Liesl was impatiently waiting on her room service. When she’d ordered it, they had told her it would be a bit because the kitchen was backed up due to the banquet and almost a full house of guests, but it was now going on an hour, and she wanted the pie and wine desperately.
A knock on the door and a man’s voice calling room service made her jump off the bed, yanking the robe closer together and she pulled the door open. A friendly looking gentleman stood there holding a silver tray and she reached out and took it from him with a smile, putting some cash in his hand. “Thank you.”
“I’ll carry it,” Isaias’ voice spoke as he pushed past the man, grabbing the tray from her and strolling into her room.
She sighed and closed the door on the surprised man’s face. “Isaias, what are you doing here?”
“I can’t go home because you aren’t there therefore, I’m here.”
“What do you mean you can’t go home? You can go home.” She followed him into the room glaring at him as he lifted the cloche off her snacks, nodding appreciatively at the coconut cream pie. She growled when he swiped his finger along the cream and then licked it. “Hey, that’s mine.”
“We’ll share.”
“No, we won’t because you are leaving!” She considered the whining tone of her voice coupled with the desire to stomp her foot had to be out of emotional exhaustion. She was not typically childlike but the urge to throw down on the floor and flail was immense.
“I’m not leaving, at least until I say what I need to say.”
Liesl watched as he uncorked her bottle of wine and poured some into the tumblers which came with the room. “Then say what you have to say and go. My head is pounding, and I want to eat my pie and drink my wine in peace.”
“What about the jellybeans and the can of chips? I never understood what the fascination is with chips in a can. Makes no sense to me because the opening is too small for any grown man to put their hands into. I prefer the bag. I can’t be choosy though since I didn’t each much of dinner because I was focused on not beating up your ex and his father. I think we’ll share these too.”
She rolled her eyes and flopped onto a chair frustratedly, shaking her head at his odd behavior. He was avoiding eye contact with her and was digging around the room as if nervous and she knew this was a man who hadn’t been nervous a day in his life.
She curled up into a ball on the chair, tugging the robe around her legs and waiting for it. It being of course, the inevitable ending of their relationship. She steeled herself for the way her heart was going to hurt. He stood over her and put a glass of wine in her hand and she stared into the dark liquid avoiding his eyes.
“Your sister propositioned me.”
Her eyes snapped to his incredulously. “What?”
“Yeah. In front of Enia actually. She’s the strangest woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter. Enia admitted to being unable to look away from her. I mean the entire room was staring at her because she is dressed like she’s at an Adam’s Family cosplay party. She thinks it’s because she looks good but really, it’s because she’s like a car crash. People were rubbernecking to see what the hell Merlin McGrath downgraded to, and the jokes were something else. Merlin was quite uncomfortable with the attention she was gathering.” He sat down in the seat opposite her and kicked his feet up on the table between them. He looked around, “this is a cozy little room.”
“People were cracking jokes?” Liesl didn’t look up from her wine.
“Yes. Dad said he overheard one guy ask if Merlin was so proud of the baby in his new wife’s belly, he was trying to show the world the snatch he put it in. It seems when she sat down the strips of the material of her skirt all fell apart and depending on which version you hear, she’s either not wearing underwear or the ones she is wearing have been eaten by her crotch.” He took a long drink of his wine, “I personally didn’t look over, but Enia feels it is option two.”
“Oh dear,” Liesl was struggling not to giggle at the story. “And she hit on you?”
“Yes. Walked right up to me asking me where you were and then said she could blow me better than you could and offered to do it.” He gave an exaggerated shudder, “I almost puked on her shoes.” He looked up then, “also, nobody can blow me better than you can.”
Her grin faded as she scowled at him, their eyes connecting for the first time since he entered the room. “Very funny.”
“It is not a joke. I mean it. There is no other woman on the planet whose lips I want on my junk.”
“Nice,” she took a sip of her wine and then grimaced, “this looked better in the menu.”
“You’re spoiled because you and the girls got into the expensive stuff in my wine cellar.”
“Yeah, we did.” She grinned with the memory. “We drank two bottles Thursday night and we split another bottle today getting me ready.”
“Good,” he smiled gently at her. “I’m happy when you’re home you know to feel free to do as you, please.”
At his phrasing of being home, she looked away again. A strange urge to cry for what felt like the twentieth time made her look up to the ceiling in a bid to quell the tears.
“Why are you crying, Liesl?”
“I’m not,” her voice was shaky.
“You are sweetheart.”
“Isaias, can we get this over with?”
“Get what over with?”
“This,” she flung her fingers in his direction, “you are breaking up with me.”
“I told you earlier on the phone I had no intention of breaking up with you.” He stared at her sadly, “is it what you want though? You don’t want to be with me?”
She shook her head quickly, “no, it’s not what I want.”
“I am sorry for tonight, Liesl. I had an entire little speech prepared to say to you before the gala and when I was in the car coming from the airport to the hotel, I got the report on Trent. Then I walked in and saw Mallory wasn’t intervening on the four-on-one tag team which was going on and I lost my cool. It took me a long time to get my temper under control.”
She nodded at his explanation.
“You were gorgeous tonight. I knew you would look exquisite in red. It’s an incredible color on you. You were the most beautiful woman in the place, and I should have told you the minute I saw you. I should have paid you better attention and I should have made sure you knew nothing was more important than you.” He set his tumbler on the table, “Liesl, honey look at me?”
She turned her head to face him and saw the sadness etched on his face. He was leaned forward, his bowtie haphazardly hanging around his neck undone, and his fingers clenched tight together on his lap.
“Please forgive me?”
