Page 151 of Pure Recklessness

Of all of the places I thought we might go tonight, this wouldn’t have even made the top one thousand.

‘It would seem so,’ Blake said casually like it was no big deal.

‘But it’s…’ I glanced at my watch. ‘It’s almost eleven o’clock at night! It would’ve closed hours ago!’

‘Precisely,’ he said. ‘Come on.’

The photos I’d seen of the museum’s exterior in the daytime were striking. But the warm floodlights illuminating the arches, towers and intricate carvings made it look even more impressive at night.

I walked up the broad stone steps leading to the entrance in a trance. If the museum was closed, how would we get in?

When we got to the top of the steps, a woman greeted us.

‘Good evening, Mr Devlin, and welcome. You must be Eleanor.’ She faced me and smiled.

‘Yes,’ I said, frown lines forming on my forehead as I wondered how she knew my name.

‘I’m Uma. Please follow me.’

When we stepped into the museum, the famous blue whale skeleton that was suspended from the ceiling immediately caught my eye.

But I also noticed that the museum was completely empty.

It was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.

‘The museum is yours to enjoy. Our team are here to assist if there’s anything you need.’ Uma smiled and left.

‘Wait, what?’ My mouth opened then closed again. ‘Did she just say that the museum is yours?’

‘Not literally.’ Blake chuckled. ‘Just for the next few hours.’

‘I know it doesn’t belong to you, but I meant, how are we able to be here now?’

‘You said you’d always wanted to go to the Natural History Museum and it’s always busy during the day, especially at weekends, so I hired it out.’

I attempted to speak.

No words came out.

I tried again.

‘But how did you…? How could you just hire it out? And so quickly? I only told you last night that I’d always wanted to come here!’

‘I have connections.’ He smiled.

Mind. Blown.

Although I’d been busy, I should’ve made time to come here.

I was sure that the Natural History Museum was free to visit. So I was struggling to take in the fact that Blake had spent God knows how much money hiring it out.

For me.

Just because I’d mentioned in passing that I was sad that I’d never got to visit as a child.

This was one of the kindest things anyone had ever done for me.

‘Thank you.’ A lump formed in my throat. ‘Thank you so much. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you. You don’t know what this means to me. Honestly.’