Exquisite Betrayal (20 page)

When I pull away I can only stare into her
silver gray eyes. Her lips are soft and I can’t keep mine from
touching them again. I suck on first her top lip then her bottom
one. Then I run my tongue along them. I touch nothing else on her
other than her mouth with mine. And it’s divine.

“
Every time I kiss you, Fallon, I feel
like I’m handing you a piece of my heart.” The words are whispered,
but they’re honest and true.

Her thumb runs along my bottom lip. “You
don’t even know me, Ryland Thomas.”

“
I know you better than you think I
do. I know that you make me feel things I’ve never felt before. You
do things to me that I can’t explain. Things seem… different with
you. I didn’t care about things before you. And I know I’m a bloody
fuck up, but I’m going to work hard to prove to you that I can be
the man you need and want in your life.”

Her hands tighten in my hair as her mouth
seeks mine for a kiss filled with passion and urgency. We come
together with such need for each other it’s impossible to deny any
longer.

My hand runs into her hair. I love the feel
of its silken texture. I don’t ever want this moment to end because
in it is something so loving and peaceful that it makes me realize
how right things are with her and how well we mesh. It also brings
home how fragile we are and that the tiniest of things can destroy
us. If anyone knows how uncertain life is, it’s the two of us.
Knowing this only makes me want to be an even better man for
her.

When we finally stop to breathe, I smile.
She smiles back for a moment then asks, “Why did you come into my
room?”

Chuckling, I answer, “Your headboard banged
against my wall. Then I heard you cry out and I thought you hurt
yourself. But when I got here, I found quite a picture.” I describe
it and she buries her head in my neck and groans. I laugh again.
“It was worth it.”

“
I had this vivid dream of you last
night, too. I really thought you were in bed with me.”

“
I wish,” I snort.

She sighs. “Ryland Thomas, what are we gonna
do?”

“
Do? Why do we have to do anything?
Can’t we just take it a day at a time?”

“
I suppose we can.”

Standing up for a second, I pull off my
pants. “Scoot over, love.” I slip under the covers next to her and
wrap her in my arms.

“
What will your sister say about us
sleeping in the same bed?”

“
She’ll be wondering what took us so
long. She’s wanted this almost as much as me. But Fallon, we’re not
going to do anything except sleep in here tonight. We’re going to
take things slow, like we should’ve from the start. There’s an
undeniable attraction between us, but we still have some sorting
out to do. And there are some things I need to tell you, too. But
right now, I want you to get some sleep, love.” I kiss her
neck.

“
Okay. G’night Sinclair.”

“‘
Night, love.” I chuckle at her use
of my surname.

***

Waking up with a raging hard-on is just as
bad as trying to go to sleep with one. I quietly roll out of bed,
so as not to disturb the true sleeping beauty next to me, and
tiptoe out of her room. I get in the shower and take care of
things. Christ, it seems like that’s all I do since I met Fallon.
After I get dressed, I head to the kitchen to get my big brekkie
started.

I make bacon, sausage and get the hash
browns going. I pull out the scones that Tilly bought and stick
them in the oven to warm. The coffee’s made and I get the juice and
iced water in the pitchers. I mix up a batch of Mimosas and a batch
of Bloody Marys as the girls finally make their way downstairs.
Fallon’s showered, but Tilly hasn’t.

Tilly says, “Oh, I smelled all the yummy
goodness and couldn’t wait to eat.”

“
What’s your poison,
ladies?”

They both start with coffee while I put the
eggs on. I am making scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and
Parmigiano-Reggiano grated on top.

We sit down and enjoy our full breakfast
before we get into the Mimosas, at which point Tilly announces that
it’s present time, so we head over to the den where the Christmas
tree is located. I put on the Christmas music and she starts
handing out her presents.

Fallon is crestfallen when she gets more
gifts.

“
Hush now. This is so much fun for me
and it gives me an excuse.”

