Page 65 of Hold You Close
His hand cups my cheek. “I meant what I said before you left. You might think I’ve charmed you before, but you haven’t seen anything yet. I hope you’re ready.”
My throat goes dry at his promise. “What if I’m not?”
He smiles down at me. “Then you better find a way—and fast.”
Fourteen
Ian
My plan is simple. Get London to let her freaking steel walls down and see that I’m a good guy.
That’s it.
How the fuck I plan to do that? Not a clue.
The entire weekend I tried to remember any stupid detail my sister had rambled on about when it came to London. Of course, I had purposely tuned out anyone talking when her name came up to avoid feelings I didn’t want to feel, so I had to get creative.
Things London likes: cats, terrible music, numbers, boring shit about business, and sun. I see her sitting out on her deck all the time, a book in her hand, those long bare legs stretched out on a deck chair, her horrible 90s boy-band music playing. I swear to God, London has good taste when it comes to many things, but music is not one of them. She and Sabrina used to drive me crazy playing that shit twenty-four hours a day.
But today is all about getting her to see me in a new light, so I’ve loaded up a London Playlist with all kinds of crap by bands like N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, and Four Blocks Down. I’m going to indulge her in every way possible.
Even if my eardrums suffer for it. Mightily.
“This is all you have?” I ask her, reaching for the handle of her small black suitcase.
“Yes. I traveled light.” She lowers her face to the roses and inhales, her eyes closing. “Thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome.” I look at the kids, give Morgan a wink. “Should we go?”
The two girls shout “Yes!” and Christopher gives a nod. He’s had a decent weekend so far, and we even had what I thought was a pretty good talk last night after I got home from the club. I can’t wait to tell London about it.
“Where are we going?” asks London as we start heading toward the parking lot, Morgan and Christopher in the lead.
“It’s a surprise.” I take Ruby’s other hand so she doesn’t get lost in the crowd.
“Can I go home and clean up first?”
“We’ll go by your house, and you’ll have two minutes to run in and change.”
“Into what?”
“A bathing suit.”
She grins at me. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Then two minutes is all I’ll need. Maybe one more to feed Eli Walsh.”
“Morgan and Ruby fed your cat this morning.”
She smiles at Ruby. “Thanks, girls. How’s he doing? Did he miss me?”
“No, because we went over and played with him a lot,” Morgan says over her shoulder. “We didn’t want him to be lonely without you, like Uncle Ian.”
“Hey.” I frown in my niece’s direction, wishing I had a free hand to poke her. “I never said I was lonely.”
“I asked you if you missed her and you said yes. That means you were lonely,” she says sweetly, like duh.
