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When we arrive back in Atlanta, Lom personally helps me get my bags back into my apartment. He wanted us to go out to dinner, but I was so tired from the flight that all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and then curl up in bed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Lom questions, and I nod without hesitation.
“As long as you want to,” I murmur, and he smirks.
“How could I not? I’ll see you tomorrow. Take a nice, hot shower, then get some rest.” Lom steps forward and wraps his arms around me. He presses a kiss to my forehead, and I feel the most cared about whenever he does this. There’s just something different about a forehead kiss. It’s kind of like a love language sort of thing. You know, how some people show you they care by buying you your favorite soda or chocolate. Lom does it with affection.
“I will. Thank you, and thank you for bringing everything in.”
“You help me, I help you. Go relax, and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lom tells me as he plants a kiss on my lips. I kiss him back, but when he pulls away, I’m caught wanting more. I want so much more. But for now, we need to have our space. I’ll see him again tomorrow, and things will be better.
Lom leaves my apartment, and as soon as he does, I lock the deadbolt and head into the kitchen. I want a shower, but I want a glass of wine even more than that. I go to the fridge, but I change my mind and grab a bottle of whiskey instead. I take a few minutes to make my world-famous whiskey sour, and as soon as I’m finished, I take a sip. Mmm, delicious.
I’m going to get in the shower eventually, but I have to call Amelia. It’s the real reason I sent Lom back to the hotel because I needed to have a serious girl chat with my cousin. I pull out my phone and tap on her contact. Within a moment, the phone’s ringing, and I wait for her to answer. She doesn’t, so I slowly enjoy my whiskey sour.
After a few minutes, my phone rings. It’s Amelia, so I answer. “It’s so weird being here without you,” I tell her as soon as I answer the phone.
“Were you calling because you missed me?” Amelia laughs into the phone.
“No, but I miss you anyway. I had a major bomb dropped on me, and I need some input.”
“A bomb dropped on you? I’m surprised you’re still alive.”
“Stop being such a literal bitch for a minute, would you?” I’m kind of snappy back to Amelia, but I don’t mean to be too bad.
“Okay, what’s going on? Obviously, it’s something big.”
“Lom asked me to come back to Grozny with him,” I blurt out, hardly believing it myself as I’m telling her.
“Whoa. Wait a second. What?” Amelia practically screams into the phone. I have to yank the phone away from my ear just so I don’t go deaf from her outburst.
“Yeah, I know… and I don’t know what to do. Honest to God, I have no idea what to do. I just accepted that job, and I’m just so conflicted. On the one hand, I accepted this job that’ll give me a world of opportunities, and then, on the other hand, I have this man that I’m totally in awe of, giving me a beautiful opportunity to be with him for the long term… or at least I think that’s what this is. Is that what it is?”
“I’d say so. It sure seems like it to me. Personally, I’m going to say fuck the job and move to Grozny with Lom… because then you’ll be near me, and you need to be near me!”
“Yeah, and there isn’t one bit of selfishness in your answer now, is there?”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll lie to you and say there isn’t.” Amelia laughs, but we both know she wants me there, so I’m closer to her.
I’d love to be closer to her. We had so many years where we weren’t close with one another… but this is a good opportunity for us to be near each other again. Amelia is the sister I never had, and I stand by that statement. There are a lot of people who have walked in and out of my life, but living life without Amelia seems impossible. She’s the one person I can say anything to, and she’d never judge me. Hell, if I murdered someone, I’d call Amelia to help me bury the body.
“I don’t know what to do, Amelia.” Emotion floods my voice because I’m so conflicted. I really, truly, completely have no idea what to fucking do. My boss is a perverted sleaze… but the company has good connections, and those connections could work out for me in the end. Then again, I know Lom and Ruslan have connections too.
Amelia sighs on the other end of the line. “I don’t know what to tell you, Em. You’ve been given an amazing opportunity to see if this is legit between you and Lom. From what I saw over the past few days, I think you could be it for him.”
“The lease is coming up for renewal in sixty days, too.”
“Ah, so it’s another sign from the universe that you should be with Lom. Hmm?”
I wasn’t looking at it like that, but maybe Amelia’s right. “Is that what you would take it as?”
“I’d say it’s another thing pointing in his direction, especially if you don’t want to renew it.”
I don’t want to renew it, and as more of these things come to mind, I realize that subconsciously I’ve already made up my mind. I don’t want to stay here. I want to take a leap of faith and be with the man who makes me feel like I’m actually alive.
“Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.”
