Bad Boys of London(34)

My response is immediate. No need to think about it. ‘Silver Lee.’

‘Don’t you want to go somewhere nice? It’s a celebration, after all.’

‘Nope. I still haven’t had a proper tour of your house, remember?’

Strike two. I hear his reluctance, like sandpaper on my skin. He doesn’t want to give me a tour. Why on earth not? ‘If you don’t want to it’s OK.’ Oh my God! I am becoming a doormat.

There is a pause. Then. ‘All right. I’ll show you around. Pick you up at 3:00?’

‘See you then.’




I slip into the passenger seat of BJ’s carbon-edition Aston Martin, close the door, and turn toward him. Wow! He’s rocking a sexy five o’clock shadow, which makes him look all moody and brooding. His eyes graze over me slowly, but being so dark they give nothing away.

‘Hi,’ I greet breathlessly.

He leans over and kisses me. I’ll say this for him: the man can kiss. In seconds I want to throw my arms around his neck, curl my fingers in his hair, and climb over to his side of the car to lower myself on to his thick cock. My skin tingles. My head starts buzzing. My hand strays to his hard chest.

‘What was that for?’ I whisper, when he breaks away.

His eyes are smoky with desire. He places his finger on my lower lip and drags it along my skin. His voice drops to a faux whisper that caresses my skin. ‘Because you’re so damn beautiful.’

I drop my eyes and go all hot and red with sheer happiness.

He places a finger under my chin and lifts my face. ‘Isn’t that what all the boys who aren’t afraid of your brother tell you?’

My stomach flips. ‘I think there are more boys afraid of my brother than you think.’

‘Since I’m not in the firing line yet, let me tell you, Layla. You’re one hell of a beauty.’

‘You’re not so bad looking yourself,’ I say shyly.

‘Me? I’m an ugly mug. You, you’re another matter. You truly are the beginning of intoxication.’

‘That reminds me, how is it you know so much about my name. Even I thought Layla meant of the night in Arabic.’

‘Because I researched it, Princess.’

‘Is that why you bought a tiepin with the word Layla on it?’

His face closes over.

I frown. ‘What?’

‘Nothing.’ He turns away and starts the engine. ‘So Lily is having a homebirth. When?’

‘Well,’ I say settling myself into the seat. ‘The baby is not due for another three weeks.’

‘And Jake is OK with a homebirth?’

‘Oh, he didn’t like it one bit at first, but being the total control freak that he is, he went out and offered the best midwife in England so much money she is going to uproot her entire family, 3 kids no less, to go and stay at his house two weeks before the baby is due. From what I understand, the poor woman will be virtually a prisoner until the baby is born. Of course he’s also hired a whole medical team to be on standby just in case there’s any kind of complication.’

He laughs. ‘That sounds more like him.’ He sobers suddenly. ‘When do you plan to tell him about us?’

It is my turn to sober up. ‘I want to tell him, but he’s so happy at the moment. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so full of laughter. Can you believe he sings to his baby?’

He turns to look at me briefly, his eyebrows raised.

‘I just don’t want to spoil this time for him. I’ll tell him after the baby is born.’ I pause for a second. Then, I don’t know why, perhaps I am testing him, I add, ‘If we are still together by then.’

His face registers no change, but his hands tighten on the wheel. ‘OK,’ he says tightly. ‘We wait until after the baby is born, but if I am in a position where he asks me outright I’m not going to lie.’

‘That’s fair enough.’

After that we talk of things outside of us. Some of it is light and easy and I laugh a lot, but I come to realize quickly that BJ sees everything from a totally different perspective than me. A much darker, more cynical perspective. He is my total opposite in every way. We disagree on almost all the important aspects of life. He seems to be without the usual social pretensions that normal people indulge in. To start with, he doesn’t have a Facebook page. He thinks all social media is narcissism gone berserk. He is of the opinion that only birds should tweet. Having 865 Internet friends is ludicrous. And wait for it … he has never taken a selfie!

He says he will go back to church again when someone explains where black people came from since Adam and Eve were both lily white. He believes that people should not be trusted since the strongest human traits—greed, jealousy, envy, cruelty—are inborn and already active even in children. Humans have to be taught kindness, generosity, patience, and goodness. BJ believes those traits can only be a thin veneer for the real truth, a cauldron of negative emotions.