by C. Lesbirel
“Sure,” she replies, standing, and I rise to allow her to pass me, guiding her outside of the coffee shop, and away from the window where I am fully aware all of her friends will be watching, like we’re a live episode of Friends.
I open my mouth to speak, but the words are trapped and will not come out. “Liam, it’s okay. We’re good. I’ve thought this through, and I have to put myself first and take the job. It means a lot to me.”
“I know, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I respond.
“You wouldn’t?” She sounds surprised. What was she expecting me to say? I was here with her; did that not make it obvious enough that I wanted this? “We had fun, but I understand things are crazy for you right now, and you’re not in the headspace for anything more.”
“Right,” I mumble, wanting and willing the words that are screaming through my veins to fly out of my mouth, but nothing does.
“In another lifetime?” She smiles, looking at peace with her decision.
“Right,” I say again, shuffling from foot to foot.
“Maybe I’ll drop you an email from time to time, or you could come and visit Panda Hearts, I never did get a chance to show you how amazing the center is.”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” I reply feeling numb. I’ve waited my entire lifetime to meet a woman who makes me feel the way Heaven makes me feel, and yet, here I am, letting her go.
Because it’s the right thing to do.
Because of my family, and Parker Airlines come first.
Because I fucked up.
I embrace her for one last time, kissing her on the forehead and letting my lips linger a little longer on her soft skin, not wanting to let her go but knowing I need to.
Then, I step back, without words, and watch her walk back inside Latte Life before I turn my back on the coffee shop and head to the office.
Business as fucking usual.
28
Heaven
The flight is cramped, long, and uncomfortable with nothing much to do aside from over think. Thoughts of Liam plagued me from the moment I left him outside the coffee shop to the minute we touched down in Chengdu.
He had seemed like there was more he wanted to say, but I couldn’t say it for him. Couldn’t force the words out of his mouth. If he was going to beg me to stay it had to come from him, and even if he had, would I have stayed?
Agonizing over hypothetical situations was a depressing way to spend twenty-four hours, but it sure didn’t deter me from doing exactly that.
If leaving was what I wanted so badly, then why did I skip breakfast and feel physically ill every time my head played scenes of my time with him? Had I made a mistake? Was I in love with him?
Am I in love with a man that doesn’t feel the same, yet again?
“Crappity-fucking-crap,” I whisper out loud without realizing, and the woman next to me shuffles in her seat, looking offended.
“There’s going to be a slight delay before we are able to pull into the airport terminal due to unexpected traffic on the runway. Everyone, please, remain seated with your seatbelts fastened, and we will do our best to ensure our arrival as quickly as possible.
Great, as if I hadn’t been squished into this pathetic excuse for a chair long enough, now we are delayed. I turn to rest my head against the window, and my eyes fly wide open as I notice the distinctive Parker Airlines logo on a plane parked on the runway next to ours. I can only see the charcoal grey tail, but my stomach flip flops all the same.
Standing up in my seat, I squeeze past the woman next to me and into the middle aisle without a single thought in my head.
“Please be seated, ma’am. The captain has announced the seatbelt signs,” an air hostess warns me from her seat.
I ignore her, running forward to get a better look at the Parker Plane, and she stands to block my path, but not before I manage to peek out of one of the small windows in the middle of the plane and land eyes on him.
Liam.
He’s standing on the platform of his plane dressed in full pilot’s uniform and holding a bunch of flowers that I know are intended for me.
He came after me.
I was wrong.
I knew it in my heart of hearts.
He was the real deal. It wasn’t just me feeling it, it was him too.
He was falling for me, and I had already fallen headfirst.
Crappity-Crap in the best possible way!
“Ma’am, you need to sit down,” the air hostess demands, growing cranky now.
“See that over there, that is the man of my dreams. He’s flown all the way from Florida to be with me. So, you see, I need to get off this plane. I’ve waited forever and a day for a guy to fall in love with me, and now he’s standing right there. There’s only a bit more of runway, and you standing between us. Didn’t you ever believe in love?” I don’t give her a chance to answer, becoming acutely aware that I may have been yelling much louder than I thought I was, and every passenger on the plane now has their eyes fixed on the crazy woman who won’t sit down.
“Now, if you’ll please, just open the door, and let me off the plane? I really need to go to him.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, woman, let her off the plane,” a guy in a yellow sweater yells out from a few rows up.
“Yeah, let her off,” the woman who was sitting next to me the entire way here shouts.
I grin at the air hostess who looks less than impressed at the scene I’m causing, and I don’t care. I wave like a wild thing hoping Liam can see me, but knowing he probably can’t from the distance between his plane and mine.
My heart is pounding like it’s going to explode, and I’m just about to tell the snotty cow exactly what I think of her when the guy in the yellow sweater cups his hands around his mouth and begins chanting “let her off… let her off,” over and over until the chorus picks up amongst the majority of passengers.
