Because Of Love

His lips pulled in a short smile as he approached her holding yet another tray.

“Here. Some fruits, cheese and crackers.” He settled the tray next to the one he’d carried the wine on. “Here’s hoping your stomach doesn’t revolt.”

She placed her hand on her belly and tried to sense some sea sickness. There wasn’t even a dizzy spell. Ha… maybe her fear of open waters was all in her head, catalyzed by sinking ship movies. Maybe she could even take a swim. She chortled at that.

And end up in a Jaws sequel? No thanks.

“So far so good.” She pinched a grape from its stem. “Grazie.”

“Prego,” he returned with a slight nod of his head. He moved to reclaim his seat, to Talia’s irritation.

Why won’t he sit next to me? she wondered, popping the grape into her mouth. Why do you care? That’s not why you are here.

True, that wasn’t why she was there. She placed the wine glass on the tray and turned around to face him with her legs crossed. The hand lifting the drink to his lips paused and he looked back at her.

“Why did you reject my project proposal?”

He cleared his throat as he lowered his hand. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to remember why you are here.”

Her eyes slit. “So you did leave on purpose!”

“I don’t like public humiliation and I had a feeling I had a tongue lashing coming my way.”

“Did you read it?”

He stared at her.

“You didn’t, did you?”

As he looked away, he rolled his lips into his mouth, then looked back and said, “I didn’t have the time.”

I knew it! She pushed up to her knees and with her fists pressed to her waist demanded, “So why reject it?”

“It solved a problem.”

“What problem?”

“You are no longer in the middle.”

In the middle? Of the big wigs and him? That was his excuse?

Of all the – she threw her hands up with a huff. “Accepting it would have solved it just as easily.”

“Then they would threaten you with cancellation right before launch or halfway through once I’m gone,” he shot back without missing a beat.

It was like they were in a verbal tennis match and he was Serena to her Venus. As annoying as his logic rang true, it was the gone part that gave her a bad taste in her mouth. Boston wasn’t his home. He was here on a short visit and once his business was done, he would leave. He would leave her.

She winced at the sudden ache, quickly turning away so that he wouldn’t see it. What’s wrong with you Talia? You aren’t together, so he wouldn’t be leaving you. He would just be going back to his proper place, while you stayed in yours.

Even with that internal chastising, it didn’t help. She needed to focus on what she had some semblance of control over because her feelings were clearly not it.

What had he said, cancellation? Right. Talia hadn’t really considered retaliation for going over the bosses heads, but she wasn’t exactly incapable of handling such issues.

She turned back to him and stated, “I’m not a pet.”

“What?” he asked, confusion commanding his face.

She took a resolute breath. “I’m not a damsel in distress. I can handle my own business, and when and if I need help, I will be sure to ask for it.”

His face softened, “I was helping.”

Yes, he probably thought he was, but it was the one thing she hated – people thinking she was incapable and making decisions on her behalf. If she was a fan of that, she would still be living with her mother. And besides, he wouldn’t always be here to pave ways for her.

“I don’t remember screaming for superman.”

After a short pause and an intense staring match, he blinked first and said, “Noted.”

Her chin dipped in a jerky nod as she congratulated herself on this rare win. She might as well capitalize on it.

“You will read it, and give me proper feedback with an unbiased response,” she stated, making sure her voice brokered for nothing less than what she demanded.

“Summarize it to one page and prepare a ten minute presentation,” he returned.

“Fair enough.” She already had all that ready anyway.

“You have a boyfriend Miss McKenna?”

If she had been on her feet, she would have stumbled and fallen. Instead, she lowered, unsteadily into a sitting position.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Where did that come from?”

“Answer the question,” he demanded, his signature face mask back in place.

“No.” she responded honestly, refusing to let her mind skip into fairytale land.

“Siblings?”

“Only child. Single mother.”

He nodded as if the world suddenly made sense. It annoyed her.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I just understood where the fierce independence comes from.”

Ow, the sudden interest in my personal life is nothing but another analysis on his part.

His little way of trying to get to know her better. But who knew? He wasn’t exactly like most men she’d met.

“Good. Now come here and watch the stars with me. I have a few questions,” she said, turning around and settling against the sunlounger, crossing her legs at the ankles.

He appeared at the corner of her eye, pushing the trays to the middle. His hand disappeared for a second and the other side of the sunlounger raised. He laid down, one arm going behind his head, his legs crossing at the ankles as well. She was a little disappointed he wasn’t right next to her but he was here. She would take that win.

“What’s the question?”

She made herself comfortable against the raised back of the sunlounger and stared up at the darkened sky with bright spots where the stars stood.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about constellations would you?”

“Not much, no.”

“Then how can you tell directions? Don’t you read the stars… like Black Beard?”

“What?” He laughed, loud and hard.

She smiled cheekily at him. “You’re not a real sailor if you can’t read the stars.”

He shook his head, still smiling. “I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“First time on a yacht?”

“Yes.”

“I meant, is this your first time sailing?”

“Yes. Not much of a water fan.”

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with the Titanic, would it?”

She groaned, feeling a little bit ashamed. “Ridiculous, I know, but it was based on a true story.”

He chuckled softly. “Don’t worry. There are no icebergs here.”

“I’m surprised you watched the movie – a movie in fact.” She just couldn’t see it, him sitting in front of a screen for two hours straight let alone half an hour watching anything that wasn’t numbers, graphs and the stock exchange.

“I… dated.”

She heard the hesitation in his voice and it told her he wasn’t sure whether or not to bring up that particular subject.

Yeah, she didn’t want to talk about that either, so she asked, “Why do you love sailing?”

“Freedom,” he responded immediately.

Just as she’d guessed. Not only was it free, she thought with a shiver, it was getting cold too.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

She nodded, rubbing her hands up and down her forearms. Her exposed legs were worse off.

He stood from the lounger and disappeared down the walkway on her right. After a few minutes, he reemerged holding what looked like a blanket in his hand, to her relief. He sat back down, then pushed up to a kneeling position next to her, opened it up and laid it over her legs.

She sighed and smiled in relief as the cold began to dwindle thanks to the thick woven blanket. She tried not to move much as she waited for him to let go of the blanket and move back, but he stayed still hovering over her.

Was something wrong?