Our Hearts Entwined (21 page)

Cayd smiled as he chewed, sipping his coffee before answering. “No Mia, I haven’t been serious about someone before. To be honest with you, I haven’t found someone I wanted to spend my time with.”

“But you had girlfriends right?”

“Yes, although I wouldn’t call them girlfriends. Girlfriend implies a certain permanency that I don’t enter into with just anyone.”

“So you had a lot of one night stands?”

“No, not quite as tawdry as that – it was more that I had female companions that I would call on from time to time. They understood that our friendship was casual. As you may have already guessed, I’m very upfront with what I expect out of my relationships.”

“What makes you so sure about me then?”

“Mia, there is something very special about our connection. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

“Me too,” she smiled as Cayd’s hand drifted over to her thigh, resting lightly against her skin as he ate one handed. Not wanting to break their connection.

They ate in quiet for a while, comfortable in each other’s company. It seemed very natural for them to be around each other. From the moment Mia passed out in his office and he took care of her, it had felt right to have him near, she never once questioned his presence.

“Tell me about your family Cayd. Any brothers or sisters?”

“There’s just me and my father,” he said without elaborating.

“And what does your father do?” she asked, genuinely wanting to find out more about his life.

“Uh, he’s involved in training horses,” he said quickly, getting up from his stool and going to the fridge to grab some orange juice.

“He trains horses? Oh my god! Are you Howard Donnelly’s son?” she asked, her mouth almost falling open with food in it as she realised she was now dating the son of racing royalty.

Setting two glasses in front of her, he briefly met her eyes and nodded. For a moment she wondered why his expression appeared to be so grim. His dad was famous and his family was wealthy – so what? But then she remembered why she knew his family’s name so well.

She didn’t think she was even ten yet, but the news had been reporting heavily on the event at the time. Howard Donnelly’s family had been visited by a tragedy. At the time, his youngest son – who was close to Mia in age; had been accompanying him to work, and somehow he got in the way when a horse bucked and he was struck in the head.

The force was so severe that it killed him instantly. Not more than a couple of weeks later, tragedy struck again when Cayd’s mother committed suicide, unable to bear the loss of her youngest child.

Clapping her hand over her mouth, she reached out and grabbed hold of Cayd’s hand. “Oh Cayd, I’m so sorry! I remember what happened to your family from the news.”

“It’s alright, Mia. It was a long time ago now. I just don’t really talk about who my father is. Everyone seems to remember what happened to Jeremy and my mother.”

“Do you have much to do with your father?” she asked.

“Besides access to his bank account, I don’t really have contact with him. After the funerals, he became pretty distant. I guess I reminded him of losing them. He just never got over his grief.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.

Shaking his head, Cayd cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about it. As I said, it was a long time ago… Juice?” he asked, holding the bottle up by way of changing the subject.

“Yes please,” Mia said, letting the subject drop. They could discuss lost loved ones and ex-lovers another time. Now was the time to focus on each other.

“You know, I desperately wanted to say yes to you,” Mia told him, causing him to meet her eyes again, a questioning look squinting his features. “When we first met and you asked me out. I wanted to say yes,” Mia admitted

“Well, you kind of did,” he said softly, sliding his hand back over her thigh and caressing her skin.

“Really?”

“Yes, but you caught yourself and let me know you had a boyfriend. Even so, I couldn’t get you off my mind. I’m surprised you didn’t see my jaw drop when Evelyn brought you into my office.”

“I was a bit distressed at the time, but I noticed you – how could I not? You’re beautiful,” she told him, her cheeks colouring as she met his smouldering gaze.

Sliding his hand into her hair, he cupped the side of her head and pulled her towards him, tasting her sweet, maple flavoured mouth with his. “You’re the one who’s beautiful,” he murmured when they parted.

Mia’s head swam as she tried to focus on eating again, her hunger seeming to slip away, being replaced by her want for him.

Clearing his throat, Cayd snapped her out of her haze. “I should be asking what you’re going to do about Natalie,” he started.

Shaking her head gently, Mia lifted her shoulders. “I don’t think I’m going to do anything,” she said.

“You don’t want to get to know her? Find out what her life was like? Confront her? Call her a bitch?”

Mia laughed a little, shaking her head slightly then shrugging her shoulders. “After what she did, I don’t have any desire to get to know her. I just want her to go away.”

Cayd looked her over as she quietly ate, he could practically see the anger radiate off her body in waves. “Can I pick you up after work?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I’d like that,” she said, rising from her stool and lifting her plate.

“Leave that, I’ll do it,” Cayd told her, causing her to remove her fingers from the edges of the plate.

“Thank you,” she said, leaning in to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her tightly against him, kissing her fervently.

Humming he pulled away and ran his fingers through her wavy hair. “Can you wear it up today?” he asked.

“Do you prefer it that way?”

“No, I adore it down. But I want to watch you take it down tonight.”

“Will I be staying with you tonight?” she asked, hopefully, feeling that the time spent apart while at work would feel like torture enough.

“I hope so. I think I’d like you with me every night. I’m not sure I could sleep without you now that I’ve had a taste,” he said, kissing her neck before nipping lightly at her ear lobe.

Humming pleasantly herself, she pushed herself away from him. “I have to go so I can change before work,” she sighed, not wanting to leave.

“Of course, what time shall I collect you?” he asked.

“Meet me at my place at five?”

Cayd nodded and rose to stick his feet in his shoes.

“Where’re you going?” she asked,

“I’m going to walk you to your car,” he answered.

