“What?” He smiled back.
“Doctor Alex Fletcher, you are a sex god.” I let out a girly giggle.
“Only because I’ve been reading all your articles,” he said putting both his hands on the wall behind me and leaning in for another kiss.
I kissed him back and we didn’t stop. Even while drying ourselves with the towels, we were kissing. Even while walking back through to the room together, we kissed. Even as we both climbed into bed, we kissed and even as we fell asleep in each other’s arms,we still kissed.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
I had this crazy dream. I dreamt that Alex and I were getting married. Which was insane of course, but it felt good. I walked down the aisle towards him and he looked at me withthat look. That look that made the words tingle on the tip of my tongue again. And when that moment came, that moment to say our “I do’s,” a fog started rolling in. A heavy mist suddenly made visibility hard. Alex’s face was blurring, but I could see his lips were moving, he was trying to say something to me. I leaned in to listen, but all I could hear were whispers again. I opened my mouth to speak, words wanted to come out, but they didn’t and then . . .
A knock on the door.
I sat up in bed with a fright and looked around. Alex was gone but the little note on the pillow told me that he’d gone to fetch breakfast.
The knock again.
I smiled. Excited to see him I climbed out the bed, grabbed a gown and raced to open the door. I swung it open excitedly, expecting to see Alex standing there. But it wasn’t Alex.
“MATT? What the hell are you doing here?” I stumbled backwards from the door in total shock. Matt looked so foreign here. So out of place. And I couldn’t quite reconcile him being here.
“Val. Oh my God, I’m so happy to see you.” And then suddenly, he was inside. Rushing towards me. Pulling me into a hug.
I pushed him away. “What are you doing here? Where’s . . . uh . . .” I looked behind him to see where she was lurking, “Sam?”
“She’s not with me,” he said, a massive smile sweeping over his face. I stared at him. I had no idea how the hell to interpret that smile.
“Where is she?” I asked,
“She’s back in Cape Town,” Matt said, moving closer to me again. “Permanently.”
I shook my head. Nothing about this was making any sense.
“We’re no longer together.” Another massive smile swept across his face.
“You . . . WHAT?”
“I know now!” Matt started walking towards me again. I stepped backwards. Backing away from him.
“Know what?” I asked, as the back of my knees bumped into the bed behind me. I was trapped and couldn’t walk any further.
But Matt continued to move closer, until he was right in front of me. Close. So close. He reached out and put his hands on my cheeks, cradling my face gently and coming even closer.
“It’s you,” he said, his eyes sweeping over my face. “It’s always been you.”
“Me?” My mouth dried as I stared into his eyes. I knew those eyes so well. I’d studied them so many times before. Stared into them and wished that they would look back at me with that look that I’d been longing for for so many years . . . hang on—
That look!
He was looking at me withthat look.
“Wh . . . what . . .” I stumbled over my words. My stomach was churning, but not in the way that I would have expected it to churn in this moment.
“Val, you were right about us.” He stepped closer to me. His face now inches from mine.
“Right? About what?”
“I’ve been so blind. It was like I couldn’t see what was right in front of me this entire time. But now my eyes are open and it’s so clear to me. As if I’m wearing a new pair of glasses and everything has come into focus since the engagement party—”
