Leah nodded slowly. “Yes. You remember me?” she asked, still not sure whether to trust her senses.
“Of course. Of course I remember you.” He ran to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her and pulling her against his body.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe it’s you,” he said, his voice cracking. “Do you know how much I’ve wished for this moment? Every single day?”
Leah burst into tears. Joyful, exuberant, overwhelmed, frightened tears. She pulled away slightly from his embrace and looked up into those blue eyes. She studied the lines of his face, the fall of his black hair. There was no doubt. It was Brennan.
She pressed her lips to his and kissed him. “I missed you more than I could’ve ever believed possible,” she cried.
“Oh, Leah,” he said, picking her up in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him hard. “I missed you too. I never thought I’d see you again…” The rest of his sentence was choked by tears.
Brennan held her in his arms, kissing her again and again. He lowered her feet to the floor again, took her face in his hands. “I love you, Leah. Oh, God, I love you.”
Leah closed her eyes, inhaled his scent. His words. “I love you too.”
For a long moment they stared at each other, unable to believe that they were holding each other.
“Am I dreaming, Brennan? Is this real? Are you really here?”
He pressed his lips to hers again. “I’m really here. And I will never let you out of my sight again. Ever.”
She threw her arms around him and buried her head into his chest, feeling the warmth of his body. This moment was like a gift from God. She kissed his neck, breathed in his not-forgotten scent. The scent she had wished and prayed for, had dreamed of in her loneliest moments. They were all that it existed in that moment, completely unaware of the staring eyes of Dr Martinez and Janine.
“So, you’re seeing Dr Martinez?” she asked suddenly, trying to understand how this moment came to be.
Brennan nodded. “Today was my first session. I was seeing someone at the Gold Coast, but he referred me to Dr Martinez.”
“I don’t understand this. How is it that you remember me? How is it that you’re real?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been in therapy for seven months trying to work that out.”
“What are your memories of me? Tell me. Were you in a coma too?” Leah was babbling, bewildered, wanting to understand everything.
“I was in bed with you at the hotel. Do you remember that?”
Leah nodded, eyes wide.
“And then I remember getting an excruciating headache and seeing your face, frantic with worry. Next thing I knew I was in hospital, my mum and dad by my side. I tried to ask them where you were, but I couldn’t find my tongue. It was days before I could communicate to the hospital staff, and longer before I could understand where I was and what was happening. I thought the headaches had put me in hospital again. But I soon learned, I had never left the hospital to start with.”
Leah shook her head in bewilderment. “This is unbelievable. My last memory of you was that same morning, except you had—had died,” her voice cracked and tears started to roll down her cheeks. “I worked on you, pumping your chest, trying to revive you until I couldn’t breathe any more. But nothing worked. You were lifeless on the bed and there was nothing I could do. I think the shock of losing you is what made me wake up from my coma.”
Brennan wrapped his arms around Leah again and held her tightly, stroking her hair. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’m so incredibly sorry. If I had a choice, if I knew what was happening, I would’ve done everything I could to stay with you.”
Leah’s chest shuddered as she sobbed into Brennan’s chest, a bottomless stream of relief. “I’m just relieved you’re alive. It’s been a mountain of pain, living but believing you were never real.”
“I know the feeling. Believe me. I never knew such pain existed.”
Leah looked back up into his eyes. They were red and swollen from tears. “How could we meet and fall in love and live a life together when we were both in comas? I can’t make any sense of it.”
Brennan shook his head. “I can’t either. But it happened. I’m certain of that now.”
Leah lifted her hand up to Brennan’s face and ran her finger over a thick scar on the left side of his forehead. “Is that where the crowbar got you?” she asked softly.
Brennan nodded. “A little more severely than I thought. Six long months of rehab to recover from that. What about you?” he said, running a smooth finger along the thin scar on Leah’s cheek. “I see you have a few war wounds yourself.”
“I definitely came off second best.” Leah twitched up her shirt to show the three thick scars on her right abdomen, and then her skirt, to reveal the long scar on side of her thigh, where they had inserted the pin into her leg.
Brennan gasped. “Oh, Leah.”
“I know. It was definitely a shock to wake and find my body so bruised and battered. And my head shaved to boot.”
“I wish I could’ve been there for you.”
“I wish you could’ve too, because as much as my broken bones and bruised body ached, it was nothing compared to the pain of losing you.”
“I know.” He slumped his shoulders and groaned. “Fuck! Why did it have to be this way?”
Leah framed Brennan’s face with her hands. “Brennan. It is what it is. I’m just so glad you’re here now.”
A tear rolled down Brennan’s cheek, over his lips. “Me too.”
Dr Martinez, who had been standing in the hall, interrupted them at that moment.
“Leah, Brennan, did you want to come into my office for a chat?” she asked.
They both followed the doctor into her office, where she retrieved some upright chairs.
Once seated, their arms entwined, unwilling to let each other go for a second, Dr Martinez started with her explanation. “I see you two know each other?”
Leah and Brennan looked at each other and smiled before turning back to the doctor and nodding.
