Fight or Flight(106)

I raised an eyebrow. “Why such late notice?”

She shrugged. “He gave us late notice. He has a few other designers coming out to give him their pitch. I don’t want to lose out on this. We haven’t had work in the Chicago area in a few years.”

“Fine,” I agreed. In fact, it was more than fine. This was just what I needed right now. Although, I said, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle this design on top of everything else.”

“You’ll make it work.” Stella patted my hand reassuringly as she hopped off my desk to leave. “The best thing for you right now, sweet Ava, is to throw yourself into your career.”

I studied the portfolio again. This place would be worth the stress. “Okay.”

“I’ve booked you on a first-class flight leaving tomorrow morning at nine fifteen. Oh, and a suite at the Sheraton Grand. It’s not far from Mr. Scotia’s apartment.”

“That was presumptuous!” I called after her.

“I knew you’d say yes!”

And my boss is always right, I mused as I boarded the plane. I had a window seat, and whoever was sitting in the aisle hadn’t shown up yet, so I managed to get my luggage into the overhead bin without knocking anyone on the head. I winced at the memory and threw it away.

This business trip was a distraction, I reminded myself.

Settling into my seat, I pulled down my tray table and placed the portfolio with the photos and info about the client on it, along with a sketchpad. Keeping my brain occupied was of the utmost importance, and although I usually waited to sketch until I’d seen a space in real life, I decided to get a head start on my ideas.

Soon I was so lost in my drawings that I forgot where I was. The slight jolt of my chair filtered into my awareness and I realized the person sitting in the aisle seat had arrived. I didn’t bother to look up, but I felt their heat. As I sketched ideas for the kitchen, however, the tantalizing scent of a familiar cologne began to invade my senses and my pencil scratched to a halt on the page.

No.

Not possible.

Slowly, I think because I feared it was him, and feared that it wasn’t, I turned my head to the right and felt the breath knocked out of me at the sight of Caleb Scott sitting beside me. He stared at me with such tenderness and affection my lungs tightened with the ache of seeing it. Caleb wore his usual uniform of T-shirt and jeans, so all his tattoos were on display. I preferred him like this, I decided finally. The suits were hot. But this was the Caleb I first met, and the biker guy look suited him better than Armani. All the longing and loss I’d felt became so acute now that he was in front of me. Strangely, it hurt more than it did when I couldn’t see him.

“How?” I whispered, not knowing what else to say. I was so confused.

What was he doing here?

The corner of his mouth tilted up attractively. “I know a guy.”

I let out a noise of disbelief. “You know a guy?”

“I know a guy.”

That didn’t clear up my confusion. Caleb was here. Sitting in the seat next to mine. And I had no idea how he’d managed it. But more important for me to know was his reason for being here.

“Why?”

He reached out and took my hand in his, his thumb caressing my knuckles. “Because I can’t regret you for the rest of my life. I won’t.”

Shock, elation, fear, bafflement … I didn’t know what to feel. “What does that mean?”

“It means there is no Calum Scotia in Chicago.” He gestured to my sketches. “Just a Caleb Scott.”

“Oh my God …” I shook my head and squeezed his hand, cursing myself for not having worked that one out.

He grinned unrepentantly.

“Stella?”

Caleb nodded. “I didn’t know how tae do this. I was worried that if I even tried, you wouldn’t give me the time of day. So I remembered the last time I had you trapped.” He chuckled. “You couldn’t escape me on our flights. And Jamie has an exhibition in Chicago this week. I called Stella tae see if she’d help me and she agreed. She gave me your identification details and I booked us on the flight together. She came up with the Calum Scotia stuff.”

“I’m going to kill her.” I thought my heart might pound right out of my chest.

He tugged on my hand, his eyes darkening. “Does that mean you aren’t willing tae give me another chance?”

Hope began to build, swelling inside of me until I felt uncomfortably stretched by it. It was at once a wonderful and horrifying feeling. “Is this real?”

Turning toward me, Caleb took hold of my other hand and brought them both to his chest. I could feel his heart banging hard and fast against my palm. “I want tae be with you, Ava. Do you still want tae be with me?”

There was a part of me that whispered I should leave him hanging after the weeks of hell he’d put me through, but staring into his face—a face I loved—I couldn’t. “No more running away?”

“No more running away, wee yin. Never from you. And I am sorry I ever did.”

Recognizing the sincerity in his voice, I slid my hand up to cup his face, to feel the familiar prickle of his stubble beneath my palm, and I reached for him.

He reached back.

Our kiss was deep, tender, and filled with such longing.