Chapter 19

CHAPTERNINETEEN

London jumpedat the sound of the heavy door slamming shut. Trey bolted from his chair and raced toward it, swearing as he tried to pull it open. But it was no use.

“Are we locked in here?”

He shot her a look over his shoulder telling her everything she needed to know. She sank down into one of the chairs.

“But there’s a key right?” she asked even though, judging by Trey’s frantic efforts, she already knew what his answer would be.

Someone was pounding on the other side, but communication through the thick cellar walls was virtually impossible.

“Your phone,” Trey suddenly demanded. “Let me have it.”

She glanced at the screen, taking in the lack of any bars before handing it to him with a shrug. “I’m fairly certain we just stumbled on one thing you can’t do.”

He snatched it from her hand, obviously not appreciating a good joke when he heard one. Moving back toward the entrance, he typed something into her phone before holding it toward the top of the door.

“Cliff and Mike will figure something out,” she said, trying to calm herself as much as him. “They at least have the technical skill your agent is no doubt lacking.”

Trey dropped his head to his chest, releasing a long sigh that sounded almost as if it ended on a chuckle. Wearing a tight smile, he returned to the table and placed her phone in front of her.

“I guess we figured out something else you’re good at,” he said as he returned to his chair.

She arched an eyebrow at him in question.

“You don’t fall to pieces when life throws you a curve ball.”

If he only knew.

Maintaining her composure took a lot of work. And it was a slippery slope. She’d barely been able to hold herself together for months after he’d left her. Simply going through the motions of college life. While everyone else was gaining the freshman fifteen, London had lost nearly that much weight. She walled herself off from would-be friendships and experiences because they required too much effort. It took everything she had just to make it through each day.

Eventually, however, she’d put the pieces back together. And she’d come out the other side a much stronger woman. One who guarded her heart ruthlessly. A woman who was determined to never again feel that kind of pain. Of course, she hadn’t planned on Trey popping into her life story again.

And now she was trapped in a wine cellar with the man. He’d practically been oozing testosterone all afternoon. Testing her hard-earned composure with the sultry way he delivered his lines and those sexy secret smiles he aimed at her.

God help me.

She wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of letting him know she was on the verge of snapping, however. Exhibiting a calm she didn’t really feel, she snagged a piece of cheese.

“Well, life isn’t all bad when you have Gunther’s cheese,” she quipped. “It’s the cheese that makes you cheer.”

He picked up his own piece. “It’s the ultimate tailgate cheese.”

“Nothing says game day like Gunther’s cheese.”

“It’s a touchdown of flavor,” he countered.

London groaned when he popped his piece into his mouth.

“That was one Seth insisted on,” she told him.

Trey feigned surprise. “You don’t say?”

Feeling slightly more relaxed, she grabbed one of the grapes from the tray. “Well at least we won’t go hungry.”

“Only because we’re not dependent on Collin,” he joked.

“I don’t suppose you have a bottle opener in here?”

Wearing an appreciative smile, he rose from his chair and headed toward a chest of drawers in the corner. He pulled out a corkscrew and held out his hand to her. London dragged in a breath. Touching Trey Van Horn was never a wise idea. Neither is drinking wine with him while trapped in his wine cellar, she cautioned herself.

Ignoring her inner voice and his outstretched palm, she stood and began to stroll among the racks of wine.

“I should have paid more attention when Lucy was having tastings at her shop,” she said. “I’m not much of a connoisseur.”

Trey reached over her shoulder to pluck a dusty bottle from the rack. “This is one of Jay’s favorites.”

His breath fanned the back of her neck, lingering a moment longer than necessary. In the name of self-preservation, she slipped out from under his arm and picked up her phone.

“Put the bottle next to the cheese tray,” she told him, doing her best to keep the focus on work. “I’ll capture some more B-roll of you opening it.”

He did as she asked, expertly popping the cork, and pouring the wine into two glasses he retrieved from the cabinet.

She took the glass he offered, put it to her lips and gulped a large swallow. Lucy would be appalled. But she wasn’t trapped in a wine cellar with the man who could make her hot and bothered with a single look. Desperate times and all that.

The wine went down smoothly. Perhaps too smoothly. She took another healthy sip, feeling the liquid warm her as it made its way down her body.

Or maybe the warmth was from the fiery way Trey was eyeing her.

Ignoring him, she pulled up her Taylor Swift playlist on her phone and hit play. We are never ever, ever getting back together echoed off the stone walls. Trey chuckled before returning to the door and gently jiggling the handle. He grabbed the cheese knife from the tray and squatted down in front of the door.

