CORAL - Fallen (A Romance Trilogy, Book 2) (15 page)

“I told you,” I say looking out the window at
the shoppers melting in the heat.

“Don’t believe you!” He scoffs.

“Tough!” I retort.

“Tell me, please....” He leans forward,
places his hand on my cheek and turns my head around to face him.

“It’s embarrassing,” I moan. I also don’t
want him to know how badly I didn’t want a male boss.

“I won’t laugh.” He assures me.

“Yes you will!” I snort.

“No, I won’t.” He argues back, his voice
firm.

“Fine!” I close my eyes and say it. “I Googled
you,” I whisper, opening my eyes to stare out the window again. “This place is
so nice, I bet it looks lovely in the winter with all the shop windows lit up,”
I add trying to get off the subject.

“It certainly does.” I look up, and the
lady who took our order is placing our coffees down.

“Thank you.” Tristan and I both thank her
at the same time.

She smiles warmly at us both. “You’re
welcome, toasty won’t be long love,” she says to Tristan.

“Ok, thank you.” Tristan smiles up at her,
stopping her in her tracks.
Jesus H Christ!
She’s got be in her sixties
and she’s blushing.

“No…no problem dear,” she says looking all
flustered as she walks away. I want to roll my eyes, but I don’t. Tristan takes
a sip of his coffee then places his cup down. He doesn’t say anything about the
Google thing, which I’m glad of.
That was a close one!

“And what about Mogul?” Tristan says
pulling me from reverie.
Shit!
– I decide to act like I didn’t hear him.
“Earlier today you called me Mogul,” he adds. I glance across at him. Tristan
is smirking at me, his head cocked to the side.

“Uh-huh,” I take a sip of coffee and stare
out the window. He lifts his chair and shuffles closer to me, when he reaches
me, he pulls on my chin so I have to look at him; we are almost nose to nose.

“Why did you Google me?”
Christ, I
thought he’d dropped this one!
I decide on the truth, he doesn’t need to
know I was staring at him for hours after I found him.

“I was scared,” I whisper.

“Scared?” He repeats his brows pulled
together.

“Yes,” I hiss, feeling annoyed we are
having this conversation in public.

His eyes bore into me. “Of me?” He softly
asks.

“No, of who you
could
be...” I sigh
in frustration and run my hand through my hair. “I never wanted a male boss’ –
“Most men are creepy to you,” Tristan interrupts.

I stare back at him with wide eyed worry.
“You really do listen,” I whisper, glancing at the couple sitting near us.

“Yes I do, and I’m sorry for interrupting
you. I won’t again, please continue.”
God damn it!
It’s so hard to be
mad at him when he’s so bloody polite like that!

“Basically that’s why I like where I work,
Joyce is – sorry
was
my boss. Everything was comfortable, controlled.” I
take another sip of coffee.

“And then I come along,” he says smiling
boyishly at me again.

“Yeah…” I roll my eyes and smile at him,
then frown remembering how I felt only two short weeks ago. “I had to see you
weren’t some creepy fat cat in a suit,” I tell him.

“What would you have done if I was?” He
asks, drinking more coffee.

“Left,” I answer immediately.

“You wouldn’t have given it a go anyway?” He
asks, surprised.

“Tristan I...” I run my hand through my
hair then start blurting it all out. “It’s like…like I have a built in radar
for creepy, slimy, bad men. I can tell them a mile away, almost as though I can
smell the creepiness oozing out of them.” I take a deep breath, clear my throat
and carry on drinking my coffee.

“Why?” I ignore that one. “And Mogul?” He
asks jumping to the next question, but it’s not a better one!

I decide on the truth. “I was mad at you
for putting the idea in Joyce’s head about selling. It was a nickname I made up
for you. I hated you before I’d even met you, hated you for taking Joyce away,
of making my controlled, comfortable life turn on it’s head.” I bob my tongue
out at him then smile.

