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A handkerchief is dangled before my face, and I groan at the sight of Anton in the reflection of the mirror. I take the hanky and wipe my eyes. My face is a red, blotchy mess, and my eyes are swollen. “Sorry about this,” I sniffle, forcing myself to smile.
“Don’t be. It’s been a rough day. How is Mae?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not good. She didn’t go into too much detail, but I can imagine the stuff she’s been through.”
“We’ll get the people responsible, Piper. I promise you.” I know he’s telling the truth. His eyes burn with promise. “I shouldn’t have forced you to come tonight.”
“Nonsense. Give me a minute, I’ll pull myself together, and we can go and eat dinner.” He nods and leaves me alone.
When I step from the bathroom, Anton is waiting for me. He takes me by the hand and leads me to the elevator. “Where are we going?” I ask, glancing back at the bustling room.
“Well, you clearly aren’t in the right frame of mind to be social this evening,” he says, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “So, I thought we could have dinner alone. Just the two of us.” My heart swells at his thoughtful gesture. It’s hard to remember the reason I’m here when he’s acting so sweet.
At the top floor, he leads me to one of the three doors on the landing. He sticks a key card into the first door, and it flashes green before clicking open. The room inside is beautiful, but I’m aware this is a hotel room and I panic at the thought of Anton bringing me up here to finish what we started earlier. He seems to sense my inner turmoil and is quick to lead me past the bedroom, straight out onto the balcony.
I gasp at the scene before me. Laid out beautifully is a table set for two with a flickering candle in the centre. “I didn’t want you to miss out on the dinner,” he explains, whipping the silver dome from one of the plates. “Lobster.”
I smile. “You have a fascination with feeding me.”
“I was shocked at dinner last night when you hadn’t tried some of those foods. I’m excited to see what you think of lobster.”
I take the seat that Anton pulls out for me. He places a napkin across my lap and takes his own seat. Even though we’re in central London and I can hear the traffic below, it still feels magical. The skyline is glowing with the city street lights, and I’m reminded of why I love this place so much. “If you eat this sort of stuff all the time, have you ever eaten a hamburger or . . .” I pause to think. “A hotdog?” Anton screws his face up, and I laugh. “You’ve never? Have you had McDonald’s?”
“No. I’ve always had cooks who source the best meat, fish, and vegetables, and I eat what they cook. I have no need to get takeout or eat junk food.”
I taste a forkful of the juicy white lobster meat and groan with pleasure. “Mmm, this is good,” I say. “But I’m taking you to get a burger sometime.”
“If I get food poisoning, then it’ll be your fault.”
“I’ve never had food poisoning yet, and trust me when I say, I’ve eaten from street vendors that would make a rat’s kitchen look clean.” Anton shudders. “Do you always wear suits?” I ask. “Don’t you ever slip into joggers and just kick back and relax?”
Anton laughs. “Kick back and relax?” he repeats. “These days, I wouldn’t know what that was.” He seems to get lost in thought for a few moments before clearing his throat. “I don’t get much time to relax. This is one of the reasons I asked you to consider the plan. I don’t have time for a girlfriend who wants to go on real dates and kick back and relax.”
“Everything’s about business,” I say. “Isn’t that a little boring?”
He laughs again and raises his eyebrows. “It’s my life. People are depending on me to play a role.”
“Your mum and sister?” I ask.
At the mention of his mum, he winces slightly. “Not just them. I was born to be exactly who I am.”
I sip my white wine. It’s crisp against the buttery taste of the lobster. “If somebody is born into something, then it isn’t their personal choice. If you had a choice, would you choose this?”
He sighs and pushes his untouched plate away. “What about you? What do you do with your time?”
“You don’t like answering questions,” I point out.
“You ask a lot. What do club princesses do all day? Sit with the big, strong bikers and giggle at their jokes?”
I bite my inner cheek to stop from smiling. “Actually, the club whores are the ego boosters. I have a little more stature around the club.”
“Oh. Because I heard women weren’t club members unless they became old ladies themselves. I assumed that’s why you were so dead set on caging Hulk.”
Maybe I dented his ego when I asked the questions I did, but he’s being intentionally annoying to get a rise from me, and so I lean back in my chair and fix him with my best poker face. “I want to cage Hulk because he’s good in bed.”
Anton smirks and takes a drink of his bourbon. “Justgood? So, you’d spend the rest of your life chained to a man who’s justgoodin bed?”
“Why don’t you wanna talk about your mum?” I ask, my tone antagonistic.
