Distant Myles (7 page)

Myles

I can’t believe I am taking her home. I was serious when I said I wanted to tie her to my bed so she couldn’t leave. I don’t want her to leave. Hell, if I had it my way she would move in with me.
What the hell am I thinking
? I have got to get my head screwed on right.

I reach over and hold her hand and start rubbing her knuckles. She turns and smiles; her smile lights up the room. I know she is here on vacation and I don’t want to take up all her time,
well, I do actually
. I want to spend every minute of every day with her until she has to leave. That is, unless my plan works and I can convince her to stay here, move here, with me. I need to talk to Caleb and see what he says about all this. He has always told me the way it is, so I know I can count on him to be honest with me. We don’t have much further to go until we reach her house. I can’t stop touching her. She just feels too good.

Turning the corner, her house comes into view. I slow down, trying to prolong the inevitable. The longer I take, the longer she’s with me. Unfortunately, I’m not slow enough. I am soon turning up the driveway. Pulling up and parking the car in front of the garage, I turn off the engine. I just sit there and so does she.

She makes no attempt to get out of the car. I turn in my seat to face her, grabbing both her hands, and just watch her. She has a million emotions running across her face and she’s trying to hide each and every one of them. The one that stands out the most is sadness. I reach up and cup her face with my right hand, brushing my thumb across her cheek. God, she looks like she is about to cry. I actually do not know what to say, so I say the only thing that comes to mind “It’ll be okay.” She leans into me and a tear rolls down her cheek. I lean in and kiss the tear away, tasting the saltiness. I pull back slightly, then lean in again, giving her a soft kiss. Sitting back in my seat, I watch her again. She shows me a weak smile and looks down.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything you need me to bring this evening?”

“No, just your hunger.”

“It’s a date. Now, sit tight.” I get out of the car and start to walk around to her side to help her from the car. I glance sideways towards her and notice she is wiping her cheeks off, trying to hide the tears. Maybe she
does
have feelings for me. Reaching the passenger side, I open her door and offer her my hand, which she accepts. I shut her door after she gets out and start heading for the porch. Once we reach the door, she turns towards me and reaches for both my hands.

“Myles, thank you again for a lovely evening...and morning.”

“It was my pleasure, Amelia.”

I make sure to get her cell number before I leave just in case something should happen. I pull on her arms to bring her closer to me, lowering my lips, giving her a kiss so sweet, hoping she can feel what I am feeling. I release her and wait for her to go into the house before I turn to leave.

Once in my car, I start the engine, back up and start to drive away. I feel as if I am abandoning her. I have got to get my thoughts together. I need to talk this out with Caleb. I hit a few buttons on my dash and wait for him to answer.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Caleb answers on the third ring.

“Nothing. Listen, I just dropped Amelia off and need to talk to you about something. Can you meet me at my house in a bit?”

“Sure, give me twenty,” Caleb says, disconnecting the call. He doesn’t live far from me, so he will probably be there before I am. I drive the rest of the way home in complete silence.

Amelia

Myles waits for me to go into the house before he turns to leave. I shut the door, turning to let my back rest against it. Closing my eyes, I just stand there and try to get my thoughts together so I can talk to Jamie and get her insight. I no sooner have her name drift through my head and she walks into the living room.

“Amelia, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

Not wanting to lift my head to look at her because I know she will know that I have been crying, but I do anyway. “Nothing is wrong, really. I’m fine. I had a wonderful night with Myles. Let’s go get settled on the beach and then I’d like to talk. I am going take a quick shower and then we can head out. Okay?”

“Yeah,
sure. I will just get our stuff together. I’ll be ready whenever you are.”

“Oh, by the way. I invited Myles over for dinner tonight. Why don’t you call Caleb and see if he wants to join us.”

“Sounds great. I will call him while you’re in the shower.”

I turn and head down the hall towards my bedroom. Once in my room, I head to the bathroom to turn on the shower so it can get warmed up while I get undressed. After removing all of my clothes and tossing them in the corner, I quickly pull up my hair. I will just wash it after the beach; I’ll have to take another shower to remove all the sunblock that I am going to have to apply.
Can we say SPF 110?

