Her Little White Lie (BWWM Romance) (8 page)

“I was kinda seeing Delores,” he said. “So I felt awkward. I was confused. Then after the hospital with Mr. Iglesias and everything you said, remember? You just wanted to be friends?”

“That's because I thought
you
wanted to stay as friends and I didn't want to risk losing you from my life.”

“So we nearly lost each other because I was a jerk?”

“We were both jerks. It's hard to make that transition from friends to...”

“Lovers?”

“Yes.”

“Let's get out of here.”

We stepped out into the busy late afternoon and began to walk. Mikey held my hand just like girlfriend and boyfriends do. I didn't notice the crowds of people pushing by us, the temperature dropping below zero or where we were walking to. I just kept looking up at Mikey by my side and he just kept looking down at me.

Finally we came to a stop.

“Do you know where we are?” I asked him. “The Empire State Building. This is where I told the guys at the hotel we met.”

We looked up.

“Really?” said Mikey. “I told them The Statue of Liberty.”

We both started laughing, all the way to the subway back to Brooklyn.

We got to my apartment. It was dark by then. I went over to turn on the tree lights as Mikey took off his jacket.

“Ta da!” I exclaimed.

“Nice work, Grace. You decorated this all yourself?”

“Sure, why?”

“You sure you didn't have about a million elves with bad taste do this for you while you were sleeping?”

“Creep,” I said to him while pulling him towards my bed in the corner.

We stopped by the side of the bed. Mikey held my face in his hands and kissed me gently. I took off my coat, hat and scarf and let them fall onto the floor.

“It's cold in here,” I said.

“Let's get in.”

We climbed into bed, fully clothed. We kissed long and passionately, touching and holding on to the other as though one of us might disappear into thin air. Mikey unbuttoned, unzipped and unfastened every layer of my clothes, tossing them onto the floor one by one. His naked chest was above me, broad and muscular as I remembered and I sank my teeth into his skin. We rolled over in the bed, passionate kisses and embraces until I was top of him, leaving several hot and hungry kisses on his neck and shoulders.

He liked the feel of me biting his ear. He pulled me close to him and wrapped his limbs around me until we were tangled in the blankets, the cold didn't matter anymore, neither of us could feel it.

I was ready and eager for Mikey to be inside me and called his name, loudly, as his body sank into me, feeling him deep inside me, intense but loving thrusts until I lost all control.

We made love all night and fell asleep, hot and exhausted, but happy.

When we woke up on Christmas morning, the lights of the tree were still on. My head was resting on Mikey's chest and his arms were around me, one hand on my cheek.

“You awake,” he said.

“Yes.” I looked up at him. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

I got up to make coffee and then spotted the envelope under the tree. I looked over at Mikey and smiled. What did he have planned for us? What was this present he had lined up?

We sat up in bed with our sweaters on and I went over to get the envelope.

“It came,” I said waving the envelope. I sat beside Mikey.

“What did?” He took a long sip of his coffee.

“Don't pretend like you don't know.” I pushed it under his nose. “The courier brought this yesterday. I guess it must have been after you broke up with Delores.”

“Gracie, seriously, I don't know what you're talking about. What courier?”

“So this envelope has nothing to do with you?”

“No, I have no idea what's in it, Grace. Open it.”

I peeled open the envelope. Inside was a letter written on the hotel writing paper. It was a letter from Mr. Iglesias.

Dear Grace

By the time you read this letter I will be visiting with my sister and you will be with Mikey. Don't ask how I know this, I just do and the very thought makes me smile.

I hope you are both happy.

You have been a wonderful friend to me Princesa, and I would like to wish you and Mikey a very special and wonderful Christmas.

I look forward to the day when we meet again.

Until then, I leave you both with one last Christmas gift. At 1 pm this afternoon, look out of your window and you will see that I have arranged for a car to take you to the Great West International Hotel.

There, the Excelsior Suite has been booked for two nights for you both. Room service is all arranged and you will be served a Christmas meal at the time you require.

I'm sorry Gracie to send you back to your place of work when it should be your day off but I thought that for this present you might appreciate the irony and make an exception.

Please enjoy this gift from my heart to yours.

Feliz Navidad

Edmundo Iglesias

I turned to look to look at Mikey.

“Well, just don't sit there,” he said. We need to pack an overnight case.”

I threw my arms around him. This had to have been the best Christmas I ever had.

The car arrived at 1 pm as promised. There were very few people on the roads as we drove through New York on a gray and bleak afternoon. As we got closer to the hotel I squeezed Mikey's arm. I didn't remember seeing the city like this.

Usually I was on foot and kept my head down. I would dodge in and out of the other pedestrians in a beeline for either the hotel or the subway. But from the back of the car Mr. Iglesias had provided for us, the city looked majestic. The tall buildings, stretching high up into the white sky, in shades of brown and gray, and highly polished glass in varying tints, stood at – attention, just for us.

The buildings would be empty now, everyone would be home having the kind of Christmas that I thought I would be having with my fake family.

