Free 31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) by C.J. Fallowfield Page B

straight. He told me that they’d
forgiven him, and whilst they were occasionally at loggerheads over his refusal
to turn off her ventilator, they were concerned that he’d put his life on hold.
He’d told me that they’d noticed a change in him during my stay in December,
and had managed to get him to confess that he’d fallen for me. Apparently
they’d encouraged him to pursue a relationship. Reading between the lines I got
the impression that they were genuinely fond of him, realising that he was a
good man to have stood by her, and to marry her, despite not being in love with
her. When he’d rung them to ask their permission for me to visit, having
explained that I was reluctant to date him, given her situation, they’d agreed
immediately.
    ‘I’m sorry if this is hard for you,’ I said
quietly as I watched him driving.
    ‘I just never imagined that I’d have a girlfriend
again, let alone be taking her to visit my wife and parents in law. It’s hardly
the stuff dreams are made of,’ he sighed, as he navigated a roundabout in the
town centre.
    ‘I’m your girlfriend?’ I queried, as I tried to
keep the grin off my face.
    ‘Damn right you are and if I have to tell Tom to
take a hike I will, along with anyone else who comes sniffing around you. Now I
have Theo and Florie’s blessing, as well as my own parent’s, it eases the guilt
somewhat, but I still feel like I’m cheating.’
    ‘What were you going to do? Remain single for
life? Never have sex again?’ I countered.
    ‘Yes,’ he sighed. ‘Until you came and fucked up
that plan.’
    ‘You really felt that strongly about me?’
    ‘Feel,’ he corrected as he turned his head to
smile at me, making me blush. ‘You’re the only woman I want Ellie and if we
can’t work this out there won’t be anyone else for me. I’ll stick to my
celibacy plan and use your photo and my memories of sex with you to masturbate
to.’
    ‘If we work this out you need to work on your
romance skills,’ I laughed, as he focussed back on the road. ‘Why do you drive to
see her every day? If you have a helicopter, why not fly? You’d be here so much
quicker.’
    ‘I’m rich because I don’t waste money, Ellie. I’m
not flash, I don’t have a fleet of expensive sports cars or go to the latest in
nightclubs buying bottles of Cristal for everyone. I don’t do drugs or call
girls and using my helicopter to come here would draw unnecessary attention to
me.’
    ‘So how do you usually travel?’
    ‘I have a helicopter and pilot for trips to and
from London, there’s a helipad in that clearing at the top of the island, where
we had the snow fight. I have a driver in London, my Land Rover up here and a
private jet for short journeys and a private 767 for travelling long distance,
mainly to my home in San Francisco. Most of my programmers and designers are
based in Silicon Valley.’
    ‘So you just sit at home working on your computer,
or working out to keep your delicious body in shape?’
    ‘Delicious?’ he smiled.
    ‘You know it is. You’re muscular perfection and
you’d better be feeling horny, because if I’m convinced that you’ve not tried
to bluff me again, I’m going to want sex with you for the rest of the day.’
    ‘Damn it woman, I’m hard at the thought of it,’ he
growled as he shifted in his seat. I felt hot myself, I needed to divert from
the topic of sex.
    ‘So what do you do for fun? You have no TV
and I’ve not seen you reading, yet you have a full library.’
    ‘I love my work, without you as a distraction it
takes up most of my free time and the library, well, I got that for you.’
    ‘You what?’ I exclaimed.
    ‘Ian, who did the report on you, gave me your
reading preferences. I contacted a book shop and gave them the list of your
highest rated books and asked them to supply those and others that they’d
recommended based on those. They were delivered on the Monday afternoon
especially for you.’
    ‘O my God, Dan. Invasion