Page 53

When I eventually run dry, she doesn’t say anything for a long time. We just lay there, content in our embrace. Eventually she rouses, using her clenched fist on my chest to prop her chin and look at me. ‘What are you going to do with all this money?’

‘I don’t know. What do you think we should do with it?’

She gives a half laugh. ‘We?’

‘Sure. You and me.’ If Holly’s going to be part of my life, of course I want her to help me spend it. ‘There’s so much good we can do, but we can also do a bunch of stuff that’s completely and utterly wild, right?’

Her brow crinkles a little, although she is still smiling. ‘Well, sure… that sounds great… but I’ve not got a lot of spare time the next five years.’

‘Holly.’ I laugh then. I love how dedicated she is that she can’t even see how much this potentially frees her up. ‘Don’t you see?You don’t have to worry about any of that any more. Your days of being constantly exhausted and stressed at how little time you have for an actual life are over. You don’t have to work. Or study. You certainly don’t have to worry about not being quick enough to dodge an incoming smack.’

A lock of her hair falls forward and I absently twist it around my finger as I speak.

‘You’ll have the kind of financial freedom most people only ever dream of. You can do whatever you want whenever you want. You can go buy a house. Hell, you can buy multiple houses. You can travel any time you want. You can buy art and jewellery and go to all the best shows. You can sit at Centre Court at a Wimbledon grand final or track-side at a Grand Prix and eat out at the best restaurants.’

Okay, yes, I’m getting a little carried away. I have no idea if Holly is in to any of those things, but that’s not the point. None of these would have been possible in my wildest dreams prior to this surprise inheritance. I’ve not ever coveted a wealthy existence, but to be able to give one to the woman I’m falling for? The only woman I’ve ever fallen for?

I’m giddy with the possibilities.

‘Hell, we can just hop from one beach resort to the next. Get matching tans and tattoos and when we get older, some his and hers matching plastic surgery to keep us looking as young as we’re going to feel with all that money at our disposal.’

The more suggestions I rattle off the quicker Holly’s smile fades. By the time I run out of fanciful ideas, she’s actually frowning. She doesn’t say anything for a beat or two, but there is a lot of blinking going on.

‘Okay,’ she says eventually as she pushes away from me, sliding to the side of the mattress, her feet landing on the floor. Rising from the bed, she drags the sheet with her, wrapping itaround her body as she looks over her shoulder at me. ‘I think you need to take a breath, Danny.’

Her voice is quiet but serious and I realise as she tucks the sheet to secure it at her cleavage that I’ve gone too far. ‘Okay… sorry.’ I give a deprecating laugh as I haul myself into a sitting position, my back to the wall behind. ‘I’m getting ahead of myself.’

‘You think?’

Her laugh holds an edge of hysteria as she takes several paces away from the bed, the sheet trailing behind like a bridal train, sweeping through a carpet of Alexander Hamiltons.

‘I’ve freaked you out, haven’t I?’

Damn it, I really should have kept my wits about me. Holly has always been on the skittish side without me going off half-cocked high on a life-changing inheritance and the delirium of scant sleep thanks to a killer drive followed by a night of serious dick.

‘You could say that.’

‘I know. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to say… very ineptly that… I love you and I want us to be together and I’m excited for our future.’

If I thought that might help, it didn’t. Holly pales as she says, ‘Oh God…’

Suddenly she looks like she’s going to have one of those old-fashioned fainting spells as she clutches the sheet tighter. Christ, I’m fucking this up, big time. Leaping from the bed, I scrabble around for my underwear. I locate my jeans and snatch them up, more tens fluttering to the floor as I strip my underwear from inside them and step into them.

‘You love me?’

Yeah… she’s freaked out. But I’m not going to pretend I don’t. It might not be the way I intended on telling her but I’m not about to deny it either.

I shove my hands on my hips. ‘Yes.’

‘Danny…’ She shakes her head at me. ‘This is… grief and a huge life-changing thing that’s happened to you. It’s… discombobulating.’

‘No.’ I shake my head at her. ‘It is those things, yes. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t also love.’

I know I just dropped it this on her – but the longer it’s out there the more I’m certain of it, and she might not believe it – which is fair – but I need her to know that I believe it. That I’m not screwing around with how I feel.

Still, she frowns like it’s the most preposterous thing she’d heard. ‘Okay, so… what happens when this… grand love doesn’t last?’

Her dismissive emphasis tells me all I need to know about her feelings on that topic, butgrand loveis the perfect descriptor.