Final Call (The Call #2) (17 page)

I raise an eyebrow.
“Are you seriously planning this?”

“Planning to surprise
you.”

I sit up and study him.
He’s deadly serious. Fine. After another moment of looking into his
eyes, I get up and stroll into the bathroom after him. He watches
me, never taking his eyes from me.

“Well?”

I turn on the shower
and step inside. The tiles are cold against my hands as I flatten
them against the wall and stick out my ass. I look over my shoulder
at him and give it a wriggle, shooting him a wink when his eyes
take on that dark, smoldering heat.

He joins me in the
shower, and after rubbing his hand over my butt, he pulls me into
him. I rest my hands on his chest and look up at him.

“We’ll see,” he
murmurs, lowering his face to mine. “Until then though…”

He pulls the door shut
and turns up the water temperature, spinning me into the wall.

Oh boy.

Chapter
Fifteen

“Tyler! Where the
bloody hell are you, you ignorant bastard?” a woman’s voice shrieks
through the house. It’s followed by the slamming of the door.

I jolt, sitting
straight up on the sofa and placing my Kindle down next to me.
What the…?

“Tyler!”

“Jesus, Tessa!” Tyler
yells down the stairs. “What did I do this time?”

“You slept with my
bridesmaid, you absolute knobhead!”

Oops.

Tyler appears in the
hallway in my line of sight, wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
His hair is still dripping wet, and I watch as he runs his tongue
across his bottom lip.

“Did I?”

“Yes! Two nights
ago!”

He stops for a moment
and scratches his jaw. “Shit. What was her name?”

“Tyler!” Tessa steps
forward and shoves him in the chest. “One thing. That’s all I
fucking asked of you. Don’t sleep with my bridesmaids! It was all
you had to do. The only damn thing and you couldn’t even do
that.”

“Now, Tess—”

“No. No. Don’t ‘Now,
Tess,’ me, you prick.”

“In my defense, sis,
you have, like, ten bridesmaids and they all look the same.”

I feel the heat of her
stare from here.

“They do not all look
the same! And her name was Lilly!”

“Lilly, Lilly…” Tyler
claps his hands once. “Oh, Lilly!”

Tessa smacks her hands
over her eyes. “Why couldn’t I get a normal brother? Why did my
parents have to give me one who can’t keep it in his pants for his
own sister’s wedding?”

“It’s not that
bad.”

“Not that bad? Not that
bad?” Her voice rises a few octaves. “I get married in five days,
and Mum and Dad don’t fly in until tomorrow. I have a thousand
things to do, so imagine how delighted I was to travel across
London this morning and find one of my bridesmaids crying because
my brother didn’t call her back.”

“Hey. I never promised
to call her.”

“Oh, you are such a
giant arse, Tyler!”

The front door opens
and closes. “I should have guessed you’d be here when I heard the
shrieking a block away,” Aaron says dryly.

I cross my legs
Indian-style. So I’m enjoying the drama. Shoot me. It certainly
beats my book.

“Aaron. Fantastic. Does
it get better?” Tessa cries.

“Jeez, Tessa. Do we
need to call someone to calm you down?” Tyler asks.

“No need, man. London
Zoo put out a call earlier. Their Bridezilla escaped,” Aaron
retorts.

Both of the guys laugh,
and I frown.

“You two are utter
assholes.”

Everyone stops and
turns to me. Tessa’s eyebrows shoot up, her lips parting.

“Ooh, is this…”

“Tessa, meet Dayton.”
Tyler waves an arm between us. “Dayton, meet my lovely twin
sister.”

Tessa springs forward
and wraps me in a hug. Oh okay. Okay.

“I’m so happy to meet
you! I’ve heard so much about you from Mum, who heard it from Aunt
Carly… But yes.” She coughs and sits next to me, her earlier anger
seemingly dissipated. “Gosh, you’re pretty. Aaron, why didn’t you
tell me how beautiful she is?”

My cheeks flush. Geez,
this family has a thing about making me blush.

Tyler stuffs his hands
in his pockets, reminiscent of the cocky teenage boy he obviously
was. “Yeah, Aaron. Why didn’t you tell her?”

“You.” Tessa turns on
him and points a stern finger. “Shut it. I’m not done with you.
Aaron?”

