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He unfolded himself from the chair and gave me a look that said he saw through me to that ache inside. The one I wasn’t paying any attention to. The one that was hardly even there. I went to the door and held it open for him.
His arm brushed mine as he passed. The contact seared me. The brief heat radiating from that touch reignited abandoned pathways of fire I’d thought had long ago flamed out. My breath caught, my heart stuttered, my hand tightened around the door handle.
“You don’t need to wait for me again,” I said, my voice tight. I moved to shut the door after him. I tried not to notice the expression on his face as he turned around to look back at me. The glint in his eye that wanted to bet me we were both done with waiting.
Chapter Twelve
On Thursday morning I darted out of the hotel early to grab some coffee before getting ready for the day. I made it to the coffee shop on the corner when I heard my name being yelled behind me.
“Margot! Margot, wait!”
The deep male voice resonated past the words being spoken. I knew who it was before I turned. Knew it from the way the fine hairs on my arms rose, the tickle on the back of my neck, the plume of excitement stirring through my lower belly.
Josh.
My steps froze, and I waited for him to catch up to me.
“Yes?” My tone was professional. Polite, but distant. Perfectly suited to the situation. I gave myself a mental pat on the back.
He blushed as he dipped his hand into his pocket. His coat was thick and such a dark gray as to be almost black. He could pass for a New Yorker, even though the dull but constant ache in my core reminded me he was a Londoner by choice.
“Uh…” He ran his hand through his hair with a sheepish expression. “Lindsay came by my room and gave me something to give to you. Begged me, in fact.”
My brow furrowed, and I frowned. I didn’t need anything, and really Lindsay had never had a track record of taking care of me. I couldn’t imagine what she could possibly insist that I needed. Early in the morning. On a covert coffee run. Unless Josh had “some semblance of style” concealed somewhere on his person. Style was something I lacked that Lindsay called me out on a lot. Pretty mean to send Josh after me like this for the sake of a joke, though. He was still huffing with the exertion of catching up with me.
I cocked a hip to the side and held my hand out for Lindsay’s insult note. “Okay. Lay it on me. What does Lindsay think I need? A nose job? A personality? An entire makeover?”
He stared at me, unblinking. “No.” His words were slow to come and halting when they arrived. “You don’t need any of those things.”
My face heated. My heart beat faster like it believed him, but my brain told it to calm the heck down because he was only being polite. And protective of Lindsay as everyone tended to be.
He cleared his throat. “Um, nothing like that.” Finally he pulled his hand from his coat pocket. “Sorry. Got caught in the lining.” His fist was closed. Whatever he held was enfolded in the safety of his grip. He hovered over my open hand for a moment before dropping the object onto my palm.
My breath caught. I held the small thing up between two fingers. “A paper clip?” I stared at him, completely at a loss for words.
He swallowed, the color rising in his face once again. “Yes. Lindsay said you really needed it.” He pulled at the collar of his thick coat. “She was quite insistent. Knocked on my door very loudly. Tracked your phone to tell me where you were.”
I huffed. “Yeah. She does that.”
“She, um…” He glanced away as if resolved to say his next words even while deeply suspicious of their veracity. “She said it could be a matter of life or death.”
The earnest expression in his eyes pressed against my ribcage like a physical weight. For a second I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. A man rushing past behind me knocked into me, and I stumbled a step closer to Josh. He put a hand to my elbow and steadied me. “Oh. Okay. Thanks. For the paper clip. I appreciate it. Yay for paper clips!” I waved it in the air.
He straightened, the earnestness falling from his face to be replaced by a wry twist of his lips that drew my attention to their fullness. “So you don’t actually have a life-or-death emergency that…requires a paper clip.” The ridiculousness of his words made his mouth twitch in an almost smile before they were even fully out.
I smiled back at him. “No. Not presently. But maybe Lindsay knows something I don’t. Bride’s intuition? Is that a thing? I might have to MacGyver the Staten Island Ferry later, and this paper clip could be the answer to everything.”
His smile blazed on full power, and he thrust his hands in his pockets. “Since we’re both here, together, should we maybe—”
“Sorry,” I interrupted before he could ask and make my refusal even more awkward. “I’ve got to get back to my room and get ready.” I tamped down the tug of regret that pulled on my heart. I wasn’t falling for a paper clip. I was smarter than that.
His features hardened. “Of course. Good luck with”—he nodded to my hand that still held the paper clip like an alien object—“any MacGyvering that comes up.”
“Thanks,” I said and turned away. Whatever games Josh and Lindsay were playing weren’t going to work. The damage was too much. Even MacGyver would need more than a paper clip.
∞∞∞
After I finished my coffee back in my room, my plan was to head out to Bainbridge’s bright and early before anyone in my family could catch me and make me do something. I showered, dressed, did my hair and makeup, and then plastered myself against the door to stare through the peephole for a full minute before venturing out into the hallway, feeling safe from familial attack.
