Page 34 of Until He Confesses

The more words that came out of her mouth, the worse I felt so I ended the call and returned my attention to my surroundings. I was still seated in front of the mirror so I took a long look at myself and just then a message arrived.

Anna: Did you get his account number? If you didn’t then you could ask him for it. It’s a perfect reason to talk and maybe from there, you guys could meet up for dinner or something. Just don’t allow a repeat of last night, or at least if you allow it then I’m taking half of whatever he gives you as my share.

I wanted to ask her what inane sense of entitlement made her feel she was entitled to it but knowing she was just pulling my leg, I shook my head and set the phone aside.

There was never any doubt that I was going to return the money but since Anna’s suggestion wasn’t half bad, I decided to employ it. I pulled up Lucas’s newly saved contact information and began to craft a message to him.

“Your account number?” I asked but didn’t say why.

I sent it with my heart in my throat and tried to convince myself thereafter not to be nervous at all.

I got up to plan my itinerary for the day and had barely taken a few steps when a message arrived on my phone. I took my time putting my things away until I truly couldn’t hold back my curiosity any longer.

After checking, I couldn’t help my disappointment when I saw that it was a message from Julianne.

They were heading out for breakfast and wanted me to join them.

I was interested and had been waiting for the call but was unhappy because I was sure I was going to remain antsy and nervous until I got a response from Lucas.

It was late morning now and nearing the afternoon so there was no doubt that he should have been well into his day and couldn’t have missed my message.

A few minutes later and when I saw that there was still no response from him, I slipped my low-heeled strappy sandals on and was soon out of the room.

“Your dress is beautiful,” Julianne complimented the moment she saw my white lace dress with soft paintings of chrysanthemums.

“Thank you,” I replied as I took my seat beside her at a round table.

“You look wonderful as well,” I said as I took in her armless halter-neck blouse, boxy blue jeans, and wedge sandals.

“Oh these are old,” she said and we settled down for the classic English breakfast of bacon, beans, black pudding, toast, potatoes, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

I looked around at the little roadside restaurant they had chosen and found that I quite liked it.

It wasn’t too close to the road so there was no feeling of danger, but it was just close enough for us to watch people and cars passing by.

“Callie, how did you sleep?” our assistant pilot Timothy asked, and I sent him a polite smile.

“Wonderfully well,” I said and almost couldn’t help blushing. I lowered my head, praying to God that no one noticed as I stabbed a sausage and put it in my mouth. More than anything it reminded me once again of the previous night and how intensely I had been railed and no matter how hard I blinked I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When Julianne slightly tapped my shoulder, it took a few seconds for me to snap out of my trance.

“You okay?” she asked, as she gave me a knowing look, and horror momentarily struck me. I wondered if perhaps she had heard us as she was only a few rooms down from mine. I couldn’t recall keeping my voice low, but I didn’t expect that the hotel was poorly soundproofed either. Her next comment answered my question.

“Have any fun with Mr. Billionaire ex?” she asked, and I was relieved.

She was probably just assuming and so I frowned and shook my head.

“Jeesh,” she said. “Your split must have been really bad for you to still not even have any interest in him or was he a billionaire then too and none of it impresses you now? Does he come from money?”

“Are you two talking about the client from last night?” Tim suddenly jumped into the conversation, and we were forced to pay attention to him.

Well, I was, because I truly didn’t want to be talking about Lucas at brunch.

“Yup,” Julianne replied on my behalf, however, and I sighed.

“Well, he doesn’t come from money at all,” Timothy responded. “His family was actually quite poor and so I think he grew desperate enough to dive into entrepreneurship from a young age. I heard he didn’t even finish college but left to develop his company, and it worked out fabulously, I guess. “

“I’ll be right back,” I said then and rose to my feet.

“How did he start the company?” Julianne asked but by the time Timothy gave his response I was already navigating through the other tables in the restaurant and making my way to the bathroom.