I gave my hand to him and he took it, leading me over to the back of the little crowd that surrounded the singers. He spun me around before pulling me into his arms, and I basked in the warmth and strength of his body.
His hands were around my waist as we moved our hips slightly to the tune of the music. I looked up to the star filled sky and then lost my gaze in the flames of the bonfire.
There had never been a moment as perfect as this, and it brought tears to my eyes that I couldn’t just freeze it, or somehow bottle it up and take it with me wherever I went from now onwards. I turned towards the man, and as I stared into his green eyes, wondered why exactly I couldn’t be with him beyond this trip.
He lowered his lips to mine, and gave me a soft, sensual kiss that tasted of him and of sweet, intoxicating wine.
I was heady from the man and the night, and my incredibly full heart.
Chapter 12
Carter
It was a few days later, and the evening after we’d returned from the two day trip to Pamukkale with her friends, when it began.
She started to withdraw from me.
We had three more nights together, and I could see the reality of our impending separation was slowly beginning to set in. And it shook her.
Suddenly, she didn’t fall as easily asleep in my arms anymore, and insisted more and more on going back to her hotel to spend the night with her friends.
I tried my best not to let it happen, because although I didn’t want to admit it, I was apprehensive too. Like how would I feel if she didn’t come back, especially since I didn’t have any official hold on her to ensure that she would.
Tonight, I could see she was reaching her breaking point.
We’d just finished from a shower together. I watched her, as she stood in front of the mirror, brushing out her hair to be pulled into a bun, I could have sworn I saw her hand tremble. She met my gaze through my reflection in the mirror when she noticed me watching her, and sent me a smile. Dressed in her khaki shorts and one of my t-shirts, I knew on this night, I wouldn’t be able to stop her.
“I’m going to stay with the girls tonight,” she said. “We need to start making the needed preparations to leave, so I need to be there to put my things in order too.
As if on cue, a call came in for me, so I gave her a silent nod, and picked up the phone to speak to my CFO. My eyes followed her around the room as she put her things together.
Finally, she was ready, and softly called my name. “I’m leaving,” she mouthed to me.
My heart fell into my stomach. For the few moments after, I couldn’t speak or even hear what Mark on the other end of the line was saying to me. My gaze took in her petite frame, committing all of her to memory… that was when I noticed her loosened shoe lace.
I dumped the phone on the bed and headed towards her.
She staggered backwards in surprise when I dropped down to one knee.
I held onto the back of her thighs to stabilize her. “Your shoelaces are untied,” I said.
Her smile looked shaky. “Thank you,” she replied.
I took my time, untying then re-tying the laces, and when I was done, lifted my gaze to see the tears gathering in her eyes. “Leah?” I whispered.
She blinked, as tears streamed down her face. She turned around to hide herself from me.
Too late to hide it now as a drop of her tears had already landed on my cheek. “Leah?” I rose, my hand held out but before I could grab a hold of her, she had pulled the door open and was out of the room.
I didn’t go after her, needing the space myself to think, to work out my own emotions- the turmoil slowly brewing in my stomach. My phone began to ring again, and I felt grateful for the distraction. I picked it up from where I had flung it to on the bed, and saw it was Mark.
“Everything all right?” He asked. “You just abandoned the call.”
I sat down on the bed. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Where were we?”
“Birnley’s coming around. He wants another meeting tomorrow.”
“Okay. Handle it and let me know how it plays out.”
“He wants the meeting with you,” Mark insisted. “He’s concerned about the fate of some of his employees after we buy the company, so he needs you to personally discuss these issues.”
His request was out of the question. “I can’t be there tomorrow, but I will be in two days.”
“He’s going to London the day after. His daughter just gave birth. I'm guessing this also has some influence on his sudden change of mind. We need to seal this deal before he backs out of it.”
My head pounded at the sudden obligation. “I can’t leave here until the 17th, Mark.”
He went silent. “What’s going on, Carter?” He asked. “The deal with Desa rounded up nearly a week ago, but you suddenly extended your stay. Are you coming back with a new nose or a wife?”
The new nose was a stretch but the new wife… hit too close to home.
I rose to my feet, running my fingers through my hair. “I have a great nose. There’s nothing to change.”
“I agree,” he said. “You’re also a good boss, and we need you here to make this a homerun. We need this win, Carter. Too many people have been involved in it and at the loss we had last week, it brought the morale of the entire team down. But now they’re back to life. It’ll add at least
