“Yes, definitely. My trip here is about enjoying myself and learning who Emma really is. Not as a wife, not as a nurse and not as a mother. It might just take me some time to figure that out.”
“Well, if I can help you figure it out, I am always right next door,” he said with a wink. As he walked her to the porch, he stood about five feet away, worried that he might offend her.
“Do you ever ride those bikes that I saw in your garage?” she asked.
“Not as much as I used to. Why?”
“I would think seeing the island by bicycle might be fun. Would you be interested in showing me around tomorrow?” she asked.
“Absolutely. How about I pack us a great brunch and we can eat on the beach afterward?” he asked. Was he serious? Where on Earth did this man come from?
“That sounds great. I will be ready around eight thirty,” she said.
With that, Gaven walked down the steps toward his house. Emma wondered where this new friendship would lead. Was this her soul mate? Was there even such a thing as a soul mate?
Chapter 8
Emma and Gaven spent at least some time together every single day while she was on the island. Their bike tour and brunch was fun, and they had spent the whole day on the beach swimming, eating and laughing. She had never been so comfortable with a man in her life.
She found that she could be herself. She was fun and outgoing and spontaneous. Those were qualities that she thought she had lost somewhere along the way.
Gaven made her smile and laugh and lose herself. It was hard to think about going back to the daily grind of life in the hospital. She had long dreamed of working in some little doctor’s office off the beaten path instead of in a large hospital. It would be less money, but maybe more happiness?
Running into Henry all the time in the city and at the hospital was hard. Knowing that he was ignoring his son and fighting her at every turn on alimony and child support was upsetting on so many levels. She couldn’t believe what kind of man he really was.
Being around Gaven showed her a different kind of man. He wasn’t anything like the other men she had dated in the past before Henry. And, he certainly wasn’t like Henry at all. But, at the same time, she didn’t want to make any rash decisions about him. His good looks were hard to deny, and she had many moments where she wanted to kiss him… and maybe a bit more.
“Hello?” Emma could hear Gaven yelling into the front screen door. “Anybody home?”
“I’m in the kitchen,” she yelled back. After being there for two weeks, they were like best friends. Gaven came and went as he pleased.
“What on Earth are you doing?” he asked when he saw Emma covered in flour.
“Well, I found this book of old recipes in a drawer, and I wanted to make a pound cake. But, I think I did something wrong…” she said laughing.
“You have some flour right… here…” he said wiping it off her nose with his thumb. Her legs felt like Jello every time he touched her.
“I am not the best cook. Samuel likes to eat out… a lot,” she said laughing.
“Why were you baking a cake anyway?” he asked sitting down on a bar stool.
“For you.”
“For me? Why?”
“Because I know today is your birthday. I saw it on your driver’s license when you bought wine the other night,” she said smiling. “So, I tried… for you… to cook this cake. But, unfortunately, I must report that this cake is not edible…” she said throwing down her mixing spoon.
Gaven grinned at her and then looked down, shaking his head. He stood up and walked over to her, looking down at her flour-covered face.
“I have to say… that is about the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” he said softly.
“Well, then you do not get out much,” she responded with a giggle. Suddenly, his mouth was on hers with a warmth unlike anything she had ever felt. She wanted to say no, to stop him, but her body would not respond to her logical commands.
“Is this okay?” he whispered in her ear as he kissed her neck.
“Yes…” she heard herself say as she reached for his mouth again, putting her hands on the back of his head.
Moments later, he was hoisting her up onto the breakfast bar and kissing her passionately. She leaned back and pulled him closer, putting her legs around his waist.
In her mind, she wanted to stay logical and practical. But, again, her body was telling her to let loose and be a sensual woman again. Why did being forty-one have anything to do with it? Was it because her ex-husband was sleeping with a twenty two year old?
In that moment, Emma decided to give in, just this once, to being free. She liked Gaven a lot. She might even be convinced that her feelings were closer to love than like at this point. But, for now, she just wanted to be as close to him as a woman can be to a man.
“Gaven?”
“Yes,” he said breathlessly into her ear.
“Can we take this to my bedroom?” she asked timidly. He stopped for a moment and put both of his hands on her cheeks.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do, Emma. No expectations,” he said.
“I know. But, I do want to do this…” she said. He grabbed her around the waist as she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he carried her to the bedroom.
Moments later, clothes were flying off. Emma had never felt so free with a man before. Gaven must have known she would eventually be interested because he had protection in his pocket for the occasion. She laughed when she saw him put it on the nightstand.
“Someone was sure of himself,” she said with a giggle.
“Hopeful,” he responded as he looked at her. She was now lying on the bed naked and unsure of herself. At forty-one, she had a great body, but she was still comparing herself to a twenty-two year old. “You are simply stunning, Emma…” he said sitting up and looking at her.
“Thank you…” she whispered.
“No, I am serious. Don’t you know how breathtaking you are?” he asked. Before she could answer, his mouth met her lips again. It traveled down her chest to the valley between her breasts.
“Gaven?” she said.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this. We can go slow later…” she said grinning. With that, he pushed inside of her, filling her with a deep sense of peace and light and freedom. Waves of energy ripped through her body and took away the years of regret, sadness and self consciousness that she felt.
As night fell, they made love again and again until they were so spent that they fell asleep. When morning rolled around again, she watched him in the streams of sunlight. His chest rising and falling, she wondered how she had met this man that other women would search for their whole lives. Did she love him? And how did he feel about her?
Chapter 9
When Gaven woke up, Emma was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee. Flour from the night before was all over the floor, but she didn’t care. It made her laugh when she saw it. He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, his chin resting on the top of her head.
“Good morning,” he growled into her ear.
“Good morning. Sleep well?” she asked.
“You know I did… Once I got to sleep…” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve got to meet a client today, so do you mind if I take a quick shower here?”
