Saving Mr. Bell

Chapter Twenty-one

Rudolf

I woke first on Christmas Day, heaving myself up onto one elbow to watch Arlo sleep. His lips curling up at one corner made me wonder what he was dreaming about to make him smile. Was it awfully selfish to hope it was me? Had I become so possessive I needed to commandeer his sleeping hours and his waking ones? Yes, was the undeniable answer to that.

Absence might have made me realize I’d fallen for him, the hours of sorting my life out dragging like they were weeks, but in the past few days I’d discovered that there were degrees of being in love, my feelings for him only growing now neither of us were holding back.

I trailed gentle fingertips over his cheek, Arlo’s smile growing wider. “I love you,” I said, the words still enough of a novelty that a rush of emotion accompanied them. “And I know I joke about stuff, but I’ll aways be grateful for you saving me when I didn’t know I needed it. My hero! We need to get you a cape.”

Arlo stirred, and I waited for him to offer his own sweet words. Probably something along the line of he’d do it a hundred times if he needed to, from now until eternity. “Wolf cubs,” he said, his eyes still tightly closed. “Furry.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Soft. Want to stroke one.”

I laughed as I swung my legs out of bed. So much for him dreaming about me. That would teach me to believe in my own hype. Pulling on sweatpants—my own this time, although sharing Arlo’s clothes had proved a hard habit to wean myself off, particularly when he didn’t seem to mind—I went to make breakfast. I paused by the decorated tree to admire it for a few seconds. It was far prettier now it had gained more than two ornaments. It leaned slightly to one side, Arlo accusing me of not chopping it straight while I maintained that he’d been too lazy to dig enough rocks up to anchor it securely. The real reason probably lay somewhere between the two, but neither of us would admit it when bickering and baiting each other was far more enjoyable.

Arlo still hadn’t surfaced by the time I’d cooked breakfast, so like the good boyfriend I was, I carried both plates—a full English because it was Christmas and it reminded me of the first morning we’d spent together, minus the hangover and the bad attitude on my part—into the bedroom on a tray. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

My boyfriend made a meal out of heaving himself up against the pillows. I didn’t mind. Not when it gave me time to ogle his bare chest. He ran a hand through his hair. “You cooked breakfast?”

“No, the little gnome who lives in the forest did it, but I didn’t see why he should take all the credit for it, so I took a leaf out of your book and I bundled him into the back of the car and drove him out to the middle of nowhere. A different middle of nowhere.”

Arlo maneuvered the tray onto his lap. “It’s a good job I like sarcasm.”

“Isn’t it?” I sat cross-legged on the bed with my tray in front of me. “Or we wouldn’t last two minutes.”

“Do you think we will last?” Arlo grimaced as soon as the question left his lips. “Ignore me. Don’t answer that. I’m apparently intent on ruining Christmas. I’ll get my name changed to Grinch.”

“Grinch Thomas. I like it. It has a nice ring to it. Plus, it’ll be a great icebreaker when we go to parties.” When Arlo didn’t smile, I contemplated what he’d said some more while I chewed and swallowed. “I get it, you know. You hate having a failed marriage behind you because you don’t like failing at anything.”

“Does anyone?”

I shrugged. “Some people are better at it than others. You said it yourself, though, that you were too hasty with Bruno. We’re going to take things much slower.”

Arlo laughed. “Are we?”

I took his point. We were kind of living together, and we’d jumped into bed within days—ninety-five percent my fault, but whatever. “Yeah, we are. No holidays to Vegas. No setting foot inside a jewelry store. Easy.” It begged one question, though. I toyed with my fork while I considered whether now was the right time to ask.

“What?” Arlo asked.

“Are you getting a divorce? I know you’re not getting back together, but you’ve never mentioned formally ending it.”

“Does it bother you, me still being married?”

I paused from eating to hold Arlo’s gaze. Joke, or tell the truth? I went for the latter. “Hell, yes. I don’t like other men having a claim on what belongs to me.”

There were two reactions Arlo could have to my words. Either it would make him want to run, and if that was the case, maybe I was wrong and we wouldn’t last. Or he’d like it.

The slow smile that spread across his face as he nodded said he liked it. “Yeah, we’re getting a divorce. We just agreed to wait until we’ve made a joint statement to the media. You know how these things have a habit of escalating out of control unless you keep a tight lid on them. And Bruno and I might not have agreed on anything else during our marriage, but we agree on being in better control of our divorce than we were with our marriage.”

“Makes sense.”

Arlo nodded. “And just for the record, I didn’t need to ask that question.”

“What question?”

“The one about whether we’ll last. You love me and I love you, so we’ll make it work.”

“We will,” I agreed. “And if I forget that, you can always kidnap me again.”

Arlo groaned. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Nope.”

We cooked Christmas dinner together, Arlo in charge of the turkey and the potatoes while I did the rest, both of us taking our roles seriously while also having fun with it. Neither of us had any complaints about the finished meal. In a show of belief that hadn’t passed me by, Arlo had stocked one of the kitchen cupboards with wine.

I had one glass. Not because I had anything to prove, but because that’s all I needed. I was no longer the man of a few weeks ago who needed to numb his misery with alcohol, drugs, or the sexual admiration of a random nameless man. Genuine happiness had filled in those gaps. I didn’t have to deal with Jade anymore. My father and I were back on good terms. I didn’t have to go on stage until I felt ready. And last but certainly not least, I had Arlo.