“I was reviewing Brennan’s case before his session today and I was stunned by what I was reading. Brennan’s recount of his time in a coma was almost identical to yours, Leah.”
“How can this be, Doctor? I don’t understand it.”
The doctor shrugged and sighed. “Honestly? Neither do I. I’m completely at a loss to explain what has occurred with you two.”
Brennan frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me? I sat here for an hour and you never once said that Leah was real.”
She nodded, smiling thinly. “I know you would’ve liked to have been informed, but I’m bound by a patient confidentiality agreement. I had no right, regardless of the circumstances, to inform you that Leah was also my patient. That’s why I had organised with my receptionist for Leah to be here when you came out of your session. If you recognised her and she recognised you, then fantastic. If you both left here without recognising each other, then my professionalism would still be intact, though not my curiosity.”
“Thank you. Thank you for doing what you did,” said Leah.
“That’s my pleasure. However, beyond bringing you two together, I’m terribly sorry, but I have no answers with regards to the circumstances under which you met. I have a lot of research to do, let me tell you.”
“I don’t care what the circumstances are.” Brennan turned his face to Leah. “I’m just glad you’re here with me again.”
“Me too, Brennan. Nothing else matters.”
Leah glanced at Dr Martinez as she said those words, thinking of Matty. He was something else that definitely mattered. This thought made her feel sick to her stomach.
Dr Martinez said, “I’m sure you both have a lot to catch up on and many things to sort out, which I think will require some privacy. However, in saying that, I would like to see you both separately, next week if possible, to make sure you’re coping adequately with the turn of events. By that
time, I hope I have got my head around it all as well. It’s not every day you’re confronted with something completely unexplainable.”
Leah nodded. “Sure. I’ll book in for next Friday.”
“Me too,” said Brennan, unable to take his eyes from Leah.
***
In the car park of the hospital, Brennan embraced Leah and kissed her gently, more sensually than he had before, now that some of the shock and intensity of emotion had faded. “I missed you so much. For months, I have wanted to kiss you again.”
Leah kissed him back, dissolving into his arms, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t ignore the tiny voice that kept saying Matty’s name.
Leah moved away from Brennan and looked up at him. “Circumstances have obviously changed in my life over the past seven months,” she said.
“That’s expected,” he said. Then his face dropped. “You—you’ve found someone else?” he asked.
Leah nodded slowly. “Yes, I have.”
Brennan breathed in deeply, ran his fingers through his hair. “What does that mean for us?”
Leah shook her head. “I don’t know. It definitely makes things complicated.”
Brennan’s face twisted with anguish. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can just end it with him, can’t you? And be with me.”
Leah lowered her eyes to the ground, feeling as though she may throw up. When she looked at him again, her eyes were moist with tears, as were his. “I can’t hurt this man, Brennan. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“You can’t hurt me either. I can’t take it. I don’t deserve it. I love you so much. You love me too. I know you do.” Brennan’s words were frantic, strangled by emotions. It broke Leah’s heart in two to see him like this.
She wrapped her arms around his body and held him tight. “Of course I love you. More than anything.” She could feel his body loosen as she spoke. “But I need to sort things out at home.”
Brennan hesitated for a moment, but nodded. “You need to do what you have to do, to make things right.”
“But first, I need to talk to you.”
“I still have my apartment in Paddington if you want to go there.”
Leah nodded. “I do. I’ve got my car here, so I’ll meet you over there.”
“Are you going to come straight over?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Brennan smiled and kissed her on the mouth.
Leah almost ran to find her car. She jumped in and turned on the engine, all the while drawing in deep lungfuls of air. She fumbled for her mobile and dialled Matty’s number.
“Hello, gorgeous. Are you on your way home?”
Leah’s heart sank for the second time that evening.
“Um. Not yet,” she said, forcing her voice to sound even and composed, but failing miserably.
“Is everything okay?”
Leah fought the tears that were threatening to escape. “Yes, fine. Um, I have actually run into an old friend and I’m going to grab a coffee with them, so I will be a little while. Will you be alright there?”
“Um, sure. How long will you be?”
“A couple of hours or so.”
There was an uncomfortable silence before Matty spoke again. “If you’re going to be a while, I might just go home. It saves being in Cait and Greg’s hair.”
“If you think that’s best,” she said softly.
He hesitated for a moment and then asked, “How did your talk with the doctor go? You sound upset.”
“It was fine. I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow and we can talk then.”
“Okay, then.”
Leah covered the mouthpiece in an effort to hide her sob. “I’ll come around and see you tomorrow morning.”
“Sure. I love you.”
Leah could have rolled into a ball and died. Of all moments to say that he loved her. “I love you too, Matty. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And then she hung up.
Leah sat in her car and cried until her chest hurt. When she felt like she had nothing left, she grabbed some tissues out of the glove box, blew her nose and wiped her eyes. Brennan would be waiting for her.
***
Through the thick traffic, Leah drove to Brennan’s apartment. When she pulled up in front of his building, she could see that Brennan was waiting for her on the landing. Every detail of his place was exactly as she remembered it from her coma. It was uncanny.
