Fifteen minutes later, Sean is still talking about finding the pregnancy test his fiancée hid under their bathroom sink.
I look toward the staircase again. I expected London to make an appearance by now, but since she hasn’t, I need to check on her.
I don’t want Sean to feel like shit for interrupting my night, so I move to stand. “I need to run upstairs for a second. I’ll be right back.”
He doesn’t tear his gaze from the zip bag in his hand. “I should wait for Calliope to tell me about the baby, right? I mean, there must be a reason she didn’t tell me.”
He should head home, wake her up, and tell her that he found it, but right now, he needs to talk this through with me even though all I want is to race upstairs and crawl into bed with the beautiful birthday girl I brought home with me.
I have to figure this shit out now, so I point toward the staircase. “I’ll be back in a flash, Sean.”
He nods. “I think I know why Calliope didn’t tell me today. I get it now.”
“Hold that thought.”
I take off before he can rope me back into this conversation.
I take the stairs two at a time heading straight for the first bathroom. The door is wide open, and there’s no London in sight.
I head into the guest bedroom and check the attached bath, but again I come up empty.
The only other bathroom on this floor is attached to my bedroom.
Perhaps, pretty little London is already tucked into my bed, naked, willing, and ready for me.
My cock swells in my pants at the thought of that.
I can’t remember the last time I slept with a woman that young, but this is a one time only deal. We fuck, we say our goodbyes, and we both have a solid memory of the beauty’s twenty-first birthday.
My feet stall when I approach the open doorway of my bedroom because the lamp on the nightstand is casting muted light over my king-size bed.
There, in the middle of it, curled up on her side in her red dress, is London.
She’s fast asleep.
I take a step in and admire the sight because fuck, she’s a vision.
I stare at her, cementing the memory of this image in my mind before I slip off her shoes, grab a lightweight blanket from the back of a chair in the corner and cover her body.
CHAPTER NINE
Harrison
I took a moment to decompress in the bathroom by splashing cold water on my face.
I plan to push Sean out the door and then wake London.
It may be cruel, but once she’s rested, my hope is that she’ll be ready to continue our celebration of her birthday.
I land on the bottom step of the staircase to find Sean with two bottles of beer in his hands.
I should be pissed that he raided my fridge again, but any anger I’ve ever felt for the man has evaporated within minutes.
Sean has always been there for me. He’s seen me through the worst days of my life, so the least I can do is be there for him on one of the best days of his.
“Let’s toast to baby Wells.” He laughs. “And to me being a stellar father.”
I take the offered bottle and tap it against his before I down a swallow. It quenches a thirst I didn’t realize I had.
I’ve been so caught up in unraveling the mystery that is London that I haven’t had anything to drink or eat in hours.
I take another pull from the beer. “You said something before I went up about figuring out why Callie kept this from you.”
He nods toward a large leather sofa in the main living room. “Take a seat, Harry.”
I should be the one inviting him to sit his ass down, but since my soon-to-be-lover is resting, I see no reason not to finish this conversation.
Once the bottle of beer in my hand is empty, I’ll have Sean at the door, ready to leave.
“Calliope’s always thinking about everyone else.” He smiles. “She must have taken the pregnancy test earlier and decided to keep the secret so it wouldn’t overshadow Ava.”
“Ava?” I sip from the bottle. “Your sister?”
He nods. “Calliope’s been preoccupied with getting Ava’s gift in order. She had one of Ava’s first piano compositions framed. Decky and I found it in a box when we cleared out our parents’ house for the renovation.”
I know Sean’s younger sister plays piano and has been studying abroad. I didn’t pay enough attention when he told me about that to remember where the hell she is, but I add what I can to the conversation. “That sounds like a great graduation gift.”
“Birthday,” he corrects me. “It’s a birthday gift for Ava.”
My eyebrows perk. “Are you hand delivering that or shipping it?”
He chuckles. “We gave it to her at dinner tonight. She cried, Harry. She fucking cried because it meant that much to her.”
“Ava’s in New York?”
He nods. “She showed up at Decky’s apartment the other night. We had no idea she was planning the trip, but he opened his door, and there she was.”
I laugh. “I know that feeling. Joslyn sometimes shows up when I least expect her.”
“Like tonight? She’s here now, right?”
I sit back in the chair. “What?”
“Her clutch purse is on the table over there.” He points toward where I dropped my keys and phone. “She was carrying it when I saw her on the subway a couple of weeks ago.”
I glance toward London’s purse. It’s similar to one that my sister has, but it’s not identical. I know because I gave Jos hers for Christmas last year, and it cost a small fortune. The one on my foyer table is a knock-off with several red rhinestones missing.
“You took off like a rocket to check on her a bit ago. Did she get into it with what’s his name again?”
“Russ,” I say in an even tone while I weigh telling him that there’s a woman I want desperately to fuck in my bed right now.
“Right.” He nods. “Ross.”
“Russ,” I correct him even though it doesn’t fucking matter because Jos will hopefully dump the guy before the month is over.
Sean’s gaze trails to the clutch purse again. “Our sisters would hit it off, Harry. Ava has a clutch just like that, or it’s damn similar. She had it with her at the restaurant tonight.”
A pit forms in my stomach, so I try and chase it away with an innocent question because there’s no way in hell that the woman in my bed is my best friend’s sister.
“Where is Ava studying again?” I furrow my brow. “It was in Paris, right?”
He downs what’s left in his bottle of beer. It feels as though it takes forever for him to swallow. “No. London.”
“London,” I repeat.
This is not fucking happening right now.
“She always says her heart belongs there because she was born there.” He smiles. “She doesn’t get that she was a month early and my mom was on a vacation she never should have been on.”
What the hell?
“She wears this bracelet.” Sean twists his left wrist in the air. “It’s packed with charms that are related to London. I’m shocked that she tore herself away from there to make the trip here for her birthday.”