Another air hostess picks up the handset near the door and speaks into it for the whole plane to hear. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have just a few more minutes to wait, but I’m sure you’ve all become aware of the commotion in the center aisle. In the interest of everyone’s safety, and to ensure the wellbeing of all our customers, we are going to be opening up the emergency exit briefly to allow this lady to depart the plane.”
Everybody cheers, and I swallow the thick lump that’s formed in my throat as I digest the message. Oh my God, they are doing it. They’re letting me off the plane! I grab my leather rucksack, which is now crowd surfing its way toward me down the carriage, and the air hostess escorts me to the emergency exit.
29
Liam
She steps off the plane, and I watch her tiny shape move down the stairs too quickly for my liking and rush across the tarmac toward me. What the fuck is she doing, I hadn’t considered that she’d get off the plane just to get to me, I only wanted her to see that I was here. Who the fuck opened the doors and let her run across a fucking runway with nothing but a single luggage guy chasing her to try to keep her safe in his yellow high vest? Whoever it was needed to be fired. Or promoted, whichever way you look at it.
I take the stairs down to the ground level, and she meets me at the bottom with a smile that lights up her entire face. Her eyes gleam and sparkle like two stars at night, and she throws her arms around my neck before I can say anything. There’s no need for words, she knows exactly why I’m here. It’s written all over her perfect little face.
Our lips connect, and I kiss her with an intensity that is on another level than any of the other kisses we’ve shared. This is what I love you feels like, and it felt so damn good that I can’t pull away. I want to stay locked in this moment, with my lips on hers until the end of time.
“You’re here,” she exclaims as she pulls away to look at me.
“Where else would I be?”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she cries out over the roar of the plane engines around us, and I notice she’s shaking, and her eyes are fille
d with tears.
I pass her the bunch of pink peonies I’m holding, and she takes them from me, pulling them into her stomach and doubling over as though she’s going to collapse. I pull her into my arms and push her hair away from her face as it’s blown to bits, wanting to look at her properly. Not wanting to miss a second of this moment, it’s more real than anything I’ve ever experienced before.
“I couldn’t let you go,” I admit.
“I think I’m in love with you,” she blurts out, and I my chest grows tight, suffocating me.
Grabbing either side of her face, I kiss her again. “I know. I’m in love with you, Heaven.” Fuck, it feels so good to say the words out loud. I laugh, feeling the euphoria in every fiber of my being. “I’m so fucking in love with you,” I yell at her, and she grabs onto the lapels of my jacket, pulling me down towards her for another one of her Heaven-ly kisses.
“What are we even doing?”
“I have no idea; I didn’t think past coming after you… Come inside for a minute, I need to park this thing properly.” I pull her up onto the ladder, and we step inside the cockpit.
“Wow, this plane’s amazing too. Parker Airlines knows no bounds with luxury.”
“Well, you better get used to it, I spend a lot of time here. It’s one of the perks of the job.”
“How long are you staying for? Are you going to come and see Panda Hearts this time?” She quizzes me as I strap her into the front seat next to mine. “You’re not going to disappear on me again, are you?”
“I’m here indefinitely, Heaven.”
“Indefinitely, as in…?” Her eyes grow wide as she scans mine for answers.
“As in, I’m not going anywhere. I’m taking a leaf out of your book and putting myself first for a change. As soon as I left the coffee shop yesterday and went to see my brother, I knew what I needed to do. Everyone in my family is on board with it. And my brother doesn’t need me there, which I am sorry I didn’t fill you in on, but I will do better from now on. Besides, there’s nothing I can’t do from China that I do at home. Sure, they’ll be meetings, but I have plenty of brothers to cover them, and it’s about time they stepped up.”
There was a time I thought I’d be CEO forever, but now I understand that as committed as I am to continue the success of our family business, there’s more to life than just work. I’m ready to let someone else take the reins while I spend some time living and not just existing.
“You’re staying here. With me?”
“Yes, with you. If you’ll have me.”
“If I’ll have you?” she repeats, nodding her head as though she’s struggling to take all this in.
“If?” I question, and she starts shaking her head and lets out a light chuckle.
“Of course, I’ll have you.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” I joke. “But…”
“There’s a but?”
“Not a bad one. It’s just… I’ll warn you from the start, I’m new to all this, Heaven. I don’t know much about relationships, so you’ll have to bear with me, but I’m hoping we can figure this out as we go.” I reach over to hold her hand reassuringly and start up the plane’s engine.
“That sounds like a perfect plan to me.” She squeezes my hand, and of all the decisions I’ve made as a CEO, I know that following Heaven is the best one of them all.
Epilogue
Heaven
PANDA HEARTS GALA
I stuff my phone back into my Fendi tote and close the gold panda clasp. He knew how much tonight meant to me, so I can’t believe he let me down. It must be something important that’s keeping him from coming.
Smoothing out my custom made Fendi gown, I scold myself for being so shallow. The main reason I’m gutted he’s not here isn’t because he’s going to miss the party.
It’s because he’s going to miss seeing me in this beautiful dress.
