Finding Katie

Chapter 15

Katie

Have you ever been freed of a weight that lay so heavy on your shoulders you felt as if you were trying to pull the whole world behind you every time you took a step?

Then you'll know how it felt to turn the table on the man I hated. How the decision to lie to my nemesis dissolved that weight like mist in the sun.

The difference in the amount of tension between my shoulder blades from my date with Ben at El Caribe to now was so remarkable that it almost made me lightheaded.

All afternoon I'd been smiling, so much so that Mary-Ann had noticed and demanded to be told what delightful secret I was keeping and if it involved a certain beefcake.

I couldn't help it. I was practically dancing down the street from the Tube station to the address in Canary Wharf Ben had texted me. This time it definitely was butterflies that were dancing in my stomach.

The GPS on my phone I used to guide the way pinged and told me I'd arrived, and I looked up. And up. Then simply gawked at the building before me.

Until the age of eleven I had lived in a Georgian mansion with loads of rooms, a gravelled drive guarded over by a pair of stone lions, a crenelated roof, and with gardeners and cleaners and a cook. Even in the Dominican Republic our villa had been from the turn of the previous century and larger than two people needed, and there too we'd had help with all the menial tasks.

The high rise where Ben lived was the complete opposite. It was newly built, all glass and steel, and my neck hurt when I tried to look up to the top floor. All of the ground and first floors were entirely fronted with glass, and above the automated doors leading into a lobby I could see treadmills and rowing machines to one side, and the shimmer in the ceiling from a swimming pool to the other. The building stood right by the edge of the basin and around it, delicate, newly planted trees had yet to grow into a shaded park.

I walked through the automated doors and smiled at the concierge behind the desk, giving him my name. The young man lifted the phone and announced my arrival, then directed me towards the lifts.

"Mr Graves is waiting for you up there."

I thanked him and headed up. I still couldn't remove the smile from my face or temper the butterflies in my stomach. I didn't even want to try. The promise of being with Ben, of spending the evening with him, without Dave's threat hanging over my head was so exhilarating I doubted I could.

Whether I would be spending the night with him too was still undecided.

There were four doors before me when I stepped off the lift and into a wide corridor, but only one of them stood open, and when I approached it I could hear Ben's voice inside the flat.

"That's all?" he asked.

I halted in the doorway. Ben was standing with his back to me just inside in a hallway, one hand holding his phone to his ear and the other running through his hair.

"No, I understand," he said, turning at the sound of my knock. "It's just–"

Ben's hand froze and his mouth fell open as he stared at me. His eyes travelled down over my body, all the way to my four inch heels, and then slowly up again. And then repeated the motion.

He blinked a few times. His Adam's apple bobbed. Until he suddenly started and swiftly lifted the phone back to his ear again. "No, I'm still here. Sorry. It's fine. Just keep trying. Thank you." His hand slowly fell, and he didn't look at the screen as he ended the call. His eyes were still on me.

I smiled at him. "Hi, Ben."

"Hi."

"Can I come in?"