Hanleigh's London

Chapter 12: I'm Going Home With A Man I Just Met!

Aurora's POV:

My heart is racing. In fact, it's beating so fast I'm surprised it's not painful.

I can barely breathe. I keep having to remind myself to take a deep breath every few seconds so that I don't pass out from oxygen deficiency.

Although... Even in my foggy brain that sounds ridiculous! Whoever heard of someone passing out from... Well, wanting someone?

I can't focus on anything except the fact that I'm going home with a man I've just met. It's exhilarating and scary all at once.

He's perhaps the most beautiful man I've ever seen but he's also rather intimidating. He's impressive, overwhelmingly so and I don't know how I'm going to get through tonight.

As much as I want him, as much as I want this, it goes against my every instinct. Every inch of me wants him but my thoughts are complicated and scared.

No. I'm not scared. I'm terrified.

It's not only something my parents have told me not to do; it's something I've told myself not to do countless times. I've been good at keeping the rules for such a long time. I've kept them for so long now that somewhere along the way they've ceased to be their rules and they've become my own.

Now I've reached the point where I can no longer blame them for my missed opportunities. After all, they are my missed opportunities, not my parents'.

Normally, I wouldn't have even gotten myself into a situation where a guy would offer to take me home, let alone ask him to. This whole thing is so out of character for me that it makes me question whether it's a good idea at all.

Am I really going through with this?

Of course, you are, you plonker! You're sat in the back of his car, I tell myself. There's no turning back now.

Sh*t, I mentally swear, I'm in way over my head.

I take in my surroundings, trying to distract myself. I'm sitting in the back of a black Lexus LS 600h L.

"You're not driving?" I ask the first question that comes to my mind, anything to slow down my heart rate and get my breathing back under control.

Every muscle in my body is tight with tension; I try to loosen off. I don't want him to know just how nervous I am. He's holding my hand and it's almost steadying, but it also makes me wonder if he can tell I'm shaking.

"I would have normally driven, but I drank too much tequila to drive, so I texted my driver."

Now that he's said that, it seems like a stupid question. Of course, he's not driving. We've been drinking.

I nod, unsure what to say in response, feeling slightly awkward. Sitting in the back of a car, being driven by a driver isn't new to me. My parents get chauffeured around everywhere. My Father is the Managing Director of one of the biggest publishing companies in the country. He has always been excessive, and his tastes are luxurious to the extreme. The only things he likes more than luxury is charity and church. It's something I dislike about my family; I don't like the excessive luxury. Trust me to find a man who might be just as over the top as my parents. I frown at the thought before trying to refocus on something else, anything else.

"You drive a hybrid."

He's surprised, I think. He's really hard to read. He doesn't give much away with his expressions. He seems closed off like he's purposefully trying to keep his distance. As if he doesn't want to be understood; I imagine he's good at poker.

Perhaps I should challenge him to a game.

Poker is a favourite pastime of mine, much to my parents' disappointment. The only disappointment I've ever caused them. No gambling was definitely on my list of rules.

"Yes," is all he says in response.

"The LS 600h L is a beautiful car." I say with a smile. "I've been trying to talk my parents into buying one for a while now."

It's not a lie. I've been trying to get my parents to buy a hybrid for years. My Father has driven a Mercedes for as long as I can remember. Every time he buys a new car, he does extensive research and then always chooses a Merc. I tried to get them to at least consider the Lexus, and when my Father refused that, I tried to get him to buy a Mercedes hybrid but he wasn't having any of it.