One Last Time

by Danes, Ellie

  Declan groaned loudly as he came soon after, and his eyes closed and his mouth dropped open. Then, panting and sweating, he collapsed on top of me.

  * * * * *

  The following morning, I was awakened by the smell of fresh coffee. I sat up and realized that Declan was no longer lying beside me. There was a black satin robe sitting on the bed next to me so I threw it on and went out to the kitchen.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he said with a smile. He was already dressed in a blue button-down and a pair of slacks. “How do you like your coffee?”

  “Two creams and three sugars, please,” I told him as I sat down at the table.

  “I wanted to make you breakfast but I have a meeting I need to get to,” he said.

  “Declan, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said, sipping my coffee and then sitting it back down on the table.

  “What’s up?” he asked, taking a seat across from me.

  “I’m moving back to my hometown at the end of the school year,” I said solemnly.

  “Oh,” he said, looking down at his coffee cup.

  “Well, actually, I had already decided this before you and I met,” I told him, unable to look into his piercing blue eyes. I could feel him staring at me. He seemed to be at a loss for words.

  “But I thought you said you really loved it here in the city?” he asked.

  “No, I do! I really do. I mean, there’s really nothing else I’d love more than to buy that little Italian bakery and reopen it myself—but—well, that’s never gonna happen, anyway. Besides, my mom said she could get me a job at the hospital where she works—at least until I find something else…”

  My words trailed off and the two of us sat there in an awkward silence.

  Chapter 9

  Declan

  After that awkward, uncomfortable conversation we had at my dining table that morning, I found myself feeling weird, for the lack of a better word. For the first time in my life, I was actually feeling more interest in a woman after sleeping with her than I did before sleeping with her. And, on top of that, I had already slept with her more than once. This foreign feeling was both amazing and horrifying to me. I had only been in love one other time in my life, back when I was much younger, and it had ended badly. However, I knew that I was feeling something for Emma, and it ran much deeper than our bedroom frolics.

  I found myself thinking about Emma more often than not and whenever I wasn’t around her, I was always either thinking about the last time I’d been with her or looking forward to the next time I was going get to see her.

  The realization of how strong and deep my feelings had become for this woman had been all but confirmed when she told me about her plans to move away at the end of the school year, which was only a few more weeks away. It felt like my heart was literally falling into pieces. It was the one of the saddest and most confusing feelings I had ever experienced.

  Usually when a woman told me she was moving away, I was already fantasizing about the next woman I would meet. But when Emma told me her plans, just the mere thought of not being able to see her whenever I wanted and not being able to touch her whenever I wanted—it was a thought that I had a hard time bearing. That had never happened to me before.

  Just thinking about her being so far away and me not being able to spend time with her—it was something that I didn’t even want to consider.

  I had to see her and I wanted to surprise her, so I came up with something I felt would be thoughtful and romantic—something she wouldn’t expect and couldn’t ignore. Perhaps it would help me in my efforts to change her mind and persuade her to stay here in New York and give our love a fair opportunity to develop into something much deeper.

  After checking my Rolex and seeing that it was right around lunchtime, I hopped into my black BMW and headed toward the elementary school where Emma worked. Making a pit stop at the flower shop on a nearby corner, I picked out an enormous bouquet of red, white, yellow, and pink roses. I paid the lady for the bouquet and rushed back out to my car. A few moments later, I pulled up in front of the school and put on my emergency flashers, not wanting to waste any time trying to find a place to park in the lot behind the building.

  I walked into the front entrance and entered the main office.

  “May I help you, sir?” the fair-skinned African-American lady at the front desk asked with a friendly, professional smile.

  “Ah, yes. My name is Declan Erikson and I am here to see Ms. Emma Shaw,” I stated proudly.

  Her eyes widened, as did her grin as she realized what was going on.

  “Ohhh! A surprise visit?” she asked, cocking her head to one side and eyeing me with a look of admiration.

  “Yes, it most certainly is,” I affirmed with a smile.

  “It’s still lunch time. She’s in the teacher’s lounge on the first floor,” she said with a wink. “Go down this hall and make a left, and it’s the third door on the right.”

  “Thank you very much,” I told her, returning her wink with my own.

  I made my way down to the teacher’s lounge, opened the closed wooden door, and stepped inside. As I carefully closed the door behind with my free hand, every single eye in the large, spacious room turned to look up at me.

  “Oh, my gosh! Declan?” The sweet sound of Emma’s voice rang in my ears as I stood there in front of the door holding the huge bouquet in my hand.

  “Surprise!” I said as my lips spread out into a warm, cheerful smile. She came rushing over to me and threw her arms around me in a welcoming hug.

  “Holy moly! What are you doing here?” she asked as her entire face lit up and her bright brown eyes widened in awe.

  “I just wanted to surprise you, that’s all,” I explained. “These are for you.”

