Always With Love Read Online Free

coped that long without being able to, anyway.
    ‘No, I have a licence,’ Lauren says, looking shocked that I never got mine. ‘And I have a car.’
    ‘Oh?’ I ask, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
    ‘Yeah, I don’t always use James,’ she reasons.
    ‘I see …’
    ‘We have to share him between the lot of us, you know.’
    ‘You’re almost deprived,’ I tease.
    ‘Tell me about it,’ she grins, pulling my arm so that our shoulders bash together.
    Stepping outside the airport I’m hit by a waft of heat as the sunshine bears down on me. The intense warmth is a shock to my body – hardly surprising as it’s been in freezing cold England and then on an air-conditioned flight for the last eleven or so hours. But the new warmth instantly soothes my body with a tingling sensation, the vitamin D quickly dispersing along my bare skin and working its magic.
    ‘James,’ Billy calls, ignoring the gaggle of photographers who have decided to follow us to the car.
    A tall, burly man, dressed in a black suit and white shirt, nods in Billy’s direction and opens the door of a huge blacked-out SUV for us all to climb into.
    ‘Sophie, James. James, Sophie,’ Billy gestures between the two of us, shaking James’s hand before hopping into the car.
    ‘Ma’am,’ he growls kindly, nodding his head.
    ‘Hi,’ I say, relieved to meet the first person here who isn’t going to require a physical greeting to accompany the verbal one we’ve exchanged.
    ‘Sir, allow me,’ James offers, leaving us in the car to help Clive with our luggage. I feel guilty leaving them to it – especially when all I keep thinking about is how hot James must be in his suit in the sunshine. Although having said that, I spend my days fully clothed in front of a piping hot oven while I bake cakes. Working in unbearable heat and keeping a smile on your face is something I know all about.
    ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ sings Julie from behind us once we’re all in the car and it’s silently started rolling off, away from LAX airport and the prying paps.Unsurprisingly, a few of them hop on to waiting motorbikes and ride alongside us, but as the glass is totally blacked out it’s pretty pointless of them. They’re probably hoping we’re heading somewhere other than Billy’s house, which I know is thankfully set back behind gates. Having said that, from what I know of these vultures they’ll probably camp outside for the duration of our stay and see what they can sneakily grab through the bushes or as we’re coming and going. I don’t know how Billy stands it, but he always does so without much of a grumble, and thankfully we’ve managed to stay fairly secluded back at home and don’t feel too watched all the time.
    ‘You OK?’ I whisper, running my fingers up his bare forearm, gutted that Jay’s absence has put a dampener on our arrival.
    He nods and grips my hand before taking it to his lips and kissing the back of it. ‘You?’
    ‘Knackered,’ I say, smiling at the gesture.
    ‘All that reading,’ he grins, looking up at me.
    ‘You have to tell me some good books to read!’ Lauren says enthusiastically, leaning into my side and gently nudging me. ‘I’ve been working my way through the
Pretty Little Liars
set but I’m almost at the end of it.’
    I love her a little more in that second. Seeing as Billy isn’t a reader (he once made himself sit and read all of my favourite classics but has since returned to his former status as a non-reader), I’ve never really had someone my own age to talk books with.
    ‘Sophie reads proper books, Lozza,’ says Billy, rolling his eyes.
    ‘I read proper books too!’ she retorts.
    ‘They’re a bunch of crap.’
    ‘I bet they’re not,’ I say, not sure what really qualifies as a ‘proper’ book – reading is reading after all.
    ‘They’re not,’ she says, her eyes widening. ‘And what would you know? You’ve not read them.’
    ‘They’re based on an MTV show,’ he