Smiling, Mia picked up her handbag, happily leaning into him as he slid his arm around her waist and walked with her up the pathway next to his house.

Leaning against her car, Cayd placed his hands either side of her and kissed her once more while she dug in her bag for her keys.

“Oh no, my keys must still be inside,” she said.

“It’s ok, I know where they are. Wait here,” he said, jogging back inside.

Mia’s face was plastered with a huge smile that wouldn’t go away as she watched him disappear around the side of the house, her attention was then drawn to the parking lot as Evelyn’s car pulled into her space.

“Oh you changed your hair!” she exclaimed as she climbed out of her car and walked towards Mia. “Do we have another session today?” she asked, not recalling setting up a new appointment after yesterday.

“Um, no, why would we have a session?” Mia asked, thoroughly confused.

Realisation dawned on Evelyn’s face at the same moment Cayd returned with Mia’s keys.

Cayd froze as he saw the two women together and noted the confused look Mia’s face and the guilty look on Evelyn’s.

“Natalie’s a patient here?” Mia asked, her head starting to throb as the thought that she had been played all along hit her.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Evelyn stammered, looking at Cayd and backing away. “I didn’t realise you were dating her.”

“Evelyn, just go inside please,” Cayd said calmly, his eyes on Mia as he observed Evelyn’s retreat in his periphery.

“You knew her
before
you knew me?” she asked incredulously.

“It’s not like that Mia. Come back inside, I can explain.”

“No, I need to go. I need to think,” she mumbled, her brow knitted tightly as she reached out to take her keys from Cayd’s grip, entering a slight tug of war when he refused to let go.

“Talk to me Mia,” he pleaded.

“I trusted you Cayd! Through all of this I trusted you! And you’ve been lying to me all along. How could you know about her and not tell me straight away? And what was that whole thing with the PI? Oh my God – I don’t know what to think anymore!” she rambled, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. “Please let go,” she breathed, tugging at the keys, her eyes closed as she refused to look at him. “I need to get to work.”

“Alright,” he said, releasing her keys. “But don’t think this changes anything between us Mia.”

Mia didn’t respond, she simply got into her car and drove off, her mind reeling. What the fuck was going on?

***

“Have you spoken to her yet?” Natalie asked in a rush of breath the moment she heard Cayd’s voice on the other end of the phone call, her nerves causing her to forget her manners.

“I have Natalie, and at the moment, she doesn’t want to talk to you,” he told her calmly.

“Will you keep trying?” she pleaded, wanting to somehow set things right after everything she had done.

“I don’t know Natalie. That’s not why I called you. She found out this morning that you’re a patient here.”

Natalie almost dropped the phone as she heard his words, gripping her fingers tighter to keep it to her ear. “What do you mean? How? That’s private information!” she rambled.

“She ran into Evelyn this morning and well, she got mistaken for you.”

“But she has red hair now! How the hell did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I only came in at the end of their interaction – but Natalie, she thinks I knew about you the whole time and that I was somehow in on all of it. I can’t explain it to her without you,” he said simply.

“So she’s pissed at both of us right now and you want to ambush her together?”

“That’s not quite how I’d put it, but I suppose so, yeah.”

“Why are you asking me to do this Cayd? I thought she didn’t want to see me.”

“I’m obviously grasping at straws Natalie. She thinks I’ve betrayed her and you can set her straight.”

“I’ll do it Cayd. I don’t know that she’ll listen to me either. But I’m willing to try. Where do you want to meet?”

“At her flat, 5pm this evening. Wait for me outside,” he instructed before disconnecting the call and wondering if he should call Mia again. He didn’t want to seem overbearing as he’d already called her twice with no answer. But he was worried, the longer she had to think on everything without knowing the truth – the worse her mind could make it.

He didn’t want to risk losing her and decided to call again and if she didn’t answer, this time he’d leave a message.

Holding his phone to his ear he waited as the connection rang, growing nervous as it continued unanswered.

“Hi, you’ve reached the voicemail of Mia Smyth. I’m unavailable at the moment. Please leave a message along with your number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” said her voicemail recording.

“Mia, please call me back. You’ve got it all wrong, please talk to me,” sighing down the line, he didn’t know what else to say. “I’ll see you tonight,” he finished simply, punching the screen with his thumb and dropping his phone onto his kitchen counter as he wondered if Natalie’s secrets were going to ruin everyone’s relationships.

Natalie was already waiting for Cayd outside Mia’s block of flats when he pulled up and parked his Mercedes on the street. She had arrived almost ten minutes early, not wanting to keep him waiting when he seemed to be the only one willing to offer even a tiny bit of help to her.

He nodded at her in greeting as he crossed the road and slid his wayfarers on top of his head, “You ready?”

“To get shot down? Definitely,” she replied in an attempted joke that Cayd didn’t really find funny.

He led the way up to Mia’s flat and tapped on the door, waiting with his hands on his hips before rapping again, this time much firmer.

“I don’t think she’s home,” Natalie commented.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, knocking once more for good measure.

“I still have a key,” Natalie offered.

“No you don’t,” he told her. “I had the locks changed for her… damn it!” he growled, booting the base of the door with his foot. “I need to talk to Louise. She’ll know where she is,” he said pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts. He’d gotten Louise’s number off her on the day they were waiting to confront Natalie.

“You’re calling her? You do know she’s deaf right? Why does she even have a phone?”

Cayd’s brow furrowed as he gave Natalie a disbelieving look. “Yes, but she’s not blind as well – she can read text
and
see a video call.”