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“We were so quick to do what we wanted, regardless of our situations. Don’t you worry that might be a problem in the future?”
“You think I want someone else?”
“Maybe not now,” she said thoughtfully. “But you know what they say,once a cheater, always a cheater.”
“Are you talking about just me?”
“No, I lump myself in with that.”
“You would never cheat on me.”
She stood, brushing her hair back from her face, walking over to the window. “How can you be sure? I did it once with no thought or feeling for my husband.”
I pushed off the sofa, walking over to her. I wanted to touch her so bad, but the distance between us right now was like an ocean. “Rose, it wasn’t without thought or feeling.”
“It was less than a week after we met,” she argued.
“And what held us back was the fact that we were both married.” When she wouldn’t face me, I gripped her arms and made her. “Rose, we were both in loveless marriages, or so we thought. It was supposed to be for only that time.”
“And what about now? I’m supposed to believe that neither of us have it in us to cheat again because we were in love when we did it before? That’s no excuse.”
I ran my hand through my hair, not sure where to go with this. She was obviously very upset about this, and I didn’t know how to handle it. “Why was it okay when you thought you were going back to someone else?”
“Because I held you to a higher standard,” she spat. “And I’m sure you did the same with me. It was our dirty secret on that island, but we came home and found out both of our spouses were just as filthy as we were.”
“Rose, you’re talking about us. Do you know how insane that sounds?”
“No, what’s insane is to think this could ever work between us.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. “This is what we wanted. It nearly killed me to walk away from you on that island.”
“But you did, and so did I. How do we make it work from here? We’re not on that island anymore. I’m not Rose and you’re not James.”
“I’m still James. That’s what I go by.”
“Not at the office,” she shot back. “Face it, in real life, here in New York City, you and I are completely different people. We have to be. Rose and James are a fucking fairytale.”
“So, what? You want to walk away?”
She turned quiet, facing the window once again. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I was so relieved to see you in your office, but I was devastated at the same time.”
“How could being with the man you love be a bad thing?”
“Because we’ll never be free to just be us. We’ll never have what we had on that island. Maybe it’s best if we don’t try.”
I gritted my teeth in anger. She was just giving up. She hadn’t even given us a fucking chance. “You can’t walk away. Both of us stand to lose if one of us walks away.”
“Maybe I’m okay with that.” She turned back to me, her sad eyes welling with tears. “After having James on the island, I can’t live in this fake world. I thought I could do it. I got on that plane and took off, fighting every instinct to get off that plane and run to you. And then I came home and I was absolutely miserable.”
I crowded her space, not letting her get away from me. Cupping her cheeks, I whispered, “Then don’t be miserable anymore. I’m here. We can make this work.”
“With contracts and babies being forced on us? Tell me how that works?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you that if you walk away from me, I’ll never be that man on the island again. You brought out a side of me that I thought I was going to lose. With you by my side, I won’t hate the next five years of my life. We can make this work, and I know it will, because I love you.”
A tear slipped down her cheek and I brushed it away with my thumb. I hated to see her cry. It was usually because of me or our situation.
“Baby, we’re together now. Don’t give up when we’re so close to getting everything we want.”
I didn’t wait for her to answer. I sealed my lips over hers and took what I wanted. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me closer. And just like that, we were back on that island, just Rose and James. Everything else was forgotten as I picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. I lost her once, but there was no way I was going to lose her again.
