Page 121 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

For a while neither of them moved. Then the timer went off against the nightstand—face-down where he'd left it, and insistent about it.

Bea didn't lift her head. "That's the moussaka."

"I know what it is."

"You're going to let it burn?"

"Considering it."

She laughed, and the shake of it against his chest nearly made him mean it. He pressed his mouth to her hair and rolled out from under her before he could talk himself into ruining dinner.

"Stay there," he said, dragging his jeans on.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I mean it." He pointed at her from the doorway. "Don't move. I'm not done with you."

Her smile was slow and pleased. "Then don't burn my moussaka."

Chapter Twenty-Two

By Thursday morning, the skies had cleared. They’d woken early and planned to get out for their walk, but Bea’s sister had called again, and when Blane saw how torn she looked, he suggested she should take the call while he made coffee. She was still talking when he set her mug in front of her and gestured that he’d head upstairs. She motioned that he could stay, but it was easy to tell she was tense, even though she sounded happy enough to talk to Rosalind and was saying all the right things. When he headed for the door to leave her to it, she nodded rather than protesting.

Upstairs, he opened the French doors and stepped onto the balcony before going back for the cushions for the stone bench. Once he was settled with his coffee and phone, he stared out at the morning. He’d always liked the day after rain. Everything smelled fresh again, and the few white clouds scudding across the blue sky made the whole valley look sharper. He found himself wondering what Bea would want to do with the day.

He checked his emails. He’d been keeping in touch with his teams, checking in often enough that nobody could accuse him of disappearing completely, and he’d sent Brooke a bunch of pictures over the last few days. He was looking forward to hearing what she had to say about them. He knew she’d fall in love with the place.

When he noticed a message notification from Cash, his stomach tightened before he’d even opened it. He hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, and he’d been dreading the next time he did.

Cash: Finally figured the logistics out. Jet’s coming back stateside tomorrow. Gonna need you on it. Give me a call.

Blane gripped the phone tighter and closed his eyes. Tomorrow? Shit. Cash was a day behind him. Did that mean today? He’d known this was coming. He’d known all along that it was coming but he’d tried to ignore it. He didn’t want to face what it meant—that his time with Bea was about to end.

He rested his elbows on his knees and let his hands hang between them as he stared out across the olive groves toward the mountains. Damn, he didn’t want to leave this place. He drew in a breath. It wasn’t the place—it was the woman. But what the hell else was he supposed to do? Following Bea to the airport and coming out here with her had been out of character for him, to say the least. Now his real life was calling him back. But… today?

He hit the call button, and Cash answered on the second ring.

“Sorry, bud. Wanted to give you more notice.”

“What time?”

“Should be around midday. Bear’ll shoot you a text once he files the flight plan.”

“Jesus, Cash, I’ll be cutting it close to get to the airport by midday.”

“Not today.” Cash let out a short laugh. “Would’ve been if everyone else got their way, but I bought you one more day. I told you—tomorrow.”

Blane closed his eyes as relief washed through him so hard it almost made him dizzy. “Yeah, you did. Sorry, bud. I thought you meant your tomorrow.”

“No. I meant your tomorrow.” Cash was quiet for a beat. “I take it that reaction means you’re not desperate to come home.”

Blane turned and looked through the French doors toward the bed he and Bea had shared these last few weeks. Just because it was true, he didn’t need to tell Cash that he’d come to feel more at home here with her than he ever had anywhere else.

“Can’t you bring her with you?”

He huffed out a breath. “I’d love to, but she’s building a life for herself here, Cash. She spent most of hers married to a man who let her disappear inside his life. Now she gets one of her own. I’m not gonna be the one who takes that away from her.” He stared out at the olive groves again. “I can’t even ask her if she’d want to.”

“Shit. Sorry, bud. I was kinda hoping we’d all be welcoming her here soon.” Cash paused. “But if you’re gonna keep your word to Brookie and take her over there sometime, you can go back and visit, right?”