Chapter 6
They finished out their day in Gan with some sight-seeing after the storm passed and some deep sea fishing off the coast. The fisherman said the fish were hungrier after a storm, so they tried their luck and Jensen caught a good sized fish and took pictures with it before throwing it back.
They had dinner at a small café close by and walked barefoot along the beach. They drank wine by the water until it ran out. They still enjoyed each other’s company, but Megan felt a dark cloud around them after the texts and calls from Kristina blew up Jensen’s phone. She couldn’t help but wonder why she was hanging on so desperately and wondered if he was stringing her along. He sensed her hostility toward the situation and tried not to make a big deal of it. He wanted to talk with her about it and explain to her that he has nothing to do with her anymore, but he already did that. He knew how she must have been feeling. He felt the same way every time she went to work with Tristan.
“We will have to leave sometime tonight to make it home at a reasonable hour tomorrow,” he said without moving from the blanket on the sand. Megan nodded still looking out into the ocean. “Megan. Are we okay?”
“Yeah.” She turned and looked at him, forcing a smile. “It’s a shame we have to leave though. I could get used to another week here.”
“Me too. Especially with you here.”
He gave it another couple of minutes before he stood up and offered his hand. She grabbed him and hoisted herself up off the blanket, staggering a bit from the wine. They walked back to their hotel arm in arm, in silence. They made love quietly one last time in their bed before gathering their things together. Megan took a few grapefruits and some other fruits and put them in her bag for the plane ride back.
“It went by so fast,” she said as they walked out of the hotel.
“Thank you for a wonderful weekend.”
She smiled solemnly, wondering if things were going to change when they got back to reality.
The plane took off promptly at ten and Megan was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When she woke up, Jensen was sitting on the edge of their bed in the small cabin on the plane. She rubbed his back with her hand and smiled at him with a sleepy smile when he turned to look at her.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“Like a rock. Where are we?”
“Flying over Romania. We still have about five hours of flight time.”
“I am going to need some serious exercise when we get back.”
“There is a great gym in my building. You and Lorena are more than welcome to use it whenever you want.”
“Serious? That would be great.”
“I can get you a pass.” He looked at her and saw a sadness on her face. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just sad that our holiday is over. I enjoyed having you all to myself.”
“We will still spend time together.”
“Not a lot though. I have a big project coming up this week at work and I’ll have to stay late to meet the deadline and I know you have a lot of work piling up.”
Jensen hated the idea of her working late with Tristan. He wanted her out of there so bad it made him ache, but he bit his tongue and didn’t push. He knew she liked her job and he was trying to give her some independence.
“Maybe we can have a couple of late dinners after you are through.”
“I’d like that,” she said, smiling. He leaned down and kissed her gently.
They passed the time with a deck of cards and conversation about politics and what they wanted out of life before they got too old and gray to enjoy much more but they didn’t bring up the toxic people in their lives that made them uneasy.
When they landed in London, Black was waiting for them in the same spot he dropped them off on Thursday.
“Did you enjoy your time off old boy?” Jensen slapped Black’s shoulder when he approached him.
“I did. You both look like the weekend was just what you needed. How was your holiday?”
“Just like paradise,” he said smiling at Megan, squeezing her hand.
Monday morning was not easy for Megan. It took everything she had to get up out of bed. She went to dinner with Lorena when Jensen dropped her off and they talked about their weekends through midnight and an entire bottle of wine. After Megan told Lorena all about Gan and the little island they had all to themselves, Lorena told Megan how she took advantage of having the apartment all to herself and entertained a gentleman friend until wee hours of the morning. When she finally poured herself into bed around one in the morning, she knew the alarm clock was going to be her worst enemy.
She crawled out of bed, pinned her hair up and tried to look her best after two cups of coffee. When she reached her office, Tristan was already in there, sitting at her desk and going through one of her files.
“Good morning,” she said looking at her cell phone clock. She felt he was violating her personal space, but he was the boss so she let it go. She set her bag on the edge of the desk and sipped her coffee.
“Morning, Megan.” He continued to go through the file and he didn’t look pleased.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Nope.” He closed the file and stood up, putting it under his arm and crossing his arms. “I trust that your weekend went well.”
“It did, thank you for asking.” She was still on edge with him. Something was off about his attitude and she didn’t know what to make of it so she didn’t offer any more information that she needed to.
When he finally looked at her, his eyes grazed her entire body and stopped at her legs. “Wow. You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” She looked away, feeling awkward.
“Sunshine is very good to you. It looks like your body was beautifully kissed by the sun.” She didn’t respond. “Where did you go?”
“The Maldives. A group of islands in the Indian Ocean.”
He nodded, impressed at Jensen’s selection. “Very nice. I didn’t think the old boy had it in him.” He stood up and walked around her desk, stopping next to her. He didn’t take his eyes off her. He reached up and put his hands on her arms, sliding them up and down her skin. “Soft.” He reached up and pulled the hair clip from her hair and let it cascade down over her shoulders. She quickly turned and looked at him. He ran his fingers through her hair as his lips parted. “Hair is so sexy, glossy, shiny.”
She stepped back away from him, the awkward feeling turning to a bit of fear. “Tristan, I don’t think we should be….”
“I know, I’m sorry.” He put his hands up in surrender. “I just, I’ve missed you. I guess I have a bit of a soft spot for you in this heart of mine.”
She forced a smile and turned away, putting her hair back up and securing it with a pencil from her desk. Tristan didn’t move from where he stood as he watched her walk around to the other side and sit down in her chair. She turned her computer screen on and pretended to get right in to her work, hoping he would get the hint and leave. He hesitated, but finally left her office. She took a deep breath and looked at her door. Was Tristan jealous that she was back with Jensen? Could she trust him to keep a professional mannerism when they were together? She began to think that maybe working for Tristan while being with Jensen wasn’t such a good idea.
I’ll wait it out and see what the week brings, she thought.