Chapter Twenty-Two

 

 

 

Toni sighed. She leaned back in the semi-comfortable hotel desk chair and stretched the muscles in her neck and shoulders. The tour group had arrived in Lucerne, Switzerland, the night before and they’d been sightseeing ever since. She’d spent the entire day mentally plotting out the scene, but her mind had stopped short. She thought it would come to her once she got writing but her mind was blank. Her characters wouldn’t take the next step.

Toni stared at the blinking cursor on her computer screen. She was at the point of the story where the hero and heroine’s relationship progressed from friendship to something more. It should’ve been easy enough to do—she’d written hundreds of intimate sex scenes before. Toni had made sure to add enough sexual tension so that at this point in the story the reader would not only expect it, but would want them to do the deed.

So why couldn’t she type out the words? Her characters were at his apartment. They’d been kissing and feeling on each other…but… Nothing. The characters wouldn’t budge.

She’d never had problems writing sex scenes. Hell, writing them had allowed her to quit her day job to write full time, and she’d been able to live a comfortable life. To say the very least, she was good at it. Readers wrote to her all the time, telling her how they could feel the emotion and love in her words.

Just a case of writer’s block.

Writer’s block wasn’t abnormal. It happened to her and other writers all the time. What she needed to do was to stop trying to force it. Maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe she couldn’t move forward because her characters didn’t want to have sex at this particular point in the story.

She snorted. Yeah, right. Her characters had been all over each other in the club. The heroine had been rubbing her hands up and down the hero’s arms, imagining that she’d be digging her nails into his skin while he made love to her and he’d been gripping her backside and molding it in his hands, making her grind against his bulge. These two characters wanted to have sex, so that clearly wasn’t the problem.

It was her. She just wasn’t feeling it right now.

Sleep on it and wake up with fresh ideas.

That sounded like the perfect idea.

Ten minutes later, she was in bed willing herself not to dream about Ahmad tonight. While she could steel herself not to think about Ahmad during the day, in her dreams he was the only one she thought about. Her heart dropped a little at that revelation. Solomon was her one and only real love. He was who she should be having late-night hot and sweaty dreams about, not Ahmad.

Solomon had shown her what sex was, how she should feel when it was done right—loved, secure and wanted. Those were all the emotions that she made sure to put into her writing. She just had to clear her mind so that she could get back to what she loved doing the most, creating hope for the romantics of the world, even if she felt somewhat jaded by it herself.

Her phone beeped and vibrated. She reached for it.

 

Where are you now?—A

 

Her first thought was to ignore him, but then she remembered her conversation with Gabby. Be nice.

 

I’m in Lucerne, Switzerland.

 

That should be enough to make Gabby happy. Toni returned his text and wasn’t even mean about it. She stretched to put her phone back on the nightstand.

 

Is your tour guide taking you to Mount Pilatus? —A

 

Well, he hadn’t wasted any time answering her.

 

We’re going there in the morning.

 

Take lots of pics. The view is spectacular. —A

 

“Take lots of pics. The view is spectacular,” she mocked. Like she wouldn’t have taken pictures unless he had suggested it.

 

Where are you going next? —A

 

Venice, Italy

 

Ah, that’s a beautiful place. You’ll love it there.

 

How did he know what she would love? She didn’t return his text. It might not have been a nice one.

 

I always stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky when I’m there. It’s a beautiful hotel. The best. —A

 

Well, we’re staying at the Hotel Moresco. The guide tells me that’s the best.

 

I’ve never stayed there. The guide could be right. When are you arriving? —A

 

In two days.

 

Boat ride? —A

 

What? Will I be taking one? Of course, it’s Italy.

 

Her phone rang. Ahmad’s number appeared on the screen. Her heart paused. She shouldn’t answer it, but she’d just sent him a text so he knew she had her phone. She had no choice but to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

She rolled her eyes. He was making his voice sound so low and so sexy. The last time she’d talked to him, he hadn’t sounded nearly this good. Ugh. He does not sound good.

“What’s up?” She tried her best to sound unimpressed.

“Is this a good time?”

“Good time for what?” That’s it, be difficult.

“For us to talk.”

I don’t want to talk. “Talk about what?”