“Tess, the last time we
talked, you were telling me my wife was an utter bitch who had more
Botox than brains.” Aaron shucks off his jacket and drops it over
the back of a chair before sitting. “That was two and a half years
ago. You’ve avoided me ever since.”

“I’ve avoided you and
my brother,” she sighs. “Individually, you’re professional
businessmen. Together? You’re knobs. Utter knobs.”

Tyler frowns. “I took
it earlier because you were pissed but watch your mouth, Tess.”

“The day I watch my
mouth is the day you watch your dick.”

I disguise my snort
with a cough. Tessa winks at me and turns back to Aaron.

“I’m glad you divorced
her, by the way. If you’d tried bringing her to my wedding, she
would have conveniently ended up in the river that runs in front of
the house.” Tessa sniffs. “A place my brother may just end up.”

“What did he do
now?”

Tessa launches into an
explanation, much quieter than before but just as passionate. I can
see the ire in her eyes. The anger is practically vibrating around
her, and she takes a deep breath when she finishes.

Tyler scuttles from the
room and reappears a minute later with a bottle of wine and two
glasses. He sets them on the table in front of us, his smile tinged
with shame.

“I’m driving,” Tessa
snaps.

“I’ll take you home and
you can get your car tomorrow.”

“Believe me, Ty. The
last place I want to be right now is in a car with you.”

“I’ll have a car
collect you,” Aaron butts in. “For the love of God, Tess, just
drink the wine and calm down.”

She takes a deep
breath, and I hand her a filled glass. She shoots me a small smile,
taking it, and downs half of it in one go. I raise my eyebrows at
Aaron, and he smirks in response. Yep. I see what he meant when he
said she was a proper lady.

Wine-glugging
aside.

“Ty, can you just try
not to sleep with any more of my wedding party, please? I’m going
crazy here without Mum to help me, and I just don’t need any more
stress.”

Tyler sighs. “I’m
sorry. But next time, can you make sure they all wear badges saying
‘Tessa’s bridesmaid’ so I don’t do it?”

The look she gives him
is so heated it could set ice on fire.

“Okay, okay.” He holds
up his hands. “I’ll behave.”

“Thank you.” She closes
her eyes and sits back.

“Hey!” he cries after a
moment. “I’ve got an idea.”

“God no,” Aaron
mutters.

“Why doesn’t Dayton
help you? With the wedding?”

No no no no no.
My eyes widen. “I, uh, um…”

“Oh! Would you?” Tessa
turns to me, her eyes pleading. “It’s just until Mum and Aunt Carly
get in tomorrow night.”

“I really have no idea
what I’m doing with a wedding,” I admit. “I’d be in your way.”

“So? It’ll be good
practice.”

I look at Aaron, my
eyes even wider, but he just smirks.
What. The. Fuck.
No. No
marriages. No nothing.

“Please!” Tessa takes
my hands.

I meet everyone’s eyes
in turns, finally resting on Tessa’s brown ones, and sigh in
defeat. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you!” she
squeals and hugs me again.

I pat her back with one
hand and point in Aaron’s direction with the other. “Don’t get any
ideas, buddy,” I warn him.

He smirks again.

***

I drop onto the velvet
seat at a table in the bar. Never again. Never again am I helping
anyone iron out wedding details.

Shit. Today makes me
want anything
but
marriage. Not that the thought has crossed
my mind, but still. From finalizing flowers to a last-minute buffet
change and a meltdown over the fact that Tessa’s shoes still
haven’t been delivered, I’m all wedding-ed out.

I rub my fingers
against my temples and let out a long breath.

“Don’t tell her I said
this, but there’s a reason we waited until now to fly over.” Carly
sits next to me and places a glass of wine in front of me.

“When I get back, I’m
going to string Tyler from a streetlight by a very private part of
his anatomy.” I sip the wine. “I mean, she’s lovely, but wow.”

Carly smiles and pats
my thigh. “Don’t worry, honey. I have it on good authority that
you’ll barely be able to finish… Oh, never mind.”

A hand rests on my
neck, and I turn, staring straight into Aaron’s face. “What are you
doing here?”

He smiles slowly. “I’m
coming to steal you.”

I raise an eyebrow.
“What if I’m happy here?”

“Then I’m stealing you
anyway.” He leans over the back of the chair and kisses Carly’s
cheek. “Mom.”

“Son.” She beams at
him. “Go on, Dayton. Tessa won’t mind.” She winks, and I shrug.

