Indigo Nights (Nights #3)(51)

Blindly, I reached for my case and began to walk us forward. She pulled back from our kiss. “Hey. It’s good to see you.”

I chuckled. “The feeling is mutual.”

She squeezed her arms and legs tighter. “Shall I get down?” I didn’t want her to, but I knew we’d get to our destination quicker if she did. “Stop a minute, Dylan.”

I let her down to the floor, bending to kiss the beauty spot on her cheekbone.

“I have a confession,” she announced. “I’m not sure you’re going to like it—I don’t like it.”

My gut twisted. Had she hooked up with someone? I tried not to give away my concern. Instead, I took her hand in mine and brought her knuckles to my lips. “Tell me.” She was a beautiful girl; no doubt she was being hit on all the time.

“Sunday night dinner has kind of moved to Saturday night dinner, which means we have to go straight to my brother’s from here.” She screwed up her face as if she was waiting for me to lose it.

“Okay,” I replied, relieved it wasn’t something more serious, thankful there had been no one else. It was as if I was waiting for something to go wrong because everything was so right.

“Okay? That’s okay with you?” She raised her eyebrows. “Because it’s not with me. I want to get naked, like now.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, me too. But look at it this way, unless your brother kills me, we can stay in bed for the whole day tomorrow.”

“Who’s going to get me off, if you’ve been murdered? This is why we needed to get naked before you meet Jake.”

I glanced at her. “You think you’re cute, don’t you?”

She cocked her shoulder. “Yes. And you agree with me.”

I put my arm around her neck, pulling her toward me and kissing the top of her head as we headed toward the car.

“How come you organized a car?” she asked as we approached a man with my name on a sign. “I was going to take you on the train.”

“The train?”

“Yes. Are you so spoiled that you can’t take the Heathrow express?”

“Spoiled? Maybe I just wanted you to myself.”

“I think you need to see how the rest of London travels. Come on.” She grabbed my hand and started pulling me away from the car.

“I’m sorry,” I said to the driver. “I’m not going to need you, just charge my account all the same.” Beth pulled me toward a sign that said Trains. There weren’t many women who could persuade me onto public transport.

As we stood on the edge of the platform, Beth’s hand in mine, I wanted to ask her a thousand questions about her brother. I knew she was close to him, so it was important that I made a good impression. “Are you nervous about me meeting your brother?”

She glanced at me and moved closer so her body was pressed up against mine. “A little.”

“Because you don’t trust your judgment yet?”

I could almost see the filter in her brain start to organize her words. She didn’t want to hurt me. She knew she was one of the only women who ever could.

“You can be honest, Beth.”

She smiled and the train interrupted us. We climbed on board, stowing my luggage and finding a pair of seats. As we sat, she flung both her legs over my knee and brought my hand to her lap. I stroked her stocking-covered legs, wishing we were going to be alone soon.

“I didn’t realize that that’s what I was nervous about, but I think you’re right. It’s just that Jake has been part of my world, part of my sobriety, for so long that sometimes I forget that I’m separate from him. I’ve depended on him for so much. It’s like the baking. That’s something for me, and if it’s a success then that’s all on me. It’s good, but scary. With you, you’re my choice, too. I’m not used to making so many choices that don’t involve my brother. So I guess I just want him to think I’ve done well. Especially because I’m invested.”

I lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, but didn’t say anything. I wanted her to tell me how she was feeling.

She leaned back onto the window and stared at her lap. “I didn’t expect it to be like this between us. It feels so good between us, as if it’s . . .” It. Forever. I wanted her to finish the sentence. I wanted her to feel the same way I did.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just want him to like you. It’s important.” She smiled at me. “But no pressure.”

There was a lot of pressure. Because I’d not spent time with Jake and Beth together, I wasn’t quite sure of the hold he had over her. If he didn’t like me, what would this mean for us? She said she was invested, but I wasn’t convinced that we’d survive if Jake and I didn’t hit it off.

Sweat beaded at my brow. Fuck, I could have done with a night alone with Beth before this introduction. She calmed me, made me realize what was important. I needed that. Work was increasingly stressful. The Redux deal was a huge challenge, particularly as Raf and I were so far away. Almost all the projects we’d been involved with were domestic. Managing a company in another country was proving to be a challenge. On top of everything, I didn’t want to f*ck things up with Beth. Businesses could be rebuilt, but time and experience had told me women like Beth came along once in a lifetime. I didn’t want what was happening at work to impact my introduction to Jake.