Passion in Portland 2016 Anthology

by Anthology

  Emma had been so engrossed in the game she was caught off guard when she heard Florence whisper, "Incoming."

  She glanced at Florence and then looked in the opposite direction just in time to see a clearly intoxicated Stephanie headed their way. This was not a particular confrontation Emma thought she would actually encounter. Sure, she imagined there was a possibility, but it seemed like such a stupid move. She couldn't imagine the other woman actually doing it in real life.

  Stephanie flounced over and plopped, a little ungracefully, onto the stool to Emma's right. She was dressed in a skirt and blouse that were just a little too tight and a little too short. Emma couldn't imagine wearing it at all, let alone to a charity function—a themed charity function. But she dismissed her thoughts as she didn't particularly want to come across as already judging Stephanie when the woman hadn't even said anything yet.

  "I finally figured out where I know you from. You are that little bookkeeper. To think all this time, you've been pining after him and you waited until the barn door was left open. Then just sort of swooped in and snatched Nick. It's so pitiful that you were so smitten with him you're okay being a rebound from me, it's sick." Then she took a sip of whatever was in the martini glass she was holding.

  Emma was so surprised by the other woman's words that, despite all of the imaginings and prep work she had done for such a situation, she had no response. Stephanie’s statement was so juvenile and uncalled for, Emma couldn't believe it was actually happening. It seemed ridiculous. Lucky for her, Florence seem to need no such recovery.

  "Stephanie, you have clearly reached beyond your limit of alcohol consumption. I believe it's time you walk your little harlot self back to your room and sleep it off."

  Though not the most threatening or catty response, Emma could hear the thread of a parental threat in Florence's voice. It clearly said to Emma that if Stephanie was not going to walk herself back to her room, Florence would have it done for her.

  She was surprised when Stephanie scoffed at the older woman. "I wasn't speaking to you, whoever you are." Then she looked back at Emma and opened her mouth.

  Before she could continue, Florence waved over to two rather large ex-football-player-looking men. The sight of them walking over, seemed to distract Stephanie from what she was going to say. She blinked at them, confused as to where they had come from.

  Florence pointed to Stephanie. “I believe this young lady would like to be escorted to her room please, gentleman." Though the words sounded polite, the voice was iron strong and it was clearly a command. Each of the men gently grabbed one of Stephanie's arms and lifted her off the stool. When it became apparent to Stephanie that she was not going to get her way, she let the men walk her out of the room.

  Florence murmured to herself, "Some women simply cannot handle their alcohol." Then she turned to Emma. "I'm sorry about that, my dear. It was ridiculously uncalled for."

  Emma shrugged with a nonchalance she didn't feel. “It's okay. Though I do appreciate you making her leave."

  Florence snorted before taking a sip of her own iced tea. "My pleasure. I would be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed it a bit."

  __________

  Emma sat there for perhaps another hour before she ran to the restroom. She took her time walking back so she would be able to stretch her legs, taking a lap around the outside of the hotel. When she came back in Nick's table had finished up. Part of her chastised herself for missing the end of his game, though he had been so far ahead when she left, she couldn't say she was surprised the end came so soon, Nick had a drastic lead when she left. She was surprised though to see Florence talking rather adamantly to Nick, when she joined them to finish her iced tea.

  Nick looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry about Stephanie. That should have never happened."

  Emma felt herself blush a little. "No, it's okay. I would just rather not keep reliving it, if that's alright."

  Her response was rewarded with a smile. “Done, how about you and I go to a movie instead? There's a really cool theater downtown that serves food, and it's relatively inexpensive so we can catch dinner and a movie at the same time. What do you say?"

  A spike of excitement shot through Emma and she had a hard time convincing herself that this wasn't in fact a date. She took a long sip of her iced tea as a way to calm herself before nodding her agreement.

  "That sounds fun. I've always wanted to go to one of those theaters. But I think we should change first."

  He gave a slight chuckle in response and nodded before offering his elbow so she could take his arm as they walked back to their room.

  __________

  Emma had not enjoyed herself this much on a date in a very long time. Sure, there had only been rehashing of the tournament on the way to the theater from where Nick parked the car and some discussion while they picked a movie, but there was still this relaxed atmosphere about it. His excitement was contagious as she listened to him talk about how much he loved poker, and that made it a really good date. Now they were headed back to the car so they could drive back to the hotel. There was a lull in the conversation once they shared what each of them thought of the movie. They had just missed the crosswalk light and were waiting when Nick abruptly turned to face her. Emma turned in response.

  "Thank you for being so amazing about this whole thing," Nick said, smiling down at her.

  She opened her mouth to tell him it wasn't a problem, but he held up his hand to stop her.

  "No, really, you agreed to do this in the first place, which is amazing. Then you've been classy and wonderful the entire time, which I knew you would be because that's just who you are. You were in costume, which was very cool. Then you handled Stephanie being a drunk obnoxious person with grace and calm when I'm not sure even I could've done that. So thank you. This has been better than I could've hoped."

