Chapter 4 #2
“Then he told me there was a lot of emotion sparking between the two of us. He said the IDA algorithm was 99% accurate and as the two of us had been selected for each other as being a perfect match, his advice was to try and work past the hurt and see if there was common ground for a reconciliation. I basically laughed in his face and then he brought you back in.”
“You did seem even more upset, if that’s possible.” Derius remembered the furious color blazing in her cheeks as she sat in Delain’s office.
“The damn algorithm.”
Not sure what to say, Derius let the silence build, filled with the sound of the waves. When she didn’t add to her remark, he finally asked, “What do you mean?”
Leonie turned her face to him. “99% accurate is corporate public relations bullshit, you know that, right? Except in our case, it confirms what I thought on the night three years ago—you were the perfect guy I never expected to meet. Until you revealed your feet of clay. I guess the algorithm doesn’t know how to factor you ghosting me into the formula. ”
“Look, I was recalled to duty,” he said, determined to stop fencing with her and to get into the crux of the matter.
“My unit was tip of the spear, specializing in difficult ops no one else could pull off. The alert said—well it was top secret but I can paraphrase a bit—that all seven hells had broken loose on a certain planet, there were innocents at risk, as well as a strategic resource, Chimmer agents were involved, leave was cancelled and to get my ass to the base by 0500 to join my unit and lift off.”
“And did your top secret shit hit the fan recall alert say to sneak out on the woman you’d made love to all night as if you’d never been there? To ghost me?” Her question was acidic.
He remembered vividly standing there next to the bed, staring at her beautiful body, hair spread out on the pillow, a smile on her lips as she slept, as if she was dreaming.
He’d been torn, wanting to awaken her and make promises he probably couldn’t keep before they had one more quick coupling…
and doing what he ultimately did, which was to gather his things and sneak out. “No, no it didn’t.”
“Uh huh. And so why did you?”
He left the chair, unable to be caged at this moment and stalked to the edge of the water, staring over the ocean in the moonlight. Bitter regrets roiled his gut. Leonie strolled to his side, not touching him, her own eyes raised to the moon. “Derius—”
“You scared me,” he said.
She pivoted slowly in the sand to stare at him. “I scared you? You, a Special Forces operator?”
Keeping his focus on the far horizon, he struggled to put his fears into words.
“You were something—someone—I’d never expected to find.
The perfect woman for me. It was a gift from the gods, or Fate or whoever but I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t done with my military career. I had brothers in arms depending on me, I had goals I wanted to achieve and being with you filled my head with dreams I’d never entertained before, believe me.
Settling down, having a home, kids, the whole future-as-a-married-family-man.
And that was so not who I was then and so not what I ever thought I wanted so the idea was terrifying.
The recall alert was like a sign I should retreat into the world I knew and loved. ”
“And it never occurred to you to talk to me about any of this? To see if I felt the same way, to explore whether I wanted to give up my life to live your white picket fences future? I’m a highly successful businesswoman with dreams of my own you know.” Leonie sounded incredulous.
Derius shook his head. “I know, it sounds so stupid now, especially in light of what happened to me on the deployment. I have no excuse.”
“But then why didn’t you at least leave me a note? Your name? A way to get in contact later?”
He heaved a huge sigh. “I convinced myself a totally clean break was best for both of us. I wanted the door not only slammed shut but locked and barricaded.”
Leonie stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the horizon and she put her hands on his cheeks and pulled his face closer to hers.
“You were an idiot. But I actually do get it. The thing is I was having butterflies of my own about us and the future but the difference between us is I was excited to talk about it, explore how we could move forward. Together.”
“Believe me, I had bitter regrets the year I was in the military hospital. Thought about you constantly once the docs took me out of the medically induced coma. I knew I’d been a fool and there was no way back.
Once I was released I flew to Ballenger Two, even before I made it home to Ardanna Prime and I tried to follow the trail to find you but the hotel wouldn’t give me any information and then I asked one of my buddies who’s an interstellar class hacker to crack into their records and he hit a dead end too.