“Sure. Go ahead…” she said smiling.
“Feel free to join me,” he said with a laugh as he walked down the hallway. She fully intended to join him as soon as she heard the water turn on.
Before Emma could jump into the water with him, there was a knock at the door. She had no idea who that could be. When she opened the door, she was shocked to find Henry standing there.
“Henry. What are you doing here?” she asked with a look of disgust on her face.
“I’ve been looking all over for you. Thankfully, your work friends knew where you were. Where is Samuel?” he asked.
&
nbsp; “He’s with my parents, not that you care about him.” She crossed her arms and blocked the door with her body.
“Emma, can I come in? We need to talk. Please.”
Thinking that he wanted to talk about Samuel, she allowed him to come in. He sat down on the sofa.
“I don’t know where to start. I made a mistake, Em. I want you back,” he said.
Her heart started to pound. What was he saying to her? A year after their divorce, he wanted to get back together?
“You can’t be serious. You cheated on me with a slut, and now you want me back? You embarrassed me in front of my friends and family. You basically abandoned your son…”
“I know I made some big mistakes, Em, but I love you. You must know that. Maybe it was a mid life crisis…”
“I don’t care what it was, Henry. I’ve gotten over you. I’ve gotten over our marriage. I made a clean start…”
“What about Samuel? Don’t you want him to have a father?”
“Are you kidding me? You are his father whether we are together or not, yet you never call, send a card or see him. You live five miles from him, Henry, and you never make an effort. You are too wrapped up with Tiffani to be bothered…”
“Tiffani and I are no longer together. We broke up…” he said looking down.
“Oh, I see… You want me back because she dumped you. She was tired of your receding hairline and flabby gut?” Emma could not believe what she was saying.
“That was low, Emma…”
“No. What you did to our family was low, Henry. Now, get out.” She stood and pointed at the door. Henry didn’t move.
“Emma, I came a long way. At least go to lunch with me…”
“She has plans,” Gaven’s voice came out from behind Henry. Emma’s stomach started to churn as he slipped his arm around her waist.
“Who the hell are you?” Henry asked as he shot up from his seat.
“That is none of your business,” Gaven said towering over Henry. “The lady asked you to leave.”
“Emma…” Henry said looking at her.
“Just go, Henry. It’s over. It’s been over for some time. And, let me tell you something else while you are here. I intend to go straight to court when I get home to enforce your child support. The media would love to get a hold of a story like this, I think. Superstar surgeon abandons his family and becomes a deadbeat Dad,” she said.
Henry stormed out of the cottage and drove away. Emma sat down trying to catch her breath, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Emma, I’m sorry if I interrupted. I just couldn’t stand to hear him talking to you like that…”
Once she caught her breath, she looked at him. “I’m not mad at you, Gaven. I am crying because no one has ever stood up for me like that.”
He sat down beside her and pulled her into his lap. “Emma, I’ve been looking for you for my whole life. Not a woman like you. YOU. And I am not going to let some jerk talk to you like he owns you or like you don’t matter.”
“Thank you,” she whispered as she kissed him tenderly on the lips.
“No. Thank you…”
“For what?” she asked.
“I’ve been hiding out on this island for years. I didn’t want to meet anyone because I didn’t want to get hurt. I thought I had lost the love of my life to some other man, but then I learned that the love of my life just arrived a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
“Love?”
“I hope that doesn’t scare you because I know it’s only been a couple of weeks, but yes. I love you. And you don’t have to say it back because I love you enough right now for both of us. Seeing that man come here and try to get you back just reminded me that I need to say what I feel when I feel it,” he said kissing her on the forehead.
“Gaven, I am forty-one years old. I know what true love feels like, and this is it. I do love you,” she said looking into his copper brown eyes.
“Good. That is the best news I’ve heard all week,” he said winking.
“But, I have a son. I can’t rush big decisions like this in my life. Can we take this slow?”
“Of course. I want to be your partner in life, Emma. I won’t tell you what to do, and I will support you always. I can’t wait to meet Samuel, but we will do it at your pace. Agreed? ” he asked holding out his hand so she could shake it.
“Agreed,” she said grabbing his hand and pulling him down on the sofa with her.
***
Emma couldn’t believe it had already been two years since her reunion. She had certainly lived a lot in the last two years, and she knew that her classmates would be proud of her. Things had changed drastically in her life, and she couldn’t wait to tell Claire, Shelby and Ashley what her two year adventure had looked like… and see what had happened to them.
Afterword
Thank you so much for buying and reading this REUNION: EMMA'S VACATION novella! This story is the first in "The Starting Over Series." Since word of mouth is so critical to readers and authors alike, I would really appreciate it if you'd pop back to Amazon and leave a review of this story. It will only take a minute or two, but you opinion is priceless.
About the Author
According to her family Angelina Rose was a sweet child … maybe a little shy. She often spent a lot of time making up stories rather than running around and playing outside with her brother and sister. She won several writing competitions and used the prizes to help her single mother pay the bills.
Like Emma, Claire, Shelby and Ashley, Angelina Rose is a Nurse. At a recent reunion of her graduating class she could not help but notice how the same girls would group together and laugh, chat and even shed some tears over their lives since graduating. Many of the girls had divorced … so Angelina thought "what if a group of the nurses came up with a plan to meet in two years and have a new love story to share?" Then this first story in the series was born!
Angelina lives in the mountains with her husband, her two poodles and two bombay cats.
Contact Information
Website:
http://AngelinaRoseRomance.com
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http://www.facebook.com/AngelinaRoseRomanceAuthor
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https://twitter.com/RoseRomanceBook
Copyright Information
All rights reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the Author.
The Reunion: Emma's Vacation (The Starting Over Series) Page 4