I love the beach, but I hate to burn. It doesn’t take long for me to turn into a lobster if I don’t keep applying sunblock. I can usually get away with only a light pink shade after I have been out, but only if I am careful.

After shower and putting my swimsuit on, I leave my room in search of Jamie. I find her in the kitchen still talking to Caleb and catch the tail end of her conversation.

“Yes, Caleb. Dinner tonight here at the house. No, you don’t need to bring anything. Okay, I will see you at seven.” She says, disconnecting her call, then turning towards me.

“What happened with you and Myles last night? Caleb said that Myles called him right after he dropped you off and asked him to come over so he could talk to him about something. I’m assuming it has to do with you.”

“Why would you think it has something to do with me?”

“Just some of the things that Caleb said to me. Come on.  Let’s go out to the beach and get settled. It looks like you need someone to talk to,” Jamie says, walking over to get the bag she has filled to take with us.

We head out the doors and onto the deck. We walk the long trail down to the beach and find a spot that we both agree on. After laying out the towels and coating me with sunblock, we lay back and try to relax. Well, I try to relax. Jamie has other plans and her questions begin to hit hard and heavy.

“I mean seriously Jamie, I have never felt this way about someone else before. When he touches me, it’s like my skin is on fire. I can’t keep my hands off him and he can’t keep his hands off me.”

I raise up on my elbows. “Then there’s the sex. Oh. My. God! The sex is unbelievable. I mean, I had more orgasms with him in a 24-hour time frame than I have had my entire life!”

She is shaking her head and laughing. “Amelia, we have only been here for 24 hours and yet you have managed to not only meet a hot stranger, but to start falling
for
this said hot stranger. And, by the look in your eyes, you know you are falling for him and you just don’t want to admit it. Am I right?”

“Jesus, Jamie. How can I be falling for him? Like you said, I have only known him for 24 hours, but I feel as if I have known him my whole life. We can talk about anything. I told him about my family and how I ran away. I mean, we talked about everything.” Turning on my side to face her so I can see her reaction when I talk to her.

“Jamie…God, I just don’t know what to do.”

“Amelia, it’s obvious you like him and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. You need to talk to him. If you care for him the way I think you care for him, he deserves to know. I know we are on vacation and you and Myles live states apart, but you need to tell him. There is something else bothering you too. I know you said there was something you wanted to talk to me about, so now’s the time to fess up. What else is on your mind?”

“You’re right. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about, but just hear me out before you go all ‘Jamie’ on me, okay?”

“Okay, I promise to keep my mouth shut until you get done talking. Obviously this is something very important to you and I will try to keep an open mind.”

“Thank you.” Here’s another conversation that I was dreading. Taking a deep breath, I focus on the water to try and help me relax. Then I start in.

The first thing I tell her is how much I love and appreciate her and everything she has done for me. Jamie reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing it, letting me know that she is there for me no matter what I tell her. I let go of her hand and wipe the tear that has already fallen down my cheek.

I tell her that I love my job and the people I work with and being able to travel with her is wonderful, but something is missing in my life and I’m not sure what it is. Well, I wasn’t sure what it was until recently.

Clearly, the winters are hard on me and each year they get more and more depressing. I tell her I don’t know how much more I can take. I am ready to move, but I don’t know where.  I am ready to find someone to share my life with and settle down. Then I say it…I admit to her that I might have just found what I was looking for in Myles.

Jamie tells me she understands, but I can see the sadness in her eyes; sadness, because that would mean I would be moving and leaving her. I would be leaving our friendship behind. We talk a little more about Myles and the feelings I have for him.

I don’t want to talk about me anymore, so I change the subject and start asking her questions about Caleb. Her face lights up and I know that I can relax now.

“So, what are we going to make the guys for dinner tonight?” Jamie asks as she readjusts her bikini top.

