Falling For You [Tom Hiddleston]

1

Late April 2018
Tom's POV   

I really needed to stop torturing myself like this, I decided, trying to talk myself into doing the right thing. I needed to be firm and not fold like a house of cards yet again when she rang me out of the blue just to talk - or when she smiled at me like I was her favorite person in the world. Bloody hell - I was going to be in her damn wedding since her bloody fiancé had been one of my closest friends for years now.

She'd understand if I simply told her how hard it was for me to see her these days, right? I exhaled sharply - that was a lie. If I came out and told her I never wanted to see her again, those beautiful forest green eyes would fill with tears and then I'd never be able to walk away from her.

It wasn't even that I wanted to; I simply had to...for my sanity...because I was in love with one of my best friends...and I knew she didn't feel the same.

So here I was on a Wednesday night, waiting for my name to be called at my favorite local restaurant because Megan Jones - the subject of my current fit of melancholy - had desired to meet up once again before she had to go on to Ireland tomorrow...and I honestly really had nothing I'd rather be doing. While I had just seen her a couple days ago, we'd barely had time to talk because she'd been in such high demand. She was just getting ready to start touring with Ed Sheeran for the next couple months and wouldn't be back in London until mid-June at the very earliest.

The discordant jangle of the bell hanging on the door had me turning with a hopeful expression - Megan should be here any time now - but I didn't see her brilliant red hair, so I turned away again. Pulling my mobile out to see if she'd texted me yet, a quick motion at the corner of my eyes caught my attention and I glanced up from my mobile to meet a pair of wide silvery-grey eyes. Those arresting eyes were filled with fear - and I didn't think it was because of me as I hadn't moved a centimeter since she'd pinned me with her gaze.

I watched as her eyes flashed around the room before meeting mine again, this time the fear slightly tempered by determination. Her heart shaped face was surrounded by honey blond hair that was mostly contained in a tidy chignon. Several escaped locks floating loose near her face softened the effect, making my fingers itch to brush them back from her face in order to see her features better.

She was impeccably dressed in a stylish gray sweater dress that accentuated her lovely figure - but how rigidly she held herself subtly conveyed a sense of unease. The rain drops dripping off her as she approached made me notice that she wasn't wearing a coat, which was unusual considering how unseasonably cold it was for an April night, nor was she carrying a handbag of any sort.

The woman was extremely attractive and I felt my heart skip a beat when she smiled, her full rouged lips making me wonder what it would be like to kiss her. That hadn't happened in a long time...a really long time...which made me decide she was worth a closer look.

"Hey honey, sorry I'm late," she said in a sweet, melodic voice, her accent just slightly American. She was tall enough with the black, low-heeled boots she wore that she didn't need to stretch far to greet me with a kiss on the cheek, a shock jolting me at the contact. "Please play along," she whispered frantically to me before pulling away.

Her unusual eyes beseeched me as I simply stared at her in bemusement, my curiosity thoroughly piqued. In that instant, I decided to 'play along'; I needed to know more about this woman.

"Tom, your table's ready," the hostess said just then, breaking the spell she'd cast over me.

"Perfect timing! I'm just glad you could make it, darling," I grinned, brushing a kiss to her cheek in return. She unconsciously breathed out a small sigh of pleasure at the touch, making me wonder what she'd do if I kissed her lips. "My apologies, miss. There will be three of us tonight after all."