All the Way (Romancing Manhattan #1)(68)

I’m jogging along the beach, needing to expel some of this frustration before I see her. I just got to the beach house, after the longest night of my life.

Just as I come around the bend toward our houses, I see London standing on the shoreline, her arms crossed over her chest, her white pants and shirt blowing in the wind around her.

Her dark hair is pulled up in a knot at the top of her head. She’s not wearing sunglasses.

And I can’t wait to have her in my arms.

I jog to a stop about ten feet from her, and before I can say her name, she turns to look at me. Her eyes are full of sadness and pain, and it about brings me to my knees.

But before I can say anything, she walks confidently to me, cups my face in her small hands, and rises up on her toes to kiss me squarely on the lips. Not a quick kiss, but one that sinks in and makes your toes curl.

The kind of kiss that says, Thank God you’re here.

She pulls back and offers me a small smile. “Hi.”

“I’m going to take that kiss to mean that you’re not trying to dump me.”

She frowns and steps into my arms, hugging me tightly around my torso, her cheek pressed to my chest, and just like that the knot that’s been lodged in my throat since she walked out of my condo yesterday morning starts to loosen.

“Let’s go inside,” she says, taking my hand and leading me into her house. She walks past the kitchen to the living room, and sits next to me on the couch. “I was never trying to dump you.”

I brush my thumb over the skin under her eyes. “You’re bruised here, London.”

“I’ve been crying a lot,” she confesses, and tears fill her eyes again. “My emotions have been all jumbled up for the past few days. And I have to tell you, despite being the one to walk away yesterday, I’m so glad that you’re here.”

“Really?” I tilt my head, watching her. “I tried to get here last night, but that storm blew in and I couldn’t reach you. You’ll never know how hopeless and frustrating that felt.”

I’ll leave out the part where I almost decked a flight attendant because he wouldn’t let me get on the last plane that did land here last night.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“Were you okay? Last night?”

She nods. “I was talking to Sasha for a while, and I was thinking about you. That helped.”

“I need you to talk to me, sweetheart. I tried this yesterday, and you obviously weren’t ready. But I can’t do this. I can’t be shut out like this, I’m telling you this now.”

“You’re right,” she says. “I was wrong to ask you to leave me be during a traumatic time. Honestly, if the tables were turned, I wouldn’t have left you either.”

“Wow, you did a lot of thinking last night.”

She nods. “I did. And I’m sorry for not communicating with you well. I think we both have room for improvement in that area.”

“Agreed.”

“The house in L.A. set off my temper, Finn, and I just can’t apologize for that.”

“Okay, please try to explain to me again why. I’m not trying to control you with it, I’m just trying to help.”

“I see that,” she says. “But you didn’t ask me to go house hunting with you. You did it without me and then said, This is what we’re going to do. I would have been much more receptive had you made the suggestion, and included me in the search.”

“Oh.” I rub my fingers over my lips, remembering Quinn and Carter warning me that this would be the case, and feel like an ass. “I got so swept up in making it happen for you, it didn’t occur to me that you’d want to make it happen with me.”

“Yes, exactly,” she says with a smile. “If we’re going to do this together, we need to truly do it together.”

“Understood. We’ll scrap it for now, and we can revisit it when you’re ready.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” I tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “London, I love you. I want you to feel comfortable, and I do want you to be a part of making decisions. I just truly thought I was taking something off of your plate. I didn’t realize that I was adding stress rather than relieving it.”

“Thank you.” She climbs into my lap and kisses me softly. “Maybe after I get out there for work, you can come join me and we can meet with a Realtor.”

“That would be good.”

“Okay.” She brushes her fingers through my hair, and I want to lay her back and strip her naked, but we’re not quite there yet.

Soon, but not yet.

“We need to talk about my brother,” she says, and closes her eyes.

“We can talk about anything you like, love.”

“I heard from the detective this morning.” She opens her eyes and the hurt is back. I absolutely hate that that slimy bastard has done this to her. “He’s denying that he said anything about killing our parents, and that I invited him to come to my condo.”

“Little cocksucker,” I mutter.

“The doorman confirmed that I didn’t know he was there, so the breaking and entering is sticking, and he had the gun, so they’re charging him with assault.”

“Tell me he’s still in jail.”