I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was Ellery. She was lying on her side and facing me. I laid there for a moment, staring at her and watching her as she slept. I still needed to pack a few things, and I wanted to make her breakfast before we head out. I carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake her. As I made my way to the door, I heard her stir beneath the sheets. I turned around and looked at her, still sleeping peacefully, as I walked to my room. I took a shower and finished packing the little bit that I had left. As I made my way to the kitchen, my phone started ringing. I looked at it, and Ashlyn’s name appeared. She was the last person that I wanted to talk to, especially now with Ellery right upstairs. I answered and tried to make it as short as possible.
“Ashlyn, I can’t talk right now; I’m in the middle of something,” I said.
“I need to see you, Connor, and I need to see you now.”
“That’s too bad, Ashlyn; I have to go out-of-town for a few days on business.”
“I’ll come over right now, and I can send you off feeling really good.”
“No, you can’t; I don’t have time. Don’t you dare come over here; I’m leaving. I’ll call you as soon as I get back,” I yelled.
“Connor, it seems like it’s been forever, and I’m really getting pissed off,” she whined.
I changed my tone with her because I needed to get her off the phone before Ellery came downstairs. “I know it’s been a while, but I can’t help that; I’ve been busy.”
“Does this have anything to do with that blonde bitch you’ve been with?”
“No, she has nothing to do with it. I’ve been working. I softened my tone with her, “Ashlyn, we’ll get together as soon as I get back.”
“Promise me, Connor,” she said.
“I promise. I’m going to send an envelope over with Denny; I’ll talk to you soon.”
I can guarantee that’s one promise that I have no intention of keeping. I needed to tell her what she wanted to hear to get her off the phone, and I couldn’t risk Ellery hearing me.
Breakfast was almost ready, so I headed up the stairs to see if she was awake yet. I heard the water running in the bathroom, so I knocked on the door. I told Ellery to make sure the water wasn’t too hot. Somehow, I didn’t believe her because she had a really bad habit of never listening to anyone. I leaned up against the wall and waited for her to come out. I heard the shower turn off, and a moment later, Ellery opened the door and jumped.
“Shit, Connor; you scared me,” she said.
Seeing her standing there in nothing but a towel was the most beautiful sight that I’ve ever seen. Her skin was still damp from the shower; her hair wet and wavy, and the short towel was barely covering her perfectly shaped body. Her legs were long, lean, and perfectly sculpted. She stood there staring at me.
“I’m sorry; I just wanted to make sure you didn’t take too hot of a shower. I didn’t want you getting dizzy and pass out again. You do have a habit of not listening to anybody,” I said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes at me and said ouch. “See, I told you not to roll your eye at me, and you didn’t listen!” I yelled as I walked down the hallway. She smiled at me as she shut the door. Damn that smile.
I went back downstairs and fixed her a plate of eggs. She came down and sat at the island. I slid the plate in front of her, and she looked at me with a surprised look on her face. She asked me if I made everything myself, and I told her that I had. She seemed surprised at the fact that I can cook. I brought my plate and sat down on the stool next to her. She looked over at me as she took a bite of her eggs, and with a smirk on her face, she asked me if she had harmed me in any way last night. I wanted to tell her that I had wished she would’ve, but instead I decided to play with her a bit.
“No, in fact, you put your arms around me, started rubbing my chest, and calling me Peyton. I was quite turned on.”
The look on her face was amusing. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. She was so damn cute that I couldn’t help but smile. She knew at that moment that I was joking, and she went to playfully smack me on the arm. I grabbed her hands before she could hit me and looked at the scars on her wrist. Our playful mood turned serious as I stared at them for a moment. I dropped her hands, got up with my plate, and headed towards the sink.
“My scars really bug you, don’t they?” she asked in a serious tone.
“They sadden me, that’s all,” I replied as I put the plate in the dishwasher.
“Why, Connor? I didn’t even know you when this happened. Why would my scars sadden you so much?” she asked.
