The Domville 6 (The Domville #6) (4 page)

‘I know,’ she sighed. ‘He won’t settle down and taking
him out for a walk in the fresh air seems to soothe him.’

‘Isn’t your husband with you?’ I frowned. I didn’t like
the idea of any woman wandering the streets of London at night on their own,
let alone a young girl with a tiny baby.

‘I don’t have one,’ she almost whispered. ‘My boyfriend
left me when he found out I was pregnant.’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that, but maybe you’re both better
off without him in your life, if that’s the kind of man he is.’

‘I know, but it’s hard, doing this by myself,’ she
nodded, reaching up to wipe away a tear. I pulled out a clean cotton
handkerchief from my waistcoat pocket and offered it to her. ‘Thank you.’ She
flashed me a grateful smile as she dabbed at her eyes. ‘I’m only staying here
as my cousin works in the spa and managed to get me a few free nights while I
try and find somewhere cheaper to live. He never paid the rent and I couldn’t
afford the back rent on top of everything else, so I got evicted yesterday.’

‘Allow me,’ I offered as the lift ground to a halt and
the doors opened. I held them open to allow her to step out first, then quickly
strode to walk at her side. ‘Do me a favour, take a seat in the lobby for a few
minutes and go nowhere until I come back. I might be able to help you. Will you
do that for me?’

‘Sure,’ she nodded, looking puzzled. ‘I’m not a
prostitute though, you know,’ she whispered, which made me burst out laughing.

‘I didn’t think that for one moment and I can assure you
that’s not what I’m looking for. I have a sister with a baby about your son’s
age and I’d hate the thought of her being in your predicament. Just give me a
few minutes, ok?’

‘Ok,’ she agreed, her face still telling me that she
didn’t quite believe me. I walked over to the concierge desk and asked to see
the hotel manager and was quickly escorted to his office. I came out about ten
minutes later, hoping the girl hadn’t already left. Thankfully, she was still
sitting in one of the velvet armchairs, pushing the pram gently backwards and
forwards. I went and crouched at her side as she studied my face, still looking
confused.

‘Ok, a member of staff is going to escort you on your
walk and they’re under strict instructions that you’re not to leave the hotel
after dark without someone to keep you company. It may be a nice area of
London, but nowhere is safe at night, especially not for a young girl. I’ve
secured a room for you for a month, to give you time to find somewhere to live.
Room service is included, alcohol isn’t.’ I reached into my pocket to pull out
my wallet and one of the business cards I carried inside, which I handed to
her, as she just looked at me stunned. ‘If you’re looking for work, give me a
call and I’d be happy to give you a trial doing basic office admin and we could
see how it went from there.’

‘I don’t understand. You don’t even know me, why would
you do something like this for a stranger?’ she asked, her eyes filling up with
more tears.

‘Because I can, because you look like you’re in need of a
break.’

‘The hotel room’s going to cost you a fortune, let alone
the meals,’ she protested.

‘Don’t worry about that. I can afford it, I do ok for
myself.’

‘But what do you get out of this?’

‘The knowledge that I helped someone who was in need. I
promise, there’s nothing in it for me, I have no expectations from you. I told
you, I have five sisters and I’d never want any of them to struggle. I have no
idea what room you’re staying in. I don’t even know your name, so you never
have to see me or hear from me again if you decide not to call me.’ I looked up
as I was aware of someone standing slightly off to my side. A woman in hotel uniform
gave me a nod. ‘Ok, this lady is going to look after you and she’ll sort out
the room and assist you in moving when you’ve settled your baby down with his
walk. I’d better go, I’m very late for a party I’m supposed to be attending.’ I
straightened up and put my wallet away, then stumbled slightly in surprise when
the girl leapt off her chair and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me
tightly.

‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea how
happy you’ve just made me,’ she sobbed. I gently put one arm around her and
rubbed her back.

‘You’re welcome, just look after that there baby, ok?
He’s going to need you for a long time.’

‘I will, I love him so much.’ She slowly let go of me and
smiled up at me through her tears.

‘I’m sure he’ll love you just as much in return. Take
care of yourself.’ I gave her a nod and smile and quickly strode away.

‘Mr. Delany,’ she called. I turned around to see her
wiping her face, my business card in her free hand. ‘Thank you so much, it’s
nice to know that there are some decent men left in the world.’

