“What do you mean you can’t come out?”
“I mean, I can’t come out,” she repeated.
“Are you stuck?”
She shook her head. “Not really.”
“Not really?” He repeated her words, trying to make sense of them as he went. “Then what?”
She stared at him with those big, round amber eyes of hers but didn’t say another word.
He was totally exasperated now. “Please can you stand up so we can continue this tour?Please.”
A strange look swept across her face. A look of resignation almost. She nodded her head and then started to stand up.
Everyone gasped. Including him.
CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO
Poppy
Nothing left to do but face the music. I couldn’t hide behind pillars and barrels any longer, and so I stood up. Slowly, tentatively and apprehensively. And the higher I seemed to get, the wider their eyeballs became.
I didn’t know what else to do at this point but smile as sweetly as I could at them. There was a strange moment of silence as they stared at me, and then, as if someone had told them to, they turned their backs, looked down at the ground, and one of them even shaded his eyes. At least they were being gentlemen about this and not using it as an opportunity to gawk.
“I . . . I . . . had an accident,” I said, looking over at Ryan, who was the only one who hadn’t looked away. Instead, he was staring at me. His gaze was so intense that I could almost feel it, like fingers running up and down my skin. I was wearing a skirt and bra, but I felt completely naked under his stare.
And then he jumped. I’d never seen anyone pull a jacket off so quickly. Before I knew what was happening, it was wrapped around my shoulders and fastened in the front.
“Thanks,” I said feebly. I felt like bursting into tears.
He looked over at the others. “It seems that Miss Granger has hurt herself.” And then he got angry. “You really need to make sure this site is safe for people to visit. This is ridiculous. I think this meeting is over!” he snapped and then quickly pulled me away. He rushed so quickly that I couldn’t keep up, what with trying to walk in only one shoe.
He stopped and looked down at my feet. “Where’s your other shoe?”
“Broke it when I fell,” I said.
“You fell?”
I couldn’t work out if his tone was a concerned one, or an angry one.
I nodded. “Well, my shirt kind of stopped me from plummeting.” I gave him a small smile. But, God, I was embarrassed.
“You can’t walk barefoot, or we’ll be pulling nails out of your feet next,” he said.
“I guess not . . .” I lifted my shoeless foot and hopped.
He shook his head, gave me a very disapproving look, and then started to bend over at the waist.
“What? You want me to climb on your back? A piggyback?” I laughed. This was ridiculous.
He looked at me over his shoulder. “I’m open to other suggestions.”
“Shit.” There didn’t seem to be anything else to do. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Just get on with it, Miss Granger,” he said.
“Fine, fine,” I conceded. I hiked up my tight skirt and placed my hands on his back. It was big and solid, and he was so tall I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to climb onto him. I tried to jump onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. But I slipped. He tried to stop my fall by gripping my thighs, but it wasn’t enough. The sound of his palms slipping down my now sweaty thighs was one I wish I’d never heard. We looked at each other awkwardly as the sound continued to echo around the vast concrete hall.