I kept my back turned to her as I stared out the window. “It saddens me that someone could think so little of their life to want to do such a thing.” I know that was the wrong thing to say, and I probably shouldn’t have said it.
“I told you why I did it, and it wasn’t because I thought so little of my life. I did it to lessen the pain for my father, and how dare you, Connor Black,” she started to cry.
She got up from the stool and walked out of the kitchen. I didn’t mean to upset her, but I had. I ran after her, grabbed her, and pulled her into a warm embrace.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it; I swear I didn’t. I just get sad when I see them because it reminds me of what you went through,” I whispered in her ear. I regretted every word that I had said. She looked up at me as I gently wiped away a few tears that had fallen from her eyes.
“It’s ok; let’s just forget about it and head out,” she said.
I put my forehead on hers. “I’m an insensitive bastard.”
She lightly smiled as she whispered, “You’re in luck as I’m quite fond on insensitive bastards.”
My first thought was to kiss her lips. I wanted to feel them against mine, but I had to hold myself back. It was getting harder and harder each day to control myself with her, especially after last night. So, I opted for her head instead. I kissed her gently on the head and smiled at her. When the moment passed, we headed to the Range Rover to start our road trip to Michigan.
I threw our bags in the back as Ellery settled in comfortably. As I started driving, I looked over and noticed that she was staring at me. She didn’t care that I noticed, because every time I glanced over, she was still watching me.
“Why are you staring at me?” I grinned.
“I was just wondering about Connor Black, that’s all.”
I sighed and looked back at the road. She wasn’t going to give up until she found out more about me. I know I need to open up to her, and I will; just not right now. She put her headphones on and stared out the passenger window. I could tell she was irritated with my response. I tapped her on the shoulder; she looked at me and took her earphones off.
“Are you going to ignore me the whole way there?” I asked her.
“Are you going to tell me a little bit about Connor Black?” she smiled in a cocky way.
My god this girl was starting to piss me off, but in a sexy way. I sighed and tried to think about what I should tell her or better yet, where I should start. She turned her head and put in her headphones again. I was not about to be ignored by her, especially for the next 10 hours because she’s too damn stubborn to respect my privacy. I reached over and yanked out one of her headphones.
“Hey, what the hell, Connor?”
“Take those things out you stubborn girl, and I’ll talk,” I smiled.
She knew she won, and I bet she did it on purpose. There was no getting around not telling her something about me or else she would make me suffer. I started with the story about my twin brother, Collin and how he died when he was seven years old from a virus that attacked his heart. After I was finished explaining the story about Collin, I told her about Cassidy and her son Camden. I explained how Camden is autistic, and that he’s the reason my company and I are involved with the charity for autism. She gave me a sympathetic look as she put her hand on my shoulder and started rubbing it. She cared; I could see it in her face and in her eyes. Ellery is the most caring and helpful person that I’ve ever known. I went on to explain to her about my father and how he started grooming me for Black Enterprises when I was thirteen years old. I told her all about Harvard, how I took over my father’s company when I was twenty-eight years old, and how I’ve doubled the company’s profits over the past two years. It wasn’t hard talking about my personal life to Ellery. I didn’t think I would be able to do it as I’ve never discussed anything about my life with anyone. She was easy to talk to, and I could tell she was happy with the information I gave her. That was until she spoke the unspeakable.
“What about past relationships?”
I pressed my lips together and took in a deep breath, I don’t talk about my past relationships; there’s no point, and why revisit the past? I don’t have a girlfriend, nor do I want one.” The comment just fell out of my mouth, without even thinking about it first. She looked away after I said that and then back at me.
“Why don’t you? Even if you’ve been hurt before, you just have to pick yourself up and move on. Everyone’s been hurt at least once in their life, some more than others, but you have to make a choice what to do with that pain,” she said.
“It’s not that simple, Ellery; trust me,” I said as I continuously stared at the road ahead of me.
“So, you don’t ever want to get married or have children and do the whole perfect family thing?”
I looked at her with a serious look, “No, I never want any of that, and to quote you, nothing lasts forever.”
