I brush a curl from her neck and my thumb grazes her chin. She tilts it up to me and for the first time in so long I feel an opening. Leaning forward, I reach with lips that are so hungry for hers. She steps away before we connect and the two of us watch each other, searching for answers.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
“Don’t be,” she says.
Her eyes linger on my mouth and I feel something give.
When she turns and continues walking, I wonder if I imagined the moment.
“You coming?” she asks, smiling at me over her shoulder.
I smile back and follow.
Chapter Forty-one
A week later, we meet on the trail and hike the path together again. She tells me about her freelance editing work and I couldn’t be more proud of her new career. When we’re back at our cars, I kiss her cheek and I feel her linger against my lips. Over the next few weeks we develop a routine. We meet at the trail entrance and hike it together. We start stopping for coffee on the way back. When I tell her about the house I bought, she offers to bring Levi over.
A few days later, she does. As she follows me through the rooms I notice how beautifully the natural light illuminates her dark hair. She cut it short again and it curls around her chin, leaving the lines of her neck and shoulder bare. She sees me watching her and I love the warm blush that rises in her cheeks.
The following week, we’re hiking and she stumbles. I grab her hand to steady her. Our eyes lock. She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t let go for the rest of the walk. When I go home to my new house that night, I know that everything has changed. She no longer pulls away when I touch her. When I take her hand, she twines her fingers through mine. She holds my gaze when I brush her hair away from her face. The shift has already happened. I just have to find the right moment and we’ll be us again.
Chapter Forty-two
What am I doing? The elevator doors open and I’m frozen with indecision. If I ride back down and drive home, no one will ever know I was here.
“Are you going up or down?” asks the man who steps into the elevator with me. He’s got kind eyes and his pudgy fingers hover over the button pad.
“Neither,” I answer, stepping out of the elevator just before the doors close.
The plush cognac leather chairs in the lobby are all empty. A giant fish tank covers the wall opposite me. I step out of the way as several men and women in suits pass.
“Can I help you with something?” asks a kind feminine voice.
No, I decide. This was a bad idea.
“No, thank you,” I answer without looking up.
I tap the down button to call the elevator back and then glance at the fish again.
“Sylvie?” asks the woman, who is still standing beside me. “Sylvie Solum?”
Looking into her deep brown eyes, I notice something familiar. She has a distinctive accent; I would guess she’s from the West Indies somewhere. I’ve heard that voice before.
“Well, it’s Sylvie Chambers now, but it was Solum. Have we met?”
Smiling, she nods.
“I’m Mr. Bradford’s assistant, I remember you from… from before.”
Exhaling, I recognize the gentle lines of her smooth brown skin.
“Caroline?”
“Yes! It’s good to see you, Sylvie. Are you here to see Mr. Bradford?”
“No,” I say shaking my head.
She blinks at me.
“Well, yes,” I add with a swallow.
Her smile grows broad and she guides me, with a gentle hand on my back, through the hallways and right to his office. My heart pounds when she knocks on the door. A lump forms in my throat when he says, “come in.”
I can barely breathe as my feet, aided greatly by a nudge from Caroline, carry me through the doorway and into Jeremy’s office. He’s perched on the edge of a long sofa in the corner of the room. He doesn’t look up as he scrolls through a document on his tablet.
The impulse to leave hurriedly needles at me, but before I can back out of the room, he sees me.
“Sylvie.”
“Hi.”
I hear my heart thumping. Can he hear it too?
Placing his tablet on the desk he approaches me. Long, thick legs covered with fine wool stride forward. A crisp dress shirt rolled up his arms outlines his thick shoulders and broad chest. His dark green neck tie brings out the green in his eyes. And that mouth—the broad full lips I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since that first hike together in the woods weeks ago—twists into a sweet smile.
“Did you come to visit me?”
“I… um… I wanted to see if you had time for lunch?”
His smile widens and he moves closer to me. He smells like the woods. Or maybe that’s just the smell I associate with him? That deep woodsy smell that makes things so… simple. He takes my hands in his.
“I have a meeting in ten. But how about I pick you up for dinner tonight around seven, instead?”
“Okay.”
My answer is involuntary and the grin on his face tells me that he didn’t expect it anymore than I did.
“Um… I mean, if I can find someone to watch Levi…”
“I can call Phoebe?”
“You can?”
“Yeah, she’s on that emergency contact list you gave me. I don’t think she’ll mind.”
“Well, probably not… but…”
“But what, sweetheart?” he asks.
That smile of his captivates me. I’ve run out of excuses. I have no more reasons to decline and no more will to resist.
“Nothing,” I answer. “I can’t think of any reason not to.”
Laughing, he squeezes my arm.
“Well that’s not exactly an ego boost, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Caroline knocks on the door and Jeremy looks up as she pokes her head in.
“Your eleven-thirty is here, Mr. Bradford.”
“Thanks, Caroline. Tell them I’ll be a minute.”
With a hand on the small of my back he moves us into the hallway and toward the elevators.
