously starting to get irritating.

“Fucking witch,” I mumbled just as Raf walked in.

“What did you say?”

“I said ‘fucking witch.’” I silenced my phone as Raf collapsed in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “This walnut desk is expensive; if it’s going to get banged up I don’t want it to be because Alicia was burning up my phone.”

“Alicia?”

“Yeah. She keeps calling. Hey, do you know how to block a number?”

“Sure.” Raf held out his hand and I tossed him my phone. “I didn’t realize you two were in touch. I thought you hadn’t seen her since—”

“We’re not in touch. She started calling a couple of weeks back.”

“You haven’t answered her calls?”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I spoke to her briefly. I didn’t know it was her; she’s changed her number. She said she has a business proposition for me. I hung up.”

“A business proposition?” Raf asked, fiddling with my phone.

Talking to Raf brought back some painful memories. The business that Alicia had convinced us to invest in, which went badly wrong, had rocked things between Raf and me and it had taken a long time to get our friendship back on track.

“Well, I hope you know better than to take her up on her offer.” Raf and I had come to blows about the deal with Alicia—literally and figuratively. We’d agreed that we’d never let our personal lives get mixed up in business. “But, aren’t you the least bit curious to hear her out? Isn’t that what they call closure?”

“She dumped me for a richer guy. I think I got all the closure I need.” It happened and I’d moved the fuck on.

“And you’ve not had a relationship since. It’s like she chopped off your dick as well as your pride.” Raf looked up and grinned at me.

“My dick is just fine. There have been plenty of women and now there’s Beth.”

“Beth is the first one who’s had a name.”

I shrugged. He wasn’t completely accurate but he was pretty close. “I just wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. Sometimes you have to be patient to find what you’re looking for.”

“And Beth? She’s the one you’ve been looking for?”

I nodded, though I hadn’t been looking. Not even close. Beth had thrown me for a loop. She’d been entirely unexpected. But she was the best person I knew and the only woman I’d really truly loved.

“I need to tell you something about her.”

Raf’s eyes widened. “Does she have three boobs? Because I might have to arm wrestle you for her if she does.”

“You’re a sick fuck.”

He stroked his jaw. “Hey, no kids and no animals, but anything other than that I’m willing to try once.”

I shook my head and took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to go off the deep end, but Beth is Beth Harrison, as in
Bake with Beth
on
A Chicago Saturday
.”

Raf didn’t say anything, he just stared out of the window.

“I should have mentioned it before now. They were in touch with her long before I met her and I’ve had nothing to do with her deal.” Raf sighed. “Beth doesn’t even know we own the company. I want to tell her but I wanted to tell you first.”

“Is she the reason we didn’t sell Raine Media?”

It was a fair question. “No. Well, maybe.”

“Jesus.” Raf stood abruptly and shoved his chair back. “We agreed not to ever let personal lives interfere with business.”

“Look, I wouldn’t have properly looked at the numbers if she’d not been there. I would have just gone along with whatever you wanted. But I swear, if I hadn’t seen potential, Beth’s presence would not have swayed me.”

Raf’s mouth was set in a thin, straight line. “This business partnership works because we don’t lie and we keep our word to each other.”

My gut twisted. I should have told Raf, but I also should have told Beth. I’d been trying to simplify things, but instead I’d made them much worse, made things a bigger deal than they had to be. When I got to London, it would be the first thing I did. Well, maybe not the first thing.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Raf had deserved to know the truth, and I should have told him before now. “It won’t happen again.”

“You’re a dick.”

“I’ll let you have that one.”

Marie raised her voice outside my door, something I’d never heard before. “He’s in a meeting,” she said, blocking the door to my office.

“He could never resist me in red.” Alicia’s southern twang pierced my ears.

Raf shot me a look and we both flew to Marie’s aid.

Alicia grinned at me as if we’d just seen each other yesterday. “Dylan, darling, you’re looking very handsome.”

“What are you doing here, Alicia?” I barked as I steadied Marie.

“I’m here for you to take me to lunch, of course.” She gently touched my arm, a small gesture that felt so alien. Beth was the girl who got to touch me.

“You need to leave, Alicia.” We were causing quite the scene and the office gossips would be all over our little drama in a heartbeat.

She grinned, but shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” She slumped down on the sofa. I was never getting her out of here.

I walked straight past her toward the elevators. If I had to leave my building to eject her, then that’s what I’d do.

Within seconds, the smell of her heavy perfume caught up with me. “I’ve booked Giovanni’s. This is going to be so fun, just like old times.”

“I didn’t say I’d have lunch with you.”

“But you’re going to. You forget, I know you, Dylan. You never could resist me.”

“You’re so wrong, Alicia. I just want you out of my building. Out of my life. If I agree to have lunch with you, will you stop this crazy stalker-ish behavior?”

“Absolutely.” The southern accent had gone; it always did when she was being sincere.

“If you call me again after today, I’m taking a restraining order out on you.”

“You have my word.”

“Like I did when you said you’d marry me?” I shouldn’t have said it. It made me sound like I was still bitter and I wasn’t. I thought she was a bitch, and I was grateful I hadn’t wasted more time on her than I already had, but I wasn’t bitter. Until today I’d thought I hated her, but seeing her desperate, her tired tricks looked just that—tired. I didn’t hate her. I felt nothing. It had just taken her showing up uninvited at my office for me to finally understand that.