Tristan’s eyes widen and darken as he
stares back at me, then he swallows hard and takes my hand in his. “Coral, I
didn’t put the idea in her head, Joyce asked me?” he tells me, his cheeks
flaming too.

“What?” I whisper, I feel all the blood
drain out of my face.
I don't believe this! Why is everyone lying to me?
Tristan
entwines our fingertips and softly squeezes, making me feel calmer, then
continues.

“Joyce asked me if I knew about anyone
wanting to buy at the moment, I asked her why, she told me about her plans’ –
“What, what do you mean, her plans?” I interrupt.

“Here’s your ham and cheese toasty love.” The
lady places Tristan’s food in front of him.

“Thank you,” he glances up at her then his
eyes flash back to me. “Coral,” he whispers, I think he thinks I’m about to
have a full scale meltdown.

“She lied to me,” I hiss.

“How?” he asks with wide eyes.

“She told me that you’d heard about John
and made
her
an offer, but you didn’t?” I squeak.

“No, I didn’t,” he answers firmly – I
absolutely believe him.

“What the fuck is going on? Why would Joyce
lie to me?” I say, feeling incensed.

“I don't know baby.” His thumb starts
making small circular movements across my knuckles, trying to calm me, ease me.

“Everyone’s lying to me,” I hiss, fighting
back the tears.

He leans forward, softly kisses my cheek then
whispers in my ear. “I’m not.” I gasp and choke back my tears, gripping his
hand more firmly.

“I know,” I whisper back, then lean forward
and stroke his cheek. “That’s how I know I can depend on you, rely on you. I
know you value honesty.” I croak.

“Yes, I do baby,” he says.

For once in my life, I actually feel like
letting something go, instead of it pissing me off all day. Tristan will be
gone tomorrow, we have so little time, and I don’t want to spend today feeling
pissed. I want to enjoy Tristan for as long as I can, I want to make the most
of the time we have together.

“Fuck it,” I hiss. “I’m not letting
anything spoil this day, what’s done is done, right?”

Tristan looks amazed. “Yeah…can’t change
the past baby.”

“Or people lying either,” I add.

“Nope, can’t change that.” He adds. I feel
satisfied I can handle it. I mean, it seems everyone bar Tristan is keeping
something from me nowadays. I take a deep breath and another sip of coffee
feeling satisfied that I have my emotions in check.

“Eat your Toasty babes, it’ll go cold.” Tristan
smiles and leans in for a kiss, I peck his lips then get up and order two more
coffees.

HASTINGS IS BEAUTIFUL
. We
have walked through the Old Town, strolled down George Street, the High Street
and All Saints, which are full to the brim of historical things to see and do;
and all the quirky tiny passage ways to walk around are just delightful. There
is history everywhere you turn, old houses with the history of the smugglers, the
Museum and the Smugglers Cave’s.

It has great cafés and restaurants and the
pubs look really oldy-worldy too, I want to come back in the winter. Tristan
agreed it’s a must, and that we should stay at the oldest place we can find, a
weekend here would be so much fun.

And to make our day even more magical we’ve
bought two really lovely boat paintings for the house by a local artist, the
way he captured the light is what made us both gravitate towards his work, and
we both agreed they would look lovely in the bedroom.

“Have you ever had a photo-shoot done,
professionally?” Tristan asks me as we stroll hand in hand through the streets.

“No,” I chuckle. “Why would I want to do
that?” I balk.

“Because one day when you’re wrinkly, you
might want to look back on how utterly breathtaking you really are.” He says
his eyes warm and sincere.

I shake my head at him. “I think you’re
biased!”

“Really?” He counteracts, his head cocked
to the side.

“Yes.” I scoff.

“Look behind you.” I turn around and see
the reason for his question. I am stood looking at the shop front of a photography
studio.

I turn back around and shake my head at him.
“No, no way!” I’m too late. Tristan picks me up by the waist, takes the couple
of steps needed to reach the door, swings it open, steps inside and puts me
down. “I won’t do it,” I pout, crossing my arms.

