I nod.
“The trip’s over.”
“Yep.” I nod as I wipe my eyes. “Time to go back to reality.”
He rolls his lips. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“You want to stay longer?” I smile hopefully.
“I wish we could.”
I smile sadly. If only.
His eyes search mine. “Hayden . . . I’m not who you think I am.”
I frown.
“I’m not a cleaner.”
“What do you mean?”
He grabs my two hands and leads me over to a bench seat and sits me down. “Sweetheart.” His voice is soft, cajoling, as if delivering a fatal blow. “Have you ever heard of Miles Media?”
“No.”
“It’s a media company in New York.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’m Christopher Miles.”
I frown. “What are you talking about?”
“Babe.” He widens his eyes, hoping I will get a clue. “As in Miles Media Miles.”
“I don’t understand.” I frown.
A black limousine pulls up, and the driver in full uniform gets out and pops the trunk.
“Our car is here.”
I look to the fancy car, horrified . . . that’s our car?
What the fuck?
Chapter 21
My eyes search his.
Time seemingly stands still . . . I don’t understand. I look back at the pristine limousine and then back to him.
What do you mean . . . that’s our car?
“Babe, we have to go. We have a plane to catch. Let’s just . . .” He gestures to the limousine and the driver waiting by the open trunk. “We can talk about it on the way.”
I stare at him, shocked to my core.
“Grumps.” He kisses my lips quickly. “It changes nothing. Relax.” He carries my backpack down to the car. “Hello,” he says to the driver before passing the backpack and coming back for his. “Get into the car, sweetheart.”
How can he say this changes nothing? This changes every single thing.
“Babe.” He points to the car as if reminding me. “Get in.”
It’s then that I realize what’s going on here. I’m being railroaded. He’s purposely withheld this information until two minutes before the car turned up so that I wouldn’t have time to get upset.
He opens the car door and smiles warmly. “Come on,” he mouths.
My eyes flick to the driver, and he smiles warmly. Feeling stupid and not wanting to cause a scene, I get into the back of the limousine.
Christopher slides in beside me and pulls my face to his and kisses me softly. “Off we go.” He smiles happily as he takes my hand in his lap.
The car pulls out from the curb and drives down the street, and I stare out the window as people watch us drive by.
I have no words.
To break the awkward silence between us, Christopher chats away to the driver, like, he’s overly chatty, and I know what he’s doing. He doesn’t want to talk about this with me until we’re safely on the plane.
He picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. “I love you,” he mouths. “What a great trip. That was the best time of my life. I’m going to miss those guys.” He happily chats away. “We should try and catch up with everyone at least once a year.”