Breakfast conversation stayed at a minimum and the easy banter in the car on the way to the airport remained absent. He’d already turned in his rental car after she’d offered to drop him off herself.
She pulled her small two-door sedan to the curb at airport drop-off, let the car idle—they wouldn’t be there for more than a moment—popped the trunk, and stepped out of the driver’s side to meet Roman at the back. He unloaded his stuff. Two bags—one held Louise and all of her extras, the other his clothes and personal stuff.
“Don’t move,” he said, pulling Louise from his bag. His sly grin slipped back into place as he turned a dial at the top. “Smile for me?”
Sadie nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. She should grab her phone and take her own picture of him. Her fingers itched to open the car door and snag her cell. If she didn’t, all she’d have when he left were mental pictures of their time together. But just until he came back. And he would come back. She knew it.
Traffic crept by them as he fiddled with the camera settings and then finally raised it to his eye and cradled the body of the camera like it was irreplaceably fragile.
Like he’d held her.
“Do I say cheese or something?” Sadie asked, striking a material-girl Madonna pose. He could get his picture and then she’d get hers.
The shutter clicked.
“Just be you, Sadie.” His voice was rough. For the first time since the bedroom, his mask slipped and he was Roman again.
“Should I wait for you?” Sadie whispered so quietly she wasn’t even sure he’d heard her.
Apparently, he heard, sucked in a breath, and then his expression went blank. His entire face said nothing. She’d never seen him go blank. His expression harden? Yes. Happy? Sure. Annoyed? Absolutely.
Vacant? No.
“I want it all. The career. The guy. If that means I have to wait, I will,” Sadie continued.
He didn’t say anything. No “yes.” No “no.” He just tucked Louise back in her case and stepped toward Sadie.
A car honked, the long echo bouncing through the interior of the drop-off area. Neither of them gave any attention to the world still turning around them. That moment contained only them.
Sadie’s breath wobbled when she pulled it in.
Everything.
They could be everything.
She would give him everything.
“I can’t ask you to do that.” He shook his head. “I won’t ask you to put your life on hold for me. Keep moving forward. You want it all? You’ll have it. I believe that.”
Sadie’s knees felt like they were going to give out.
He leaned down, pressed his lips against hers, and then he pulled away.
There was more meaning in that kiss than she’d ever felt in any word, ever.
And then he slung his rucksack over his right shoulder and walked through the doors of level six at the Jeppesen Terminal and out of her life, dropping her heart behind him. She never even got that goodbye picture.
Shaking, she scooped up her heart where he’d dropped it on the sidewalk, climbed into her car, buckled her seatbelt, and drove home.
Chapter Three
Present Day
Ten Years Later
Sadie Howard didn’t believe in blue eyeliner, letting a man touch her boobs on the first date, or second chances.
The first two points came from an abundance of trial and error. Mostly error. The third, well…that came from being a divorce attorney.