  I handed her the giant bouquet and kissed her on the cheek. I noticed that all the other teachers in the lounge were still staring at us—not that I minded in the least. It was actually kind of a turn-on for me, seeing them all basically drooling over us. The women were staring with looks of envy and wonder and the small number of men were staring with expressions of approbation.

  “This is really nice, Declan! Really sweet! These are absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much! What a lovely surprise!” Emma’s grin stretched from one ear to the other. She put the roses up to her face and inhaled, her smile widening even further. “I’ll have to find something to put these in.”

  “I’m glad you like them,” I said. Just then, my cell phone started ringing loudly. “Excuse me for just a moment.”

  Looking at the screen, I saw that it was my father calling. I turned around to answer the call.

  “Declan, here,” I said firmly.

  “Declan, where the hell are you? Josh is here at the office waiting for you,” he barked into my ear. “Do you know how important his contract could be for our company?”

  I grimaced. In my effort to be spontaneous and romantic, I had forgotten about the meeting I had scheduled with my father and Josh earlier in the week.

  “I’ll be right there,” I assured him.

  I turned to glance back at Emma, who was still standing behind me, ogling her sizable bouquet. It pleased me to see her so delighted, and it pained me to have to turn around and leave so abruptly. I slid my phone back into my pants pocket and turned back around to face a smiling, radiant Emma.

  “I’ve got to get going, Emma. I’ve got another meeting with this prospective former pro athlete. My dad—who is also my boss for the time being—has been very adamant about me convincing this guy to sign an endorsement contract with our company. It could mean a great deal for the family business—and also to the client.”

  “Oh, okay,” Emma said sweetly. “I totally get it.”

  “But don’t worry, we’ll be getting together again, very soon,” I assured her, gazing directly into her beautiful brown eyes. “As soon as I get Josh to sign this contract, I’ll have more free time to spend romancing you.”

  “Wait, Josh? What
kind of former pro athlete is this prospective client of yours?” she asked suddenly, cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes inquisitively.

  “He’s a former pro football player, actually. His name is Davis—Josh Davis.”

  Emma’s face went pale as soon the words left my mouth. I wanted to ask her why, but I really had to leave. My dad was not one for patience—nor did he have a kind attitude toward me whenever I arrived late for meetings. I planted a quick kiss on Emma’s cheek before I left.

  Chapter 10

  Emma

  “Chloe, you’re not going to believe this,” I exclaimed as I shut the door behind me.

  I had rushed right over to her house after school. I could hardly believe the coincidence—Declan’s prospective client was Josh. Unbelievable.

  “What is it, Emma?” Chloe asked, as she plopped down beside me on her living room sofa.

  “That prospective new former pro athlete client Declan has been raving about is actually Josh!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  “What the hell? Are you fucking kidding me?” she exclaimed almost as loudly as I had shouted.

  “I kid you not.”

  Chloe shook her head. “That’s unbelievable,” she said, shaking her head again.

  “Tell me about it. And he feels like Josh is just soooo goddamn important for his company’s reputation, and he told me how badly his father—the CEO of the company—wants the deal to go through.”

  “Well, Josh is still a pretty popular.”

  “Yeah, only because no one out there in the real world knows how much of a total asshole he really is,” I said.

  “Well, maybe you should tell Declan the truth about Josh,” Chloe said, her voice stern.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and thought for a moment. Perhaps she was right. Maybe I should tell him about Josh and then let Declan make the decision on whether to take Josh on for an endorsement deal or keep me in his life. Because there was no way I was going to continue to see Declan if he chose to work with Josh on an ongoing basis. I just could not handle the emotional stress of dating Declan on a regular basis if he chose to take Josh on as a client. There was no way in hell.

  Whether either of us liked it or not, it was going to come down to either Josh or me—period. Declan was going to have to make a decision. I’d already been here in this situation before and I didn’t like those odds. I didn’t like them one fucking bit.

  But I was leaving anyway, I reminded myself. Why should I care?

  * * * * *

  “Declan, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said firmly as I gazed into his alluring blue eyes.

  We were out on a casual lunch date at a swanky, upscale rooftop café. I had just finished the fanciest salad I’d ever tasted, and Declan was packing up the other half of his huge, extravagantly-prepared sandwich.

  “What is it, lovely?” he asked in a sweet, pleasant voice, flashing me one of his signature smiles—the ones that made me feel like melting right there in my seat.

  “Well, I don’t really know how to tell you this but, that prospective client of yours, Josh Davis? He’s my ex-fiancé.” I looked down as I finished my statement and then gazed back up at him, solemnly.

  His eyes widened as he realized the gravity of what I’d just told him. He was silent for a moment as a contemplative look appeared on his attractive face. He folded his hands under his chin.

  Finally, he took a deep breath and reached across the table, grabbing my hand and taking it into his. “I wish had known this sooner,” he said pensively. “We’re so close to a contract now, that—well, calling the whole thing off would be—could be—devastating to both his reputation and mine.”

