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“It’s the question I’m choosing.”
“Your questions are not nice questions.” I shrug a little. Whatever, I’m not ashamed. “Yes he was my first.” And I wish he could be my last, but I’m not stupid enough to make that promise. Time goes by and as much as the thought of sleeping with someone else repulses me, it’ll probably happen eventually.
Pulling myself from my thoughts I look at Nathan, mainly because his leather gloves are squeaking on the rubber wheel. He does this when he’s frustrated. Why’s he frustrated? “Your question.”
“Okay, how old were you when you lost your virginity?” My smile is cocky, two can play at this game.
“Young, I don’t remember,” oh he’s lying.
“You’re a terrible liar too.”
“I don’t want to play this game anymore.”
“Boring.”
“Bored,” he retorts and raises his chin defiantly. “Let’s just listen to the radio.”
He’s so secretive, it drives me crazy. Maybe that’s because I grew up with just me and my mum, it has made me eager to see how much greener the grass is on the other side. Or the opposite.
It doesn’t take long to get to the city even though we stop for lunch on the way. When we arrive we pull up outside an empty looking store on a busy street. Nathan helps me out of the car and pulls a ring of keys from his inner jacket pocket.
He first opens the shutters via a key hole in a small grey box beside the shutters. They slowly ascend, revealing two wide windows with a door in the middle. Next we step inside and I’m relieved to see it’s not dusty. Dust bugs the hell out of me.
From what I can see there are glass cases on top of dark wooden settings spread out around the room. Glass encased shelves line the walls. Even the counter is one long display box.
“What do you think?” He asks, worrying his lip between his teeth. “Think this is a good place to start?”
I nod slowly, observing the room, “I think it’s great. A little dull though.”
“Agreed, we need to set it apart from the rest.” We? “It opens in a few months hopefully, I’m just waiting on stock and staff and I need to expand my jewellery selection and find a supplier.”
“You’ll do great, Nathan,” I say honestly because I know he will. “Your jewellery is amazing.”
His cheeks pink slightly and for the second time since I’ve met him I get to see a sweet vulnerability — that doesn’t seem to exist in a man like Nathan — shine through. “I’m nervous.”
“You’re human,” I place my hand on his shoulder as he leans forward on the counter display case. “You’ll be fine, and if you’re not, you’ll still have me as your number one fan.”
He looks at me, a handsome smile on his face. “You’re a lovely person, Guinevere.”
“So are you, Nathan.”
“You bring that out in me,” his lips purse slightly. I can see he’s battling with himself on whether or not to say anything. “A few months ago I wanted to do this to destroy my dad’s business. A revenge mission so to speak. Because of my family name I know this will get attention, the son of a well-known business man branching out on his own. I wanted to bring him to his knees, make him regret the day he called me a failure.” I listen intently, wondering where he’s going with this. “And now…” he pauses and looks at me, his hands come up and cup my neck. “Now I just want to succeed to prove that I’m worth it.”
“You are worth it,” I stop myself from rolling my eyes. “You’re worth everything.” I’m not sure if this makes sense but I know what I’m talking about.
“No,” he steps closer. “I mean… with you.”
“You’re worth a lot to me.”
“Not as much as my brother,” he grits through his teeth.
My hand comes up and grips his wrist, I stare him in the eye. “The same, you’re worth the same to me as he was. It’s just a different kind of worth.”
“Don’t,” he sighs and presses his forehead against mine. “Don’t give me hope.”
Gulp. “Hope for what?”
“Hope that maybe one day you’ll look at me the way you looked at him.”
My heart skips a beat, “How’d you know the way I looked at him?”
His phone rings, disturbing our intimate moment. I want to smash it but instead I step away to give him some privacy. He looks at me apologetically and puts his phone to his ear.
“I’ll wait in the car,” I have words to erase from my mind.
“We’ll talk later.”
Or never. Never is good too.
Nathan doesn’t take me back to the hotel, he takes me for a long walk around Piccadilly Circus. He even takes a few pictures when I request them and a few when I don’t. It’s great, I love the city. I wish I could spend more time here before the baby arrives. I don’t think pushing a pram around here is such a good idea.