“Until tonight,” he says when the doors open.
“Uh huh,” I answer, stepping forward into the carriage.
I keep my eyes downcast, my mind still swirling with indecision. The doors begin to close. A hand reaches in and pushes them open and the mechanism groans.
Our eyes connect and I see pure lust as his hand grips my face and his mouth crashes into mine. My heart stops. I hear nothing but the sound of his moan as his tongue laps in my mouth. He lingers before he pulls away. His swollen lips curve into a smile as he releases the elevator door and steps back. Those pretty eyes of his sparkle at me as the doors close and I melt into a puddle on the elevator floor.
* * *
My leg is jiggling. For the third time I consider changing my dress. The low-plunging, floor-length dress with flowing panels that shows off way too much leg is going to give Jeremy entirely the wrong idea. OR maybe it’s the right idea?
Blythe had convinced me to buy the dress weeks ago for an engagement party.
“That shade of blue really makes the gold in your eyes pop!” she said.
I’d chickened out of wearing it and opted for a simple LBD at the last minute. By the time I reached the party, I was glad that I did. Blythe had stuck me with her husband’s friend Stuart all night. Stuart was a perfectly lovely man and I’m glad Blythe set me up. I came away from the evening with a dinner invitation from a man I knew I didn’t want and a deep sense of certainty about the man that I do want.
So now, weeks later, I’ve donned the dress for Jeremy. I meant it a year ago when I said that I didn’t want to take the risk. But in the time that Jeremy has been here for me and Levi, I’ve felt my heart beginning to open again; I’ve started to want things that I was certain I’d never want again. I’ve started to want him and everything that he’s offered me everyday for the
last year and a half.
When a car pulls up to the front of the house, I struggle to compose myself. I attempt to smooth down the front of my dress and the two side panels fall away leaving my legs bare. It’s too late to change. I swallow and walk to the front door.
He’s there when I swing it open, dashing in a dark blue suit. His eyes flare when he sees me and a sliver of gratitude for Blythe insisting that I buy my dress creeps in. He reaches for me and his fingertips land on my neck. His thumb traces my collarbone and my breath quickens.
“I would tell you how beautiful you look, but I don’t have the words. Thank you for coming out with me tonight, sweetheart.”
“Thank you for inviting me.”
He smiles. His hand lifts to my mouth and that thumb brushes my bottom lip. The kiss from earlier flashes in my mind. Will he kiss me again? I want him to. I reach for his mouth but his hand falls to take mine.
“That’s some dress,” he says.
“Well, if you’d come a couple minutes later, I might have changed into something else.”
His finger trails the plunging neckline and he swallows.
“That would have been a shame. Ready?” he asks, and I clench my legs together and exhale through puckered lips.
“I am,” I answer sincerely.
The glint in his eyes suggest he knows I’m not talking about dinner.
* * *
I fidget in the darkness, but the slight ache in my smile-stretched cheeks reminds me that I’d agreed very enthusiastically to Jeremy’s proposition. I clench my fingers together to keep them from reaching behind my head and untying the knot that holds the blindfold over my eyes.
“You’ve always loved surprises,” he chuckles in my ear.
His warm breath on my neck makes me shiver. My heart pounds with anticipation. The smell of him, so close, raises tingling bumps along my skin. The experience is so familiar, but I still don’t believe it’s real. I can’t see him but he’s everywhere, penetrating my remaining senses in the most intoxicating tease.
“Do I get a clue?” I ask.
“Hmmm…”
He strokes my arm in the silence before he answers.
“Do you remember our first date?”
“I remember the mime that wouldn't leave our table. He kept pestering us until you kissed me. Then he played the violin while we ate. That was an amazing night. I didn’t know what to expect, but… it was so much better than any date I’d ever had before.”
“I paid that mime.”
Unable to contain my laughter I reach for my blindfold but Jeremy grabs both my hands.
“Oh no, you don’t. You agreed to a surprise so the blindfold stays on.”
“I can’t believe you never told me that you paid the mime.”
“Well, I wanted to kiss you and I wanted you to remember me.”
I lean back and meet his hard chest, his arms fold around me and I try to absorb the magic all around us.
“I could never forget you, Jeremy. That’s why it hurt so much when you were gone.”
He holds me tighter and kisses the back of my head.
“I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere. You’ll never have to feel that way again.”
I want to believe him.
The car stops and outside air rushes into the limo as the door opens. Jeremy guides me out and through a doorway beyond which delicious aromas waft through the air. A violin plays in the background. He removes the blindfold and I smile.
“There were other people here for our first date,” I note, looking around the nearly empty bistro.
One table set with flowers and candles sits in the center of a dining room festooned with floral garlands and hanging jewels.
“I wanted you all to myself tonight,” he says.
His fingers twirl a curl at my nape and then trace down my spine. When his hand lands on my hip I swallow. Guiding me forward, he keeps me tucked close to him until we reach the table.
The first course arrives as soon as we sit. Each round has a wine pairing and each look he gives me melts my heart a little bit more. When we’ve finished our soufflé and Jeremy helps me too my feet, I thank him for the meal and the company.
