Page 24 of Falling for Sierra

The whole visit had taken longer than planned but it was done. Now all Blake needed to do was find a place to store it, and a way to get it where he needed it when he arrived. Easy. Theoretically. Now he just had to get everything in place. And make sure he was going to be in Hawthorne whenever they scheduled the delivery.

Simple.

CHAPTER 17

The moment Sierra had been dreading for the last four days finally came. She took Blake to the field beside the school where his helicopter would land to pick him up at almost nine p.m. Tuesday evening.

“I wish I could stay tonight too, but I can’t be late for that meeting in the morning,” Blake said as they sat in her car, waiting for the helicopter. The last call he’d had, was that it was less than ten minutes out.

“We do what we can. I’d love for you to stay longer, but I know we both have things we have to do.” She gave him the brightest smile she could manage. The last thing Sierra wanted to do was let him see how difficult this was for her. “Besides, you’ll be back in just a few days.” Sierra turned and looked out the driver’s window, not wanting Blake to see the tears starting to pool in her eyes.

She told herself she was being stupid. He would be back in a few days and besides. This was a fling. She was getting in too deep and setting herself up to be hurt. But a voice in the back of her head, and the ache in her chest, told her it was already too late to keep from getting hurt.

“I’ve been doing my best to keep business out of our time off, but I wanted to let you know my team is working on an offer for one of the places we looked at on Sunday. It should be ready to submit some time tomorrow morning.”

“Oh.” An odd mix of excitement and dread swirled through her stomach. Now he would move into his place and not have a reason to need to keep seeing her. Not that she thought that was all that was between them. If it had been, Blake never would have stayed through her days off in addition to the time she was showing him properties. “I’m glad to hear you found a place you like. I’ll do my best to get the sale through quickly.” She didn’t turn back to look at him for fear the ache in her heart would overflow her control and start flowing down her face.

Blake’s finger on the point of her chin turned her face back to face him.

“What’s this?” One thumb smoothed across her cheek. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m not sure.” She gave him a watery smile. “I know you’re getting ready to move here, but you choosing a property and putting in an offer feels like an ending. It feels like the end of you and me.” She closed her eyes because she couldn’t stand to watch his face as she admitted the next part. “As if we were even a real thing to begin with and not just a convenient fling.” She fought back the urge to laugh. It wasn’t funny but it was either laugh or cry.

She refused to let the laugh escape so the tears she hadn’t been able to stop, flowed faster. Blake was quiet for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say. Sierra knew she was being silly.

Blake was going to live in Hawthorne. He would be here more, not less. But that didn’t stop her heart from breaking.

How had she fallen for him so fast and so hard?

“Sweetheart, putting in an offer is a way to be here more, not less. I don’t want to have to go back to Denver so often. Having a place of my own, a place where I can set up an office and take calls, hold video conferences, will mean I have to go into the city far less often. Though there will be times I can’t avoid it.” Blake’s voice was soft, calming as he spoke. He leaned close and let his voice drop to almost a whisper. “And we definitely are a real thing. I can’t imagine what my life would look like now if I hadn’t met you. It might only have been a couple weeks, but you’ve come to mean a great deal to me.”

Something in Blake’s voice made Sierra open her eyes. He was inches away, his eyes seeming to plead with her for understanding.

“If I didn’t have to make this meeting tomorrow, I’d stay and convince you just how much you mean to me.”

Blake brushed a soft kiss against her lips. The soft whump, whump of the blades told Sierra his helicopter would be here in moments.

“I can’t call from on the chopper, it’s too loud. But I can call once we land, if you’d like. I want to talk about this with you.”

Sierra shook her head slowly. “I’ll be asleep by then.” She didn’t want him to go, but knew he had to. She pasted a happy smile on her face. “I’ll talk to you when you have time. Probably after your meeting tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have good news about your offer, though it may take a few days to get a response.” By the time she finished speaking, she was almost yelling to be heard over the helicopter that was slowly lowering to the grassy field illuminated by her headlights.

“I don’t like leaving you like this. I wish I didn’t have to.” Blake glanced away, turning to watch as the helicopter touched down to one side of where her lights were shining, probably to avoid being blinded by them. The pilot waved out the glass bubble toward them.

Sierra didn’t think the pilot could see them sitting in the darkness of her car, but who knew?

“I’m sorry I have to go. I promise this is not the end of us and I’ll be in touch, soon. Please don’t cry.”

“I’ll try.” Sierra was careful not to make promises she couldn’t keep and the ache in her chest told her there were more tears in her future, but she could put on a brave face and let him go. “Go. Have your meeting. I’ll call when I have news.”

“I’ll call before then.” Blake brushed another soft kiss against her lips, then he was gone.

She watched as he ran across the short distance of the grassy lot and climbed into the open door of the helicopter. He waved to her once he was seated and secure, then the chopper lifted off the ground and in seconds disappeared.

Sierra sat in the dark, cooling car until she couldn’t hear the chopper any longer then started the car and went home. It might only be three days, but this was going to be a long week.

CHAPTER 18

Blake scrolled through emails while he listened to the phone ring over the headset connected to his phone. He hated having to make this call, but it was better than not making it at all.

---