Liam’s hand on my thigh was firm, confident it was okay to rest there—not like the cardboard cutout version of a couple we’d been performing for so long.
You fit… withme.
Did I, really? Could we make something work together? Could I open myself up to this idea of being cared for, protected, relying on someone other than myself?
It made something soft I didn’t recognize bloom just below my ribs.He wanted me, and he didn’t care about the rest of it.I looked out the window. Little broken clouds lay in a sheet below us, a few patches of the deep turquoise ocean peeking out beneath.
We’d only just taken off, but Dex and Ben were both asleep in the chairs opposite. Dex’s head was tipped back, mouth open, while Ben’s head lolled to one side. Every now and then, his eyelids fluttered.
Bonnie’s gaze settled on mine and she glanced away quickly. She’d been looking at me differently all morning.
Had Liam already toldher?
Every time my mind quieted, the thought of him sliding inside me flooded my thoughts. The look on his face when my dress had dropped to the floor, his breath against my neck…
This thing between us now was like a charge no one knew was there except us. I just wanted to be alone with him again.
It was a relief, finally, to be honest with myself about that.
But I was looking forward to being back in my flat with Eliza and Mr. Darcy, too. I needed something familiar to ground myself. I still had the sense that my life was hovering over a blinking cursor at the end of a sentence, and I couldn’t quite work out why.
We hadn’t spoken about what it meant or how things would change, now that we didn’t have to worry about contracts or CVs or trying to convince everyone we were something we weren’t. Maybe that was what it was.
And I was still worried about Kelly and Mon.
My phone buzzed in my bag again, and I slid the screen open.
But it wasn’t anyone I usually heard from. It was Sebastian.
I clicked on it.
Nothing loaded. A gray bar where the message should be, a small circle spinning patiently beneath his name.
Downloading …
I tried again. Nothing. And then the couple of lines:
Sebastian:Andrea, I’m going overseas today, so I thought I’d give you an off-the-record update. Bidding closed yesterdayand—
That was it.
The circle spun.
I toggled Airplane Mode off, then on again. The signal bars flickered, dropped, then came back.
“Everything okay?” Liam leaned over and kissed the side of my head.
“Rubbish Wi-Fi.”
“Just can’t get a quality private jet experience nowadays, can you?”
I laughed and turned the phone face down on the table—just something else to deal with when we landed.
The circle kept spinning in my head anyway.
*
“Are we there yet?” Dex stretched. The plane was banking toward Heathrow.
