Sweet Surrendering (42 page)

The next day at work was even worse. There were actually people with cameras and microphones and so forth camped outside the building the next morning. I was grateful I was having a good hair day, because they definitely took pictures of me and asked me questions that I responded with, “No comment.” I’d kind of always wanted to say that, but it turned out it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

More phone calls. Word had gotten out to some of our clients and I basically got screamed at all day, and repeated the same thing over and over until I had to check my face to make sure it wasn’t blue.

I didn’t get a lunch because I didn’t have an assistant to bring me one. Fortunately, Dad ordered out and had sandwiches delivered for everyone. I inhaled two of them and then went back to getting yelled at.

I missed Lucah. He was the only thing that could have made this not horrible. I could just picture him making faces at me, or throwing paper airplanes, or texting me dirty things. I looked at my shoe paperweight and my WORLD’S GREATEST BOSS mug and I texted him saying that I missed him. He refused to tell me what he’d done all day the day before, but I had so much else on my mind I didn’t have enough energy to try to get it out of him.

Want me to come and make it better?

If only that were possible.

I wish. But you can’t. I’ll see you tonight.

He answered me back, but I had to answer the stupid phone, so I didn’t see his response until a half hour later.

I’m naked and waiting . . .

And this was accompanied by a shirtless picture of him on the couch, making a kissy face.

I gigglesnorted and put my phone back in my desk. I’d be getting a penis shot next if I wasn’t careful. Not that I didn’t want one, but I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it at work if I had to pick up the phone and be professional two seconds later.

I was actually able to get away by six, without Dad having to come and throw me out. But I was so exhausted that I hoped Lucah didn’t expect much from me in the sex department. I might fall asleep mid-coitus.

When I walked in, he greeted me wearing nothing but one of his ties and posed seductively against the back of his couch.

“Welcome home, Miss Clarke.” He fluttered his eyelashes and I burst into laughter because I was so tired and stressed and he was so sweet and ridiculous and I loved him.

“I am so tired right now, it hurts to laugh,” I said, slipping off my heels and stumbling over to him.

“Aw, Sunshine, you do look tired.”

“Thanks,” I said and rested my head against his chest.

“Hold on, I have a plan. You come and sit here.” He dragged me over to the couch and I collapsed on it, closing my eyes and resting my head on one of the pillows. I heard him walking around and I also heard water running.

I was so tired that I didn’t even think I could fall asleep, but just closing my eyes was bliss.

“Come here, Miss Clarke,” his voice said a few minutes later, and I propped my eyes open. It was not easy. He was still naked and tieless this time. “Put your arms around my neck.” I did and he picked me up and carried me to the bathroom. The lights were off and there were a few scented candles burning.

“When did you buy scented candles?” I asked.

“Shh, don’t ask questions.” He set me down and started removing my clothes. The tub was full of steaming water and he must have added salts or something to it, because the water was frothy.

He got me naked and then helped me into the tub. Then got in behind me, pulling me into his chest.

“Oh my God, this feels unbelievable.” The warm water immediately went to work on my tense muscles and the steam made me feel a little more alert.

“You feel unbelievable.” He got out a loofah that I could tell was brand new and started working it up and down my arms and across my chest. I closed my eyes again and he started humming, his chest vibrating against my back.

“Rory?” he said.

“Hm?” I turned my head so I could see him out of the corner of my eye.

“I love you.” He said it so seriously, like it was the first time he was saying it instead of the hundredth.

“I love you, too.”

“I want you to move in with me. I want to see you all the time.” That was definitely mutual.

“I want to move in with you, too. But what about Sloane?” He smiled as if he had been hoping for me to ask that.

“Well, I discovered that there is a vacancy in your apartment building. It also happens to be an apartment right down the hall from yours. So either we can live there and Sloane can have yours, or the other way around. Whatever you want to do, we have to act fast.” He beamed, clearly pleased with himself.

“You have been busy, Mr. Blythe. I’ll ask Sloane and see what she wants to do. So you don’t want to live here?” His apartment was pretty nice. Nicer than mine, even if it was smaller.

“This isn’t my home. The only time it feels that way is when you’re here with me.” Aw, he was just the sweetest sometimes.

“Besides, your apartment is bigger, and the spare room would make a good place for my stuff.”

“What stuff? Your secret room stuff? Can I finally see that now? I mean, not right now, but maybe later?” I’d almost forgotten about Lucah’s secret room in all the insanity.

“You can see it whenever you want. They’re all unlocked now.”

“When did you do that?”

“A few days ago.” I flipped around so I was facing him. “I don’t have anything to hide anymore. No more secrets, no more lies. Whatever you want to know, I’m an open book.”

I liked the sound of that.

“How did you get started in corporate espionage?” I knew that wasn’t what his job was called, but that was what I was going to call it.

“It’s a long story, but basically I wanted to make money and I wanted to be someone else. I spent a lot of time running from my past. I guess that was just another way to keep doing it.” One of the candles guttered out, making it even darker.

“Why?”

He sighed and shifted under me.

“Because I didn’t want eat cereal for dinner. Ever again. And I didn’t want people to know that was where I came from. My parents never tried to put the burden on me or my brothers, but I remember going to the food bank and understanding at a very young age that we didn’t have things that other people had. I didn’t want life ever to be that hard again.”

It made sense, and I could understand wanting to run away from your past.

“This one time in college, I changed my major for a day. I also went by my first and middle name when I introduced myself to people.”

