Sobering up had been painful as Esmeralda realized that the longer she waited the more likely Phillip might not come back. She had missed ten years, and now she wanted every minute going forward to get to know him. She knew exactly what she wanted, but she also knew that ten years might have changed Phillip from the self assured man she knew years before into something else. Would he run away from her?
She was caught up in her own thoughts when a dark haired man stepped in front of her with a charming grin. “What’s a hot thing like you doing by yourself?”
Not this. Not now. She looked around pretending to not be sure that he was talking to her. “Do we know each other? I’m sorry. Were you talking to me like that?”
“Yes, you.” The man replied with a sloppy grin betraying that he hadn’t gotten the hint.
With a roll of her eyes, Esmeralda started, “I’m waiting on…”
“I’m sorry to have left you waiting.” The voice that haunted her interrupted.
“Phillip.” She whispered as all her attention focused on the man that was behind the other man who now was only a blurry figure as far as Esmeralda was concerned. She let out a happy breath as his scooped her up into his arms. “You came back.”
“I won’t keep you waiting ever again.”
Then surprising even Esmeralda his lips pressed against hers.
Ten years. Ten whole years she had dreamed of this moment. Millions of permutations that she created in her head of what had felt like a figment of her imagination. A million different ways that she had pretended this moment would happen in her head. She had hunted for his scent at stores. Every British accent made her chest hurt. She had worried all the longing would make any reality not stand up.
Yet none of it could compare.
His soft lips against her as his calloused hand pressed against the side of her face was better than any drug. She melted into him as her arms wrapped around his neck. A single flame became wildfire as his hand traveled down her back and his lips became hungrier. One of her hands sank into his hair, and the other gripped onto his back for life as she hungrily devoured his mouth that tasted bitter and warm. She wasn’t sure what she wanted or even where she was going, but she wanted to be with him wherever it was.
The cool air that surrounded them as he pulled back felt almost painful against her warm cheeks as she attempted to catch her breath.
Everything was happening so fast.
In the past, she would have told her that she was allowing lust to control her. She would have told herself that she was being like every other dumb girl that let a guy lead her into the pits of hell. She would have pulled away and insisted on a date for Phillip to prove that was really what he wanted.
But now Esmeralda knew she’d rather burn down than to ever feel nothing again. She’d rather whatever this was kill her than to lose it. It was insane and dangerous, but she didn’t care. Ten years was long enough to know this was what she truly wanted. “Across ten years, we still found each other, we still wanted each other… we still felt something. That has to mean something. I can’t explain this, but I don’t care. I know I want you, and I also don’t want to waste another minute. Take me home with you. I’ll text Abigail.”
She got out her phone and texted, “I’m going with that guy. I know. Shut up. I’ll text you his address when we get there. Love you! Don’t get too drunk! I’ll pay for your Uber if you need it!”
Then she took his hand, “Let’s get out of here finally.”
Phillip knew that the chance of Esmeralda rejecting him was high. She was a logical woman; that was something he had known about her from their first meeting. It was something that they had shared, something that had bonded them. Yet now, Phillip was going against every grain in his body, every instinct he had learned, and pushing them all away for one chance, for one moment, with the woman he had been waiting for all of his life.
What if Esmeralda could not do the same? There was a chance that her logic was more substantial than his. She might scold him for not asking her permission for such an intimate kiss. Esmeralda could tell Phillip that while she was interested, she wanted to take things slow. She could outright dismiss him.
By the time they pulled away from each other, breathless, fear had suddenly broken through Phillip's bravado. Now, he found himself searching those foggy grey eyes for hesitation, anger, or resignment.
Instead, Esmeralda began to speak.
"Across ten years, we still found each other, we still wanted each other… we still felt something. That has to mean something. I can't explain this, but I don't care. I know I want you, and I also don't want to waste another minute. Take me home with you. I'll text Abigail."
Relief colored Phillip's face, and while Esmeralda began to text her friend, the surgeon grabbed his cell phone and quickly texted Damian. Though they lived on the same property, the two often spent time together in the evenings at one of their homes before retiring to their own spaces.
"We're going back to my place. I'll text in the morning." It was simple, as in many texts that Phillip and Damian exchanged, but he knew his friend would be supportive. In fact, it was probably precisely what Damian wanted to happen.
Phillip took Esmeralda's hand once she had texted her friend and let her out to the parking lot where he had parked his truck. Pulling out his keys, the surgeon unlocked the doors and looked at Esmeralda with a soft smile. "I tend to forget that not everyone is as tall as me," with a slight chuckle, he opened the passenger side door and helped Esmeralda climb inside.
"Ignore the dog hair," he stated as he climbed through the passenger seat, placed the keys in the ignition, and began the drive back home. Turning the radio station down low enough that there was a bit of background noise, Phillip made the thirty-minute drive toward his lakehouse. At one point, the surgeon made a slight joke that he promised he wasn't taking her out to the middle of nowhere and that he genuinely had a house.
Finally, after what felt like miles of winding roads that wove in and out of thick green trees, the surgeon turned on his blinker and drove another quarter mile until he parked in front of a contemporary-style lake house. His safe haven, his private world, is where Phillip Nash could be himself without worrying about anyone else's thoughts, expectations, and judgments.
"I built this home in 2019. My friend, Damian Ixmata, has a home on the same land. I'm sure you'll meet him; he also works at the hospital...though..." Phillip thought about his closest friend, his cold, bristly nature. "I might want to introduce you to him first. Damian and I are very similar...."
Of course, Esmeralda wouldn't be aware that Phillip Nash was generally disliked by most of his co-workers. She couldn't know that others considered him a callous, complicated man. Would her feelings change when she realized the truth?
Getting outside the truck, Phillip walked to the passenger side, opened the door, and let Esmeralda out. Walking to the front door, he quickly entered the keypad number and allowed the brunette to walk in first. Immediately, Phillip's dark brown cocker spaniel came bounding from downstairs with energetic and excited barks. Ignoring Phillip, he went straight for Esmeralda and began to jump up and down, begging for attention.
"Winston, not everyone wants to love on you," he said, attempting to push the dog down. As he did, his cat, Squish, let out an annoyed meow from her spot on the couch as she looked up at Phillip, Esmeralda, and Winston.
"That's Squish. She came with the property."
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