In Your Arms (17 page)

              “I believe we need more color, reds and yellows, so-” I cut her off.

              “So if I see anything to inform you at once.” She smiles at me.

              “You remind me so much of me at your age.”

              “Good or bad thing?”

              “Good. You're a bit more calmer than I was.” She claps her hands together and I jump a bit. “Idea! Lets go to London this evening and get dinner.”

              “That sounds great.” We stop in front of the antique shop.

              “Okay, let's go see what these dressers look like.” She pushes the door in and we walk inside getting ready to do our job.

              “Seems jet lag is hitting me.” Yolanda yawns. She wanted to go to a club, but now that she was getting tired...it made me feel relieved. I did not want to haul my drunk boss back to the hotel. It wasn't fun. “I'm just going to get some rest at the hotel.”

              “I'll head over with you.” I just wanted to call my grandmother and Callie, and my brother. Everyone really.

              “No, you should explore London. It's still kind of early and we leave for Germany tomorrow morning. This is your time to see the beautiful city.” I smiled at her.

              “Fine. I'll see what I can find.”

              “Bring me back sweets if you find any.” I nod and watch her get into a cab. I look around the London street, and I pick a direction to go in.

              It was a chilly London evening. I have to say that this is one of my favorite places to be, but I've never really fully explored it. I've only been here for fashion week and the after parties, I've spent more time in a taxi than actually sight seeing.

              I walked for half an hour, window shopping. The city was buzzing.

              I decided that I wanted to find a good book to read so I could read before going to bed. Isis thought it would be a good way to calm me at the end of a long day. It's been working, although at first I wouldn't sleep, I'd just read and read.

              As I was walking back, I remembered I saw a bookstore not too far and I headed in that direction. As I neared, I noticed that it was actually a bit fuller than I thought. Outside there were girls with books, talking about whoever was inside and how hot he is.

              I finally just had to stop a group of girls to ask who was in there. The girls looked at each other and giggled.

              “Braxton Wright and you're that girl he dated, right?” My face dropped.

              “What?” How could they have possibly known that I had dated Braxton.

              “It is you, isn't it? Your hair is a bit longer, but you look just like the girl from the pictures on his blog.” That tallest one says.

              I'm so confused. He wrote about me? One of the other girls takes her phone out and shows me the picture on his blog. He posted about me on his blog? I was mortified.

              “So is it you or what?” The tallest asks.

              I lie. “Not me, sorry girls.” They frowned.

              “You two could honestly be twins.” One of them mutters as they walk away.

              What has Braxton been writing about me? I look through the window and see that he is actually signing books. I spot Charles in the far corner on his phone.

              I'm going to confront him. I step into line and immediately regret it. The line continues behind me. As I look around, I see that the signing it supposed to be going on for another half hour and that I needed a book.

              I call Charles, and I watch his reaction from afar. He kind of just stares at his phone as it rings for a few moments, and then he answers it.

              “Yes?”

              “I need you to get me a copy of his book.”

              “We're currently not in America, if you give me a few weeks, I can get it to you.”

              “Neither am I. I'm in the same store as you, so a few weeks won't work for me.” He looks around and his eyes land on me. I wave and he hangs up.

              Charles stalks over to where I am. He stands in front of me, and the girls around us kind of start to freak out in excitement. I guess they know who Charles is.

              “What are you doing here?”

              “I'm traveling, looking for furniture with my boss, she set me loose in London, and I ended up here. I thought his book tour was over.” I didn't know the specifics, but I sort of knew that it was supposed to be over by this time.

              “Things got switched around, and London became his last stop. This is the end for him.” I looked forward in line, saw him laughing.

              “He never read my letter did he?”

              “I'm not sure.”

              “I shouldn't be here.” I look at Charles.

              “I think you should be. He'll be happy to see you're doing better.” He pauses. “I'm going to get you a copy of his book, so I'll be back.” There were ten girls in front of me, each interaction lasting less than a minute. I managed to shield myself in case he did look up this way.

              Charles came back with a hard copy of the book and handed it to me. I skimmed it through, deciding I was going to read it.

              Soon it was my turn. The last girl in front of me turned away with tears in her eyes from excitement, and there was Braxton. I was surprised to see he actually wasn't wearing a suit, he was wearing a jumper, and he looked good. For once, I felt like the fancy one.

              Braxton took a double take. His blue eyes, that I've missed so much, were frozen on mine. I didn't realize I was walking forward until I was at the table. I set the book down.

              “I heard this guy is supposed to be a really good writer, what do you think?” I hear myself say, trying to be witty and break the ice.

              For a moment, I think he's going to throw me out of his book signing. Then he cracks a smile, and I feel relief wash over me.

              “I don't know. I heard he has a few good qualities. You should read the book, I think you'll be surprised.” He pulls the book towards him. “Are you busy after this?” He asks.

              “My boss gave me the evening off to explore, so I'm game for whatever.” I see him write something, but it's quick and I don't get to read it.

