AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I went to the buzzer and pressed the button.
“Who is it? I’m not in the mood right now—”
“Lena?”
I’d recognize that deep, bass voice anywhere.
I leaned in a little closer to the mic, and whispered, “Alex?”
“Can I come up? I want to talk to you.”
I looked around. There was no one here. Should I let up a man who, only an hour ago, had looked like he was crazy?
“Now’s not a good time,” I said. “Can we please talk about this tomorrow?”
“Can we talk about it now, Lena? I think you’ll feel a lot better after you’ve heard what I have to say.”
I felt like I was in a dream. I was certain I was. His old, gentlemanly voice had returned, and I felt enchanted by the confidence and ease in the way he spoke. I longed to see him, and before I even knew what I was doing, I said:
“Okay. I’ll buzz you in.”
I pressed the bell and opened the door. I went back to the sofa and looked out of the window. I didn’t live in the nicest part of Honolulu, but I still had a sea view. My eyes tracked listlessly over the rolling, shimmering blue of the waves until a long, dark shadow appeared on my front door.
Alex had removed his tie and opened his shirt a little. It was a hot day, and I could see a bead of sweat had appeared on the tanned skin at his temple. His smart suit framed his body perfectly. Alex always wore Jared Ford or Calvin Klein, I could tell by the elegant, sexy cuts of his jackets. He was so unlike his brother, who always dressed like a bum.
“This is a nice apartment,” he said. “May I come in?”
“Sure,” I replied.
“You know, I used to know a guy who was stationed in this building.”
“You did?”
Alex nodded and scratched the stubble on his chin. I thought about what it would be like to put my hand on his cheek. His presence made me nervous and yet, beneath my fluttering heart, I felt a warm calm descend all over me. I guess that’s what it means to be a great leader. When you walk into a room, people have a feeling that things are going to be all right.
“You know,” said Alex, sitting down opposite me on the couch, “my mom grew up here? On Hawaii?”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “It’s where she met my dad. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor too.”
“Just like you,” I said.
“Of course, the base was bigger then. A lot more people. It was my first posting since I knew the area. Of course, I was eager to travel. Luckily, I did. Ended up seeing the world, as a matter of fact.”
I shifted in my seat. “I didn’t mean for the photos to end up in the boardroom.”
Alex smiled. Smiled, and not for the first time, I realized that he was somehow even more devastatingly handsome when he smiled. “I didn’t believe you at first. But just after the meeting finished, I got a call from a lady called Erin. Paani Street.Swim & Bathing Agency? She asked me why my PA had sent her a dozen brochures for a hotel that hadn’t been built yet.”
I smiled, and blushed, lowering my head.
And then, Alex reached up and put his hand beneath my chin. He lifted my head so I was looking into his eyes, those shimmering blue eyes, the same color as the Pacific Ocean outside my window.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted, Lena. It wasn’t fair. I got too close to you and wanted more. And you were right to say no. You were right to put distance between us. And yet, here we are.”
Here we were. He let his hand drop, and secretly I felt sorry it didn’t linger there a while longer.
“Here we are,” I repeated.
