I groaned and sat up at the sound of music blaring from downstairs.
“Morning, Heather. I brought you breakfast in bed!” William grinned as he walked into the bedroom.
He placed the tray down and I stared at the plate of chocolate chip pancakes and the steaming cup of chai. Yes, I drank chai. I had gone to India during my college years for a service project so it sort of became an addiction.
“Uh, thanks, William,” I said warily.
He nodded and plopped down on the bed beside me. I ate my pancakes silently while William watched me. He had a questioning look on his face and seemed to be in deep thought.
“Something wrong?” I asked, putting my fork down.
“Today is Jackson’s birthday party.”
“Yeah?”
He sighed. “It’s going to be a big event, which means paparazzi. Even though Kelly isn’t here, if she sees us together, I’m worried she’ll come after you.”
“Go with someone else, then. It’ll look like you still hate me.”
“I don’t want anyone else, I want you.”
My heart melted in a pile of mush. Why did it do that? It had been five days since William told me the whole story and I was supposed to be mad at him, but he made it so hard. He kept doing sweet things to try to get me to forgive him.
For example, two days ago, he started putting heart-shaped sticky notes all over the house with little personal messages written on each one. I ended up keeping every single one. Then he bought this fluffy stuffed penguin that said Cuddle me on its stomach. It was just so adorable.
“I like how your cheeks turned bright red when I said that,” William said, leaning forward and pressing his lips to my cheek softly. “I’m going to go check if Jonah’s awake or not.”
He kissed my nose and left the room. I sighed and finished my breakfast. It was ten in the morning, so I needed to start getting ready for the party, which was at noon.
***
An hour later, I was pretty much ready to go. I was wearing a long black dress and my hair was pinned back into a half ponytail.
I ran my fingers through my hair to tame the waves and tugged my coat on.
“Heather! It’s time to head out,” William called.
I grabbed my purse and the present before heading downstairs. My present for Jackson was an antique record player. When I was talking to Jackson one day, I learned he was looking for one from a specific company, and I just so happened to find it a couple days ago.
“All right, I’m ready!” I said, rummaging through my purse.
There was no reply, and I looked up at William questioningly. He was staring at me with his mouth slightly open, and his eyes running over every inch of my body. When his eyes finally met mine, they were dark.
I found it hard to breathe from the look on his face. “William.”
He took a step toward me. “Heather.”
“What are you doing?” I stepped back.
He pulled me to him and captured my lips with his. His lips were moving gently and slowly against mine in a soft, intense kiss. He tasted like toffee, and I could smell his comforting cologne. I put my hands on his chest, felt his heart pounding rapidly under my fingertips.
Surprisingly, it was just as fast as mine.
After a couple of minutes, we pulled apart breathlessly. As we tried to get our breath back, he rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
“You look absolutely gorgeous,” he whispered, his breath tickling my slightly swollen lips.
I gave him a small smile and pulled away. “Thanks, now can we go?”
He smiled and nodded.
I went and quickly checked on Jonah, who was sound asleep in his crib. Mom had volunteered to take care of him while we were gone.
After about ten minutes, we reached the hotel where the party was. There was a huge banner that said Happy Birthday, Jackson! Several paparazzi were outside the hotel, and I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I got out of the car.
The reporters were staring at us in shock and started firing questions rapidly.
“Mr. Solace, are you and Mrs. Solace working things out?”
“Mrs. Solace, are you getting a divorce?”
William put his arm around my waist and moved us swiftly around the mass of reporters.
“I hate how they show up everywhere and ask the stupidest questions,” William growled once we were inside and taking off our coats
“I know how you feel,” I muttered.
He sighed. “Let’s go greet Jackson.”
We handed our coats to one of the workers and walked into the ballroom. Jackson was talking to Elliot and Nathan.
“Jackson!” I called.
He turned to us, beaming. “Hey, Heather! You look amazing!”
“Thank you, and happy birthday!” I grinned and handed him his present.
“Thanks,” he said as he turned to William to greet him.
“Heather!” Nathan hugged me.
I smiled. “Hey, Nathan!”
Before Nathan could say another word, Elliot interrupted.
“Heather,” he greeted.
“Hi, Elliot!” I said, giving him a quick hug.
“You look stunning,” he said, his gaze running over my body.
I fidgeted under his intense stare. “Um, thanks.”
“You wanna dance?”
I looked back at William, who was busy talking to Jackson and Nathan. “Okay.”
He took my hand and led me to the dance floor. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand. He placed his other hand on my waist. Elliot was actually a pretty good dancer, the only problem was an awkward silence between us.
“So, how are you and William?” he asked after a while.
I smiled slightly. “All right, I guess.”
“That’s good.” He glared at his feet.
“What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “I just wish…I was wondering if you…”
“May I cut in?” a familiar voice asked.
I turned to see William glaring angrily at Elliot.
Elliot glowered before nodding slowly. He let go of me reluctantly, and William wrapped his arms around my waist. A slow song came on, so I put my arms around his neck. We swayed slowly to the soft melody, and thankfully there wasn’t that awkwardness I had with Elliot.
I could also tell that William was upset about something because he was stiff as a rod.
“What’s wrong, William?”
“Nothing,” he replied immediately.
“Right, and I’m the queen of England.”
“You’re my queen,” he retorted.
“William!”
“I’m jealous of Elliot, okay!”
***
William
Heather stared at me in confusion. I sighed. She was so clueless sometimes.
“I hate the fact that he wants you. You are mine,” I said slowly.
She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re secretly just a caveman underneath that businessman look.”
I chuckled and pecked her lips. “Only for you. You know, I bet cavemen are good in bed, we should try—”
“For Pete’s sake, shut up!” She slapped my chest playfully and buried her red face into my chest.
I laughed and hugged her closer to me.
You are so whipped, I told myself as I buried my nose into her sweet-smelling hair.