  And before she knew it, fireworks were going off in Emma's head as Nick leaned in, cupped her face, and kissed her. It was one of the most passionate kisses she had received. Nick was clearly very good at kissing, which momentarily made her wonder what else he was very good at. It took a beat before she kissed him back. Leaning in, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the ride. Just as his tongue began to tickle her lips open, she heard the beeping of the crosswalk. They both jumped apart, blinking in unison at the walk symbol in front of them. Nick quickly dropped his hands and shoved them in his pocket before weakly smiling at her, as if embarrassed, and turned toward the street. It took her a second to recover before she walked after him. She was perfectly content to wait through another light if it meant more of that earth-shattering kiss, but Nick's body language said he wanted the total opposite. The rest of the walk to the car, as well as the car ride back to the hotel, was in complete silence, which Emma didn't understand, but she was beginning to dread whatever it was Nick was waiting to say.

  Once they were in the hotel room, Emma stood stock-still in the small entryway as the door shut. Clearly this was the moment she was dreading, where he was going to say whatever it was on his mind. Her breathing became shallow. A small part of her was still hopeful that he wasn't going to say something bad, but by his body language, she knew that wasn't going to be the truth.

  "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I'll understand if you want me to take you to the train station first thing in the morning. I don’t want to jeopardize our professional relationship. It was wrong of me. I can't believe I took advantage of you in that way. I'm ashamed of myself and I am so very sorry."

  When Emma was younger, she had terrible impulse control that continued through college, but she learned to control the words that popped out of her mouth, except every once in a while, when she got worked up or stressed or tired, things would zing out before she meant them to. This turned out to be just one such situation. "Well, that's more than marginally insulting. Is there something about me that is so unworthy of such attention? I mean really, I agreed to spend the weekend with you, pretend to be your girlfriend, a
nd share a king-sized bed. What about any of that gives off the vibe that I’m interested in just a work relationship? Maybe I'm crazy, but those seem like obvious signs to me that I’m perfectly ready to move on to something else. Then as soon as you make a move, you ruin it by apologizing. I’m not 100 percent sure what exactly your game is, but I think you need to be honest with both yourself and me. You need to decide whether you have any interest in us dating and seeing where things go, or if you really just want to live in a denial bubble. Either is fine with me, but you need to let me know what the plan is." With that, she snatched up her pj’s off the bed, walked into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her.

  It was not the most mature thing Emma had ever done; in fact, it was quite the opposite. And she almost regretted doing it as soon as the door slammed. She didn't want to be the reason his game was thrown off tomorrow. She could never forgive herself if her foolishness ruined yet another event he loved. She spent more time than she needed in the bathroom, chastising herself for being a brat. But when she ran out of steam on that front, she decided avoiding the problem was not the right way to go, so she finally looked herself in the mirror, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

  She walked out into the room proper ready to apologize to Nick for being more drama than he needed right now, but to her surprise, he was already in his pj’s in the bed and his wall of pillows was gone. He smiled at her from the bed. When he spoke, it was in a singsong, childish voice. "You like me, you want to date me, you think I’m sexy."

  As his mocking continued, Emma felt the corners of her mouth jerk in to smile, but she narrowed her eyes at him and put her hands on her hips just the same. "Really?"

  His smile grew into a large grin. "What? Look, I'm sorry for second-guessing my original instinct to kiss you. I’m very much interested in seeing where all of this goes, and in such spirit, I'm willing to walk on the wild side and sleep in this bed tonight without the pillow wall." The last part was clearly over emphasized for effect.

  Emma shoved her hand in front of her mouth as if scandalized. But in actuality, her heart sang. She had been half in love with Nick for over a year, and finally she was going to get her shot. So as it turned out, this weekend, in a kind of roundabout way, was going to be exactly what she hoped. Uncovering her mouth to show him her smile, Emma climbed into bed.

  About the Author

  Gretchen is a Seattleite who loves her home. She has a day job as a Program Coordinator at a local university. She loves to read, write and create characters. As well as knit and binge watch Netflix. She is also on a sporadic book blog and internet radio show with some of her college friends. She currently lives with her husband and their mischievous Rotti mix, who always seems to find something new she shouldn't be chewing on.

  http://www.gretchensb.com/

  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7398184.Gretchen_S_B_

  http://www.amazon.com/Gretchen-S.-B./e/B00GDGEEI4

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gretchen-S-B/540293959350712

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  Stronger – Heather Carver

  Marissa Miller is ready to move on with life. She knows life is too short to let it pass her by. She has two main goals, go to Maui and try her hand at writing.

  What she doesn't plan for is her obsession to follow her home from Maui. Can she get what she wants out of life? Can she finally start living again?

  Chapter One

  Today I officially said goodbye to my old life and finally started living again. I can guaran-damn-tee that the ink hasn’t even dried as I leave the law offices of Brown and Smith. The last year has been stressful and exhausting, and in the last six months everything fell apart. Instead of Caleb being a man and walking away from our marriage nicely, he fought me tooth and nail on everything. He didn’t want me to have the house or the car, and he wanted to keep his Jeep. I guess he wasn’t ready to let me go even though it was ultimately his choice.

