“Excuse me? You are doing what exactly with him?” Victoria’s said, almost yelling. “Here I am waiting for you to get this over with and come back here, and you’re telling me shit about enjoy your stay with him. You are not thinking straight”
“Would you relax a little bit Vicky?” Savannah said. “Calm down”
She had just returned from her evening walk on the beach. It had become sort of a habit. Sometime Matt joined her, but today he had to work so she had gone alone. She had just returned to the living room when Vicky called.
Vicky hissed. “No I will not calm down” she replied. “I don’t understand why you are doing this to yourself. Have you forgotten how much he hurt you? Well if you have, I haven’t. I’m your best friend, Savannah, and I know how hurt you were when he pushed you away. And there is a chance that he might do it again. I don’t want to lose you. I almost did the last time”
Savannah smiled, grateful that she had a friend who loved and supported so much. “I know. I know” she said. “And I know it sounds crazy, But he seems to want to give us a try”
“Yeah right” Vicky retorted. “Until when exactly? Until his brother does and says something stupid again and he pushes you away again. To be honest, I think Matt is an asshole. And I don’t understand why you would want to give him another chance. You gave him one and he blew it. He doesn’t deserves another “
Savannah closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Vicky was right. She didn’t even know why she was doing this. Maybe she was crazy. She just knew that a part of her wanted to see this through, because she still loved him.
“Look babe,” she began “I know that you’re just trying to look after me and I love you for that. So I promise that I will be careful. I’m a big girl, remember? I can take care of myself”
“Can you?” Vicky asked sarcastically
Savannah rolled her eyes and smiled. “I will be fine. Say hi to Bruce for me, okay?”
“Fine” Victoria said. “But I still think that you might be making a mistake. And if tthat Matt hurts you again, I might kill him”
“No you won’t” Savannah said. “You might yell and give him the stink eye everytime you see him, but you won’t kill him. You are so sweet and incapable of doing something like that”.
“Don’t be so sure” Vicky said.
Savannah laughed. “Bye, honey” she said and hung up. Vicky was right though, she thought. She was definitely crazy.
“She really hates me, doesn’t she?” Matt’s voice said behind her. Savannah gasped and spun around.
“Geez, Matt” she said. “You scared the hell out of me”
He shrugged. “I’m sorry” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t you know how to knock?” she asked.
He smiled. “It’s my living room”
“Then wear a bell or something around your neck… Anything to announce your presence. You can’t just go around giving people heart attacks”
He laughed softly and moved closer to her. “I just couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with your friend. She doesn’t think you should be here” he said.
Savannah wondered how much of the conversation he had heard, but she didn’t ask.
“Are you done with your work?” she asked, changing the topic, but Matt was not be deterred because he said, “I just don’t think I’m comfortable with anyone trying to convince my woman to leave me”
He wore a silk shirt the colour of freshly brewed espresso coffee that hinted at the muscled chest beneath rather than emphasised it, and a pair of expertly tailored trousers in the same dark coffee colour. With his hair brushed back from that intelligent brow, and those dark, enigmatic eyes, Matt appeared every bit as threatening.
One of her eyebrows went up and she studied him for a long moment. He could see her mind swirling with something and so he simply waited to see if she’d say what was on her mind.
“Am I?” she finally asked.
His brow furrowed. “Are you what?”
“Yours,” she said simply. “I need to know what this is, Matt. Are we back together? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here and I’m not about to assume anything.”
He took a deep breath because it was important to handle this just right. The last thing he wanted to do was screw everything up when he felt as if he was this close to having her where he wanted her.
“I think that’s up to you,” he said carefully. “I think I’ve been up front about what I want, about where I’d like to see our relationship. It’s time for you to decide if this is where you want to be. With me. I’m not saying we have to take a huge leap, but we can at least decide to be together so we can work things out… Honestly, I want you back. Completely. I want everything to go back to the way it used to be.”
She visibly swallowed and he could see fear in her gaze again. It ate at his gut because he honestly didn’t know what scared her so bad. Was he such an ogre? Could she really blame him or hold against him the reaction he’d had to her being unfaithful?
“Somehow I agree with Vicky. My mind tells me I’m an idiot for even considering this,” she muttered.
“What does your heart tell you?” he asked softly.
She sighed and stared helplessly back at him, her blue eyes churning with emotion.
“My heart tells me that I want this. No matter how much I think I shouldn’t want it, I do. Maybe this is a bad time to have a discussion about our relationship when our minds are…..”
“Are what?” he asked her.
“I don’t know” Savannah said. “I think I’m not.. We are not thinking straight because of this… attraction we have for each other”
He touched his finger to her lips. “I think it’s the perfect time to have it because our guards are down. It’s just us. No barriers. No walls. Just us and how we feel. And maybe the attraction isn’t such a bad thing”
“How do you feel, Matt? Do you really want this?”
“Yeah, I do, Savvie. I want it so damn much that the thought of you walking away has my gut in knots.” He replied. “So when we go back home, I don’t want you to leave again”
Her eyes widened. “But I never walked away from you.” She said.