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We’d had fun—understatement, actually, because we had a lot of fun—but the problem was, suddenly this was feeling more like a whirlwind romance than the fling it was supposed to be. I had work, family, a whole life back in Orlando and I had to get back to it.
Maybe if we met in another time, another place, we would’ve been able to make it work. But there was no use in pretending we could make it work. Long-distance never lasted as it was, and ours was never meant to be more than this.
Part of me wished I never let it turn into what it was, but he sucked me in from the very first second I laid eyes on him. He looked down at me with such desire, like I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met and he wanted nothing more than to satisfy me and make me his. I didn’t get that feeling often, that feeling of butterflies in my stomach, the ones he gave me every time his eyes met mine. So I allowed myself to do something I never would’ve otherwise done, something that made me happy, even if it made no sense.
And that was probably why it felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest when I slithered out of bed this morning quiet as a mouse so as not to wake Lance. It was our last night together, so he had one of his friends watch Mason.
My breath caught in my throat when I watched Lance stir in bed. My eyes immediately met his as he opened them. “I thought you’d sleep forever,” I jested, trying to lighten the mood.
His voice was deeper than usual, just as it always was first thing in the morning, as he asked, “What time is it? Why didn’t you wake me?”
What was I supposed to say? I woke up extra early to give myself time to absorb and process all of this, as if that was all it’d take to make this easier, knowing that I was leaving one of the best men that I ever had the pleasure of knowing. I swallowed hard, trying to get past the lump I felt in my throat, knowing I had to answer him. “Lance, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be. I was going to leave you a note.”
He grumbled something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch. I didn’t think I wanted to hear what he said, though, considering he was shaking his head and making fast work of getting out of bed, grabbing the sweats he tossed on the floor last night. “I’m not looking to make things hard, beautiful. Just wish you would’ve woke me, so we could’ve had breakfast together.”
“I’m not hungry,” I immediately spat out and watched his head snap up at me as he tied the string at the waist of his sweatpants. My stomach was practically in knots, I couldn’t even imagine eating right now. It wouldn’t stay down for long anyway.
He made strides to get to me, but before he closed the gap fully, I put my hand out and held him at bay. “Please,” I begged.
His eyes searched mine and I licked my lips, trying my best now to plaster a phony smile on my face to make this believable. I worked in public relations, for crying out loud, I could spin nearly anything. I could very well make him believe this was really what I wanted. This was the only way this could end. I didn’t see an alternate option, not this time. “I’m going to check out. You can take a shower and get dressed, then leave when you’re done.” I tried to keep things clean and worry more about the check out time than the obvious elephant in the room—that I was leaving and we weren’t going to see each other again.
He smirked and ran his hand across his five o’clock shadow.
Oh, how I wanted to walk over there and replace his hand with mine before feeling it on my face as he kissed me into oblivion. I closed my eyes and pushed those thoughts aside, though. Thinking those thoughts was not going to do either of us any good.
He watched me closely, as though waiting for me to say something, anything at all about us.
The problem was, I knew my voice would crack if I tried to speak about us, about the great times we shared. It was never meant to be anything more, I reminded myself again. That was all this was. A fun fling that was going to end and we both knew it. And now it was. Ending, that was.
I took a step forward, fully prepared to break my own rules and at the very least give him a kiss goodbye on the cheek. But that wouldn’t be enough and it would only leave me wanting more. We both knew it. Neither one of us were very good at denying the other what we wanted—each other. So instead I smiled and placed a hand on the top of my suitcase, ready to leave now more than ever. “Well, it’s been fun,” I said, not knowing what else to say, but feeling the sudden urge to fill the silence.
He quirked a brow, but rubbed the back of his neck and looked downward. When he finally lifted his head, he was smiling. Having known his smile by now, I could tell it was just as fake as the one I wore. “Yeah, fun.” I knew he was only repeating my words, but hearing it come from his mouth, it stung.
I wanted to turn and run before I could change my mind, do something stupid like tell him we could make it work. I already knew where he stood on that front, but part of me was scared, so this was better than saying it could work. Besides, it would’ve been a lie anyway. We would’ve been fooling ourselves. We couldn’t make it work, not even mere hours from each other. He had a son, me, a whole life back home. I already had two clients calling me, emailing me, threatening to fire me if I didn’t get to their offices soon. I’d had my fun and now it was over. “I should get going,” I said finally, tilting my head to the door and pointing at it, too. “Take care of yourself, Lance.”
“You, too, beautiful.”
Beautiful. I let that one word, his nickname for me wash over me. I didn’t think I’d ever forget the way it rolled off his tongue or the way my toes seemed to want to curl every single time he said it.
I opened the door and walked out, my heart sinking with each step I took.
“Gemma,” I heard him try to get my attention one last time before the door closed behind me, but I couldn’t turn back around. I wasn’t strong enough for that, I was ready to leave the Emerald Seas Resort and Lance Easton and I had to keep going. Although, I knew one thing for sure—I would never meet a man like him again. I really wished things could have been different, but they weren’t. It turned out, no matter how badly you believed you didn't need something, there was always that sliver of wanting it, but sometimes circumstances made it so that it wasn’t possible. This was one of those times.
Chapter Three
Lance
present day
When you’re a kid, summer is the best time of the year. I remembered being eight years old and wanting nothing more than the last day of school to come.
Who was I kidding?
I remembered being eighteen years old and wanting nothing more than for the last day of school.
I much rather preferred being at the beach or hanging with my friends than sitting in some stuffy classroom that cramped my style.
The only reason I even bothered attending my classes was because I was on the swim team and it was a requirement to have my grades up or I’d be kicked off the team. I supposed if they didn’t have that rule in place, then no athlete would ever attend class. Why would they need to? They didn’t need to know Economics or Algebra in order to be the best in their sport. And, frankly, all it did was give me less time to do what it was I really wanted.