He completely ignores me and turns to the
man behind the counter, who looks a little shocked at us bursting into his
store. “Good afternoon, any chance of a couple of photos to take away?” Tristan
asks in his persuasive way.

“Yes, of course.” The man ushers us into a
back room. It has white walls and a white floor. He places a stool in the
centre of the room, and starts to set up his camera. Tristan starts dragging me
towards the stool.

“Tristan,” I moan.

“Don't argue it’s happening,” he growls.

“Only if you’re with me,” I say and pull
him along with me.

“Ok, all ready?” The camera man asks.

Tristan sits on the stool and pulls me down
so I’m sitting on his left leg, at an angle. “This was supposed to be just
you,” he scolds mulishly.

I place my arm around his neck and shake my
head at him. “Believe me, these photos will look so much better with you in
them.” He frowns at me and shakes his head.

For some reason, our earlier conversation
starts running through my head. I decide to be truthful with him, shock him, so
I lean down so I’m right next to his ear.

“Oh and by the way,” I whisper. “When I Googled
you. I hadn’t even met you, yet I spent ages staring at all your pictures, I
thought you were the most handsome man I had ever seen.” I hear his breath
catch. I sit back up and stare down at him; it’s definitely had the desired
effect.

His cheeks have flushed, his lips are
parted and his eyes are wide, deepening, growing darker as the seconds tick by
-
Ha it worked!

“Eyes to the camera please, say cheese.” I turn
and smile at the camera, the flash blinding me then turn to see Tristan still
staring up at me, he’s totally speechless.
Ha!
That means I’ll have that
photo, and I’ll always remember what I said to him, right then, the look on his
face is priceless.

Finally he speaks. “Oh you did, did you?”
he whispers all seductively.

I gaze down at him, feeling brave. “Yes, I
did.” He places his hand on my cheek and pulls my head down so his lips are at
my ear.

“I knew I was right, you even loved me back
then,” he whispers.

My mouth gapes open, I guess it’s my turn
to look shocked. The photographer keeps snapping away, as Tristan smiles up at
me with that sexy grin of his, I can't help but smile back.

Suddenly the atmosphere between us changes,
charges; filling the room with an invisible force of electricity. Tristan is
looking up at me in that hypnotic way of his, my breathing alters as my heart
begins to pound against my chest.
Whoa!

Tristan takes my hand and places it against
his heart; it’s beating just as fast as mine. I can feel the pull from him, his
eyes darkening pulling me into his hypnotic gaze, I'm aware that there’s still
a flash going off, but I don't take any notice of it.

“See the effect you have on me,” he
whispers, his eyes dark and dilated.

I nod once. “It’s the same effect you have
on me.”

“Is it?” He questions – How could he be
unsure of that?

“Kiss me,” I whisper.

Tristan entwines his hands in my hair and pulls
my head down so our lips connect. It’s like he’s kissing me for the first time,
I’m instantly transported to another world. His kiss consumes me, caresses me, it’s
so powerful and strong, his tongue expertly lapping against mine – I think I’m
going to faint, I feel dizzy. “Coral…” He moans against my lips. It heats my
body, boils my blood and makes everything south of my belly clench with delicious
anticipation. I moan in response and kiss him back, reveling in his skill, how
he tastes –
Fuck, I’ll never get enough.

Unfortunately, we start to get a bit
heated, forgetting all about the camera man. Until he clears his throat
bringing our attention back to him, we both look up surprised and a little
embarrassed.

“All done,” he says, looking embarrassed
and starts to take the card out of his camera.

I bite my lip feeling guilty. Tristan lifts
me off his lap and we walk shamefaced to the front of the shop. Tristan pays
the photographer and we waltz out of there with a twenty A4 shots that the
photographer printed off for us. Tristan also bantered with him to send the
photos in a zip file so we can blow up any particular ones that we like and
frame them.
Great! I really don’t want pictures of me all over the house!