No Strings (Broken Strings) (9 page)

Indi gave him a look of horror. “You mean like a bodyguard,
I seriously don’t need one of those. I can go back to leading a perfectly quiet
life once the dust settles.”

Grey sighed, he knew he had no right to push his wishes onto
her but seeing how traumatised Freya had been from her own case of harassment
he wanted to protect her from it ever having again, despite Indi already
appearing to be more resilient in her recovery than Freya ever was. Standing
up, he  pulled one of the other chairs on her side of the table closer to where
she remained seated. Clutching at her hand again, he gave her a begging look
that he hoped would work. “Please, Indi just talk to the guy. There are plenty
of less invasive options than a constant bodyguard, but I really want to stress
how much I would feel more at ease if you had some like of layer of
protection.”

Indi pouted, her eyes looking back into Grey’s as he could
see a varying flicker of emotions flash through the greenness. “Okay, I’m
willing to talk to the guy once.”

“Thank you.” Grey blew out a
breath of relief; he knew after their holiday was over he wouldn’t be able to
see her until he and his siblings could sort through the trust board mess.

With only a week remaining until Indi flew back to England,
Grey had decided to surprise her by arranging a first class cabin on a night
train into Florence, leaving that evening.  He thought she would enjoy viewing
the sculptures and paintings in the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery given her interest
in art, as well as the summer music festival in Scandicci

His bodyguards would accompany them and have a neighbouring
cabin.

He’d simply told Indi just to pack a bag with enough items
to clothe her for the next five days, and some comfortable shoes, but nothing
more than that.  They were being picked up in an hour by a taxi that would drop
them at the Siracusa train station.

He was just leaving the villa to collect Indi to head off to
train station when David, his head of security’ face appeared on his mobile
screen.

He had been avoiding speaking to him directly since he met
Indi nearly two weeks earlier, he knew he would go on about the security risk
of having a holiday fling with someone he hardly knew  and he was not willing
to confess his deeper dreams to be with Indi long term to anyone but her.

Her light unassuming manner had drawn out more secrets of
his life than he’d thought he would have dared tell her.  He told her about his
private thoughts that he never shared with anyone else, silly stories from his
childhood and carefree days with his friends before the band made it.

She treated him as simply Grey the person, rather than Grey
Bailey the rock star, allowing her to break through the walls he’d surrounded
himself with for years.   

He couldn’t get enough of her, and even in front of his
security team, he wouldn’t hold back from the occasional handholding or kiss. 
This behaviour from a guy who didn’t believe in public displays of affection,
combined with his other out of character behaviour, was what had gotten back to
David.

“Are you sure you should be getting involved with a woman
who might turn around and sell her story of your holiday romance to the
tabloids as soon as it is over?”  David judged harshly, after having to deal
with too many kiss and tell stories in Grey’s past. Grey had earned himself the
reputation for being a cold-hearted when it came to women, the revelations of
his mother’s affairs had truly scarred him. Yes, he would wine and dine them,
even romance them with flowers and chocolates, but once the sexual act had been
fulfilled, he would just move onto the next.  He couldn’t bear to let anyone
come too close emotionally, in case he ended up being hurt by them as deeply as
his mother had.

Grey bit his tongue to stop himself from retorting something
unkind to Richard.  He understood Richard was only trying to make sure he
considered all his options, especially since he wasn’t used to Grey actually
allowing himself to care for women in the long term.

“She is not that kind of person, she clearly has money of
her own to be renting such a large villa herself.  She knows I’m rich, but
hasn’t asked anything about me.  She’ll not let me pay for her at all when we
go out.”  Grey replied smoothly.

“Do you know anything about her so that we perhaps could get
her investigated, so at least I know what I’m dealing with if the case arises?”

“Just that her name is Indi. One of her grandfathers has a
title, and the other owned a successful horse breeding ranch in America.”  Grey
knew David was only doing what he ordinarily would do ask for him to do when he
let someone new into his life, but it still made him feel dirty and unworthy
now that she had entrusted him with what her parents had put her though.   “Whatever
findings you do get, I don’t want to know about unless really crucial.”  Grey
spoke firmly, he knew he was already half in love with her, and had started
conjuring up scenarios that once his obligation to Caitlin was out of the way,
he would seek her out, and introduce her properly into his life.

