I pressed the button for the cockpit. “Miss Montgomery and I have changed our minds. We will be staying in Boston.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll notify the control tower.”
The jet’s engines revved down, and we began to taxi back to the terminal.
“I hope you’re not disappointed,” she said.
“You are here, disappointed is the last thing I am. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since…we parted.” I didn’t want to mention her father. Right now I only wanted to think of positive things, like how good it was going to be to hold her in my arms again.
She gave me a playful grin and said, “I was talking about the dress. I didn’t have anything in red to wear for you.”
I leaned over and kissed her. “Blue has now become my second favorite color because it matches your beautiful eyes.”
The jet came to an abrupt stop, jolting us apart. “Guess that’s our cue to continue this later,” she said.
“Then I’m glad you decided to stay in Boston, because I’m not sure how much longer I can wait.” The need within me was so strong it hurt. But making love to her was going to have to wait. First, I needed to say the words, then I could show her.
The limo had been waiting for me, which was convenient. Normally I’d rather be in her Mustang, but this way she wouldn’t have to focus on the road. It was only a thirty-minute ride to her apartment, and we could’ve gotten a lot of talking out of the way, but instead, she curled up against me and we just rode quietly, enjoying the togetherness of the moment. I think we were both afraid to burst the bubble of what looked to be a wonderful evening.
When we pulled up to her place, I grabbed both of our bags and carried them inside. I kicked the door shut behind us and dropped them on the floor. She turned and looked up at me and I pulled her into my arms. “Sorry, I need to kiss you. Then we can talk.”
I claimed her lips, and they tasted of the sweet strawberry lip gloss I’d become used to. When she opened her lips to me, I could barely resist tasting all of her. But I wasn’t going to make love to her until we talked. It would feel amazing, but since I’d been MIA for more than a week, I owed her the talking.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from the kiss, took her hand, and led her to the couch. “Annabella, I want to make love to you more than you know, but we need to talk.”
She nodded and we sat down. “There are things I want to tell you, too. Should I go first?”
It would be so easy, but I had a lot that needed to be said. And what I was going to tell her might impact what she wanted to tell me.
“Let me. First of all, I’m sorry it has taken me this long to contact you. I had things to work out.”
“I’m sure you did. You have a lot going on,” she said.
I had even more that I wanted to tell her, I wanted to share with her about my trip to Tabiq, my plans for the orphanage, but if we started talking about that, we’d never deal with our own issues.I must fix us first before I tell her what is broken in another country.
“My world seems to have spun out of control and I’m not used to that. But none of that is an excuse for how I treated you.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she replied.
“I left and didn’t reach out. That sounds bad to me,” I said.And the longer it went on, the harder it was for me to reach out.
“I have technology too, and I didn’t use it, either,” she said.
“Okay, we both needed a little space, time to think. I’ve done enough thinking to last me a lifetime. How about you?” I asked.
“I tried my darndest not to think, but I couldn’t help myself. Hiding from my feelings was making me miserable and fast.”
“There was a lot to sort out. When I realized your father had such strong feelings of hate for the Hendersons, I needed to step back, understand who I am and where I am from, before I could even acknowledge my feelings for you. If I was anything like he feared, I would have cut myself out of your life for good. If I thought my family would be a negative force in your life, I would’ve stepped away permanently. It wouldn’t have been easy, but I had to ensure your safety first and foremost.”
“What did you find?” she asked.
“That my father was a hell of a lot worse than I ever imagined. Rotting in hell is too good for the man. But my siblings, they are not any more like James Henderson than I am. Not saying any of us are angels. Hell, we’re arrogant asses. But we are not intentionally cruel. If anything, the Hendersons I’ve come to know are compassionate, empathetic, and…victims of James.”
“I’m…sorry to hear that. I never met your father. Dad never brought me to work with him back then. The only thing he ever told me was James didn’t like children,” she said. “Did you find out why my father hates your family?” she asked.
“I can only make assumptions. Maybe you can ask him yourself,” I said.
I saw her eyes fill with sadness. “That’s not going to happen.”