AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 25
Kylie
“This is so amazing,” I told Dylan as we strolled through Hyde Park two days later.
We’d started at Kensington Gardens, and meandered by the Italian Water Gardens, where people were relaxing on the lawn or lining benches near the fountains simply to enjoy the beautiful summer day. That area had been busy, but once we’d passed it, the path had gotten quieter, and Dylan had pulled me into a grassy area where we’d followed a less trodden path to the Serpentine Sackler Gallery.
Once we’d wandered through the exhibits, we’d started toward Hyde Park.
Dylan had seemed perfectly relaxed, but it hadn’t escaped my notice that when we’d gone to cross a busy street, he’d wrapped a protective arm around my waist, his body tense until we’d gotten away from the traffic.
A casual observer probably wouldn’t have noticed his reaction, but because I knew his history, I recognized why he’d experienced some discomfort.
It wasn’t obvious, but his arm had been like a powerful band around me, as though he needed to make sure I didn’t dart into oncoming traffic.
He’d simply gritted his teeth through the discomfort, and I marveled at how dogged his determination was to put his past behind him.
It would get easier with time, and there was no apparent flashback, but I hated to see him uncomfortable because he was usually a guy who rarely hesitated to do anything.
“It’s crowded,” Dylan observed as he held my hand and pulled me closer to him to avoid a crowd of tourists.
I could hear several different languages being spoken around me as we cautiously approached a swan swimming close to the edge of the Serpentine.
“I don’t think it’s just tourists,” I told him, surprised by how disinterested the swan seemed in the crowds.
He grinned at me, his eyes obscured by a pair of dark shades. “We Brits learn to enjoy our short reprieve from the rainy, chillier weather. We don’t get a lot of days like this, and our summers are short.”
Dylan was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a short-sleeve polo shirt, but the casual attire did nothing to take away from how devastatingly handsome he looked today.
I’d put on a pair of forest green capri pants and a matching floral shirt this morning—after checking the forecast, of course.
I smiled at an older woman who had come up next to me to look at the swan.
“It’s quite warm today, isn’t it?” she commented.
Dylan grinned and shot me an I-told-you-so look.
“It’s a lovely day,” I agreed with a nod.
She beamed at me and wandered away.
“You just made her entire day,” he said as he leaned closer. “You see how easy that is, right? Agree with a Brit’s perception of the weather, and you make a friend for life.”
I burst out laughing. “Don’t be a smart-ass.”
I’d actually noticed that Brits did love to talk about the weather, and to my surprise, Dylan hadn’t been pulling my leg about that.
He tugged on my hand gently. “I think we’d better move. You’re getting a little pink. If we can find some shade, you should put on more sunscreen.”
My fair skin was a complete pain in the ass for a woman who loved to be outside, but I’d learned to be generous with the tube of sunscreen I rarely went anywhere without.
“The birds are so tame,” I said as we walked away from the water’s edge.
“They’re used to the crowds, and since they get fed by humans, they don’t actually fear them.”
We kept strolling, and I thought about the busy days we had ahead of us.
We’d already covered a lot of ground.