We pulled up outside the Great West International hotel and the driver flew around to make sure he was in time to open the door for us. I pulled a face at Mikey. We weren't used to this sort of treatment. We were used to being cramped up on a subway train, noisy and hot and dying to get out at the other end of the journey. In a few days that's exactly how we would be traveling, I nearly didn't want to leave the car.

We stepped out into the freezing street. I felt sorry for the poor doormen who came rushing to take our cases and stand to attention when they held open the doors for us.

“Wait,” said Mikey. “I always wanted to do this.” He went to enter the hotel by the rotating doors. I laughed as I went through the grand door at the side the doorman held open.

I joined Mikey on the other side and linked his arm. We were laughing all the way to the reception desk until I noticed who was on duty.

“Miss Poole!”

“Grace.” She nodded at me. “Did you forget you had an important family commitment today? What are you doing here?” She looked me up and down and then looked Mikey up and down too.

“Not at all, Miss Poole. There's been a slight change in location and personnel to my plans, that's all. If you would like to take a look I believe you'll see I have the Excelsior Suite booked for two nights.” I looked at Mikey. He raised his eyebrows at Miss Poole.

“You have what!” She looked over the top of her glasses at me. “Is this your idea of a joke? Have you come to gloat, Grace?”

“Miss Poole, as if I'd do something like that. Just take a look at the computer and you'll see I'm telling the truth.”

She turned slowly to the computer screen behind the desk, her eyes not leaving me until the last second. I saw her do a double take and take her glasses off and on several times.

“Yes, it says it right here. Grace Danvers and Mikey Doyle. Apologies, Grace, I've only just arrived for duty so I had no idea...but how...?” Her mouth remained open.

“Miss Poole, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, fine. Er, your keys, here are your keys.” She handed them to the bell boy.

“Thank you.”

“I have your cases, Grace,” Johnny, the bell boy said. “Would you like to come this way?” He winked at me.

We followed Johnny along the wide corridor. The carpets were deep and our feet made no sound. The paintings along the walls had gilt frames and I remember having to dust every one of them, all those years ago. I never suspected that one day I might walk past them as a guest.

Johnny stopped outside the Excelsior Suite and opened the door for us. He let us through and then laid our cases just at the door.

“If that will be all for now, Grace, enjoy your stay and let us know if there's anything else we can do to help you further.”

Mikey dug his hand into his pocket and jangled some loose change around. Johnny put out his hands.

“No, that's all been taken care of. Everyone working today has received a handsome tip from Mr. Iglesias and we were not to expect anything from you. Merry Christmas, Grace.”

“Merry Christmas, Johnny.”

He left us alone and I spun around in the enormous entrance hall to our suite. The Excelsior was very rarely used. It was the most spacious and expensive suite of them all. It had a lounge, a dining room, two bedrooms and two en suites. Especially for us, the hotel had set up a medium sized pine tree in the living room. It was delicately decorated with lights and silver baubles.

“Look, Gracie, this is where the elves with good taste come to decorate trees. The guys who did yours should come up here for some lessons.”

I punched his arm.

“Shut up, Mikey. I've never trimmed a tree before.”

“Next year, I'll show you how.”

He hugged me.

All of the windows in the rooms were tall, wide and grand. The curtains were in the finest of raw silk with voile netting that allowed us to look onto the street but allowed no-one to look in. The curtains were all tied back with silk sashes and I knew that in this suite, the staff were required to come up and close the curtains at night and pull down the bedding.

I couldn't wait. Mr. Iglesias always called me
La Princesa Negrita
and that day I really felt like a real princess.

The bedroom we chose had a four poster bed. When I was chambermaid, I remembered trying all the beds in the luxury suites and wishing that for one night, one of those beds could be mine. Anything to escape my chilly bedroom in Brooklyn – and there I was.

We were on the top floor of the hotel so there was a roof garden that only got used in the summer months. But that was all right, Mikey and I would not be leaving the hotel for two days.

I ran a deep bath in one of the bathrooms and Mikey got in with me. We ordered champagne with our meal and ate it while still wearing our thick and luxurious bath robes.

We turned out the lights in the living room and looked at the tree. Mikey's arms were around me as I leaned my back into his chest.

“I'm sorry I didn't buy you a Christmas present, Grace.”

“Well, I didn't get one for you either, so we're even. Maybe next year.”

Mikey held me tighter and untied the front of my robe. He ran his hands softly up and along, down and across the front of my body. I reached both my arms up towards his neck and leaned my head to one side as he kissed the side of my face. Tender and loving kisses. I could feel the heat of his body behind me. I turned to undo his bathrobe, just to let some of that heat out. I pulled the robe off his shoulders and let it drop to the floor.

Mikey lifted me up and carried me to the room with the four poster bed. He lay me down, very gently and helped me off with my robe. His lips followed a slow pattern from my toes, up my legs, along my thighs and up to my stomach were he stopped to caress my navel with his tongue. He began to move up my body with those kisses, lingering a while just before reaching my neck.