A cab was waiting outside, and Cal handed the driver a piece of paper with their destination. As they started a madcap race through town, she gazed at the crowded London streets flashing by, the double-decker buses, the tower of Westminster Cathedral. “I love London. It’s always so full of life.”
“Have you been here before?” Cal asked.
“Daniel took me during summer break once in high school when he had a conference to attend. I loved the way history comes to life in every nook and cranny. I’ve always longed to come back.”
He looked confused by the idea that she’d never returned. “I’m sure your brothers could have sent you back anytime you wanted. If not on one of their private planes, then first class on a commercial airline.”
Lyssa shook her head. “No, I hate the idea of sponging off them. I know they’re billionaires, and sending me on another trip to London wouldn’t have been so much as a drop in their bank bucket, but I decided a long time ago that I wanted to pay my own way as soon as I was able.”
She felt spotlighted by Cal’s gaze as he said, “I get it. I’ve always wanted to make my own way too.”
The cabbie lurched to the left and stomped on the brakes right before he slammed into the curb. That was when she saw where they were.
“Are we going up on the London Eye?” When Cal nodded, she practically hugged him again, on purpose this time, rather than stumbling into his arms. “When I was here before, I did a tour of the Tower of London and a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich, but I didn’t have time to fit in a ride on the London Eye.”
Cal’s smile grew. “Then it will be my pleasure to take you on London’s finest Ferris wheel.”
Everything about London excited her, but going up in the London Eye would be amazing.
Especially because she’d be with Cal.
Chapter Three
Cal paid the cabbie as Lyssa climbed out to stand on the pavement and gaze up.
The London Eye dominated the skyline. She’d heard the pods could hold up to twenty people and had an amazing three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of London. At the top, London would be a carpet of lights below them.
Lyssa clapped her hands in delight. “This is such a wonderful treat. Thank you.”
She felt Cal close beside her, smelled his deliciously male scent she shouldn’t have let herself notice. And yet she closed her eyes a moment to savor it.
“Thank you for solving a huge problem and making it look so easy.”
“That’s my job,” she said with a smile. She felt giddy, a combination of happiness and probably sleep deprivation as well.
A tall attendant with bushy white eyebrows appeared. “Mr. Danniger?”
“Yes.” Cal shook the man’s hand. “Are you ready for us?”
“Your capsule will be here in a few moments,” he answered in a cultured British accent.
“We have a whole capsule to ourselves?” She turned to Cal, her heart rate tripping over itself at his kindness.
“We deserve a solo capsule.” Cal smiled. “Especially after what you accomplished today.”
She felt herself blush. Aw shucks, it was nothing, she wanted to say. But Cal made her feel important and needed, and she didn’t want to diminish those feelings.
The attendant gestured for them to follow him. “Your private capsule has arrived.”
Their reflections showed in the capsule’s one-way-view windows as they bypassed the waiting queue. Whispers, along with the clicks of cameras, followed them as though they were celebrities.
The dress she wore was one of her favorites, the green fabric accentuating her dark hair, the cleavage just short of plunging, circumspect yet with a hint of skin.
The attendant opened the door with a flourish.
Stepping inside, Lyssa gasped. She twirled around the interior, taking in every detail as the door slid shut on their own private nightclub. “How did you arrange all this in an hour and a half?”
Cal smiled, a sparkle in his eye. “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you set your mind to a task. But you already know that, don’t you?”
In one corner, a string quartet played a pretty ballad from the forties. In another corner, a lavish array of appetizers was spread out on a long table. A parquet dance floor lay in the center beneath fairy lights crisscrossing the ceiling. Two leather chairs faced out to maximize the view, a champagne bucket on a café table between them.
With barely a jerk, the capsule moved, rising slowly, the lights of London filling the windows.
As wonderfully as her family treated her, no one had ever done anything like this for her. Maybe it was that Cal wasn’t family, that he wasn’t obligated, that he’d simply appreciated what she’d done. Whatever the reason, she wanted to relish every moment of this London fairy tale he’d created for her.