Page 27 of Scream
Where I'm considered mid-size in the US, here I'm considered plus-size.
Which is just bogus.
My mind drifts to the recipe I found for chocolate cupcakes with a decadent raspberry cream cheese frosting. I let myself mentally go to my kitchen in my home, and prepare the ingredients, taking them from their place in my pantry, setting them on my counter and soon I'm imagining myself mixing them all together.
But that's what got me here in the first place.
Losing myself to baking.
The art of it.
The science behind it.
Perfecting one recipe after the other, my home gym collecting dust as I did so.
That needs to change.
Twenty thousand "non-refundable deposit" pounds, which is only afourthof what I'll be paying total for my two dresses and my... undergarments, and lunch at a quiet bistro later, Parker is driving us back to Kensington.
Staring out the window at all the snow-covered everything, I wonder if he ever gets bored being my bodyguard. But then I remember: Mum has lined his pockets. Not to mention his Christmas bonuses, free meals (and uniforms) and the fact he pretty much lives with me. All the petrol in every and any vehicle he drives me around in is also paid by us, including vacations.
So what does he do with the money? I know he’s taken care of his siblings, mostly his baby sister, Rory, but what else? Is he hoarding it like a dragon?
He hasn't asked for a night off ever.
He also hasn't taken a vacation in over two years.
Not since...
I tense, my eyes darting to find his mix-matched ones already staring at me in the rearview mirror. A scarred, dark blond brow hitches as if to ask me if I'm okay, if today was too much. I find myself giving him a curt nod, ignoring the way the pinker parts of me felt his stare.
Was he thinking of that night, too?
I haven't dared to ask how I came home that night, but the snippets I do remember all point to being in Kane's front leather seat. When I refused to get into a vehicle with leather seats, then went into full panic attack the first time Parker practically forced me into one, he made sure any future vehicles only had suede or... whatever other material they put on car seats.
Does he know?
Does he pity me?
Is that why he hasn't taken a holiday?
The SUV comes to a stop, Parker steps out to open the door for Mother first, then helps me down, holding one gloved hand. The warmth is there, always there when he touches me, even through the gloves. I ignore that feeling as my eyes catch the flutter of the blinds in the upstairs window, opening briefly then snapping closed.
Isigh in contempt.
Great.
I get to ride with Growly McGrumpertons on the flight home.
By the time I get into the house, he’s already waiting for me at the base of the stairs, glaring in my direction. “Have fun?”
“We did, thank you.” I bite out through my smile.
I’m goingto need Botox soon.
Chapter Seven
Maksim.