‘No trouble,’ I replied. I walked down to the ballroom
with a smile on my face. I couldn’t have lived with myself, always wondering if
she was ok. I didn’t need any help at my firm, but if she rang, I’d make sure
Brenda allocated her enough work to keep her busy. My new associate, Roger
Cockburn, was always complaining he was too busy, so maybe this girl could help
him too. If not, it would do Brenda good to cut back a little anyway. I
collected my name badge at the reception desk set up outside the ballroom. It
wasn’t hard to find, given I was the last one to arrive, nearly two hours late.
I pinned it to my waistcoat and took a deep breath before pushing open the
double doors. I was hit with the sound of The Scissor Sisters
Filthy/Gorgeous.
The place was packed. How the hell was I supposed to find Freckles in this
crowd? I frowned, then grinned and headed straight for the bar. Assuming she
hadn’t changed in ten years, that’s exactly where she’d be.

I spotted her best friend Alexis first. She was facing my
direction and laughing. I stalled in my tracks. Was that Freckles standing with
her back to me? Bloody hell! She was wearing an emerald green dress that wasn’t
too far off the colour of her eyes, from what I remembered. It hugged her
voluptuous curves in all the right places, without looking painted on or
sleazy. Her hair had grown. She had it in some kind of side swept pony tail,
looped around itself at the base. She looked taller than I remembered too. I
slowly drew my gaze down her body to where her shapely calf was exposed by a
sexy slit in the dress. That’s why she looked taller, she was wearing a pair of
seriously high gold strappy heels. This was a different Freckles than the one
who used to be more comfortable in jeans and trainers. Feck! All the blood was
rushing to my groin. Now was not the time to be getting a damn erection. I
walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, then swallowed, noticing
that my mouth had gone slightly dry. This had seemed like a good idea when I’d
heard about the reunion, accepted the invite and sent her the flower and card.
Now I wasn’t so sure. What was a great opener to someone who’d been your best
friend for years, who you'd suddenly ditched with no warning and had ignored
for all this time? I’d narrowed it down to three choices earlier tonight, I
just had to pick one of those before she turned around.

‘Jaysis, your arse looks feckin’ sexy in that dress,
Freckles.’

Shite!
That wasn’t one of the phrases I’d
practiced.

Toni

‘I don’t understand why he’d send you that flower
and message and not show up,’ Alexis frowned, after checking her watch to see
he was over an hour late.

‘Well, he’s obviously not coming. I knew this was a
mistake, I shouldn’t have come. I’m going to go,’ I sighed, knocking back my
glass of wine.

‘Please don’t, Toni. So he’s an arse, nothing’s changed.
That doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun,’ she pleaded, reaching out to clasp
my wrist. ‘Vodka shooters on me?’

‘You’ll get me drunk. You know I can’t hold my drink,’ I
warned.

‘When was the last time you let loose and got drunk? I’ll
tell you when. Around the time Finian left for Dubai! Since then, you’ve been
serious Toni, all about the business and home life. Come on, let’s go a bit
crazy. We’re only thirty-one, for heaven’s sake.’

‘I guess it wouldn’t hurt,’ I nodded. Hell, why shouldn’t
I have a good time? Mum was staying over with Charlie and most of our fellow
party goers were already on their way to getting slaughtered. ‘But what about
you and Frasier and your booty call?’

‘Psssst,’ she tutted with a flick of her wrist. ‘You were
too busy chatting to Wiener Williams to notice,’ she winked, crooking her
little finger and making me giggle. Steve Williams was good looking, but we’d heard
he had a tiny dick, leading to him being lumbered with that nickname through uni.
Poor sod. ‘I’m going to have to come up with a new nickname for Frasier. Talk
about going downhill fast.’

‘No,’ I uttered, craning my neck to look around the room.
‘Where is he?’

‘See the ugly guy in the pink jeans,’ she pointed.

‘That’s Frasier?’ I gasped.

‘No, the uglier one on his right.’

‘Nooooo!’ I looked at her aghast. Time definitely hadn’t
improved his looks at all. ‘What the hell happened there?’

‘Too much plastic surgery gone wrong, I’d say,’ she
grimaced, clicking her fingers to grab the barman’s attention. ‘All he cared
about was his face, body and cock. If he’s done
that
to his face, Christ
only knows what he’s had done down there. Can you line up four toffee vodka
shooters each?’ she asked, gesturing between us as someone came to serve her,
unable to take his eyes off her tits.

‘Four?’ I moaned.

‘We’re going to have fun, it’s an Alexis promise,’ she
grinned, then looked back over her shoulder in Frasier’s direction and
shuddered. ‘I
fucked
him,’ she whispered, with a distasteful look on her
face.

‘In fairness, he was hot back then.’

‘Hot and gifted,’ she moaned. ‘At this rate, I’ll have to
go to the Champagne bar and check out Mozart, the guy that your friend
recommended.’

‘Chopin,’ I corrected as the barman put four shot glasses
in front of me.

