Exquisite Betrayal (28 page)

“
How is it that I just saw you ten
hours ago, and my body is going through Fallon withdrawals
already?”

“
Hmmm, probably the same reason mine
is. I love you, R.T.”

“
Mmmm. Must be a special occasion for
you to call me that.” I never call him R.T.

“
Every day is a special occasion with
you.”

His mouth is on mine again and I decide that
I would rather kiss Ryland Thomas than eat, drink or sleep. For me,
everything ceases to exist except for him.

“
Do you know when you’ll be finished
for the night?”

“
Uh-uh. Probably not until
late.”

“
I’ll be waiting up for
you.”

I kiss him again and he lets me slide down
his luscious body. “I can’t wait.”

***

The convention is amazing! I get to see all
my blogger girls Kat, Amanda, Mandy and Andrea. Simone, Heather,
Terri, Alana, Jenn, Tana, Ellie and almost everyone I know from the
blogging world are also there. It’s so exciting, but I’m working
the entire time so I can spend only moments with them. They all get
to come to our big event, though, so it’s phenomenal seeing them
there.

By the time Saturday rolls around, I want to
crawl in a hole and sleep for days. Kristie leaves that afternoon,
but before she does, she makes a comment to me that leaves me a bit
rattled.

“
You know, Ruth mentioned to me how
she noticed that you and R.T. seem to be pretty close. She knows I
suggested you do a spotlight on her, Fallon. She’s pushing for you
to do it soon. She also wants you to use your relationship with her
to get inside information.”

“
Kristie, I can’t do that. Yeah, we’re
fairly close. I won’t deny that, but I refuse to exploit our
relationship.”

“
I understand. I’m just giving you a
heads up. Ruth’s name is pretty appropriate. She can be extremely
ruthless when she wants to be, so if she gets something in her
head, you may not be able to deter her from this. I’m simply giving
you a warning here. And one other thing, I won’t be able to sway
her. She doesn’t like me at all, Fallon.”

“
Gee, thanks for the heads
up.”

“
You know how much I like you. I don’t
want you to get blindsided by her.”

“
Got it. And thanks,
Kristie.”

With that, she nods and leaves for the
airport.

When I go to meet Ryland Thomas, he notices
my mood. I explain what happened and he says, “She can’t force you
to get information that Tilly refuses to give, so stop worrying
about it. All you have to say is that Tilly refused to answer
you.”

“
I guess so,” but for some strange
reason, I still feel very unsettled by it all. It’s the same
feeling that has persisted for weeks whenever Ruth would pop into
my cubicle. Ruth has never been my favorite person, and this
confirms why.

***

It’s Sunday night and we’re heading to the
restaurant to meet my mother and her dweeb of a husband. “Calm
down, love. I’ve got this. I want you to remember something for me,
will you?”

I nod.

“
She can’t hurt you anymore. Only you
can allow that to happen, so don’t let it. Be strong, okay? And
remember, lower your expectations.” He gives my hand an encouraging
squeeze.

“
Got it. Let’s get this over
with.”

It starts out okay. We make all the
introductions, and at first she’s nice, but soon the snide comments
emerge. First she nails me, but then she tries to use her vicious
tactics on Ryland Thomas. We introduce him as Ryland, the freelance
writer. She doesn’t know anything about him, however she presumes
he’s a nobody. Of course, she thinks
she’s
all that and then some. Don’t ask me why
because the woman has never held down a real job in her
life.

“
So, Ryland, what is it exactly that
you write?”

“
Articles for magazines, news releases
for PR companies, that sort of thing.”

“
Ah, a dreamer, just like my little
Fallon here.” She’s so condescending; I have to clamp my jaws
together to keep from screaming at her.

“
Being a dreamer is a bad thing then,
I take it?”

“
You’ll never amount to much. Dreams
won’t put food on the table or money in the bank.”

