“This has nothing to do with you. And don’t look at me like that. Like you’re some pompous do-gooder who’s doing a charitable act. God, this is why you were only good for sex. You’re a fucking pretentious arsehole who doesn’t know the first thing about real problems.”
“You don’t know me, Tilly. You don’t know my past or where I’ve come from.” I stop that train of thought. “Just…let me be there for you through this.”
“No,” she snaps, walking over to the door and opening it for me to leave. “I don’t trust this. I don’t trust your intentions. I don’t understand why you give a flying fuck about this baby. I just want you to leave.”
“Don’t be so fucking stubborn,” I roar, walking over to stand in front of her again. “Why can’t you believe that I might be coming from a genuine place here?”
“Because it doesn’t matter! I don’t need you. I got myself into this mess, so I can get myself sorted.”
“But I can help…seriously, Tilly.”
She shakes her head adamantly and eyes me with disdain. “I don’t need a saviour. You’re not some knight in shining armour. You’re just a whore meister with a guilty conscience.”
And with those parting words, Tilly Logan slams the door in my face and leaves London…and me…for good.
“I’m having a coffee with Santino in two days,” I say, dropping down onto the table in front of where Freya is currently resting on the sofa with her feet propped.
Her eyes go wide. “The man whose name we shall not speaketh?” Quickly closing her laptop, she sets it off to the side to give me her full attention.
I roll my eyes. “We can speaketh his name. I need to speaketh his name. I have to figure out how I’m going to handle this because he’s going to look over the Harrods contracts, and well…as much as I hate to say it, we need him.”
Freya rubs her lips together with a sheepish look. “I knew Santino was who Allie wanted to help us out, but I told her it was all up to you.”
“A warning would have been nice!” I run my hand through my hair in exasperation. “I can’t believe I didn’t assume he was going to be there last night. God, I’m dense.”
“You’re not dense. You looked so lovely last night, and you were so excited to go and have a proper evening out. You’ve been cooped up in this house with boring old pregnant me for far too long.”
“You’re anything but boring,” I reply with a laugh as I think about the conversation she had with her food the other night. Something about grapes being millennials and raisins being baby boomers, and they’re a family and deserve to live together in harmony. God, she’s wonderful. I fix her with a withering stare. “But now you have to help me figure out things with Santino.”
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life.” Freya reaches out to grab an imaginary bowl of popcorn, tossing some pieces into her mouth. “Tell me everything before your brother wakes up. What all happened between you two?”
I exhale heavily. “I’m not going to get into the past. But I will say…that attraction we had before. It’s still very much alive.” My body shivers as I think of how stifling that lift ride was. The two of us, both angry, both misunderstood, both glowing red and breathing the same hot air.
“Of course the attraction is still there.” She shrugs like it’s the most obvious statement. “I dated him once, so I know how hot he is.”
My nose wrinkles. “God, I clean forgot that fun fact.”
Freya waves me off. “Only for forty minutes before your brother stormed in and practically carried me out of there like a caveman.” She grins like she wasn’t at all displeased by that scene. “I will say that Santino gets a bad rap. Allie actually told me the footballers at the club have been calling him the two-month chump. He exclusively dates women for a couple of months, and sadly, it just never seems to work out. But it’s not for lack of trying.”
“Two months?” I ask curiously. “Exclusive? That doesn’t at all sound like the guy I used to know. Sounds a bit clinical and contrived.”
Freya shrugs. “I think he’s changed a lot. Even when we were on our date, he seemed very genuine and asked lots of thoughtful questions. I didn’t at all get the impression he was looking for an easy