“But what happened to the mime?” I tease as we ease back into the limo.
Cradling my face in his hands, he kisses me. It starts out gentle, but as his arms wrap me tighter and his hand sinks into my hair, I feel every bit of the urgency in that kiss.
He pulls away flushed and nuzzles my nose with his.
“I don’t need a mime to tell me to kiss you anymore, Sylvie. Every muscle in my body strains for you, every time we’re together.”
“Jeremy?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“What happens now?”
He smiles. Leaning back against the seat, he swings an arm over my shoulder.
“I’ve got one more surprise for you.”
Chapter Forty-three
That smile, the one that crinkles the corners of her eyes, is followed by the slightest nibble at her lips. God, those lips taste so much better than I remember. It takes all of my willpower not to lay her out on the back seat of the limo. It’s been so long, too long. I’m twisted so tightly that I want to explode inside her. But tonight is about so much more.
This is my chance to show her how things could be. I’ve been waiting for her to let go of everything that time and distance and life had conspired to separate us. Those walls are crumbling. I can feel it. I can see it.
But I need to move carefully. If I can’t make her see a future where she’s safe with me, a future she wants, then she’ll be gone again. I don’t know if I’ll get another shot. This is my moment.
As Carter pulls up to my house, I smile down at her and she lights up.
“Where are we?”
She looks out the window, but she doesn’t recognize the house. She’d only been here once before and the place looks different in the darkness of the new moon.
“Do you trust me?”
Her smile falls away as she considers the question. I wait. My fingers stroke her knuckles and my eyes urge her to give in to everything that’s pulled us toward each other since the day we met.
* * *
I saw her out of the corner of my eye as I shook hands with the editor. The profile exclusive I’d given his paper was a big get and he was embarrassing himself expressing his gratitude. But she had my full attention as soon as I saw her, chewing on the end of a pen. Her short curls were falling out of her hair tie and she rubbed the side of her neck as she worked.
“I’ll have the article sent to you for your approval in a few days,” said the features writer. “And thanks again so much for your time.”
“Who’s that?” I asked, nodding in her direction.
“Uh, Sylvie Solum. She’s our best copyeditor. Fresh out of grad school. You won’t see so much as a comma out of place after she’s marked up a… did you want to meet her, Mr. Bradford?”
“Have her bring a hard copy of my article to my office,” I demanded.
My eyes hadn’t left her and as the writer gestured in her direction, she looked up and our eyes met. She smiled. The chemistry was instant.
“Usually we just email a draft, Mr. Bra…” he trailed off, looking between the two of us and sensing the connection. “But I’m sure Ms. Solum would be glad to bring you a hard copy if you prefer.”
“I do,” I told him as my phone chirped and I saw a text from Caroline about my next appointment.
Tearing my eyes away from her, I said goodbye to the features writer and the managing editor and left.
A couple days later, Caroline knocked on my door to tell me that some one from the paper had come. Sylvie stepped through my doorway in a sunny yellow dress that made her golden-brown skin glow.
“Thanks for bringing this by in person,” I said. “It’s Sylvie, right?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “It’s my pleasu
re.”
She handed me a manila envelope and smiled.
“I already fact-checked and edited it for you. Just let me know if anything looks problematic.”
“I will, but I, uh, I asked you to bring it in person for another reason.”
“Yes!” she said, stepping closer.
I smiled at her, raised my brows, and tilted my head. Her face fell and she swallowed.
“I’m sorry,” she said stepping away with wide, embarrassed eyes. “I thought you were going to ask me out.”
She moved to the door, but I caught her hand before she got more than a couple steps.
“I was,” I told her.
“Oh,” she said smiling brightly again, “Well, I won’t interrupt this time.”
She waited expectantly, while I chortled.
“Would you like to have dinner with me, Sylvie?”
“Yes!” she said again, without a sliver of hesitation in her voice.
I grinned for the rest of the day. She didn’t play hard to get. The way she looked at me lacked even an ounce of guile. The chemistry between us was too strong to deny. And there wasn’t a single moment between then and now that I didn’t belong to her, heart, body, mind, and soul.
* * *
“I trust you, Jeremy,” she says as I gaze into those eyes.
The honesty behind her rich brown irises hasn’t changed. They remain devoid of any artifice and full of sweetness. But so much has happened between us since. Everything has changed since that unsullied beginning. Is it too greedy to ask that what took hold that day, years ago, still endures?
I kiss her again, a gentle peck before I lead her out of the limo and pray that the magic between us has survived.
Chapter Forty-four
As Jeremy turns on the lights, I gaze over the careful design and I feel the tug of this space. The house is beautiful. It’s every bit as elegant as the house Silas had bought for me, but little details collude to pull me deeper into Jeremy’s new home. Warm wood panels line the foyer walls. A cozy sitting room lies just beyond the entrance. The kitchen to the left is less ostentatious and in the large library next to it, a beautiful antique desk sits by the window.
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