I just smile because all I want to do is
watch Fallon open her gifts.

She does and smiles to see some earrings, a
bracelet and a new leather handbag that she can use as a briefcase
for work.

“
Tilly, this is too much!”

“
You’ll need it for work. It can hold
your laptop and all your papers that you’ll have to carry back and
forth. Come on, Fallon, you need to look professional. You can’t go
in to work carrying a ratty old backpack you used in
college.”

Fallon is quiet for a second and finally
agrees.

“
Good.”

Tilly hands me my gifts and I open them to
see a new MacBookPro. My old one was starting to run a bit slow.
“Tilly, this is great. Thanks!” I hug her.

“
That’s awesome,” Fallon says. “That’s
a dream machine.”

“
It is,” I agree.

I give Tilly her gift, and when she unwraps
it, she squeals. “Oh my God, are you kidding me?”

“
What is it?” Fallon asks.

“
It’s a trip to Vietnam for two weeks.
I’ve been dying to go there.” Tilly jumps up and hugs me. “Thank
you, Ryland Thomas. This is perfect.”

“
I hope you noticed it’s for two. I
bought it when you were still with what’s-his-name. So you’ll have
to figure out someone else to take.”

“
No worries on that, brother.” She
kisses me on the cheek.

Then I hand Fallon her gift. She looks at me
in surprise. “Go on, open it.”

She unwraps it to find the first
edition of
Lovers Between the
Sheets.
“You need to read the inscription
inside.”

I watch her as she opens it. She’s smiling
at first then her face changes to one of surprise then a bit more
of a shocked look before she positively glows. She holds the book
against her chest and hugs it to her.

“
Are you for real?” she whispers, her
eyes all dewy.

I nod slowly. She gets up and walks to me
and then we’re in each other’s arms, hugging. “Thank you. This
means so much more to me than any other gift in the world.”

“
Merry Christmas, Fallon.” I kiss her
lightly on the lips.

Tilly is looking at us and says, “Well, are
you gonna tell me what it says?”

Fallon hands her the book and she starts to
read.

Dearest Fallon,

After seeing you hold this
next to your heart and the way your eyes lit up when you did, I
knew then it was never meant to be mine. So take this and add it to
your collection. What you didn’t know was that the day we spoke, I
had already begun working on the sequel to this, but after hearing
your thoughts, I have since scratched the whole idea. You’re right.
There can never be a part two to
Lovers Between the
Sheets
because it would spoil the purity
of the words. So thank you for being honest about that and saving
me from humiliating myself and ruining this story.

Merry Christmas.

Yours,

Ryland Thomas

Fallon and I only have eyes for each other
and Tilly somehow vanishes.

“
You really stopped writing it because
of what I said?”

“
Yeah. Like the inscription says, you
were dead on. It would’ve looked like a scheme to drag the story on
and on. It would’ve ruined the whole thing. You made me realize
that. I don’t want to be one of those writers who puts things out
there just for the money. I want them to be from the heart. So I
trashed the whole thing. Deleted it. It will never be
written.”

“
Willow and Jack will be so happy.”
She smiles and I can’t help smiling in return. All of a sudden we
find ourselves in each other’s arms again, kissing this time.
Heated kissing, like last night… sharing pieces of our
souls.

She’s so bloody sweet I want this to go on
forever, but I know it can’t. So I pull away and say, “You know I
could kiss you all day, right?”

She grins and nods. “I think Tilly would
feel like a third wheel, though.”

I take a deep breath and then tuck a chunk
of her hair behind her ear. “Have I told you how beautiful you
are?”

“
Hmm. Not today.”

“
You’re not just beautiful, you’re
exquisite,” I say against her mouth. I kiss her quickly then grab
her hand. “Tilly, how ‘bout another Mimosa?” I call out.

“
Are you two done snogging
yet?”

Fallon turns a bit pink, but giggles. “Yeah.
Come here.”