Their files for the past five years had been corrupted in the big Corelli phishing scam that swept the Sector.
So I accepted the bitter knowledge we were done, I’d blown the best thing that ever happened to me and I went home to try to live the rest of my life knowing you were out there but I’d never see you again.
And then IDA brought us together.” He tried a smile.
“It’s the Fates playing tricks again maybe. ”
“I don’t care what it is, we’re here,” she said. “But I need to know, are you really in this with me? Or are you going to get cold feet again and leave? I know the Ardannans have ships in orbit.”
Derius drew her into his arms. “If you’ll let me, I give you my word not to walk out ever again. We can figure this out, we’re smart. Except for when I’m being an idiot but I’m over that.”
She went on her tiptoes to kiss him, a sweet caress that had him tightening his embrace and fighting his instinct to grind his hips against her softness.
He felt like he was still on trial with her and didn’t want to do anything more than she was willing to accept.
Even as he had the thought, Leonie licked his lips and he parted them to allow her access.
The kiss evolved into a passionate dance, exploring each other, rediscovering the connection.
She tasted of the fruity drink but also of her own special essence and he found it more intoxicating than any feelgood the resort’s bartenders could create.
“Take this to the hotel?” she asked when they came up for air. “I’m not about to have sex with you on a public beach.”
“The hotel it is,” he agreed. “And you can tie me to the bed if you’re afraid I’ll disappear again.”
“I might take you up on the intriguing offer.” Her smile was saucy but then her expression cooled and while she didn’t move away from him, it was plain her next words were going to be serious.
“I need your commitment to us, to taking as long as it takes to work through what we’re feeling for each other and find a way to mesh our dreams. Or to decide we don’t fit, algorithm and Fates be damned, and walk away knowing we tried. ”
His heart cracked a bit at her last sentence but he stared into her eyes and said, “I’m not going to walk away from you again so yes, I’m committed. But I’ll abide by your wishes if at some point you decide we can’t make it work.”
She gave him a tiny slap on the cheek. “Liar. I think standing down tamely is the last thing you’d do, based on how persistent you’ve been.”
“It would break my heart honestly, but I—I care for you too much to try to hold you against your will.” He’d nearly said the L-word which would have been a disaster.
Too soon. Leonie was a hard headed businesswoman, she probably didn’t believe in love at first sight.
Had he loved her three years ago when they’d met and slept together?
He believed he’d had the first tendrils of love ensnaring his heart which was part of what had scared him into leaving so abruptly.
“What would you have done if you hadn’t been recalled? Would you have left anyway?” she asked as they walked to the chairs to retrieve her shawl and purse. “Or would we have figured ourselves out then, do you think?”
“I wouldn’t have left but I don’t know how much progress we would have made,” he said honestly. “I was terrified of commitment, remember? But at the very least we would have talked. We would have exchanged our real names and I know we’d have kept the communication open after the three days ended.”
“And we would have had a lot more sex,” she said with a merry laugh. “The talking would probably have taken place in bed.”
“And the hot tub and the shower and everywhere else,” he agreed, glad her mood was lighter. “I had plans for that suite’s amenities to be thoroughly utilized.”
They walked to the hotel hand in hand, flirting and being a little silly but the connection between them sparked and fizzed and Derius was impatient to get her to their room.
He couldn’t believe his luck that she’d accepted his apology and was willing to try again.
His cock was hard as steel and aching and the walk took too long, the gravlift took too long and he had her in his arms before the door to the suite closed all the way.
He backed her up to the door, kissing her with passion, their tongues dancing, and with one hand he raised the hem of her skirt so he could run his fingers up her thigh to touch the lace of her panties.
He was gratified to find she was drenched with arousal.
Leonie was tearing at his clothes, pulling his shirt loose and pushing it off his arms and then tugging at his tee shirt. Derius broke off the kiss to step back far enough to cross his arms and pull off the offending shirt which ended up in the pile on the floor.
“I could watch you do that on an endless holo loop,” she said. “It’s so sexy.”
“Taking my tee shirt off?”