“I don’t know. I guess I should have asked Myles if there was anything he didn’t like.”

“Well, you make a great lasagna. We could have that with a salad and garlic bread.” Jamie says with a big ass grin. She loves it when I make lasagna because I usually make an extra pan just for her.

“Sounds good. Hey, what time is it anyway? They will be here at seven, and we still need to go to the store for groceries and then get ready.”

She looks at her watch then at me “Looks like it’s time to go if we have all that to do. We have been out here a while. Are you okay? Do you feel better since you got all that off your chest?”

“Yes, I’m fine and I do feel better. Thank you for listening to me.”

“No problem, Amelia. Anytime.”

We get all of the things together and head back to the house so we can get changed and head to the store. We want to make sure we have enough time to get everything ready and have it done on time when the guys show up.

Myles

There is a brief knock at the door and then Caleb walks in. I am in the kitchen grabbing a beer from the fridge. I just go ahead and grab another, because I know he’ll want one.

“Hey, Myles. What’s up? It sounded kind of urgent on the phone,” Caleb says after I hand him his beer.

“I need to talk to you about Amelia.”

He gives me a shit eating grin, pats my back and says, “Come on, let’s go sit down. I have a feeling this is going to take a while — and a couple more beers.”

We walk into the living room to sit down. I find my usually spot on the couch and Caleb goes to his chair across from me.

“Okay, Myles, tell me what’s going on? I can probably already guess by the look on your face, but I want to hear what you out before I say anything.”

Taking a pull off my beer, I start to tell him what’s going on in my head. “Caleb, I have known this woman for less than two days and I can’t get her out of my head. I have already started having feelings for her and you know that’s not like me. She’s only here on vacation for two weeks.
Fuck!
The one thing I have always been able to control are my feelings and I can’t even do that when she around. I haven’t felt this way since...”

“Myles, Amelia is not Megan. You can tell that just by looking at her. What Megan did to you was cold. I always told you that bitch didn’t have a heart and I was right. You should have listened to me in the beginning and it would have saved you a lot of heartache.”

“I know, I know. You have done the ‘
I told you so’
already, so let's not go there again, okay? I know Amelia is not Megan. It took me two years to feel for Megan what I already feel for Amelia and it’s been
less
than two days. Hell, I almost told Amelia that I love her.”

“You did what?”

“Yep…I stopped myself, but I just about let it slip. I mean, I have feelings for her, but I don’t really know if I love her. God, I sound like such a pussy.”

“No, you sound like someone who is
pussy whipped
. She must be rather good if she has you this messed up in less than two days,” Caleb says laughing. “The best advice I can give you is to just talk to her. I like her already and you know I would tell you otherwise if I didn’t. Does she know about Megan?”

“No, she doesn’t know about

Megan. Why would I tell her that? We have only had one date. If and when I decide to tell her about Megan, I will, but it’s too soon right now.”

“Because, if you really are in love with her, which I think you are, you need to tell her. Women need to hear that shit. You know, be open and honest with each other, all touchy-feely,” Caleb says after finishing off his second beer.

“Now, with that being said, Jamie called and invited me to dinner with you and Amelia. She said we are supposed to be there at seven and we don’t need to bring anything.”

“I remember. How is it going with Jamie anyway? Did you two hit it off the other night?”

“Yes, we hit it off. Do you think she could turn
this
down?” Caleb says rubbing his hands on his chest.

“I’m sure she couldn’t resist your charm, douchebag,” I have to laugh. Caleb knows he’s good looking. He has women after him all the time, but he’s a good guy.

“Seriously, we had a good time. Jamie is nice, beautiful, sexy and smart. What more could I want. We’re having fun together. Whether that turns into something more, I don’t’ know. They’re only here for two weeks after all.”

“Alright, I get it. Thanks for coming over and letting me unload on you.”

“No problem. I’m going to head out,” Caleb says as he heads to the door. I need to take a shower before I go over to Amelia’s. And I make a mental note to stop at the store and grab a bottle of wine on my way.