Page 50 of The Tides Between Us

I loved her so much, it hurt, but it was the greatest, most magical pain I had ever experienced. I knew if things were to end between us, I would be a shell of a person after her. She was the one who had the power to destroy me. She held my heart within her two delicate hands and if she wanted to give it back, I wouldn’t accept it. Giana Cirone could break me into a million pieces and I would still love her until my last dying breath. In this life and the next.

She was the abyss where the ocean met the sun.

As the song came to an end and the music switched to an upbeat tempo, we lingered for a moment longer. Everyone around us broke apart and began to dance faster. Giana slowly lifted her head away from my chest and took a step back. She didn’t release me, as her hands clutched the back of my neck. Her head tilted backward, her ocean blue eyes clashing with mine as I held her hips within my hands.

“I love you, Declan.”

The oxygen was drained from my lungs. My breath caught in my throat as the soft sound of her voice slid across my eardrums like the finest silk. She spoke. She spoke the words out loudfor me.They weren’t meant to be heard by anyone but me. Her voice was barely above a whisper, slow and tender, yet I heard every single syllable loud and clear.

I had hoped she would eventually say them back to me, but I never imagined she would do it this way. I wasn’t sure I would ever hear the sound of her voice and, my god… it was the most delightful thing I had ever heard before. There was never a more heavenly sound than the way those words sounded as they fell from her perfect lips.

I couldn’t help myself as I pulled her flush against me. My face dipped down to hers, capturing her mouth with my own. I was overcome with emotion, overflowing with too many feelings, I couldn’t dissect them. My tongue slid along the seam of her lips and she parted them, letting me in. We were melting together, two souls entwined together as I poured myself into her with an intimate kiss. I didn’t care who saw us, because none of those people mattered.

Only Giana mattered.

And I was so gone for her.

She was it for me.

* * *

As the night came to an end, Giana and I stood side by side as we said our farewells to the guests as they left. The total amount of donations weren’t tallied yet, but it was easily over half a million dollars. There were quite a few people interested in sponsoring different parts of the facility. So many doors had opened for Giana and her team tonight. It was like a fever dream and a dream come true for her.

Hand in hand, we headed out into the night air, walking through the parking lot to our cars. As we reached Giana’s, I paused outside of the door. She turned to face me and my stomach sank as I realized I needed to be honest and up-front with her.

Her eyes desperately searched mine.“Is everything okay?”

“I spoke to my sponsors… They were pretty adamant that I get back to Malibu immediately.” I paused for a moment, watching her face transform from the bright, carefree expression she wore all night to one laced with sadness. “My flight leaves tomorrow around noon. I just got the message while we were in the middle of the event that they had booked me on the first flight they could get me on tomorrow.”

Her slender throat bobbed and her eyes grew misty. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.“Well then, I suppose we had better make the best of the time we have left together before you leave.”

“You’re not mad?”

Giana shook her head as she frowned.“We knew this was coming, I just thought we would have more time. We will make it work, though, right? We can both visit each other.”

“Of course we will make it work. I told you, I’m not losing you, Giana.” I paused for a moment, reaching for her hand. “We will talk every day and visit every chance we get.”

Her expression was laced with pain, desperation, and love.“Will you come stay with me tonight?”

“There’s nowhere else I would rather be than with you.”

Her eyes searched mine with a look I’d never seen before. For the first time since she walked into my life, she looked at me like she didn’t believe me.

And why would she?

I was leaving tomorrow… and she wasn’t coming with me.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

GIANA

Iwatched Declan as he pulled his suitcase from the trunk of my car. It felt strange to think about the fact that he was leaving. He would be thousands of miles away from me instead of only fifteen minutes. I didn’t want him to go, but I knew he couldn’t stay. He had commitments he had made before I came into his life. I would never ask him to give any of that up for me.

He had left his Jeep at his brother’s house and said his goodbyes to him and everyone else last night at the charity event. I hadn’t seen the final numbers of how much money had been raised, but it wasn’t really important to me in that moment. The only thing I could think about was, I was going to have to say goodbye to him in a few short minutes.

It was busy outside of the airport with people moving about in all different directions. Declan moved his suitcase onto the curb and closed the trunk before turning back to face me. A sad smile took shape on his lips and he extended his hand to me.

“Walk me in?” he asked as he stared at me with his eyes filled with emotion. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly was flashing through those golden brown eyes, but whatever it was, it was pulling on every damn string in my heart.

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