Page 11 of Waiting on You

“So, what do you say?” he asks. “You going to show me the magic of London?”

I open my mouth to say yes, but stop myself because maybe I’m thinking too much into this, but I can’t risk it. It’s easy to get swept up in a city like London, and right now, I feel extremely vulnerable.

“I live in Houston, Texas,” I tell him, not bothering to mention Rosemary since it’s too small of a town for anybody to know. “Do you live anywhere near there?”

The chances of him living near me are slim, and since I’ve already experienced the heartbreak of being in a long-distance relationship, I’m not doing that again. Which means, if I’m going to spend time with his gorgeous man, I need to make sure the line is clearly drawn so there’s no risk of it blurring.

He quirks a questioning brow, butthen says, “I live in?—”

I shake my head. “Don’t tell me. Just answer my question. Do you live near Houston? Close enough that if there were an emergency, like, say, if a huge spider appeared in my shower and I needed you to come save me, you could be there before the spider killed me?”

He snorts out a laugh. “What the hell kind of spiders do you have in Houston?”

“The kind that nightmares are made of,” I deadpan, making him laugh again.

“No,” he says with a sigh. “I don’t live close enough to save you from the deadly spider, but?—”

“No buts,” I say, refusing to let him come up with an argument. “I did the long-distance thing and have the heartbreak to show for it. I’m not saying this thing between us could be headed in that direction. And I don’t want it to sound like I’m being presumptuous. But I need to protect myself, just in case.

“So, if I agree to show you London over the next few days, you have to agree not to share anything about yourself. What happens in London stays in London.”

“Okay,” he easily agrees. “What happens in London stays in London.”

chapter four

NATE

“The Tower Bridge, huh?”

“Not just the Tower Bridge.” Paige scoffs. “The top of the Tower Bridge.”

She steps up to the counter and orders our tickets, and before she can even think about paying, I tap my phone against the card reader, so it charges me and not her.

I came to London on a business trip and was heading into a meeting at the Bradford Hotel when I saw a beautiful but distraught woman trip over the cobblestone and land in the road. If I hadn’t witnessed it myself, I would swear that shit only happened in those sappy romance movies my mom and sisters-in-law watched.

I yelled to my driver to stop and then flew out of the car, picking her up and bringing her inside before she got ran over, while my driver grabbed her luggage and left it with us.

Paige was a mess, her eyes filled with tears, herface splotchy from crying, but she was still the most stunning woman I’d ever laid eyes on, and all I could think about was how I wanted to fix what was wrong.

I couldn’t fix the fact that her ex had cheated, but I could help her get a room. And since my family owns the hotel, I had her upgraded at no charge. It took everything in me to walk away, but I had a meeting I couldn’t cancel, and I knew she wasn’t in any place to have some random guy flirting with her or asking her out. That would’ve been both rude and insensitive.

But then, as if fate had stepped in, I ran into her again in the lobby. And this time, she was more put together. She had stopped crying, and her face was no longer splotchy. She smiled at me, and her beauty tripled.

I’ve dated my fair share of women, but I can’t remember ever feeling the instantaneous connection I felt with Paige. As I listened to her talk about her mom and the magic of London, I was enraptured by her presence, her words, her passion.

I wasn’t sure if she felt the connection, until I asked her to show me around London, wanting to spend more time with her—and the truth is, every time I’m here, I’m so busy with business that I’ve never actually explored London—and she made me promise not to share anything about myself, telling me that she’s worried she’ll get attached and want more.

I get it. We don’t live near each other, and she just got out of a long-distance relationship that ended withhim cheating. Hell, my life is so busy, I barely have enough time to date someone who lives in the same city as me, let alone try to get to know someone who lives hours away. Logically, her keeping me at a distance makes sense. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to spend the time I have with Paige.

I was supposed to be in meetings all week, and I’ve never canceled one in my life—I thrive on being responsible—so I shocked even myself when I emailed my assistant, Nolan, and told him he’d be handling the meetings today so I could go sightseeing with a woman I barely knew. The whole thing sounds crazy, and if my dad knew what I was doing, he would ask if I should be mentally evaluated because it’s so out of character for me. But I can’t help it. There’s just something about her that I’m drawn to.

“Here you go,” the woman behind the window says, handing us our tickets.

We get in line for the lift, and since it’s not busy, it goes quickly. It takes us straight to the top, and once we get out, we walk toward the center. The ground is see-through glass, allowing us to get a cool view of the cars driving underneath.

“Look over here,” Paige says, taking my hand in hers and guiding me over to the edge of the bridge so we can look out at the city.

The sky is bright blue today with only a few clouds, which is rare. Boats are making their way down the river, and people, who look like little Lego people fromthis high up, are walking up and down the sidewalk.

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