‘Handel, Bach, John Legend, whatever. If he has finger
skills, game on. Ok, let’s get this party really started,’ she giggled and
raised her eyebrows as she picked up the first glass.

‘I’m so going to hate you in the morning,’ I groaned,
lifting a glass to my lips.

‘Three, two, one, down,’ she called. I knocked it back
with a grimace and shudder, slammed the shot glass back on the bar, grabbed the
next and repeated.

‘Bleh,’ I moaned as I stuck my tongue out and pulled a
face. Shit, that burned.

‘Wow, you are out of practice,’ she laughed, slamming
down her fourth and final empty glass. ‘Come on, slacker. I want to dance to
these old school hits before we hit the Champagne.’

‘Jesus,’ I moaned, doing as I was told with a grimace and
a giggle. I felt twenty-one again. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the
dance floor where
Rich Girl
by Gwen Stefani was playing and we got our
groove on. Half an hour later, she left me dancing to
Shine
by
Lovefreekz while she went in search of the toilet. I felt light headed and
dizzy, in a good way. I’d forgotten what getting tipsy felt like, it was fun. I
squeezed my way through to the bar and ordered a bottle of Champagne for us
both. Room service and somewhere to rest my aching feet were looking seriously
tempting right now. I was so out of practice.

‘You are
not
going to believe this,’ Alexis ranted
as she stomped up to me and slammed her bag down on the counter, with a face
like thunder.

‘What?’ I asked, startled by her sudden change in
demeanour.

‘He’s only come with his wife and bloody child,’ she
hissed. ‘I just saw them all in the lobby when I went to check out this piano
player. He’s got a fucking nerve, sending you flowers when he’s already shacked
up.’

‘Finian’s married?’ I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure what
I was expecting. I guess I thought he’d never change, that he’d always be the
guy that never wanted to commit, but that stung. In fact, it more than stung,
it hurt like hell.

‘Shit, sorry. I thought you’d want to know.’ She pulled a
face and rubbed my arm reassuringly.

‘It’s better I know,’ I nodded. ‘I need to stop
fantasising about what would have happened between us if we’d actually moved
out of the friend zone, and accept that’s all we ever were. At least that’s all
I ever was to him. I’m just pissed that I won’t be able to confront him now if
she’s here with him. I thought it was no partners anyway? What’s that all
about?’

‘No idea, but got to say I’m surprised as hell. She looks
really young, early twenties, if that, and she’s not really a looker. You’re so
much prettier. Come on, let’s drink and forget all about Finian. He’s not worth
your time,’ she announced firmly, pouring some of the Champagne for us and
handing me a glass filled to the brim. ‘To fresh starts.’

‘Fresh starts,’ I agreed, forcing a smile. I was actually
dying inside. He’d always said he’d only ever settle down if he found the girl
that he could be himself around, that he could share his inner thoughts with,
or laugh and sit in comfortable silence with for the rest of his life. I
thought we’d had all that. He’d always told me that I was going to make a guy
really happy someday, that they’d be lucky to have me. So what was wrong with
me
?
And why send me a rose saying “
New Starts
” himself?

‘This will take your mind off him. Look over there at Mad
Dog Dave. I tell you, my nan on her Zimmer frame has better dance floor moves
than he does,’ she giggled, pointing through the crowd. His dancing was so bad
that I snorted with laughter, which set her off with her hyena-like cackle,
which had me snorting even louder and trying to stop tears from rolling down my
face. Christ, I felt drunk. I felt a hand on my shoulder and went to turn
around.

‘Jaysis, your arse looks feckin’ sexy in that dress,
Freckles.’

It was as if time suddenly stopped. The noise of the
chatting, laughter and music faded to nothingness and everyone around me suddenly
froze as the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention.
Finian.
Had his voice always sounded so deep and sexy? The bare skin on my shoulder
burned where his fingers were touching me and I felt my core warm at the
thought of being so close to him again. I finished my rotation to come face to
face with him and my breath caught in my throat. If age hadn’t been kind to
Frasier, it was because it had given all of its help to Finian.
My God
,
he was drop dead gorgeous. He still had that lopsided dimpled smile that could
stop traffic. His hair hadn’t changed one bit, it was as dark and messy as
ever. His deep blue eyes seemed to have even more depth and shine to them than
I’d remembered. His soft lips were offset by a masculine square chin and
jawbone. I flicked my eyes down and held in a groan as I took in his body. He’d
filled out. Everywhere, by the look of it. And damn him for looking so sexy in
a pair of dark grey trousers, matching waistcoat and crisp white shirt. The tan
he’d developed over in Dubai just made him look a combination of city slicker
and rugged outdoorsy
man.
My thoughts were suddenly halted as his words registered
in my brain. Telling me my arse looked sexy? The cheeky, arrogant, married …
arse
.
Before I knew what was happening, he was letting out a gasp of surprise and I
was shaking my suddenly stinging palm. Shit. I’d just slapped him!

