A Beautiful Forever(16)

Suddenly, I feel really crappy for pushing her. My chest hurts watching her so upset, especially knowing it was me that caused it. Taking a couple of quick steps, I close the distance between us, hugging her tightly to my chest. It’s the only thing I can think to do right now.





Paige


In all my life, I have never been held as I am now, and it’s more than I can bear, huge sobs wrack through my body for everything I wish I could forget. Clinging tightly to him, I draw in his strength and take comfort in his arms.

“There’s nothing you could tell me that would make me stop caring about you Paige,” he says as he lifts my face so I have to look at him. The sincerity in his eyes pulls at my heart and I can see he fully believes his own words. For a moment, I do too. But the reality is - no man wants a woman with a past like mine, not anyone decent anyway.

When he leans in slowly and brushes his lips against my own, a feeling of beautiful longing sweeps through my body causing fresh tears to fall from my eyes.

Overcome with emotion, I give in to my desires and kiss him back. Opening my mouth slightly as he holds my face tenderly in his hands. I respond as his lips entwine with my own, softly tasting and teasing. Never forcing anything.

Pulling away, he presses his lips to my forehead and circles his arms around me once more. This time I hug him back, breathing steadily as I listen to the rhythmic beating of his heart. “Can we watch the movie now?” I ask.

I feel his chest bounce as he laughs, “Yeah, we can watch the movie.”

He takes my hand and guides me over to the couches. I let him hold my hand, and I even let him put his arm around me as we watch the movie. I feel so undeserving of him as I rest my head against his chest. My heart swells at the mere thought of him and I know I’ve fallen too far, so much further than I wanted to. My mind keeps telling me to get up and go, pack my bags and leave. But my body is staying firmly, pressed up against his, refusing to let go.

Instead of focusing on the movie I’m running through my options in my mind. Is it wrong of me to want him as much as I do? He’s only here for six weeks; this can’t go anywhere… maybe I could do this. Maybe I could have this without having to tell him anything. Would it be wrong to just enjoy what little closeness we can have before he goes? I wriggle a little against his hard chest and feel myself melting against him.

Six weeks… six weeks until he goes home, and then if I have to - I’ll tell him everything, then I’ll let him go.





Chapter 12


Elliot


“You’re awfully happy today,” my client, Agy, comments as she wipes her face with the towel I just handed her. “Is there a new love interest making you look that way?”

Smiling, I simply shrug my shoulders. Agy is one of my favourite clients. She's in her late 50s and comes to the gym every day to work out. She doesn’t come here to partake in any gentle movement either - she does full-on weights training and intense cardio. She’s strong as an ox, and I’m betting she’s going to live until she’s at least a hundred.

Training her is always entertaining because she’s got loads of great stories to tell me about when she was a kid growing up in the country, and she in turn, loves to hear me talk about Australia.

“Come on, tell me all about her. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a dose of young love,” she presses.

“What do you want to know Agy?” I ask.

“Well, her name for starters – unless it’s a he of course, then you can give me his name,” she starts all very matter-of-factly.

I can’t help but laugh at her boldness. It's one of the reasons I like her so much. “Paige, her name is Paige, Agy.”

“Well that’s a lovely name. Now you can tell me all about her,” she asks eyes gleaming as she listens in rapt attention while tell her about meeting Paige on the plane and some brief details about how she came to stay in the flat and how our friendship has been progressing.

“She’s been making it really hard to get to know her, like she’s scared of her feelings for me. But we finally made some progress last night and this morning, well, she just kept smiling and Agy, she’s beautiful when she smiles,” I finish, fighting hard to stop my mouth from curling into some sort of goofy grin.

“That’s wonderful Elliot. I'm sure any girl who can hold the attention of a gorgeous young man like you is well worth the effort.”

“She is, Agy. I really think she is.”





Paige


“Let me guess,” Andrea says, looking at me with squinting eyes. “You took my advice and finally told Elliot you’re into him? Are you dating now?”

I look at her briefly, trying to focus on cutting hair, but just the thought of actually being with Elliot causes a smile to creep across my lips. “Not exactly dating, but things are good.”

“Hmmm, have you shagged him yet?”

I raise my eyebrows and look at her again as my client watches us closely in the mirror.

“No, I haven’t ‘shagged’ him,” I answer, using my fingers as quote marks.

“Just wondering,” she says before she turns back to her own work.

I shake my head, smiling my way through the rest of the day.





Elliot


Standing outside the hair salon waiting for Paige, I’m suddenly filled with nerves. I only have six weeks left in the UK. I don’t want to waste any more time pretending it’s ok to just be friends. I want more from her, and I’m not going to let her push me away anymore. Every time I lay my eyes on her the whole world just melts around me. She's all I can think about; I need to be with her.

When she emerges from the salon, she’s with her boss, Andrea, who gives me a little finger wave. “Hi Elliot,” she sing songs at me. I smile and nod at her as I notice a look pass between them causing Paige’s face to go bright red.

“Have you been talking about me today?” I ask, grinning at her as she gets closer.

The answer she gives me is a coy smile, and a little shrug of the shoulders.

“Have fun lovebirds,” Andrea calls to us as she walks towards the station.

We both laugh as we say good bye and turn to walk in the other direction. I take a risk and grab her hand as we start to move, interlacing our fingers and giving her a gentle squeeze. I’m rewarded with a smile and a body nudge as we walk quietly for a while, hand in hand, enjoying our new closeness.

“So, Brian texted me earlier, he said everyone was heading down to the Hole to get some dinner and have a few drinks, you up for it?” I ask her.

“Of course,” she smiles, meeting my eyes. The attraction between us buzzes through the air as it passes between us. We don’t say a lot, we just walk together smiling stupidly. It’s hard to believe that something as minor as a hand hold would make me so ridiculously happy, but it does.





Paige


The moment we reach the door to our flat, I drop Elliot’s hand, my disconnection causing him to look at me frowning.

“I feel kind of weird,” I explain.

“You feel weird?”

“I do - I’m sorry!” I grimace.

He sighs and lifts his hands to hold either side of my face. His touch causing a light headedness to overcome me, I have to fight to keep my eyes open, so I can focus on him.

“Paige – this is your one and only chance to back out. Once we move things forward, I’m not willing to back off. It’s all or nothing Paige. I can’t just be your friend anymore.”

His blue eyes are dark and serious, and I find myself staring up and him and nodding helplessly. My head didn’t even consult me – it just started moving all by itself.

“What does that even mean?” he smiles as he watches my helpless nodding.

“Don’t back off,” I whisper.

“Then I won’t,” he says as he presses a kiss to my forehead before releasing me to push open the door, holding it until I step inside before him.

We remove our coats and hang them on the pegs by the door, dropping my bag and his wallet and phone on the bookcase as we pass in to the living area.

As per usual, there are bodies draped all over the couches and a mess all over the table. We say a quick hello to everyone, and I take a look to see what they're watching on TV.

I laugh when I see it’s an Aussie soap called Home & Away. “You might as well all be back in Australia!” I tell them.

“I don’t want to miss out on the happenings of Summer Bay,” Naomi laughs without taking her eyes off the screen.

“But you’re going to be weeks behind anyway,” I point out.

Those watching, blow raspberries and wave me away laughing good naturedly, as I go into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.