  All I wanted was to walk away and move on. In the beginning, leaving Caleb was hard, but I was tired of always playing second fiddle to his drinking and his “buddies”. I didn’t mind him going out with his friends every now and then, but every night got old fast. A year ago, I gave him an ultimatum. Choose me and having a family, or choose his booze and buddies. He swore that he didn’t want to lose me and wanted to start a family with me. He even gave up drinking for a spell, but that didn’t last much past the first month. Slowly, he built back up to every night, and I was over it.

  Caleb was my high school sweetheart. We’d been together since our sophomore year, and got married right after high school. We attended the same college so everything was perfect, or as perfect as it could be. We stayed in student housing our first year then we rented a house with his friends. His buddies had parties every night. They didn’t seem to care about their schooling. The only thing they lived for was partying and to see which girl they could con into their bed for the night. Moving in with his buddies started the downfall of our relationship.

  After a few weeks, I was ready to move out, but we couldn’t afford a place by ourselves. So I sucked it up and didn’t complain. The lifestyle took a toll on our relationship, and on me. Caleb always wanted to stay up partying with the boys, and a couple times he’d come to bed smelling of another girl’s perfume. I told myself he didn’t do anything with them, but I figured it was only a matter of time before he let temptation take over his reasoning.

  Finally, after I caught him in the kitchen getting ready to kiss a girl, I packed a bag and went and stayed with my girlfriend, Ann.

  I couldn’t believe he’d been going to kiss another girl. I began to doubt everything about our relationship, but when I asked him about it, he’d said that it was all a misunderstanding and he’d been leaning in to tell her to get lost. That he’d told her once already, but she kept pawing him and he got in her face to get his point across. He said he would never cheat because he’s not that kind of man.

  I didn’t have a reason not to believe him. The music was always blaring and even with earplugs I couldn’t always sleep over the music.

  I shake my head to clear the depressing thoughts of my ex-husband because today’s the day I make my dream of visiting Hawaii come true. Once I leave the law office, I head straight for the airport. I can’t wait to get some time away. Yes, I only get four days, but that's four days of bliss.

  This trip is supposed to relax me, help me find some peace with everything that has happened and for me to figure out what I want to do with my life now. Being single isn’t something I’ve experienced as an adult. I do know for a fact that I’m not going to rush into dating. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to open up my heart to another man, but the right one might just change my mind.

  My sister, Bethany, is a flight attendant and has a twenty-four hour layover in Hawaii before her flight back to Portland. I decide that this is the perfect time for me to finally fly with her. I’ll get a whole day with Bethany and then three whole days to myself. While I’m looking forward to the time with my sister, I’m also looking forward to some “me time”. Time to reflect on life and what I want to make of it now that I can do anything I want. Having taken a severance package from work because I wasn’t willing to move with the company, I have a few months to figure out what I want to do for employment. I don’t want to look back on my life and have anymore regrets.

  Chapter Two

  Time in Maui has flown by. The first day with my sister was crammed. We hiked to Kihei, the next town over from Wailea where we were staying, and then went paddle boarding. That took the whole morning and then that afternoon we laid out by the pool so she could rest up for her midnight flight home. Saying goodbye to her was hard because I don’t see enough of her, but I’m going to make it a priority to meet up more when I get home.

  In the past two days, I’ve lounged around the pool, walked on the beach and just sat on the beach. I’ve had more quiet time than I know what to do with, and while I liked
the peace and quiet, being alone isn’t easy for me. One thing that has kept me company is my laptop. I’ve been debating writing my first book—something I’ve been talking about for years but never had the time. I’m considering pursuing writing full-time since I have the opportunity, but I haven’t decided for sure yet. If I can get the words to flow then I’ll give it a go.

  Having spent the day swimming in the ocean and laying around the pool, I am finishing off the evening by enjoying happy hour then I’ll take one last walk on the beach before I have to say goodbye to Paradise.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, is this seat taken?”

  The question pulls me out of my daze as I perch on a barstool sipping my lava flow. “It is now,” I respond cheekily, not sure if I should look up because that voice alone is a turn on. But I can’t deny myself the pleasure of looking up and Holy. Fucking. Shit. He’s tall, dark and handsome. Every woman's fantasy, minus the tattoos. He’s got the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. They remind me of the blue-green water I’ve been staring at here in Hawaii, I could get lost in them. His voice alone had me shivering in anticipation…but the whole package has me pressing my thighs together to relieve the ache. I’ve never had this kind of immediate response to a man. Not even Caleb.

  “Well thank you, I’m Brad,” he says in a low, sexy voice as he flashes me a killer smile with a dimple.

  Shit, I don’t know if I’m up for a conversation or not.

  “No problem. I’m Marissa,” I mutter as I twirl my straw looking down at my drink. Please don’t let him start asking questions. I’m not up for this right now. I’ve never been good at the whole conversing with a guy thing. Guys only want to get into girls pants, and I’m not that kind of girl. I’m often told I’m archaic in my beliefs, but I don’t care because I don’t want to be a notch on someone's bedpost. I waited until I fell head over heels in love with Caleb to sleep with him, and I’ll wait until I’m in love with the next man who comes into my life—if there is one.