We’d left opening presents until after dinner, Arlo insisting on making a solo journey to Salzburg a couple of days ago and returning with wrapped gifts he’d added to mine under the newly decorated tree. It dawned on me as we sat with presents in front of us that being in love didn’t mean we had everything sorted, like my question about his divorce this morning. “We’re going to live together, right?” I asked as I picked up the first present Arlo had instructed me to open and shook it, the action not providing any clues to what lay inside.

“Do you want to?”

I’d grown used to Arlo’s habit of answering a question with another question. It might be an evasion tactic that served him well with the people he interviewed, but I wasn’t one of them. “Do you?”

Arlo’s lips quirked. “It’s not a straightforward thing, is it? I work all over. You work all over. Saying yes doesn’t solve that problem.”

“No, but it’s a start.”

“You know the answer is yes.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear it.”

“Then yes.”

I dug my finger into a gap in the paper and ripped it open. “A wise man once told me that when I fell in love, my priorities would change and I’d make it work.”

Arlo laughed at his own words coming back to haunt him. I’d known when he’d said it he hadn’t pictured himself in that role. Things were always more straightforward in theory than they were in reality.

“I guess we just need a base, and an agreement that we’ll make time for each other,” he said.

I ripped the paper off to uncover a box. “There you go. Easy. Where?”

“England?”

“Works for me. Maybe I can have that penthouse flat in Central London after all. And then I’m still close enough to visit my father.” I opened the box and laughed, a pig mask staring back at me. “See. I knew you were a kinky devil. I’ll start practicing my oinking and then we can see how loud you can make me squeal.”

“Obviously, that one’s a joke present. I couldn’t resist when I saw it. We can start flat hunting once New Year is out of the way.” The next gift was underwear, Arlo telling me it was so I didn’t have to share his, and that I could model it for him later. Then he shoved another small box into my hands, this one unwrapped. I raised an eyebrow at it being from a jewelry store. “If this is a ring…”

Arlo rolled his eyes. “It’s not a ring. Don’t make it sound like I can’t be with someone for five minutes without proposing.”

“Well… if I said that, history would back me up.”

“Just… open it.” I opened it to find a chain with a hexagonal wooden pendant. “It’s kind of snowflake shaped. I thought it could remind you of this place.”

“It’s beautiful,” I said honestly. “And I take it back about you not being allowed in jewelry stores. That would be a travesty when your taste is this good.” I leaned over and kissed him. “Help me put it on.”

Arlo did, and then opened the gifts I’d gotten for him, a watch, and a box set of books he’d mentioned wanting to read but hadn’t gotten around to. The last gift had my heart rate picking up as I held it out. “This is for both of us.” Arlo took it and studied the envelope like he expected to be able to tell its contents without breaking the seal, the delay only making me more nervous. “I told Sophie it was a test for her, to see how quickly she could get things done. She came up trumps and had it all sown up within days. There was no way I couldn’t hire her after that.”

Arlo frowned. “What?”

“Open it.” He did and stared at the piece of paper inside, blinking like he couldn’t quite believe the evidence of his eyes. “Imagining other people here after us just didn’t feel right.”

He raised his head and stared at me. “You bought this place?” I nodded. “How?”

“Apparently, they’d been thinking about selling for a while. And once Sophie mentioned my name, Annika, that’s the lady who owns this place, couldn’t have been more keen for me to buy it.” I jerked my head to the next room where the piano sat. “She’s a classical music fan, hence the piano. She’s attended some of my concerts. I offered to throw in front row VIP tickets once I’m performing again and she even knocked some money off the asking price.”

Arlo looked like someone had slapped him in the face with a wet fish. “We’ve been here days and you haven’t mentioned it.”

“It’s a Christmas present. I’m not in the habit of blurting out what people’s Christmas presents are.”

He waved a hand to where the pendant rested on my chest. “That’s a Christmas present. This is…”

“An investment. My accountant is always telling me I should put some of my money into property, so I have.” I tapped a finger on the deed he held. “Besides, it’s got both of our names on. Half yours, half mine. I figured it could be a bolt hole for both of us. I can’t see the paparazzi bothering with the drive, even if they find out about it. And if they do, we can always feed them to the wolves. The cubs need to eat. Although some of those fuckers would probably give them indigestion.”

Arlo shook his head. “I can’t believe you set this up before you came back.”

I shrugged. “Like I said, Sophie did all the hard work. I just answered her calls and said yes or no, and agreed to give some tickets out for a show that doesn’t exist.” Arlo waved the piece of paper in my direction. “You had that much faith in us?” He lifted his gaze to mine again. “I hadn’t even told you I loved you at that point.”

I gave him my cockiest grin. “I kind of knew. It’s like I keep saying, you’re an awful liar. Your face gives away a lot of stuff you don’t mean to. You were like a cartoon character with hearts coming from your eyes when you looked at me.”

Arlo leaped across the space and bore me down to the carpet, arms braced on either side of my head so I had to stare up at him. “You’re a…”

“A menace… A tease,” I finished for him. “Yeah, but I’m your menace and your tease. Whether you like it or not.”

Arlo grinned. “Oh, I like it. I like it a hell of a lot. Kidnapping you was the best decision I ever made.”

“At least you admit it was kidnap now. It–”

I didn’t get to finish what I was saying on account of being thoroughly kissed.