“Better be careful,” someone in the line behind us mutters, though not so quietly that I can’t hear it. I can’t help but wonder if it’s on purpose. “The anchor’s about to get off the ship. We might float away without lardarse there!”
I feel my cheeks burning red, and for a moment I want nothing more than to curl up and die. Instead, I do what I always do when someone makes a comment like that. I keep walking ahead, pretending I haven’t heard a thing, trying not to show how hard I’m shaking, blinking back the tears stinging at my eyes.
Until I hear a loud thump and a number of gasps behind me, forcing me to turn and look in the direction the voice came from.
I’m not at all expecting to see what I do. Edward, striding towards me with his hands curled into fists at his side. I thought he was right behind me, but now he’s having to catch up – and, I realize, walking back past other people who were behind him in the line to leave. All of them are staring at him with a kind of shocked awe, even moving aside as he goes through. He catches up with me and grabs hold of my arm, and starts to pull me away.
But not before I see what was blocked from my view behind him. A man laid out on the floor of the boat with a dazed expression, just now starting to sit up as another woman fusses around beside him.
Edward must have gone back there and laid him out after hearing what he said.
I look up at Edward wordlessly as he walks along, an angry yet confident kind of energy now surrounding him. I don’t even have the presence of mind to wonder where we’re going next, because all I can think about is how he just punched a guy for being rude to me.
He’s like a knight in shining armor, ready to defend my honor. It feels incredible. No one has ever stood up for me like that before.
But at the same time, a part of me is still dying inside. The fact that he did means he heard the comment that guy made – about me being so heavy I must have anchored the ship. I don’t always feel bad about my weight – a lot of the time, I think I look good – but when people make those comments about me, thinking I can’t hear them, it really hurts. And now Edward’s heard it too – the source of my shame.
I know he won’t want to be with me now. What kind of man would want a girlfriend, let alone wife, who attracts those kinds of comments? I might as well give up on the feelings I’ve started to have for him. Who was I kidding? I’m never going to be in his league.
CHAPTER NINE
Edward
I slowly let go of the anger that is gripping my insides, forcing myself to deliberately regulate my steps so Casey can keep up. All I want to do is go back there and hit that guy again. How dare he say something that would make Casey feel anything less than the beautiful goddess she is?
She doesn’t say anything about what happened on the boat. I’m not sure that she actually heard him say what he did. In fact, we don’t say anything at all for a while as we walk instead of taking a taxi, taking a route I know will get us to our next destination.
Actually, I’m glad we have a little walk. It helps to burn the anger out of me, and by the time we arrive, I feel much better.
“Here we are,” I tell Casey, turning to her and waving a hand at the iconic landmark behind me. “The London Eye.”
“Wow!” Casey exclaims. “It’s so much taller from down here on the ground than I thought. I had no idea how big it really is. I’m glad we came to see this.”
“We’re not just here to look at it,” I tell her with a wink. “We’re going on it.”
“What?” Casey exclaims. “But I heard the tickets are so expensive – and you have to book in advance!”
I grin at her. “Well, there are some advantages to all those networking dinners and events I have to go to.”
Casey looks up again at the huge wheel towering over us. “We’re going in one of those big… carriage, thingies?”
“Right,” I laugh, taking her by the arm again to lead her to the line. You have to arrive at a specific time slot to get on, and thankfully, we’re right on time. “One of those. Come on.”
Casey is so excited as we climb inside and the wheel begins to move that I know I’ve made the right choice. There are lots of different activities you can do in London – going around Madame Tussaud’s or the London Dungeon, the Natural History Museum, the National Portrait Gallery or the Tate Modern – that it was hard to narrow it down to just a few things for one day. Of course, if today goes well, then I’m hoping I can get tomorrow as well.
“This is so amazing,” Casey murmurs, as we watch the city begin to fall away beneath us. From the moment the wheel begins to move we can see a different view minute by minute, different sights appearing and being swallowed up by the distance as we go. Looking out over the city like this feels romantic – like standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower or overlooking Venice from a balcony.
Without thinking, I slip my arm around Casey as we stand by the glass looking out. She fits perfectly against me. Her