He’d given me his credit card and insisted I get a new dress, heels and hairdo specially for tonight, which made no sense if he wasn’t planning on coming.
Brianna had helped me choose this ombré gown with a beaded black halter neck that finishes by facing into a gorgeous shade of rosy nude in a pool of chiffon at my feet. It is overindulgent and outrageously expensive, but I can’t deny that it makes me feel like a total rock star, and I never want to take it off.
The gala has turned out beautifully with an abundance of celebrities and socialites in attendance, thanks to Liam’s suggestion to move the gala to Florida this year, so he could invite his contact list. After tonight, Panda Hearts will well and truly be on everyone's radar.
The raffle prizes are insane. With Parker Airlines sponsoring the event we are able to offer a trip to China for two lucky people who will get the chance to meet our pandas for themselves.
Liam’s parents and a few of his siblings are here, and I am excited to spend a bit more time with them to get to know them better, as we’ve only met a few times.
The manager of Panda Hearts concludes her speech and introduces me to the stage to make mine.
“Thank you for being here, everyone. My name is Heaven Samson, and I’m here to tell you all about the work we’ve been doing in China with some extraordinary pandas...”
My breath catches as I glance out to the crowd and search him out. I can feel his presence here like a sixth sense, and sure enough, I’m right.
I should have known he wouldn’t let me down. My gorgeous boyfriend is dressed in his navy Armani suit and looking ridiculously sexy and hopelessly mine.
Drawing in a breath, I smile before continuing my speech without breaking our eye contact, and I feel my cheeks blush. He’s looking at me the way he always does.
Like I’m the only woman in the world for him.
LIAM
She is radiant up there with her glossy lips and blonde waves piled high up on her head. The dress is stunning, but honestly, she could be wrapped in kitchen foil, and I wouldn’t notice.
I’d never had a girlfriend before. I’m not sure how this is all supposed to feel, but watching her speak with such obvious passion makes me so proud I could fucking burst.
It also makes me desperate to get her out of here and into my arms where she belongs.
Since moving to China, I’d gotten used to it being just the two of us. After battling with Heaven over The Ritz not being a reasonable living arrangement, I’d compromised by renting a luxury apartment with an office big enough for me to fulfill all my work commitments.
The idea of living with someone had always freaked me out a bit, but with Heaven, everything just fell into place. We work hard during the day and always make sure to take the weekends off to explore China. Or not.
Staying home under the covers with copious amounts of potato chips, old movies and my girlfriend all to myself is my new favorite way to spend a day.
Tonight, however, is not about that life.
As soon as she finishes, she’s at my side, her fingers wrap around mine, giving me that sweet rush of heat that only she can.
“You were amazing.”
“Thanks, I…”
“Ready to get out of here?”
She glances around the room at all the guests she’s invited.
“Yes,” she whispers, biting down on her lip in anticipation. “Give me five minutes to say my goodbyes.”
“Meet me on the roof.”
Before she has a chance to question my instruction, I leave her to make her excuses and say her goodbyes, and I say bye to my family on the way out.
She joins me within minutes, stepping out onto the roof terrace and shielding her face from the propeller wind with her arms. I rush to her side, so I can wrap my jacket around her and give her some headphones.
“What are you doing?” she yells out, her voice barely audible over the noise of the helicopter.
“I want to show you something,” I explain, seating her in the cockpit and securing the door ready for takeoff. “And you don’t have to yell, I can hear you
if you speak into the mic.”
“Oh. Can you hear me now?” She speaks softly as though she doesn’t believe me.
“Yes.” I chuckle.
“What about now?”
“No, but I can tell you’re whispering from that look on your face.” I smirk, and she giggles.
“Where are we going? You better have a good reason for pulling me away from the gala and messing up my hair.”
“You look beautiful. That dress should be illegal.”
“You like it?”
I adjust my pants. “A lot,” I say as we takeoff, and she quickly reaches for her seatbelt, buckling herself in.
My hands are shaking with nerves, and my palms are sweaty, making it difficult to get them to do what I need them to do.
“What are you up to, Liam?”
“You’ll see.” I smile to myself as we move away from the gala and closer to the Florida Keys where my surprise is waiting.
Falling for Heaven was fast and unexpected, but my mom always says, when you know, you know.
And I know.
There isn’t a single piece of me that doesn’t love my stunning girlfriend, which is why I can barely speak right now. My mind is racing with thoughts, yet blank, all at the same time.
When we reach the beach I’ve spent the last few hours on, I drop the helicopter low enough.
“Can you guess where I’m taking you yet?”
“We’re going to the beach? Liam, I’m not exactly dressed for…”
Her hand flies over her mouth, and her eyes grow wide as she sees my huge message written in the sand, and I grin so hard it hurts my cheeks.
“Oh…” she gasps into the mic, and I nod my head, confirming that this was all for her.
“Is this where you’ve been all day? How did you…”
“Are you going to leave me in suspense? I’m dying here.”