Page 45 of Two Is Better Than One

"What was it?"

"I wanted to know why I met you at all if I was going to end up not being able to have you. And then I asked myself if it was worth it… if moments like these are worth… the… later heartache."

Tears gathered in my eyes. I couldn’t control it.

"Are they?" he asked.

I hesitated. "Yes. It's all worth it," I said.

And his perfect soft lips touched mine again.

That would happen again, a number of times this evening.

We got changed and spent a little time at the pool. I tried to flirt with him, but Casey acted professional out there like he always did. Actually, he did let me touch him a tad more than usual, but he still had so much more self-control than me.

The hotel staff was in touch with me, and they let in two different catering crews. After we swam we went to the room and enjoyed the sushi dinner I had ordered and the steak dinner my sister had obviously set up. Both of them were delivered while we were at the pool.

We feasted as we talked and laughed. We ate dessert, and then we sat on the couch together.

One thing led to another, and we kissed for a long enough time that just like that, my phone was ringing and my sister was letting me know they would be back in a minute.

"I can't believe it's nine-thirty at night," I said.

We were sitting on the couch with the television turned to a music station. I had been sitting there for hours with Casey holding me. We would talk and then I would lean up to kiss him. I loved those moments. I knew I would think of them and try to relive them for the rest of my life.

I loved Casey's cologne. I had been aware of it all night, but I took a nice long sniff of his shirt after my sister called. He smelled like lemon and woods, and I tried to stamp the scent into my memory.

"Listen, Casey, they're coming back in five minutes. Everyone's going to be talking and catching up and making a ruckus, and then you will be leaving after that."

I felt a wave of anger and dread as a result of these being our last minutes together, and I stood and stepped away from the couch, overwhelmed.

"I'm going into my room," I said. "I can't do the whole goodbye thing. I already feel like I'm going to cry. I’ll be a mess in front of my sister and Brooks, and I'll have to explain myself."

I was leaving the room, and in the bottom of my heart, I hoped it would prompt Casey to go ahead and propose to me and say he'd stay forever.

He didn't.

"I understand," he said regretfully. "I don't want to do this, either. I'm glad we got to enjoy this night and not dread it the whole time, but this is the bad part, and we both knew it was coming."

"Yeah," I said. "So just know that I'm really going to miss you when you're away, and that I still want you to try to get in touch with me when you get back to the United States… of America."

I took a few steps back. There was no need for a hug or kiss goodbye. We had been doing that for the last three hours.

"Okay, I will," Casey said. He bit at the inside of his lip and stared at me regretfully. I took a snapshot of him in my mind, sitting there on the edge of my couch like the reckless heartbreaker he was. He would go do his fancy job, and I would probably never see him again.

I turned to walk away. Tears came to my eyes, and there was nothing I could do to stop them from falling onto my cheeks. I was glad I wasn't facing him. I headed into my bedroom, feeling more heartbroken than I had ever felt in my entire life.

Chapter 18

Casey Morgan

The three of them, AJ, Allie, and Brooks, took ten minutes to make it to the suite, and they seemed like the longest ten minutes of Casey's life. Summer had gone to her room, and he was on the verge of going in there and knocking on the door the whole time.

Finally, he went to stand in the hallway to wait for them. All three of them were smiling and in a good mood when they got off of the elevator, but Allie's face instantly dropped when she saw Casey standing there.

"Summer's inside. We already said goodbye and everything. I hung out because I wasn't sure if you were coming to my place or to my dad's." His gaze was fixed on AJ, who was also surprised to see Casey in the hallway.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm going inside because I need to use the restroom," Brooks said, going inside.

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