“If it was me, I’d do anything to have her with me.”
“Really, Nic?” She raised a brow. “Because if that’s true, then why haven’t you ever gone to her again after all this time?” She could see her words sinking in as Nic’s face whitened in realization.
“I know you’re scared,” she said softly. “When you think about it logically, what happened between you two doesn’t make sense but...you alone know what’s in your heart and how you really feel about her, Nic. Not other people. I just want you to be happy and I don’t think Thelma will make you happy.”
He whispered harshly, “And you think she will?” Just saying the words out loud, just acknowledging the possibility of being with Ayah again made it hard for Nic to breathe. For over 12 long months, he had forced himself to deny his feelings and pretend that Ayah was forever a part of the past – someone he could only reach through lies, deceit, and the sweetest conversations on the planet.
“I always remember that time we met on the plane...”
“I never stop thinking about you. When I’m sad, I look at your photo and I get just a little bit more courage and strength. Well, it helps that I also pretend I’m six-feet-plus tall, have the body of a MMA fighter, and look terrifyingly powerful as hell when I scowl.”
“I can feel how tired you are, lieverd. Please go to sleep? We can talk next time. Tell me when and I’ll be awake. Doesn’t matter what time. But please rest now...you need it...”
Nic shook the memories away. “You make it sound so fucking easy,” he said bitterly. Throughout his life, he had survived by relying on no one else. Not even his family had been able to penetrate the shields he had erected around his heart. Only Ayah had found a way to sneak herself past the shields, and her presence in his heart grew a little bigger each day. And every time it did, he became a little more restless, a little more uneasy, and a little more terrified that he was misreading everything.
Could he have really fallen in love with her just like that?
Could she have really fallen in love with him after that one meeting?
Her cousin’s words had Farica looking away. “I never said it’s going to be easy, Nic. It’s not and I don’t think it ever will be. When you fall for someone so quickly like that, fall for her hard and fast – I don’t think you can ever love someone else again after it. It’s just her...or no one else.”
They were silent for a long time.
“If she finds out the truth about me...that I lied to her.Do you think she’d forgive me?”
Farica tried her best not to cry, knowing what Nic was asking without being able to say the words. “Yes,” she whispered. “It’s like what you said. Love makes the world go round.”
~ Three ~
Present Time
“Ayah? Where are you?” Luuk’s voice came clear, hard, strong, and sexy. Just hearing it made her want to fan herself. It was that hot.
“Ayah?”
She started, realizing she had lost herself in her daydreams. “I’m in the sub. On my way home. I just finished escorting some guests to the ferry station.”
“Mrs. Lee and her son?”
His memory and attention to details never failed to impress her. “Yes,” she confirmed, smiling. It made her feel all kinds of appreciated whenever Luuk proved to her that he really was listening to her when she talked – or even rambled over the phone.
“Isn’t it 2 am there?” she asked. “Why are you still up?”
“Work,” he answered briefly. “What are your plans for today?”
“Mm...nothing, I think.”
“Good. I had a package sent to you and it should arrive anytime today.”
“A package?” she repeated excitedly. “What is it? Your baby albums?”
Pause.
Cough.
“I’m afraid not.”
She accused him, “You’re laughing at me right now, aren’t you?”
Pause.
Longer pause.
More coughing.
“You totally are! Why is it so funny that I’d want your baby albums?”
“I’m not, lieverd, I promise. And it’s not funny, of course not. It’s in fact very sweet and cute of you to want my, err, baby albums.”
“I just need it for my scrapbook.”
“I understand.” Cough.
She sighed. “No, you don’t.”
Cough.
“I’m hanging up—-”
This time, Luuk really did laugh. “Only you, lieverd...no one ever threatens to hang up on me.” His voice dropped a notch, adopting a rueful tone. “And only you would ever actually get away with such a threat.”
“I’m slightly mollified.”
“Such threats only have power over me because I would hate missing any chance to talk to you.”
A grin tugged the corner of her lip. “Okay, very mollified now.”
Luuk laughed harder and she grinned widely, able to imagine Luuk throwing his head back as he let his amusement out. These were her favorite moments, even more so than that one nine hour flight with the most amazing orgasms she had ever experienced.