“
That so? That’s not the way it works
in my family. Matter of fact, my parents encouraged it. My granddad
was a big dreamer and so was his dad. He passed it down to my dad
and then my dad passed it to me. Anyway, they built quite a large
fortune in Great Britain, they did. Dreaming served them quite
well. You should try it some time. You might be surprised.” I
squeeze his hand and want to laugh at the look on her
face.

“
Well, look at what it’s done for
Fallon here.”

“
Yeah, take a good look. She’s doing
brilliantly well for someone who had no help at all from her mum. A
young lady who was left to fend for herself after her dad died. Who
has to pay off a mountain of school debt… oh, wait. No, she
doesn’t. I’ve taken care of that for her. Anyway, Fallon is off to
a fabulous career, working for one of the largest literary
critiquing agencies in the industry. Yeah, I’d say her dreams have
served her quite well.”

Ryland Thomas lifts my hand and presses a
kiss to it and then smiles. Damn it all, I want to crawl right in
his lap and kiss the hell out of him and then I want to turn to my
mom and stick my tongue out at her.

Mom stammers and doesn’t know what to make
of him. She leans over the table and takes a close look at me.
Ryland Thomas has brushed my hair off my shoulder and tucked it
behind my ear. “What is that in your ear? Taking to wearing
imitation diamonds now?”

I burst out laughing. “Why would I do
that, Mom? These are a birthday gift from Ryland. And no, they’re
not fake.”
So eat your heart out,
bitch.

“
Not fake?”

Ryland Thomas takes over, “No, they’re real.
I can show you the appraisal papers on them if you’d like. But
they’re in the safe back at my house in Lake Tahoe.”

“
Lake Tahoe? I thought you lived in
San Francisco.”

“
I do. I have a place there, too. And
a place in London. Fallon hasn’t visited there yet, but I plan to
take her there this summer. England’s quite magnificent in the
summer, you know. My hopes are that after we’re married she works
freelance like myself, so we can travel the world
together.”

I choke on my wine and my mom says,
“Married?”

“
Oh, not in the next few months or
anything. But yes, I do plan on marrying your daughter one day.
She’s the love of my life. Why wouldn’t I?”

“
Why indeed?”

I choke on my wine for the second time. “You
okay, love?” He pats my back as I nod.

“
Went down the wrong way.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek. “I’m not
joking about any of that,” he says in my ear.

My hand clenches his thigh so hard, he
flinches. Why the hell did he pick now to tell her all this?

We finish our dinner, making small chitchat.
When we’re through, the check arrives and Ryland Thomas picks it
up, like he’s planned all along. Then we all walk out together.
That’s when I realize that the selfish one’s husband has barely
said a word all night.

We’re ready to depart each other’s company
when Ryland Thomas says, “Gloria, there is one thing I want to say
to you before we leave. If you so much as say one more negative
comment to Fallon about her life, her career, the choices she’s
made in this life or anything at all that she does, she will never
speak to you again. All communications will be severed permanently.
You are a toxic disease that she’s been forced to deal with her
entire life. Your selfishness after her father’s death was
unconscionable and you should be ashamed of yourself. Are we
clear?” His tone is so icy I actually shiver as his eyes glint like
chips of emeralds.

She looks at me and is ready to say
something, but Ryland Thomas stops her by raising his hand. “I
asked you if we were clear, Gloria. You don’t have to look at
Fallon; you answer to me.” His lips are pressed into a thin
line.

Her head swings to Ryland Thomas and I see
her eyes widen as she nods. “Good. I hope you two have a nice
evening.” He turns to me, smiles and says, “Come on, love.” My hand
is encased in his as we walk to the Mercedes he’s rented.

When we drive off, my mom is still watching
us in shock.

“
Well, how did I do?” His hands are
clenched on the wheel, so I place mine on top of the one closest to
me and give it a firm squeeze.

“
Holy hells, Ryland Thomas. You were
fabulous! But that married part. Where the hell did that come
from?”

He pulls into another parking lot close to
where we are and brings the car to a stop.

