Page 48 of Suddenly Mine
Christian winced. “Shit, sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to panic you. It’s nothing to do with anyone other than the two of us.”
“Oh.” Relief flooded though Merry’s veins as she took his hand and he led her across the atrium, still smiling. It was contagious, because she started smiling too.
“What are you doing?” she said.
“Well, you said you weren’t sure about coming to the ball with me tomorrow,” he said. “And that’s going to be a problem.”
“Christian, what’s going on?” she said. “What problem?”
“Well, I want to go to this famous ball seeing as I’ve heard so much about it. And I want to go with you.” He shrugged. “If I can’t go with you then I’m not going. And therein lies the problem.”
“Honestly?” Merry stopped, tugging Christian to a standstill in front of her. “I can’t afford to go because I have nothing to wear.”
“Which makes you having nothing to wear now my problem too.”
“I can’t believe you used the public address system for that.” Merry laughed. “You’ll get in so much trouble!”
“It will be fine,” he said. “They can’t fire me, I’m the only janitor left. Well, apart from Harvey, who’s about a hundred years old. To be honest, I walked past Jewellery on the way out and figured you needed some help escaping.”
“I did,” she said. “Thank you. I don’t know what’s going on right now, but it’s getting bad. Where is everyone?”
For a moment, Christian’s expression hardened. But then he smiled again. “Let’s not worry about it. I’ve finished my shift, you’ve finished yours. Go grab your coat, and let’s go fix this emergency.”
Chapter 22
CHRISTIAN
“Where are we going?” Merry asked as they walked up Fifth Avenue, her arm locked in his. It was dark, but the Christmas lights that lined the streets made the city glow like a winter wonderland, and Merry herself seemed to glow with happiness as he led her along.
“You’ll see,” he replied. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind what?”
Christian led her around the corner into the Rockefeller Plaza.
“More hot chocolate?” she asked.
Tempting, but he had an even better surprise. Christian steered her past the chocolate shop and stopped outside the sleek glass doors of the Devlin Storm flagship store.
Merry’s steps faltered, just like he’d thought they would.
“Christian, what are we doing here?” She looked up at him with sad eyes. “I can’t afford anything from this place. It’s Devlin Storm — their window displays cost more than my rent.”
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“I don’t think you can either, can you?” she went on. “I mean, Storm stuff is really expensive.”
Christian took a deep breath. Once again, he wondered if he should just come clean and tell her everything. There was a good chance she’d hear him out, then forgive him, wasn’t there? But they hadn’t travelled far together, and it had been a rocky road in places. If he waited a few more days, until after the ball at least, then it would give him a chance to show her who he really was. That way, she wouldn’t have to judge him on a single lie.
“What I’m about to tell you is going to sound crazy,” he said. “But bear with me.”
“Okay . . .” she said, one eyebrow rising.
“I actually know Devlin Storm. I happened to meet him once, while I was working overseas.”
“Seriously?” Merry’s mouth dropped open. “You know Devlin Storm?”
Christian nodded.