“About how stupid I acted and that I’m sorry. I apologize.”

“Yes, you are stupid and I accept your apology. That didn’t take long.” She feigned a yawn. “Well, if that’s all…?”

“Toni, I…I guess that’s all.”

“Good night, Ahmad.”

Toni didn’t wait for his reply, she terminated the call.

 

* * * *

 

Ahmad let the hotel curtain fall back into place and sat in the chair he’d dragged from beside the king-size bed. He was driving himself crazy. When Toni had told him what day she was set to arrive in Italy, the first thing he’d done was order his plane and the next was to check the arrival times from Switzerland and guess when she would show up to the hotel. By his calculation, he still had about thirty more minutes, but that hadn’t stopped him from peering out of the window every two minutes just to catch a glimpse of her.

His nerves were shot to hell. Why was he even doing this? He’d picked up and come to Italy to meet Toni on a whim. Possibly a very stupid whim. She didn’t want to talk to him, she’d made that abundantly clear. So it stood to reason that she didn’t want to see him either.

But he wanted to see her.

Badly.

After the tabloid fiasco, he’d tried to convince himself that Toni was a dime a dozen and easily forgettable, but that was something he couldn’t do. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. He’d tried to make her out to be the villain so badly that he’d ignored all the red flags and common sense that rebutted the role he’d put her in. His heart had only wanted to do one thing since their first dance.

Love her.

He loved Antoinette Marie Harrison and he couldn’t, no, he wouldn’t deny it any longer. Everything else be damned.

No, she didn’t fit neatly into what he’d previously thought a perfect woman should be. But why would he want perfect when he could have a woman who smiled as brightly as she did, who had an infectious laugh, who preferred to wear vintage T-shirts and sneakers than dresses, who created her own imaginative worlds in her head, who lived in a world full of romance and who loved for a lifetime?

He wanted Toni and no one else.

Sure, the press would pick away at all the flaws they perceived her to have and would use whatever they found to try to bring down what he’d worked so hard for. That was okay. Anything would be fine as long as he had Toni by his side. That was if she ever forgave him for being a jerk. A very stupid jerk.

He rubbed a hand across his face, feeling the stubble that had grown around his mouth and cheeks. He’d let himself go to hell lately. He couldn’t seem to pull himself together. He’d always maintained a perfect appearance. He had to, especially since the threat of being photographed without him being aware was always imminent. The unraveling of his life began right after Gabby had uttered those words. ‘She’s only been with two men in her life. A man who loved her and someone who treated her like a piece of crap. Guess which one you are.’

Ahmad didn’t want to be the only man who’d done Toni wrong. He didn’t want anyone to do her wrong. She deserved better than what he’d given her. He wanted to make it up to her, to show her that she hadn’t made a mistake that night by opening her door for him.

Who could blame her for hating him?

He was scared. Man, was he scared. Scared that she’d take one look at him, see the desperation in his eyes and laugh him off. Then where would he be? He didn’t know, but he had an idea.

He’d be broken.

He leaned forward and peered out of the window at the street again. People walked by and a doorman helped a couple into a car. The sun was bright and everyone seemed to be enjoying the day. Everyone except for him. He was about to let the curtain fall back into place again, but before he could complete the motion a white van pulled up to the curb. He held his breath as the doorman opened the door and helped people out and onto the sidewalk. He couldn’t make out anyone’s face from his vantage point, but when he saw a slight figure with an abundance of black wavy hair exiting the van, his interest piqued.

While he couldn’t make out her face, his heart seemed to know who it was immediately. Toni.

His eyes followed her until she walked under the hotel awning and he couldn’t see her anymore. Only then did he let out his breath. This was it. The moment he’d been waiting for. He rubbed his sweaty palms against his thighs. There was no turning back.

Ahmad stood in front of his door and peered out of the peephole, waiting to get a glimpse of her. When he’d checked in, he’d told the front desk that he was meeting Toni and had requested a room next to hers. While they hadn’t told him which room she’d been assigned because of guest confidentiality, they’d assured him that she was on the same floor.

Ahmad waited until finally he heard talking coming from the hall, excited chatter of both men and women. She was here. Without wasting any more time, he took a deep breath, opened his door and stepped right into Toni’s path.