Pink Champagne (11 page)

The more she thought about it, the more she realized pushing him away was silly. She needed to stop lying to herself. He was way more than a fling to her. Caleb wasn’t just rebound sex. He was worth trying for—even with a couple of states between them.

She wouldn’t be happy, and she would always wonder what would’ve happened, if she didn’t at least give things a try with Caleb.

She was ready to move on and Caleb had been a large part of her finally seeing that. If she was truthful with herself, she’d given up on Derek a long time ago. Sure, she had some things to work out when it came to him. They’d been together a long time. But she had already realized that she deserved more than Derek had been willing to give. The problem had never been her. The problem had been with falling in love with love before falling in love with the man. She didn’t think she’d made that mistake this time. Caleb hadn’t given her the chance.

He finally stirred and looked up at her with those gorgeous hazel eyes. “Hi.” He put his hand on her thigh.

“Hi.” She smiled down at him.

“What time is it?” He yawned and pushed his hair off of his forehead, looking around for the alarm clock. He sounded slightly hypnotized.

“Almost noon.”

“Whoa. Good thing I have a late flight back.” He put his head on her thigh.

“Yeah.” She buried her fingers in his golden hair and rubbed them against his scalp.

“I’ve been thinking about something, and I guess I’m running out of time to bring it up.”

“What is it?”

He brought her hand to his lips. After kissing it, he said, “What if I transferred to MCV?”

“Huh?” A million questions ran through her mind. What if it didn’t work out, and he blamed her for making him leave all his friends and family? What if he hated Richmond? What if he moved in with her, they ended up hating each other, and he couldn’t find another place to stay right away?

“I mean, I’ve been thinking I need to get out of Georgia for at least a little while. I could always apply to hospitals in Georgia when it comes time to match for my residency if I decide I want to go back. And MCV’s a good school.”

She smiled down at him. “You really want to move up here?”

He kissed her hip, letting his lips linger there a moment. “I want to be wherever you are.”

She slid down next to him in the bed and looked directly into his warm hazel eyes. “I love you, Caleb. I hope that’s not too much too soon, but I know I do.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious how I feel, but I love you, too, Quenby. You shouldn’t feel like you have to put a maturation date on love.” He kissed her cheek. “If you know, then you know.”

She grinned and was still grinning when he pressed his lips to hers.

“Coming up here for your wedding was the best decision I ever made. Who would’ve thought?” He pulled her on top of him.

“Definitely not the bride-to-be,” she said. “How much time do we have before you need to leave for the airport?”

“Enough,” he said before pulling her to him for a kiss.

They made love until there was barely enough time to get him to the airport and go through security before his flight. If there’d been time, even though they would’ve risked getting arrested for suspicious activities in a parked car at an airport, they would’ve tried one last quickie in the short term parking garage.

Epilogue

“Ready, Caleb?” Quenby called. Caleb was in town for the weekend.

“Coming!” Caleb shouted from her bedroom.

“You two are sickening.” Adia rolled his eyes. He’d come over that evening to get the key to her place. He was house sitting for her because she was going back to Georgia with Caleb at the end of the weekend. She’d found a good use for the rest of the vacation time she still had from her canceled honeymoon trip.

“You’re just jealous. You need to settle down and find some poor, unsuspecting soul to make an honest man out of you.” Quenby grinned.

“Tell Macon I said ‘hi’ while you’re down there.”

“Don’t even start.” She pushed at his shoulder. “Please leave her alone and let her get over you.”

“No, I’m serious. I miss my friend,” he said, looking down at the carpet. “She was always a good friend to me.”

“I know,” she said.

Macon was getting there, but she needed more time to heal. Quenby could only hope Adia would give her that time.

“Indigo’s looking pretty good these days,” Adia said with a teasing grin.

“Behave yourself.” Quenby playfully punched his arm. “If you make all my friends hate me, I’m going to have to disown you.

Caleb came out of her room carrying their bags. They were spending their first long weekend away together. She couldn’t wait to get him to Virginia Beach. October was the best time to go. Maybe the water was too cold for swimming, but it was never crowded, and the off-season hotel prices were a steal.

“You two have fun,” Adia said.

“We will,” Quenby said as Caleb pulled her toward the door. They said goodbye to Adia and left.

Caleb put his arm around her and kissed her as soon as they were in the hallway.

Quenby leaned into his side as they walked toward the elevator. “Caleb?”

“Hm?”

“Would you ever leave a girl at the altar?”

“Depends on the girl. Now you? Never.” Caleb nuzzled his face against her hair. “And if you tried to leave me there, I’d follow you right on out of that church.”

She smiled, hugging him close.

~ THE END ~