“If you’re sure?”

“Positive.”

I nod and finish the
glass of wine. Aaron rolls his eyes, and I pause before putting my
jacket on. “What? It’s rude to leave wine in a glass if you’re
leaving.”

His lips curve
slightly, and he wraps an arm around my waist. “See you at the
wedding, Mom.”

Aaron leads us from the
bar and straight into a waiting car.

“What are we
doing?”

“You’ll see.” He takes
my hand and rubs his thumb across my knuckles. I watch him as he
brings our hands to his mouth and kisses my fingers one by one.

“Aren’t you supposed to
be in a meeting?”

“Yes, I am. I canceled
it.”

“Why?”

He cups the side of my
face. “Because, beautiful woman, I missed you. I have all day
tomorrow free, but I want you right now. The meeting wasn’t
important, so it can wait. You can never wait, and it’s not an
option for me where you’re concerned.”

I turn my face into his
palm with a smile. Sometimes he says the right words in the right
way and they warm my whole body. They give me a glimpse of the
feelings he’s yet to say outright, and it’s comforting. It
solidifies my reasoning for being here, for forgiving him, for
staying in the place my heart cries so desperately for.

And now I have him to
myself for just over a day.

“Did you miss me?” he
asks, leaning into me.

“
Tu me manques,
”
I whisper, kissing his wrist.

Aaron’s cheek is soft
as he rests his face alongside mine and curls his fingers around
the back of my neck. I breathe in his scent, woody and so very
masculine. So distinctly him. It wraps around me in a cocooning
blanket, making my heart pound and my blood rush through my veins
in the most comforting way.

“I have a surprise for
you.”

“I hate surprises,” I
mutter.

“Not this one. I
promise you’ll love it.”

The car stops, and he
pulls me out after him. I stop him before he starts walking and
bring my hands to his neck. I undo his tie, sliding the silk around
his neck until it’s balled in my hand, and tuck it into my
purse.

“You’re not working
now.” I flick open his top button and brush my fingertips across
his chest. “No tie.”

He smiles and kisses
the end of my nose.
“No tie.
Come on, Bambi.
I want to show you something.”

He links his fingers
through mine and tugs me after him. I look around us, noting the
River Thames to my left. A small gasp leaves me, and I pull my hand
from Aaron’s, walking to the wall that separates the river and the
embankment. I rest my arms on it and lean forward, looking down the
river at the reflections in it in the night.

London is still buzzing
with life at eight p.m. There are still bright slivers of white and
yellow in the building opposite me, casting an eerie glow that’s so
beautiful onto the water. The face of Big Ben is lit up like a
beacon high above the buildings surrounding it.

“That’s the Houses of
Parliament.” Aaron points at the building I was just looking at.
“If you walk just down from it, you’ll be at Downing Street, where
the Prime Minister lives. If you go in the other direction and walk
a little, you’ll arrive at Buckingham Palace.”

I nod. “Tyler took me
to see it. I wish we had more time to see everything else though.
I’m kind of greedy. I want to see it all just in case I never get
to come back.”

Aaron takes my hand. “I
promise you. You’ll be back. More times than you can count.”

I smile and bring our
clasped hands to my cheek. “Really?”

“I promised, didn’t I?”
He half-grins and walks backward. “And we have all day tomorrow.
We’ll start early and go wherever you want to go, okay?”

“Really? Anywhere?”

“Anywhere. But now, I
want to show you it all.”

“All of London?”

He nods, and I raise my
eyes to the majestic wheel behind him. The London Eye.

“Oh!”

His half grin becomes a
full one. “Surprise.”

“It definitely is!” I
cover my mouth with my hand as he leads me to it and we step into
one of the clear pods. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go on this.”

I shrug off my jacket
and leave it on the bench in the middle, walking to the edge of it.
I press my fingers against the thick glass in front of me as we
move around slowly, eager to see everything. I do—I want it all. I
want to see this gorgeous city spread before me in the night.

“We came to London
right after we’d been to Paris,” Aaron says out of the blue. His
words cut through the easy silence that descended between us in the
wake of my excitement.

“Really?”

“Yes. Dad had an
important meeting I couldn’t attend, so Mom asked me if I’d
accompany her shopping. I agreed, and at the end of the day, after
dinner, she brought me here. It was marginally lighter on our
journey, but I hated every second of it.”