The Wrong Gentleman(54)
I didn’t ask why. Christmas without parents would be tough. Christmas in a children’s home? I couldn’t imagine. “I even like that Mariah Carey song and fake snow. Dry turkey, bad jumpers. The whole thing.”
“Mariah Carey? Really? The Pogues one is much better suited to my mood around that time.”
“I think I could change your mind. Christmas in London is pretty spectacular.”
Shit. Had I implied that she should come to London at Christmas? Because that wasn’t what I’d meant at all. I might be wondering if I’d miss her at the end of the summer, but that didn’t mean I was inviting her back to London.
A beat of silence followed and then she said, “I’ve never been. The Caribbean season is in full swing then. Christmas is just like any other day—serving drinks and making beds.”
Didn’t she want a day off from all that? I wanted her to have the rest of her life off from it. I needed to snap out of it. It really was none of my business, but I wanted to make Skylar’s life better. In the SAS, I was used to trying to improve things for strangers, for nations. As the owner of a private security firm, I was paid to get results. Now I was lying here, wanting to help Skylar—wanting her to have a happy life. A life where she didn’t have to worry about food in her belly and a roof over her head. “Is that your plan next? Go to the Caribbean?”
She paused before she said anything, and I didn’t know whether it was because she didn’t know or whether she was considering what to tell me. “I guess.”
“You guess?”
“I have my plane ticket, if that’s what you mean?”
That wasn’t what I’d meant. I’d hoped she’d thought about what we’d talked about at the beach and had been thinking about what else she could do with her life, but now wasn’t the time. In ten minutes, our break would be over, and we’d be back at our stations. I didn’t want to leave her unsettled. “So, you know my guilty pleasure is Christmas. What’s yours?” I asked.
She relaxed in my arms, and I could almost hear her think. After a couple of minutes, she announced, “Celine Dion.”
I chuckled. “You seemed to take a little while to come up with that. Are you messing with me? Is this some kind of special interrogation technique I don’t know about?”
“Hey! I didn’t judge you for liking Christmas and Mariah Carey,” she said.
“Mariah wrote that Christmas song and it’s a classic!” I said, flipping Skylar on her back and crawling over her.
“Celine, man. Her voice is the best in the business,” she said as I dipped and kissed her neck.
“What else don’t I know about you?” I asked. If I could stay here for the next week, just hearing what Skylar had to say about everything, I was pretty sure it would be the best week of my life.
“Hmm. Ice skating. I’ve always wanted to try it.”
“You never have?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure I’d be terrible at it. But I’d like to know.”
“Maybe if you listened to Celine Dion while you skated, it would help.”
“You never know.” She grinned up at me. “Have you been?”
“Yeah,” I said. My parents took Hayden and me every Christmas in London, but Skylar didn’t need to hear that. “Not for years, but at Christmas they have temporary rinks around London, so yes I’ve been a few times.”
“You’re trying to convince me Christmas is great again, aren’t you?”
I chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“If anyone could, you could,” she said, shifting back around so she was tucked into my chest.
The breath caught in my throat. For someone so cynical, so jaded, she sure did have a way of making a guy feel special.
Thirty-Two
Landon
It was unlike my brother to call, but it had come just at the right moment. I’d hoped that Skylar would somehow solve my dilemma and refuse Walt’s invitation to dinner. But ever dutiful, she’d accepted, and ever loyal, she’d even told Walt that her feelings were strictly platonic.
If only she’d been a different girl. A less special person.
Of course, he hadn’t given a shit that she wasn’t interested, because he was just using her as a cover.
And it meant I was back at square one: sacrifice Skylar and put her in danger, or compromise the operation and live with the fact that if I didn’t help bring Walt down, potentially thousands of needless deaths lay on my conscience. Either way, I was an arsehole. Perhaps Hayden could help.
“How’s yacht life?” he asked as soon as I answered.
“Fine,” I snapped.
“Everything okay?”
The last thing my brother and I did was talk about our feelings, but all I could think about was Skylar. “When you met Avery, did you know that she was different right from the beginning?” The first time I’d met Skylar, I thought she was hot. Perhaps the most attractive woman I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d flirted with her, made it my mission to fuck her, and enjoyed every second of her naked. I hadn’t expected to see her again. And that had been just fine.
“I’m not sure if it was right away. She’s clearly beautiful, which is hard to ignore. But I had a lot of shit going on at the time. I’m not sure I thought much about anything. Why do you ask?”