“What did you change your major to?” The water was starting to get cold, but my muscles were all loose and I didn’t think I could get up. He was going to have to carry me.

“Photography. It sounded cool, even though I didn’t even own a freaking camera. I just wanted to do something else. Of course then I woke up in the middle of the night and pictured Dad’s face when I told him I didn’t want to work for the company and I was waiting at the guidance office before they opened the next morning to change it back. I never told my parents.” It had been a moment of insanity, and I’d never told anyone about it, not even Sloane.

“I can’t picture that, but I’m sure you would have been a great photographer.” No, I would have been bad at. I couldn’t even take a decent selfie with my phone.

I shrugged and another candle went out.

“We should probably get out before the water gets too cold. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. I barely ate anything today.” It was a miracle that my stomach hadn’t growled yet.

“Well, we’ll have to do something about that.” He got up and got a towel before he pulled me out of the tub and wrapped me in it, rubbing the water from my body before he wrapped one around his waist.

“I can walk. I think.” I might have moved a little slower than normal, but I made my way back to the couch and slumped on it. Lucah brought me some clothes and I got dressed as he made dinner in his boxers and a t-shirt.

“Can I look at your rooms now?”

“You can look at them anytime you want.” He stirred spaghetti into a pot of boiling water and jerked his head at the three doors. It felt weird looking at these rooms with him here, but I got up and went to door number one.

It was just a closet, really, and was stacked with boxes. None of them were labeled, and despite what he said, I didn’t feel comfortable going through them, so I went to the second door. This room was a little bit bigger, more of a small office size, but it too was filled with boxes, and his guitar. I walked in and shut the door behind me.

I pulled open one box and found there were a bunch of books in there. I skimmed some of the titles and they were some of my favorites. The next box had pictures in it and I flipped through some of them. They were of Lucah when he was younger and oh, boy. This was some quality blackmail material. I made a note to come back and look at those things later.

The rest of the boxes were also books and photographs and some yearbooks and other little things like band shirts and sweatshirts and so forth.

His life was in these boxes, his past, who he really was. Packed and locked away. It was almost tragic, that he had to keep this hidden. I found a few framed photographs with him and two little girls who had to be his nieces, and I gathered them into my arms before going back out into the living room.

Lucah didn’t comment as I placed the pictures on the coffee table and then went back and got some more of his stuff and put it out. I went into the third room and found even more stuff and put that out.

When I was done, all three doors were open and his apartment actually looked like a home. I went to the kitchen and put my arms around him from behind.

“You’re not going to comment on my redecorating?” I said as he stirred some spaghetti sauce so it didn’t burn.

“I haven’t lived in an apartment with my things all out in four years. It’s . . . it’s going to take some getting used to. But it’s nice to see my pretty girls again. Now we just need to put some pictures of you around.” Ugh, I didn’t. I wasn’t that fond of pictures of myself. But if he would be in them with me, that would be okay.

“No nude shots, okay?”

“Oh, I have some of those already,” he said, pouring the sauce over the pasta and stirring it together.

“Shut up, you do not.” I smacked him and he turned around and gave me a smile.

“Maybe I do and maybe I don’t.” I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t want any naked pictures of me to exist. I pinched his butt, and he just kept smiling.

“Asshole,” I said as he carried the spaghetti over to the coffee table which was now cluttered with photographs and other things. I’d also brought out his guitar and propped it against the wall. I was hoping for a performance later. That would be the only thing that would make this night better.

“What do you think?” Sloane said as she adjusted the skirt of my dress.

I was officially wearing the most beautiful dress in the history of dresses. Eat your heart out, Scarlet O’Hara. That bitch had nothing on this.

The fabric was black with almost a flower pattern on it that you could only see when you got up close. I swiveled my hips back and forth and listened as the dress swished and moved like a bell.

“Is it possible for me to wear this every single day for the rest of my life? Because I’d love for that to happen.” I would clean in this dress. I would sleep in this dress. “I’m never taking it off.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Lucah is going to want to take it off you. And it’s going to get pretty funky if you don’t wash it.” She played with the skirt again and I spun all the way around. I wasn’t wearing a tiara, but it didn’t matter. I felt like a princess. Where were the woodland creatures to help me with all my chores?

“Okay, now that you’re set, wanna see my dress?” She wiggled her eyebrows and I had been afraid of this.

“Okay, so we have to talk about that. I know I said I was going to take you as my date, but that was before Lucah got done, and now he’s not going to be able to go, so that means Marisol and Chloe are out as well.” I’d been trying to think of a solution to that, but I didn’t have one and the event was next week.

“So basically you’re telling me that you’re going to invite your boyfriend and bail on me,” she said as I stepped away from the mirror.

“No! No, I’m not saying that. I’m just trying to figure out how I can still get all of you in. So. I’m going to ask Dad if I can just invite all of you. Sure, it’s probably going to piss people off, but I don’t give a shit. I want all of you there.” Sloane beamed and hugged me, being careful not to smush the dress. It was going to get smushed when I danced, but I wanted to keep it perfect until then.

“You are awesome! Okay, let me just put my dress on and then you can tell me how fabulous I look.” She dashed into her changing room and came out a few minutes later wearing a dress that was even better than the drawing she’d shown me. The cutouts were more daring, and plunging, but there was black sheer material that covered her (sort of) so she didn’t look like she was wearing anything too revealing. The rest of the fabric was silk and white with large black tropical flowers printed on it. She spun slowly and I got a look at the back.