              “Go by Charles, I have fifteen minutes left. I want to talk to you.” I nod and he hands me my book. “Don't read that now.” I smile.

              “Okay.” I walk over to Charles who is smiling.

Chapter 27

Braxton Wright

              I said goodbye to the last girl, and the store owner came up to me, so I could sign more copies of the book so he could sell them.

              “You did great tonight.” He says.

              “Thank you.” I was trying to get these books signed as quickly as possible, I wanted to get to Ashton.

              “Can I ask if that's the girl from your blog? The one standing next to your agent?”

              “It is.”

              “That's the girl who hooked you?” I nod.

              “Still has me hooked.”

              I started writing a letter to Ashton a few months ago, letting my feelings out. I was going to email it to her, but I couldn't. It didn't feel like a big enough gesture. Then I got the idea to put it as a blog post.

              My blog actually crashed from the amount of traffic I got. Thousands of comments and emails, but none of them were hers. Either she read it and hated it and me, or she had no clue I had written about her.

              I still haven't the read the letter she left for me, afraid of what I would read inside. Probably nothing horrible since she did decide to come in here to talk to me.

              “Hope everything works out. Come visit next time you're in London.” He pats my back and I nod.

              “Will do.” I walk on over to Ashton and Charles, they're talking. I hear my name being whispered and I grab a hold of Ashton's hand. She smiles at me.

              “Are you ready?”

              She nods.

              “See you tomorrow, Charles.” He salutes us goodbye, and we walk out onto the street.

              “Where are we going?” She asks.

              I signal the cab coming this way, and I look at her. “I know a place you've been wanting to go.”

              “You're just so sure about where that place is, huh?” I loved the way she teased me. If it weren't for the fact that we've just seen each other for the first time in months...I'd have her against the wall in my London apartment.

              “Yes.” I open the door for her, she looked at me for a moment before stepping inside. I followed.

              “Where to?” The cabbie asks.

              “London Eye, please.” I look at Ashton to see her smiling.

              I remember when we met, she said she wanted to go to the London Eye. I asked her why, and she said she's been to London many times, but no one would go on with her.

              “I guess you do know me.” I intertwine my fingers with hers.

              “I lied. I can't do this.” Ashton says as we get to the front of the line.

              “I'll be here.” The guy opens the door and people immediately start to come on. “Trust me, love.” The thing about the London Eye is that it doesn't stop, you have to get on as it's moving, but it's slow.

              “Fine. I trust you.”

              We stepped on and Ashton was cutting the circulation off in my hand. I kissed her cheek to reassure her she was fine, she looked at me then looked out the window.

              “This is beautiful.” She says. “London is really beautiful at night.”

              “Yes.” I can't stop looking at her.

              “You're staring at me.” She says, and smiles at me.

              “Well, you're beautiful and I've missed you.”

              “I missed you, too.”

              “You didn't read my blog post after you left did you?” she gives me a look that says she knows about it.

              “I didn't know about it until I walked by the bookstore.” She pauses. “And you never read my letter to you.”

              I shake my head. “I thought it'd be too painful.”

              “We both have a lot to talk about, don't we?” I say softly.

              “We can go talk after, let's just enjoy this for right now.” I nod.

Chapter 28

Ashton Pennington

              We stepped into Braxton's apartment. It smelled of him, and was surprisingly clean unlike his New York apartment.

              “My mom missed me so she came to clean my apartment.” He answers my thoughts and I laugh.

              “Wow.” I sit on his couch, and he pours us some drinks, him scotch and me water. I thank him and he sits next to me.

              “What does this remind you of?” He asks me.

              I take a sip of my water and smile. “You mean the first time you kissed me and I completely freaked out?” He nods.

              “As I recall, you kissed me first.”

              “Sure.” I roll my eyes.

              I take my phone out and look at him. “Read my letter and I'll read your blog post about me. Then we'll talk.” I get up.

              “Wait. Where are you going?”

              “To a room because I feel like we should do this alone.” I set my water down and I go into the first room I find.

              Hesitantly, I got onto his blog page. I looked through his the titles of his blog posts before I found the one called Ashton.

              Two months ago, I met the most beautiful woman. Her name is Ashton Pennington. She's not only beautiful, but she's strong willed and smart.

              I made a vow a long time ago that I would never think about marriage, that being single was too much fun to tie myself down. I broke that vow as soon as I met Ashton. I couldn't think of reasons why I shouldn't marry this girl.

              Yes, I've known her for two months. But in those two months, I learned so much about her and I fell in love slowly. I fell in love with the way she is always tucking her hair behind her ear. I fell in love with the way she bakes and just can't help smiling with satisfaction when she tastes her creations. I fell in love with the way she falls asleep, refusing to admit she's tired until she literally cannot open her eyes. I fell in love with the way she rolls her eyes at me when I refuse to take her suggestions when cooking dinner. I fell in love with the way she sings at the top of her lungs and dances to her favorite songs really early in the morning. I fell in love with her.