By the time Leah stepped out of the car, Brennan had run down the stairs and met her on the pathway.
“Hey,” he said softly, holding his hand out for her to take. He led her up the stairs and along the corridor to his apartment. An apartment she had never been inside before—in the flesh, anyway—but knew back to front. He opened the door and they stepped inside. As she looked around his apartment, she felt a dizzying sense of déjà vu. As a part of convincing herself of her sanity over the last seven months, she had made herself believe that this apartment wasn’t real. It felt surreal to be here now. And to be here with Brennan.
Leah peered up into Brennan’s gorgeous blue eyes. He was really alive and standing in front of her with nothing between them but air. A gentle tingle started in her toes and moved up through her body, down to her fingertips and across her heart. She sighed, shoulders relaxing, and smiled. Gone was the incredulity and astonishment at his presence, and left was the reality that she had the love of her life within arm’s reach. Leah threw herself into his arms and kissed him ravenously, her need vanquishing all reluctance, all resistance. Brennan pulled her in close to his body and released a tormented sigh, an expression of agonised relief and immense pleasure, as he reciprocated her kiss.
Slowly he edged her against the door and whispered in her ear. “I love you so much, Leah.”
As he trailed his kisses down her throat, she said, “I love you too.”
Down the length of her neck and along her décolletage, he kissed and sucked before settling back at her lips, his hands working their way up her body, leaving her skin ablaze with delicious sensation.
“I want to be inside you so bad, Leah,” he growled in her ear.
She caught his eye before he kissed her again. “I want you too.”
He didn’t hesitate. Clasping her hand, he led her to his bedroom. Her stomach enjoyably tensed and tightened. The arousal spread and gripped deeper. Lower. God, she had never felt so eager. She hoisted his shirt over his head, revealing his thinner, but still hard, torso. He was incredible. Maybe even more so, because now he was real. She ran her shaking fingers over his stomach, along his ribs, kissed the curve of his neck; breathed him in. His body quivered under her fingertips. His skin tasted sweet and salty on her lips.
Brennan grabbed Leah’s shirt, tugged it over her head and threw it onto the floor. He cupped her breasts, pleasure shocking her as he ran smooth thumbs over her nipples, which blossomed at his touch through the cloth of her bra. His lips found the only skin not hidden by material. A gentle kiss. Two. Fervour overcame him and he sucked her flesh tantalisingly into his mouth. Leah reached back, unfastened her bra and pulled it from her arms, releasing her breasts for him. She yearned for him to have all of her, unrestrained.
He ran his eyes over her body. That same look he had given her every time, since the first time, he saw her naked. That look let her know she was the most beautiful woman to him. The only woman for him. Brennan growled and abruptly lifted Leah into his arms. He kissed her with an urgency she was barely capable of matching. He kissed her mouth, nipped at her jaw, her throat. She rolled her head back as he slid his lips down her chest until he found her nipple and sucked the hard peak between his hot lips.
“You are utterly irresistible,” he breathed.
He stepped her gently towards the bed and laid her down. In a flurry, he had his jeans off and was standing before her, his generous cock so rigid it brushed his stomach as he moved. He smiled. “I’ve dreamt of this moment for too long.”
Brennan lowered himself onto
the bed and lay beside her. He peeled the remaining clothing from her body and explored her like she was an uncharted frontier.
“I love the taste of you,” he said as he ran his lips along the length of her inner thigh. She spread her legs for him. The time was now. He gently pushed her legs wider before ascending her body, straddling her, his cock positioned just right. All Leah’s restraint was gone. All that remained was a gluttonous desire to have him inside her. With one unrestrained plunge, he answered her needs. Leah’s gasp matched his groan. God, he felt like home. He kissed her fiercely as he moved in her. She raised her pelvis to meet his every thrust, lost to the sensations scorching her entire body. She couldn’t believe the unity, the soul connection they shared. He was hers, she was his. And always would be. She had missed him so much.
He rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. She rocked against him. Felt his hardness deep inside her. A steady rhythm, a rhythm that built higher and higher. He eagerly sucked at her breasts, swirled his tongue over the tips. The piercing pleasure rocketed her higher still until her mind went numb and all the breath was stolen from her lungs. She gasped as an explosion of warmth spread from her centre, outwards, drenching her in tingling, airy pleasure. As her body began to relax again she felt Brennan jerk underneath her as he came deep inside her, finally filling her with what her body had craved.
Leah succumbed to the drug-like afterglow and slumped against Brennan’s heaving chest. He stroked her hair and back. Before the sleepy haze completely took its hold, Leah rolled off of Brennan and lay beside him, wrapping her arm around his torso and resting her head on his chest.
Brennan kissed the top of her head. “I want to lay with you every moment of my life.”
“Mmmm. That sounds like heaven.”
Leah’s mind had nearly surrendered to sleep when Brennan spoke again. “I still want to marry you,” he said.
Leah lifted her head off his chest and rested it on her bent arm, so she was looking directly into his eyes. “You do?”
“Yes. I love you more than anyone else on this earth.”
Beautiful Illusion Page 20
