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I attempted to remove the ring Matthew gave me but I felt him shake his head, his hand stopping me.
“No. Keep it. Let’s keep up the ruse,” he demanded. “And I don’t give a fuck about what the staff says. We’re not doing anything wrong, and it’s not like I’m giving you special treatment and unnecessary promotion.”
“You should,” I joked. “Because I don’t like cleaning toilets.”
“I could make you permanently the hotel’s performer. No bathrooms to clean.”
No toilet cleaning sounded like music to my ears, and the thought of playing piano permanently for the hotel sent a happy jitter all over my body.
“Yeah, but you get, what? Two events a month?”
“When you’re not at the hotel, you can play somewhere else. One of the guests tonight had messaged me about you and Roberta. He thought you played beautifully and wanted to know if you were for hire.”
“Bobby,” I corrected. “She likes to be called Bobby.”
“Bobby,” Matthew complied. “Anyways, this friend of mine has a cruise company and wanted to know if you’d be willing to go on a month-long cruise trip to Europe sometime next year.”
He had booked me a gig on cruise ship! I always wanted to go on a cruise but didn’t have the time nor the right people to go with. I guess now I had the perfect plus one.
“Yes! I’m willing!” I squealed too enthusiastically despite my situation.
“Okay, darling,” Matthew chuckled.
“I owe it to you, Matthew. This had been a dream of mine.”
“It’s always a pleasure doing business with you, darling.”
Chapter twenty-three
Matthew
Reagan sat on the kitchen counter as I cooked us breakfast—nothing special, just eggs, bacon, and toast with butter and jam. Then I learned that she didn’t like jam so she opted to make her own avocado toast and a bowl of Greek yogurt with honey and fresh berries because she needed something sweet.
I forgot how much this woman ate and that she needed variety. I was just thankful that my pantry was full for her.
She was still wearing my shirt and I had to say that it was a good look on her. It told me she was mine, and after our confession last night, I knew that she wasn’t going anywhere.
The quality of sleep I had last night was amazing, knowing that Reagan was safe by my side. Her warmth was soothing, and the sound of her calm breathing through the night was music to my eyes.
And those damn dahlias, now a permanent part of my sheets, my shirt, and the pillow that she had used. There was no way I was going to let her walk away from my life now.
My heart had ached for Reagan when I saw her on the floor last night as fear crept into her eyes. And I wanted to take her somewhere far away from here, from her father and the brother that dared lay a hand on her. I wanted to bring her where she could forget what happened, where it was only the two of us—a place where no one knew who we were, maybe change our names.
Her face, once vibrant and full of life, bore the aftermath of the encounter from the night prior. The area around her eye was shrouded in an unsettling shade of purple, a stark contrast to her pale skin. Some swelling had also set it, making her eye a little puffy.
She stared at herself in her compact mirror as I turned to set the bacon on the counter beside her yogurt. She poked at the tender spot, a grimace on her face. “Stop that,” I complained because if there was anything I had learned about black eyes, it was that the more you touched it, the more it would hurt.
I grabbed the ice pack from the freezer and tossed it to her. “How do you feel?” I asked.
“What do you think?” she complained, reaching for the ice pack on the counter. “God, it hurts. Remind me to punch Ryan back when I see him.”
“I’ll happily do it for you.”
“I can’t leave here until this heals.”
“You can stay as long as you want. I’m not going to complain,” I chuckled.
“What will people say if see me like this tomorrow?” Reagan and I had decided to play hooky today given what happened, and I contacted Clair to get ahead of whatever talk was going to circulate about us. Knowing that she had power over the employees, I knew I could count on her. Thankfully she didn’t ask any questions and promised that she would take care of it.
