“A private capsule?” she asked with a wide grin. “Really?”
Tyler smiled and gestured for her to go ahead of him and follow behind Mary. They bypassed the hundreds of people lined up and were escorted onto the next available capsule.
“Your three-hundred-and-sixty-degree maps are on the bench. Enjoy the ride,” Mary said before the capsule was closed and locked.
“Off we go,” Tyler said as the glass bubble moved up and away from the platform. He followed Amelia to the far side of the car overlooking the Thames. The sun was just setting, and the blazing orange-and-red sky illuminated the boats traveling up and down the river and the cars crossing the bridges beside them. The Parliament building, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey beyond it glowed brightly in the evening light. Turning to look the opposite direction, he recognized other famous buildings, like the Gherkin and the Shard, against the skyline.
It was an amazing view at any time of day, but Tyler was certain he’d hit the jackpot tonight. Not only was it the perfect time, but he had a beautiful woman there with him. She had been resistant to coming on this trip at first, especially since he’d planned it as a surprise and gone around her, as she’d put it, but she’d really warmed up to the idea. He’d been to London enough that he didn’t get the surge of excitement when he saw one of the famous landmarks. With Amelia here, he was experiencing the city anew. It made him want to take her with him everywhere he went, and if he couldn’t do that, he’d rather stay at home and send one of his employees instead.
Amelia’s back was to him as she gazed out at the panorama before them. Her red hair was pulled up today, revealing the long line of her neck. He wanted to lean in to her and place a kiss against her sensitive skin. He wanted to hear her gasp with surprise and moan softly as the sensations he coaxed from her rushed through her body.
Stepping up behind Amelia, he leaned in and grasped the railings on each side of her. He rested his chin on her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“You’re beautiful,” Tyler countered, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back against him, sighing with contentment as their tiny bubble rose higher and higher around the wheel. The view was spectacular, but the longer they spent pressed against each other, the less interested Tyler was in the landscape.
He swept a stray strand of red hair out of the way and pressed his lips to her skin. Amelia gasped and tilted her head to the side to give him better access. He moved across her throat, teasing her with his lips, teeth and tongue. She held still, only her rapid draws of breath giving away her building arousal. His desire for her was harder to disguise. The minute he touched her, the blood rushed to his extremities and he was overwhelmed by the throbbing need to possess his wife.
His wife. Funny how he’d come to think of her that way in only a few short weeks. He’d gotten used to spending the evenings with her, watching her cook and testing her new recipes. He liked falling asleep with her in his arms and waking up to her grumpy morning face. Tyler needed Amelia to fall in love with him. He couldn’t bear to lose all this in a week’s time.
Just as they crested the top of the Eye, he slipped a hand beneath her coat and cupped one large breast. He could feel the nipple form into a hard peak beneath his touch, straining through the fabric to reach him. Amelia arched her back as he stroked her flesh, pressing her round backside into the firm heat of his desire.
Tyler groaned aloud, the sound echoing in the capsule. He was overcome by the driving need to touch her, bury himself in her and lose all rational thought in loving her. But damned if they weren’t four hundred feet in the air, enclosed in a clear bubble with tourists on both sides of them and a closed-circuit camera recording their every movement. It was the most seemingly private yet agonizingly public scenario he could’ve possibly put them in.
Amelia turned in his arms to face him as they started descending back toward the ground. She slipped her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers together at the nape. She did look beautiful today. And this was an amazingly romantic moment. And yet he couldn’t stop from voicing the concerns that had been plaguing him for ove
r a week. They had to get past this.
“Amelia?” he said, his voice near shaking with adrenaline and need.
“Yes?”
“Will you love me?” he asked.
A seductive smile curled her lips. “Absolutely.”
Tyler softly shook his head. She’d answered too quickly, so he was certain she misunderstood. “That’s not what I meant,” he corrected. Amelia had given him her body, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted to break through her walls and topple all her misconceptions about love. He knew her well enough to know he couldn’t force his way into her heart. She had to let him in. “Will you give me your heart?”
Her eyes widened, her mouth falling open without words.
“I want this to work between us, Amelia. I want you to fall in love with me, so we can have a family and all the wonderful things you’ve always dreamed of. But you have to stop fighting it. Are you ever going to let yourself fall in love with me?”
There was a long silence, a painful one, but when she finally did speak, it made him yearn for the quiet again.
“You’re asking me to give you something with nothing in return.”
It was Tyler’s turn to look at her with wide-eyed surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Through this whole thing, you’ve been on a mission to make me fall in love with you—and you’re succeeding, even if you don’t feel that way. But you’re right, I am holding back, and it’s because I get the feeling that you’re not letting yourself fall in love with me. You had it rough with Christine. I know that. Breaking off the engagement a week before the wedding was just cruel, especially if she knew she’d had doubts about the two of you. She hurt you. You wouldn’t ever talk about it, but I can tell by the way you changed after that. All work, all the time.”
He didn’t like talking about what happened with Christine, even with Amelia. Talking about it meant that he would have to face his first big failure in life. To talk about how he couldn’t measure up, no matter what. He’d rather just pretend it hadn’t happened. “I have a business to run,” he argued.
“So do I. That’s no excuse. You’re just hiding away. You might have lost her, but in the process, I almost lost you, too. You buried yourself in your work, flying so much the flight attendants know you by name. But you need to clip those wings of yours if we’re going to make this work. I think both of us are trying so desperately to protect our hearts, so afraid this isn’t going to succeed and we’re going to lose everything we have.
“I will let myself fall in love with you, Tyler,” she continued, “but you have to let yourself do the same.”
Tyler swallowed hard, hearing the truth in her words but not knowing quite how to address it. He had held a part of himself back, and he still wasn’t certain he could give all of himself the way he had before. It was a scary prospect, even as desperately as he wanted the life they could have together. But they’d never have the chance if he didn’t give in. Or at least, let her think that he had.