Tills comes in with the pitcher and tray of
Mimosas, and smiles. She’s happy things are straightening out
between us. And it turns out to be quite a happy Christmas after
all.

***

Fallon’s excited to get into her apartment.
It’s more like a large studio, but it’s not far from here and it’s
close to her office. Critics Abound located it for her so this is
the first time she’s seeing it in person. Everything else has been
done online.

We’re moving her in today and she’s almost
bursting. It doesn’t take long because she barely has anything. Her
bed is being delivered this afternoon, so we go and buy sheets and
towels and then make a stop to stock up her kitchen with some extra
things she needs.

After her bed arrives, I help her make it up
with her new things while Tilly heads home. It’s just the two of us
now and we smile because we haven’t had much privacy since she’s
arrived here.

“
What are you thinking?” I
ask.

“
Do you have to ask?”

We both laugh right before we collide with
each other in a heated kiss. However I’ve decided before we go any
further—before we take this to the next step—I have to tell her
about my past. I don’t really want to because Iris burned a hole so
huge and so deep within me that I dread the mere mention of her
name. To avoid discussing it with Fallon, though, is too unfair,
and I cannot leave it another minute.

“
Fallon, before we do anything,
there’s something we need to talk about… something I need to tell
you. It’s about why I was such a jerkface to you.”

His eyes bore into mine and he licks his
lips for a second. “Fallon, there are so many things I need to say
to you, but first of all, I must apologize again. That day on the
deck was the best moment of my life and I ruined it when I left.
But the truth is…” he looks away for a moment and then grabs me and
says, “it scared the piss outta me. I felt so close to you and I
didn’t know what to say… to do. So, of course, I did the worst
thing of all and I ran. I know, very noble and all. The proper
thing a gent would do, right? But I have this issue with…”

He stops and breathes then he rubs his
face. “Fuck. You know I told you my mum and dad were killed? Yeah,
well, shortly afterwards, I got involved with the girl who would
fix it all. Save me from everything. Happens that she and I were
together for well over a year and then one day I come home because
I forgot my notes for a class. I was still in uni at the time. And
well, I catch her in bed—
my
bed
—with my best mate. They wanna know if I wanted to
join them, too. It messed me up for a while and my sister found me
a couple of weeks later. She had to straighten me out. I was really
broken up… depressed, and then I started sleeping around. I was
acting out, telling myself I wasn’t hurt and all.

“
You know the story, I’m sure. It was
all rubbish. The deal was that my parents’ death was still an issue
and then my best mate and finally her. Then came the girls… I think
I was trying to prove to myself that I didn’t care about what they
did, so I tried to erase it all by using women. Of course, that was
stupid. I finally went through therapy and that pushed me back out
of the black hole I’d been living in. So now, I’m a bit gun shy,
you might say. When you and I were on the deck, I felt an anxiety
attack coming on. I hadn’t had one in years, so I clammed up. I
should’ve talked to you, however I didn’t know where to start or
what to say. It was wrong because not saying anything hurt you and
I
—
I wish I could do it over…
you know, change the way I acted.”

When he finishes, he’s taken his lower lip
into his mouth and I worry he’s going to bite through it because
he’s clamping down on it so hard with his teeth. So I tug it out
with my fingers.

“
Look, Ryland Thomas, I’m sorry.
That’s a rotten betrayal if I’ve ever heard one. You were really
screwed over and I’m sorry. And I thought mine was bad, but it was
nothing in comparison.”

His tilted head tells me he’s waiting to
hear my story now. There’s absolutely no use in keeping that Bryce
The Dickface story a secret, so I spill that one out. When I’m
finished, he’s chomping down on that lip again.

“
You’re gonna put a hole straight
through this if you don’t stop,” I tell him as I ease it out from
between his teeth.

“
What a bloody asshole.”

“
Yeah, right? And I was so stupid.” I
shudder at the thought of that scene again.