London stifled a groan, tearing her gaze away from the mouthwatering view of the very fine ass his football pants were showing off. She poured herself another glass of wine. The only sounds in the room now were Taylor singing about Karma, and the relentless clink of the knife against the hinges of the iron door. London closed her eyes and let the wine work its magic on her slowly unraveling nerves.

A sound from outside the door had her eyes snapping open. The room was suddenly spinning. She tried to recall the last time she’d eaten anything today. Something more substantive than a grape and piece of cheese. Dammit. Was her wine glass empty again?

Trey pulled a piece of paper from beneath the door. He quickly scanned the note. “They’ve called a welder.”

“A welder?!” It came out more as a hiccup than actual words.

He scrutinized her carefully before looking over at the wine bottle. It was nearly empty.

“Yeah. There’s no telling how long that will take. I’ll keep trying to get it from this end.”

He turned back to the door. She poured the remaining wine into her glass.

“You know, I think I finally get why you left.” She took a sip of liquid courage, determined to address the elephant in the room. Why not, the grapes were saying. “I mean you must have gotten the news about our parents while you were in Chicago.”

His hand was still on the door. Taylor crooned “the more that you say, the less I know.”

Apropos.

“What I don’t understand,” she continued, the wine making her bolder, “is why you didn’t reach out. Why you didn’t at least have the guts to tell me what was going on.”

The only movement he made was to rest his forehead against the door. “I was young and stupid, London. And I made a bonehead decision.”

She waited several heartbeats for the apology that should surely be coming. Except it didn’t come. Damn him. She took another gulp from her glass.

“And you never regretted it?” She hated how rough her voice sounded. How vulnerable she’d now made herself.

Before she could take a breath, Trey leaped up from his crouch in front of the door and stalked over to her chair. His hands gripped the armrests, and he leaned over her, his golden eyes dark as they bored into hers. She licked her lips. His nostrils flared.

“Of course I regret it.” He seemed to be struggling to find the right words while his chest sawed in and out. “I regret walking away from what might have been, all because I was too much of a hothead dumbass to know better. But what I regret most London Headley—” he swallowed roughly, “—is hurting you.”

The last words came out as a whisper, but London felt them in her core as if he’d shouted them with a bullhorn.

“Oh,” was all she could manage.

Trey lifted her as though she was a ragdoll, reversing their positions so she was now seated on his lap. He brushed his thumb along her cheek just as he always did before he kissed her. Her stomach seized with need, anticipating the feel of his lips on hers. Except the kiss never came. Instead, his lips traced a hot path along her neck.

“We said we wouldn’t do this anymore.” Her protest was weak at best, especially since she was tilting her head back to give him better access.

“No, you said that,” he argued, brushing an openmouthed kiss against the tender skin beneath her ear right before he took the lobe between his teeth.

London moaned.

“Tell me you didn’t mean it,” he demanded in between nips to her collarbone.

Her nails dug into his biceps. He pressed his fingers to her chin, gently turning it toward him so they were nearly nose to nose. Maybe it was the wine buzz, but she was pretty sure his eyes were pleading with her.

“Tell me, London.”

The realization that she’d never be able to resist this man should have sobered her up. It didn’t. Instead, she became even more reckless, threading her fingers through his soft hair before dragging his lips to meet hers.

The explosion of need was instantaneous. Trey shifted her so she was straddling his legs. London pushed him against the chair back while their tongues engaged in a wild dance. He tugged her blouse free from her pants, lifting it up to give his fingers better access to the bare skin of her midriff. Her body convulsed at the contact. A groan escaped the back of his throat, and he yanked his lips from hers.

“Let me taste you, London. Please,” he begged as he tore at the buttons on the front of her blouse. He didn’t wait for permission—or maybe she gave it to him. She didn’t care as long as he didn’t stop what he was doing.

His lips left a trail of heat everywhere they traveled on her body. He spread her blouse open, exposing her skin to the cool air, but it did nothing to quash the restlessness brewing inside of her.

“My God, you’re still so perfect,” Trey murmured. “I’ve dreamed of this for so long.” He spoke the words as if he were surprised by the thought.

Bending her back over his forearm, he slowly lowered his head and took a pebbled nipple into his mouth. The sensation of the fabric abrading her sensitive skin as he sucked her through her bra made her wild. She clawed at the hard muscles on his shoulders. He was so hard everywhere. She moaned when her core came in contact with the hardest part of him.

Trey shoved her bra down and continued to torture her other nipple. The pleasure and pain he doled out had London unabashedly grinding her hips against him. He growled against her skin, sucking even harder as he rocked his hard length against her.

“Oh, God!” She could feel the pressure building within her. “Trey. I need…I need⁠—”

It was too late. The unexpected climax came over her in an intense wave, sending her over the edge into bliss. And as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, sparks began to fly along the hinges of the iron door.