“Very well. I hear Caitlin has been threatening to fly out
and see you. Be careful she does not discover your little love nest.”

“She would be hard-pressed to as we’re off to Florence in a
couple of hours, and there is nothing of Indi’s at my place, I always stay over
at hers.”

“Honey, where are you?”  Indi could hear Grey calling to her
from the lounge.

“In the bedroom panicking.”

She could hear his laughter coming closer. In just three
weeks of being together, he’d become quite used to her panicking over not
finding the right outfit to wear.  She always would try on about three or four
things before settling on the right one, usually the first one she’d tried on.

“What is wrong?”  He questioned, smiling as he leaned up
against the doorframe, drinking in the sight of clothes half in her suitcase
and half out.  She was still dressed in her underwear, a black lace, all in one
body, her hair tied loosely in a bun, with some of the shorter wispy curls
hanging free, framing her cheeks.

“I just don’t know what to wear, since you won’t tell me
where we’re going!”  She cried dramatically.

Chuckling, Grey moved into the room while Indi continued to
lean over the bed, mumbling incoherently as she debated which outfits to place
in the suitcase.  Coming up behind her, he slid his hand suggestively over her
bottom.  “I would be quite happy if you simply wore this outfit all evening.” 
He teased.

“Grey!”  She chided impatiently.

“Babe, just think summery and comfortable.”  He continued
caressing her bottom as he stood behind her.  His hands glided up from her
bottom over each side of her hips as he pressed himself against her so she
could feel his growing hardness as he leaned over to kiss her neck and nibble
her earlobe in a way he knew she loved.

She let out a whimper, despite her irked patience.  “Grey,
we don’t have time,” she tried to reason with him.

“The taxi is not going to be here for forty-five minutes,
and it wouldn’t matter if we kept the driver waiting for a few more minutes
after that.  I need you right now, it’s been ages since we made love.”  Grey
grumbled, continuing to rub his hardness against her bottom to emphasis his
point.

“Ages being all of the five or six hours!” 

“I can’t help it if I want to touch you constantly.”

“I know darling, I enjoy you wanting to touch me, but can we
not wait till we get there rather than having to rush?”

He sulked,  “I suppose.”

“Aww, poor baby, I’ll make it up to you later you know that.” 
She turned to face him fully, and stood up on tiptoe to kiss him as if to seal
her promise.  “Now let me sort out the rest of my suitcase in peace.  Why don’t
you go and read the paper, or something.”

“Ok, I’ll call you when the taxi arrives.”

Left alone, Indi managed to finish the task of selecting a
few short and long dresses, flat and spiked heeled shoes, and a bathing suit,
all neatly placed within her Louis Vuitton luggage.  She dressed in a short
turquoise one-shoulder dress that was embellished with a pattern of six
shooting stars drifting from a central point downwards, made up of beads.  

Indi pulled out the long extendable handle of the case,
brought it out into the foyer, and went into the large open kitchen/dining area
where Grey was seated at the breakfast bar reading one of the English papers
that they had picked up the day before. 

“Where is your case, Grey?”

“Over by the sofa.  Are we over our panic now?”  He left the
paper, and came over to embrace her.  “You look lovely.”  His eyes drifted over
the short dress admiringly, as his wandering hands exploring her softness
beneath the dress suggestively.

“Yes, the suitcase is packed, and ready to go.”  She
replied, dismissing his other remark without a response, as she knew it only
would encourage him to initiate kissing her again, something she didn’t want to
get into until they were on the train.  This caused Grey to frown at her silent
rebuttal of his compliment.  “Indi, is something wrong?”  He reached for her
chin, and brought her face up so her eyes would look at his.

“No, I’m fine, Grey.  I simply don’t want to start something
that may be interrupted by the taxi arriving, and I don’t like keeping people
waiting as I find it rude.”  Indi explained.