He clasps my face in his hands, his voice is
rough with emotion. “My heart. It came straight from my heart. I
want that for us one day, Fallon. Exactly how I described it. That
is if you want the same thing. I love you endlessly. I want to be
with you endlessly. It doesn’t have to be right away, but one day I
hope we get there. Traveling the world together with you writing
your reviews, working from wherever we are and me doing the same.”
Then he takes my hand and places it on his heart and says, “One
heart, remember?”

God, I am so in love with this man.

Could I have been a bigger fool? More lame?
What the bloody hell had I been thinking of when I blurted that
shit out about us getting married to her mum, the
she-fucking-bitch-from-hell? I can’t even answer that.

All I know is that when Fallon was telling
me that story about after her dad died and the crap her mum pulled
by getting rid of all her dad’s belongings, it was all I could do
not to get on the first plane to Atlanta and rip that bitch’s hair
right out of her head. I know exactly how Fallon felt, utterly and
completely torn apart.

After my folks died, I felt like my body had
been mutilated, my insides torn out and my bones crushed. I knew I
needed to glue myself together. And honestly, I didn’t do it for
myself, ‘cause I didn’t give a shit about me. It was all for Tilly.
She thinks I saved her, but it was really her doing all the saving
simply by being there. I had to pull myself together and stay
strong for her. I don’t remember those early days, but I put the
scraps of what used to be me back together and moved forward step
by step.

At first the steps were mere inches, yet
then Tilly made me understand that there were two of us and not
one. I rearranged my scraps and made them work a little better.
Everything was okay until Iris and Will pulled their shit. Then it
all crumbled because, in reality, those scraps were never really
glued together. Little toothpicks held them up. They were so
unstable that a mere breeze could’ve tumbled them over, which was
what happened.

What I had with Iris was nothing except a
breeze. I didn’t know that until Fallon. Fallon roared into my life
like a hurricane, destroying everything I thought I knew, what I
thought was right. Then she reassembled it into what it should’ve
been all along, and put the pieces in their proper order. Heart was
where it should be, brain was functioning the correct way, all was
in order with soul and everything converged, allowing harmony to
rule. Somewhere in all this, Fallon was immersed inside of it,
making it even sweeter than I ever thought possible.

And that was my answer. I’d known it all
along. She and I would be together forever. It wasn’t a love that
would last for months or years. If something happened to her
tomorrow, there would never be anyone else in my life. I would
always have our hearts beating as one and her soul intersecting
with mine.

***

My latest novel hits the New York
Times Bestsellers List and has been at number one for several weeks
now. Tilly and I are off promoting
My Love
For Her
all over the place, and I feel bad because my
agent has her booked everywhere. When all this began, I promised
Tilly I would travel with her to every signing and event, so here I
am, on the road, and I hate it because it takes me away from
Fallon. Our schedule wraps up after next week and we can take a
three week breather before it cranks up again.

Fallon and I are going to spend a much
needed, long weekend up in Sonoma at one of the spas. I’ve been
promising to take her there and it’s only now just worked out.

We’re finally driving up on Friday
morning as I hold her hand. She’s taking in the scenery while I
wish I had a driver so I could take
her
in. She’s much prettier than the landscape
she’s so enthralled over.

“
Would you quit staring at
me?”

“
Never. So get used to it.” I let out
a chuckle.

“
Gah, the coast is magnificent, isn’t
it?”

“
Uh-huh. Not like you are, though. I
can look at the coast, but I can’t fuck it.”

She sucks in her breath. “Sinclair! Get your
mind out of the gutter.”

“
It’s not in the gutter. It’s on you.
And sorry, love, but it’s the bloody truth. You’re magnificent when
you’re naked and I’m fucking you. When that hair of yours is all
tangled up and spread across the bed, your mouth is parted and
sometimes you bite on your lower lip. I love it when you sink your
fingers into me. You usually do that right before your orgasm hits
and then I can feel all those little muscles deep inside of you,
squeezing against me, holding me tight. Bloody hell, Fallon, you’re
loads better than any damn view of the coast line.”