“You really need to stop quoting that, Connor. I think you took it the wrong way.”
“Regardless of which way I took it, I already told you that I don’t do relationships, and I mean that,” I said.
She looked out the window, “I know.”
I couldn’t tell if she was hurt or put off by my comments. I don’t know why she would be hurt, and it’s not like she wants any of that bullshit. I’ll admit, maybe it isn’t all bullshit, but it scares me. We made small talk for a while, and she kept putting one headphone in my ear then asked me if I liked her music. She seemed to be ok, and she was having fun, making me listen to her songs. We had different taste in music, that’s for sure. But I played along, because every time she put on a different song and asked if I liked it, she smiled. Damn that smile.
***
We had already been driving about four hours, and I needed to stop for gas. I pulled off the highway and stopped at the first gas station that I saw. Ellery had fallen asleep about 30 minutes before and woke up when I stopped the Range Rover.
“What’s going on? What are we doing?” she asked sleepily.
“I’m going to fill her up and then we’ll stop for something to eat,” I replied.
I got out and walked over to the gas pump. Ellery opened her door and got out, stretching her back and legs. She walked over to where I was standing and kissed my cheek.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“It’s just a thank you for telling me about your family,” she smiled.
I smiled back as she told me she was going inside the store to pick up a couple of things. I finished pumping gas and headed inside to find Ellery. I saw her standing in the candy aisle, looking over the vast amount of junk food in front of her. She was so engrossed in the chocolate that sat before her eyes; she didn’t notice me walk up behind her.
“You’re going to fill your body with this junk?” I asked.
She quickly turned around as she stumbled, but I caught her in my arms. “Ellery, are you alright?” I asked as I held her close to me.
“I’m fine; I just got a little light-headed,” she replied as she held her head.
I continued to hold her until she felt better. “I knew we should have waited an extra day to leave. You’re not ready to travel yet. You need more time to recover from your fall.” I was pissed off at myself because I played around with the idea of leaving tomorrow instead. She kept her head on my chest and told me to stop being overprotective and that her light-headedness was probably caused from the pain medication she took. I found that odd because I didn’t see her take any pain meds. I started to worry about her; in fact, I’ve been worried about her since she fainted. I told her that I was finding us a hotel, and that we were stopping for the night so she could rest. We were ahead of schedule, and we’d be in Michigan tomorrow with plenty of time. She told me she wanted to drive for a couple of more hours and get something to eat before we stopped for the night. She pointed towards the front door and asked me to get her a basket.
“You aren’t seriously buying that much, are you?” I asked.
“Ok, Mr. Black, if you must know the truth, it’s my PMS time.”
I took a step back and put my hands up, “Whoa, enough said.”
She grinned as she took the basket and filled it with chips, chocolate, and pop. I stood there and watched her with a horrified look on my face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone eat that much junk food. The women I’m used to practically starve themselves.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to take me on this road trip. I’m just trying to keep the peace because without these foods for a woman at that time of the month,” she waved her hand, “Well, you don’t really want to know.”
We walked over to the checkout, and she placed the basket on the counter. The cashier overheard our conversation, then she looked at me and said, “Trust her; we girls are two sheets short of psycho when it comes to our special little time.”
I just stood there and looked at both of them, speechless, as she rang up the food. The cashier gave the total, and Ellery looked at me.
I looked at her in confusion, “Really? You want me to pay for this crap?”
The cashier leaned over the counter and looked me straight in the eyes, “Remember, two sheets short of psycho.”
I pulled out my wallet and paid as I mumbled under my breath. I took the bag and headed out. She climbed in the Range Rover, and we headed for the interstate. I looked at her and shook my head.
“What?” she smiled.
“You’re crazy; I just wanted you to know that,” I said in a serious, but playful tone.
“Aw, sweetie, I know, but I promise it’s only for a few days,” she laughed.
I tried so hard to hold back a smile, but I couldn’t. She was just too damn adorable, and my feelings for her were getting stronger by the minute.