Grey raised an eyebrow and shrugged.  “I’m sure he wouldn’t
mind; he gets paid extra for just sitting there, and I always tip well.”

“I just don’t like keeping people waiting, it’s
discourteous, even if they are being paid for the privilege.”  Her tone was
sharper this time, irritated by his casual dismissal of her own opinion on the
matter.

Grey stiffened at the criticism, he’d never been at the
receiving end of Indi’s sharp tongue before, and he didn’t know how to react. 
He was afforded a reprieve of having to consider a reply as the taxi signalled
its arrival with a small burst of the horn.  He silently collected his own
suitcase and followed Indi out into the foyer, where she already had her own
case. 

As she glanced at him over her shoulder as she opened the
front door, he wore a stern expression as he looked straight ahead, avoiding
any eye contact with her.  She sighed inwardly, thinking that the beginning of
the surprise would be ruined if he maintained such a stern exterior, just
because she’d censured him for not considering that another person’s time was
just as valuable as his.

There was stony silence between them throughout the taxi
journey.  All the time, he wore an unreadable expression on his face.

As they drew up outside the train station, Indi could take
it no longer.  “Grey?  Are you going to speak to me, or shall I just turn the
taxi around, and go back to the villa while you continue on to wherever we were
heading.” 

His eyes flashed with dark clouds disrupting the calm molten
silver within them.  “I’ll speak to you on the train.”  His voice was monotone,
but she could tell a storm was brewing.

Indi rolled her eyes in frustration and replied, “Fine.”
This was the first time she had refused him of anything and his reaction had
surprised her. He was acting like a spoiled, sulky child.  Surely people had
said no to him before?

Grey just looked at her disdainfully but said nothing.  He
slipped on his trademark sunglasses accessory before exiting the vehicle. He
always wore them when they headed out in public to deflect the obvious signs of
his identity were to any potential paparazzi or adoring fans nearby.  They had
been extremely lucky so far with only one known photographer snapping them as
they exited from a restaurant, but Adam had managed to convince him to hand
over the film for a sufficient sum of money.

After the driver had helped them remove their luggage out of
the boot, each of them dragged their own luggage along silently.  Since she’d
no idea where she was heading, she trailed behind him slightly as her shorter
strides were no match for his longer ones.

On the busy platform was a sleek train, with many carriages.
As they walked, she could see the first class signage on the first few, before
the second class began.  There was a large monitor showing all the trains due
in, and their destinations, so she could work out where they were heading, once
she could see what platform number they were on.  She could see Grey was
heading towards Adam and Hayden, who she’d become used to accompanying them on
their excursions around the island. 

 “Hi again,” Indi said as the two men smiled and nodded at
her, before turning their attention back to their employer. 

“Have you had the train looked over?”  Grey asked.

“Yes, I spoke to the station master who gave their approval
to allowing us to board it to check over the rooms beforehand.  They were quite
pleased to be having such a VIP travelling on their train, so they were glad to
oblige.”

While the men were talking, Indi took in her surroundings,
noted the platform number, and moved slightly away from them to view the large
monitor she’d seen earlier.  So, they were heading to Florence.  Grey had
chosen well.  She’d been to Rome and Venice before but never there.  She was
secretly pleased that he’d taken the time to take her to some place new, and
felt some of her earlier anger dissipate. Maybe she’d been too harsh.

She was still deep in thought, when she felt someone touch
the small of her back lightly, at the same time she felt the warm breath
against her ear as Grey spoke against it.  “So you’ve discovered the surprise
destination?”

She turned around and met his gaze.  “Yes, thank you, it’s a
perfect choice.”

He smiled slightly and nodded.

“I’m sorry about before,” they both blurted out in unison. 
Grey stepped closer and ran his fingers lightly over her mouth before he kissed
her hard, which she returned eagerly.  “Come let’s go aboard, and talk
properly.”  Separating, he slid his arm around her waist and guided her back
through the crowded platform and onto the train.  He showed her into a cabin
that seemed to be one of the premier cabins, it was decked out to a high level
of comfort, with large armchairs, and table off to one side.