  “I’m sorry, Declan, I just never put two and two together until the other day. And I really do understand how important that contract with him is to your father and to the reputation of your company. But there’re some things you need to know about him—things they kept from the public when he ‘retired early,’” I explained, emphasizing on the last part by making air quotes with my hands.

  Declan cocked his head to one side and a fine line appeared between his eyebrows as it always did when he was especially attentive to whatever he was currently listening to.

  “Oh, do tell,” he said.

  “Well, the part about his injury is true, but the seriousness of it was embellished—quite a bit, actually. He was actually facing a possible suspension for some trouble that he’d gotten into before he suffered his injury,” I explained.

  “I see,” Declan said, gazing at me as he listened to every word.

  “There were a lot of rumors floating around that he had been accused of acts of violence, alcoholism, and even some extortion. Many of the rumors were true, and the team attorney did some digging and found out about them. So, truthfully, it was suspected that Josh actually injured himself on purpose—though it couldn’t be proven, of course. But that’s when he decided to retire early due to injury and health reasons, rather than to risk being found out and forced to face the negative publicity that would have come along with the charges that may have been brought against him,” I explained. “Also, if you take him on as a client, he will find out about you and me dating eventually, and he will no doubt try his damnedest to cause as many problems for us as possible, just to be a fucking dick—I assure you of that.”

  Declan was silent for a few moments, as if he was pondering everything I had just told him. Finally, he took another long, deep breath and looked down at the table.

  “This is a lot to take in,” he finally said in calm, quiet voice.

  “I’m sure it is,” I replied with a sigh. “But I just really thought that I should tell you this before you finalized the endorsement deal. My best friend Chloe knows all about it, too. She was there with me all throughout our entire relationship and she was there for me after it all came crashing down.”

  “She really sounds like a great friend,” he said, looking at me thoughtfully.

  “Oh, she is! She really is. She’s a fiery, hilarious redhead. She always knows how to make me laugh. She really is like the sister I never had,” I confessed with a grin.

  Declan smiled. “I’m glad you have someone like her.”

  “Me, too,” I said. “But anyway, going back to Josh—I mean, I would totally and completely understand if you’re already in too deep to cancel the contract deal with him, but I would never have felt right about it if I hadn’t told you the truth about him.”

  “Thank you, Emma,” he said as he leaned across the table and planted a soft, sweet kiss on my lips.

  The moment his lips touched mine, that all-too-familiar sensation of desire shot through every inch of my body. I still wasn’t exactly sure why or how this man had such an effect on me but whatever it was, I liked it—I liked it a whole goddamn lot.

  At that moment, I wasn’t quite sure if he was thanking me for telling him everything that I’d told him about Josh, or if he was thanking me for professing my total and complete understanding about how extremely important Josh’s endorsement deal was for his company.

  In the end, which was more important to him? His company, or me?

  Chapter 11

  Declan

  I never thought I’d see this day—the day where I would be forced to choose between a woman and the betterment of my business. Who knew? And yet, that day had actually arrived, and I found myself in a position where I had to make a very difficult choice.

  Emma had confided in me last week that Josh was her ex-fiancé. Just knowing that she’d almost married the man that I was considering endorsing had my head completely turned upside down. She had told me that she’d been engaged before, and that she’d had a lot of issues in that relationship—which, of course, had been one of the main reasons she hadn’t been looking for anything serious the night she met me. But now I was having feelings for her that I had never had for any other woman and I had really been wanting to make things between the two of us official. Most of al
l, however, I wanted to change her mind about moving back down south.

  I wasn’t sure exactly how Emma felt about us just yet, though our last date had been wonderful—at least from my perspective. I felt that it was an amazing rendezvous and the more that I got to know Emma, the more I wanted to know about her. And the more time that I spent with her, the closer I wanted to get to her.

  Emma was truly unlike any woman I had ever met before. She was pretty, intelligent, witty, and had a sense a humor. She was also very genuine and had a unique zest for life that made me feel so much younger whenever I was around her. Her personality was so bubbly and down-to-earth, and she appreciated each and every little thing I did for her, much unlike those stuck-up, spoiled, shallow types that I was used to meeting.

  And I also knew that she had issues when it came to relationships. She had even told me that she had problems trusting men—especially after what had happened between her and Josh. Now that I knew everything she’d told me about her last relationship had actually happened with him, it had all become a lot more real to me and a hell of lot clearer.

  I had a plan to prove to her that I really wanted a serious relationship. It may not be exactly an easy feat but it was definitely going to be the right thing to do.

  Also, talking with Emma about our past relationships had brought up memories of my own painful past and the insecurities it caused—something I hadn’t liked to think about over the years. The only other woman I had ever loved had betrayed me many years ago, and I knew that had something to do with why I hadn’t been a serious relationship in nearly a decade.

  I had a meeting with Josh the following week, and though I had already made my decision internally about whether to take him on as an endorsement client, I wasn’t completely ready to tell him about my decision yet. Even more importantly, I wasn’t quite ready to tell my father about it. I already knew how my father was going to react to this situation, and I was not looking forward to it, at all.