When we parted, she pushed her wavy dark bangs from her forehead distractedly and said, “Who in heaven is that?”
I already knew who she was referring to, but turned around anyway. Angelo stood only a few feet away from us. His hands rested at the sides of his body, giving the impression of normality and casualness, but his gaze was eagle sharp on us. Coupled with his dark clothes, and his intimidating stance, he truly did seem to be something that fell from heaven … or rose up from hell. But his was definitely the kind of darkness you wanted in your bed.
“Is that the bodyguard you’ve been talking about?” she asked.
I moved my hand to cover her mouth. “He can hear you, you moron!”
“‘Don’t be silly. He’s not near enough to hear anything in this din.”
“Believe me, he can hear things that most people might be too distracted to pick up.”
Her mouth rounded into a “oh,” and then with a nod, she gave me a thumb’s up signal. She didn’t stop there. She licked her lips to send the very clear message to me that she thought he was incredibly, sexually delicious.
I wanted to die. “He’s also not blind.”
“And your point?”
I glared at her. “‘We were just talking about him, which he heard, and then you go and do that. What’s he supposed to think?’
She slapped her hand across my arm. “I didn’t come here for you to harass me. I can do whatever I want and ogle whoever I want. I’ll be gone in a week. So be nice to me.”
I grinned and grabbed her knapsack off the floor. “I’m always nice.”
“That’s more like it.” Then she grabbed my hand and with a big smile pulled me towards Angelo.
I shook my head. Something told me she would be causing more trouble than I anticipated. Charlotte always was trouble.
“So you’re Angelo,” she said. “I’m Charlotte.”
Angelo gave a curt nod. “We should go.”
As we walked, Angelo kept running his eyes around the massive arrivals hall, scanning the hordes of people milling about.
I could almost sense the impatience he felt for us to be out of this space, and I could completely understand it. Being in such a crowded place reduced his ability to keep me safe.
Soon we were on our way, with him in the driver’s seat of the SUV. Charlotte and I seated in the back.
“I want a burger from In-N-Out!” Charlotte announced.
“I’ll Google it later for you and we can go this evening,” I said.
“Wait, you don’t know where the closest In-N-Out is? Are you even from LA?”
“I am,” I admitted. "But considering the years I’ve spent in London, I’m almost British. I even have an accent.”
“No, you don’t,” she retorted. “Your accent is a mix of American and British, and sometimes I hear a pinch of Italian when you’re pissed.” She threw her head backwards for a laugh. “I die every time.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Can’t we stop for one now?”
I looked at her curiously. “Why do you want an In-N-Out so badly?”
“Well, it’s all I hear about from everyone who lives in LA.”
“I can guarantee you our cook can whip up burgers and fries better than anything In-N-Out can even dream of doing.”
“Wait, you have a bodyguard and now you have a cook?”
“Yeah.”
“How rich are your parents, Sienna?”
I sighed.
“No, I seriously want to know. You lived like a church mouse in England and yet, you come from all this wealth.”
“I’ll explain everything later.”
“Fine. About my In-N-Out burger. I’ve been fantasizing about it for years. Can we please get one now?”
"We’ll go later in the evening,” I promised.
“Deal. But I’ll still have your cook make me a burger for now, and there better be tears in my eyes when I take a bite out of it because that’s what I expected from In-N-Out.”
“Trust me, their burgers are not that great. Completely overrate—”
Her gasp cut me off.
“What?” I asked startled.
“You live here?”
We had stopped outside the gates of my home.
“Wow!” She looked around us with widened eyes as we drove into the grounds. “Your parents are seriously rich, aren’t they?” She gasped again when the house came into view.
Part of me felt sad Charlotte was so awed and taken with the house and grounds. I didn’t want her to be so impressed she changed the way she felt about me. I liked it better when we were both poor and she treated me as her equal. “Stop gasping," I said mildly.
“What are you talking about, gasping is my thing! But let’s get back to all of this unbelievable wealth and lavishness that you managed to completely hide while you were in London. For Pete’s sake, you wore one jacket for the whole winter and you had all this … Whoa.”
“I’m humble,” I said, as we drew up to the house.