AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll let it go this time.” He winks.
“Actually, I’ve not been very good with people for a while.”
“We all have strengths and weaknesses, darling.”
I give him a weak smile when he slowly reaches across, allowing me enough time to pull away or tell him to stop, and then he twists a messy wave of my hair around his finger, stroking the dark strands with his thumb before he tucks them behind my ear. The gentleness in the action along with the heat of his proximity makes it impossible for me to fathom parting ways with him without even knowing his name.
“Are you ever going to tell me your name?”
He chuckles. “Are you ever going to ask?”
As tempted as I am to keep this game going between us, I swallow my pride. “What’s your name?”
“If I tell you, are you going to give me your number?”
“Do you always ask for more before you get what you want?”
“You don’t ask, you don’t get.”
“Sometimes you can ask for too much,” I say, just as the tannoy pings again, and a new announcement is made in Hungarian before being translated into English.
“This is an announcement for all passengers.” Fuck. “Due to continuing extreme weather conditions, all flights are grounded until further notice. For more information, please go to the respective airline desks.”
Ready to beat my head against the marble bar top, I neck the wine instead.
This can’t be happening. I’m on my own in a country I’ve never been to that speaks a language I know nothing about. This is not how I want to go into the new year.
Alone.
It’s actually weird how I’ve gone from wanting to be alone with my dad’s ashes to dreading the silence and the constant reminder that he’s now gone for good. It feels as terrifying as when my step-mum called to tell me Dad was in the hospital.
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” Maximus pushes to his feet, grabbing our backpacks and throwing one over each of his muscular shoulders before he takes my hand and leads me from the bar. “We’ll go to the desk, get the information you need, and then you’re coming with me.”
“Going with you where?”
“I have a suite at the Ritz-Carlton.”
Tripping over my feet, I come to an abrupt stop. “Wait, you’re staying here? In Budapest?”
“I am.”
“But… you waited all this time with me. Why?”
“Because…” he says, smoothing his thumb over my wrinkled forehead. “You’re the prettiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, Cassidy.”
I’m not sure what I was going to say, or if I was going to say anything at all, but his statement robs me of all my vocabulary, and I gawk at him, waiting for him to tell me he’s joking.
When he doesn’t burst out laughing, I say, “I don’t even know your name. We don’t know each other, and—”
“My name is Leif McAllister.”
“Leif? That’s… unusual.”
“I’m not your usual man.”
“I’m starting to understand that.”
“Good. Now, you already know that I’m a banker and that I’m relentless in my pursuits, so you can deduce that, although I don’t know everything about you, I’m not leaving this airport without you. The only other thing you need to know is that your shitty day is about to become the best day of both our lives.”
