Loving A STRANGER

Ethan had planned to go straight to the room and bring Kylie away quietly, but the media had rushed in behind him. He knocked hard on the door to the room that Cliff had rented and was annoyed that Cliff had turned him away. In fact, he was so annoyed that he kicked the door down and barged right in.

When Cliff had peeked into the bathroom, he had a.s.sumed that Kylie was sleeping, but she had only been playing possum. She had even taken off all of her clothes so that her act would be more believable. As the events unfurled in the hotel around her, she had known that she was too drunk to handle any kind of confrontation, so she had kept her eyes closed and tried her best to remain still.

That being said, she heard every word of every conversation that transpired.

When Ethan barged into the room, the first thing he"d seen was Cliff, but the first thing he"d paid attention to was Kylie"s clothes. They were strewn all around the room, and even though she had a quilt wrapped around her, he could see plainly that she was naked.

Seeing this, he clenched his fists in a slow but forceful way that caused his knuckles to crack open and his palms to bleed.

Ethan looked at the few remaining reporters, and in a very calm tone of voice, he told them that if they didn"t leave, he would kick the s.h.i.t out of each and every one of them. Just looking at him, they could tell that he was serious, and they scurried away. Once they were gone, Ethan got a housecoat and put Kylie into it.

Kylie was partially dressed when she opened her eyes. Because of the alcohol, her vision was blurry. All she could recognize was shapes and colors. She looked at Ethan and said, "Please turn on the air conditioner. I am too hot."

Ethan frowned, set her down, and went to look at the thermostat. When he returned, he laid her back on the bed and asked her if she knew who he was.

At first, she was going to name Cliff because he was the one who"d brought her to the room, but then she recognized that the voice belonged to Ethan. "My love," she sighed. "It is you, Ethan.

"Everything that went wrong tonight though," she continued, "was your fault. The dress that you bought for me was the exact same design as the one that the main actress was wearing. It caused a lot of problems; it is no wonder that I"ve finished the evening by getting drunk!"

Kylie began to cry. She hit Ethan in the chest and said, "You don"t love me…"

Ethan caught her hands and said, "I do love you, so get that thought out of your head. But let"s forget about that for a moment. The reporters are still right outside. When you came to this room, was there a plan in place to get out."

Kylie sobbed, and she said, "I don"t know what to do. I have no plan."

She turned to Cliff, who was curled up in an armchair and said, "He was the one who brought me here. He must have a plan!"

Cliff shrugged, and he said, "Bringing you here wasn"t part of some elaborate scheme. I was simply trying to protect you."

"I have an idea," Kylie shouted happily. "Why don"t we send Cliff out and we can just stay here and enjoy ourselves until the paparazzi get bored and wander away. I am sure that they will only be willing to camp out in the hallway for so long. Furthermore, the hotel is a five-star hotel, and they will only allow their loitering for so long. Eventually, the staff will call the police."

Hearing her idea, Cliff said, "Your idea is genius," and he slipped out the door. 

Once Cliff was gone, Ethan looked at her and said, "It"s a good idea, but what if they never leave? What if they just switch off with other reporters? What would we do then? If needed, I could miss one day of work, but not a day more than that!"

"I don"t know," Kylie replied dismally. "I suppose that I hadn"t thought my plan through…"

"Whatever we do, before we do it, you need to sober up," Ethan said. "You need to take a nap. If I figure something out before midnight, I will wake you up. If not, then I will climb into bed with you, and we can talk about it in the morning."

Their room was on the twenty-sixth floor, and Ethan had Kylie on his back as they descended from their open window. Ethan was letting them down, hand over hand, on a rope made of bedsheets. Though the wind wasn"t chilly, it was fierce. It bashed against them as it howled. Kylie closed her eyes and cried, "I don"t want to die…"

"Relax," Ethan laughed. "If you don"t want to die, you need to relax."

Kylie looked down, and she was so dizzy that her body froze solid, and her foot caught a pipe. A sharp pain spread outwards, and she let go – and the ground began to race towards her at a helter-skelter speed. She tried to count the windows, but they went by in a flash. She was going too fast.

Senselessly, she shrieked, "E-I-E-I-O," and then everything turned white.

"Wake up," Ethan cried as he shook her. "You"re having a nightmare!"

Kylie opened her eyes and sat up. She could see right away that it had been a dream, but she was hyperventilating.

"What did you dream about?" Ethan wondered.

Kylie said, "I dreamt that I was falling."

"That is a curious dream; almost a premonition," Ethan laughed. "I noticed that there aren"t any reporters outside of our window. Since we are only on the first floor, it will be easy to jump out of the window and make a run for the car.

Dora looked at Cliff and asked him if Mr. Parker had been there. Cliff frowned. He didn"t know how much she knew about the relationship between Kylie and Ethan, so he decided to tell her as little as he could. "I ran into Mr. Parker downstairs," he said. "I thought he was there to talk business with you, so I didn"t bother with the 21 questions. I"m sorry if I let you down, but I have to go now."

Cliff turned, got into the nanny van with his a.s.sistant, and drove away.

Dora bit her lips lightly. She couldn"t figure out what was going on, and it was getting frustrating. As far as she knew, Ethan was still looking for Kylie, but she hadn"t seen him recently. She had thought that Kylie and Cliff might have been together, but Cliff had left alone – it made no sense.

Dora wanted to see the security cameras, but the man at reception wouldn"t allow her. She demanded to see the manager, but he wouldn"t let her either. He said, "We promise our guests privacy, and that is what we give them."

Dora walked away, shocked, and annoyed. She wasn"t used to not getting her way. Dora"s heart was beating faster and faster, and she was gasping for breath.

Not knowing what else to do, it occurred to her that she may as well apologize to Ethan.

 ***

One of Ethan"s a.s.sistants, Elliot, greeted Dora outside his office and said, "Miss Hilton, what great timing! Lord Ethan was just talking about you."

Dora nodded and followed Elliot, not knowing what was going to happen next.

Ethan was sitting on a leather couch in his office. There was a bottle of wine on the table in front of him. His body was relaxed, and Dora could see that he was enjoying himself. He pointed to a less comfortable chair and ordered Dora to sit down.

Dora sat and looked over at Ethan. "What can I do for you?" She wondered.

Ethan smiled curiously. "Shouldn"t I be the one asking you that question?" he wondered. "I did not call you to me. Rather, you have sought an audience with me – so, what do you want?"

Dora suddenly froze, and her face turned cherry red, Ethan motioned for Elliot to pour her a gla.s.s of wine. Once it was in front of her, he told her to drink. "It is the queen"s wine," he told her. "Perhaps it will ease your nerves…"

Ethan raised his gla.s.s and said, "This toast is for you. You deserve it."

Hearing these words, Dora"s arms broke out in gooseflesh. She raised the wine gla.s.s, took a look at it, and put it down.

Ethan looked her in the eyes, and he frowned at her. "My wine is not good enough for you," he sighed. "You think I owe you something because of that time that you saved me, but, by my tally, we are Even Stephens. In honor of what you did, though, I continue to treat you with respect but, every time I see you, I am reminded of that terrible memory…"

Dora looked at him, curiously and said, "I don"t understand what you are saying."

Dora didn"t know how, but she a.s.sumed that Ethan was somehow testing her – and it was one test that she didn"t want to fail.

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