‘What the feck was that for, Freckles?’ he uttered,
rubbing his cheek.

‘That was for not calling me at any point during the last
ten bloody years, Fin,’ I bit, anger suddenly firing up my veins. The minute he
dropped his hand, I did it again and he yelped in surprise. ‘
That
was
from a girl called Summer who you ditched for not sleeping with you. And if my
palm wasn’t hurting so much, I’d give you another slap from her best friend
Mandy, who had to listen to her tears.’

‘Freckles,’ he groaned, rubbing his face again.

‘
Don’t
call me Freckles! That was the name my best
friend called me. I don’t know you anymore, just like you don’t know me. O, and
while I’m at it, I owe you a congratulations for getting married and having a
family. Have some champagne, on me,’ I hissed, tossing the contents of my full
glass of fizz in his face. He spluttered in surprise, trying to wipe it out of
his eyes and off his face as I heard Alexis giggling behind me. I could feel my
hands shaking. I couldn’t deal with him now, not when I was drunk and angry. In
fact, I didn’t have to deal with him ever. I spun around and quickly left him
with Alexis at the bar and squeezed my way through the crowds on the dance floor,
vaguely aware of
Somebody Told Me
by The Killers playing and everyone
singing along. I felt tears stinging my eyes. Why did I still want him so
badly? Why did my body react so strongly to the sight of him, the sound of his
voice and his touch? Just seeing him again, it was like a force of nature had
walked back into my life and made everything seem brighter. Except it wasn’t.
Nothing had changed.

Everything had changed.

I’d nearly made it to the safety of the toilets when a
hand grabbed mine and spun me around.

‘Jaysis, Freckles. I don’t even get a
hello
after
ten years?’

‘Let me go, Fin,’ I hissed, trying to tug my hand out of
his grasp and nearly wobbling over.

‘No. I came to see you, to talk to you. Christ, I’ve
missed you so much.’

‘Well I haven’t missed you. Not one bit,’ I lied, still
trying to get him to release his grip on me. ‘I lost my best friend ten years
ago, Fin. Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? There’s nothing you can
say that will make me forgive you, and if you think you can march in here and
pick up where we left off, think again.’

‘I don’t want to pick up where we left off. I told you in
my message, I want a new start.’

‘Well, you obviously got that. Go back to your wife and
baby and stay the hell away from me. I don’t need you in my life anymore. I
have Alexis as my shoulder to cry on now, the person who’s there for me when I
need them. You lost that right when you rejected all of my calls.’

‘I haven’t got a feckin’ wife or baby, where the hell did
you hear that from?’

‘Don’t lie. That’s one thing I really admired about you,
you never lied. You were honest with everyone, even all the girls whose hearts
you broke. You never led them on with false promises. What happened to you?’ I
shook my head as he held my gaze, then swayed on my feet. The alcohol was
really getting to me and on top of no food, I wasn’t feeling so hot.

‘I never changed, Freckles. I still don’t lie. I don’t
have a wife or child. How much have you had to drink, you’re looking like shite.’

‘Thanks, thanks a lot. A minute ago I had a sexy arse,
now I’m looking like shite!’ I gasped as he lifted his free hand and palmed my
cheek, rubbing his thumb over my lower lip.

‘You look amazing,’ he whispered, his eyes smouldering.
‘Beautiful, in fact. I meant you look like you’ve had too much to drink and you
know you can’t handle it. How many times did I hold your hair back while you
were hugging the toilet?’

‘Too many,’ I grinned, suddenly softening to feel his
touch and hear him call me beautiful, reminding me of good times. ‘What
happened, Fin. Why did you cut me out of your life?’

‘That’s what I’ve come to talk to you about. I never
meant to hurt you, Freckles. I wanted to talk to you every bloody day. You’ve
no idea how many times I picked up the phone to ring you, but I couldn’t.’

‘You
couldn’t
?’ I snapped out of my nostalgic daze
and managed to shove him off me, feeling the room start to spin. ‘You still
have a tongue in your mouth, you still have a hand on the end of each arm, with
all fingers attached and fully functional. What could possibly have stopped you
from picking up the damn phone, Fin? It’s not exactly a difficult task.’

‘Not here, people are staring,’ he warned. ‘Come back to
my room and we can talk in private.’

‘No! I don’t want to talk, I don’t … I don’t want to …
shit, I don’t feel so good,’ I moaned, reaching up to clasp the bridge of my
nose.