In Her Own Time

by Annie Reynolds

  When I wake up a few hours later, Beth is snuggled in next to me still asleep. Her natural beauty takes my breath away, her features are relaxed and softer. As I watch her, I do my best to memorize everything about her beautiful face, memories to take back to London with me when I leave.

  I’m interrupted by my phone ringing in the other room, Beth stirs but she doesn’t wake so I do my best to untangle myself from her without disturbing her any further.

  Walter’s name is on the caller ID. Walter was my direct supervisor back in London, it was also his idea to send me here to for consulting. Thinking about leaving was a temptation of fate, I curse myself before answering the call.

  “Good evening, Walt.” Glancing at my watch, I register the time. It may still have been business hours in London, but I knew Walter was aware the time difference.

  “Nash, am I interrupting?” Walt has never been known for his warm reception or his formalities but there is no question about his dedication or ruthlessness when it came to business.

  “No, what’s going on?”

  “I’ve been talking to Brian; we need you back in London as soon as possible. He’s had John on the phone all morning; there has been some sort of crisis with the Margison proposal.”

  “What kind of crisis?”

  “There are some files that have been, shall we say, misplaced.”

  “I don’t see how that is my problem, I still have things here I need to take care of.” And I didn’t mean specifically in the business sense. My eyes are drawn back through the doorway, to where Beth is still in bed asleep in my bed.

  “I know it shouldn’t be but they won’t deal with anyone else. Brian has already spoken to the partners there and they’re onboard with sending Davis over there to finish up the work.”

  I curse under my breath. “With all due respect, Walter, I need to be here to finish the work, we both know Davis is not the best choice to close this project.”

  “From your reports we understand that everything there is on track, Davis can handle that much, but what he can’t handle is Margison. You need to be on the next flight, Nash.”

  “At least give me the weekend Walt?”

  “I’ll see what I can do, no promises.”

  I end the call and curse again. I scroll through my phone for the contact at Margison, maybe we can work it out over the phone, or at least work out a solution for the time being and I won’t need to fly anywhere.

  “John, its Nash. I’ve just been speaking with Walter, he advised me there has been an issue with some files?”

  “Nash. I’d been waiting for your call. Yes, I spoke with Brian earlier today he mentioned you were overseas. He offered to send that hack Angus Davis over, can you believe it? I said it was you or not to worry about getting paid.”

  “Have you got time now to discuss these issues you have?” I pray that the solution is an easy one and that Walter and John are just overreacting.

  “We’ve been in contact with the group who were handling the new system uploads and it would appear those clowns have no blooming idea what the proposal is due to corrupt and missing files. They are asking for a whole rekit and we can’t give it to them. We won’t even have the time to go through all the set-up stages. We’re at our wits end here, Nash, we need you here to talk to them and maybe work through it to get the project back on track.”

  “I understand we only had a limited time to get this up and functional, John, and I’ll see what I can do by conference calling them.” By now I am pacing backward and forward across the length of the suite.

  “Nash I wish that were possible, what we need is face time, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you how much this rejig is costing us, do I? Any delays with this are going to cost us dearly, hundreds of thousands a day for every day we’re not online.”

  I blow out a breath, I can feel a headache building as I rub my temples.

  “Okay, John, my assistant Gemma is booking flights as we speak. I will be there Tuesday. See you then.”

  I press the end call button and toss the phone across the table in front of me. “Fuck!” I hadn’t realised Beth was standing in the doorway until she spoke.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, sweetheart. I’m fine.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Yeah, I’m needed back in London.” I walk to her and she lets me wrap my arms around her, planting a kiss on top of her head. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

  She only nods. I can see from the look on her face that she is as disappointed as I am.

  The mood when we get back into bed was noticeably different from when we left, Beth snuggled back into me, resting her head on my chest, drawing patterns with her finger over my chest.

  “Nash, will you be coming back?”

  “Yes.” I was determined to, no matter what I had to do, I would come back to her.

  “When?” The circles she draws spread further across my chest.

  “I don’t know.”

  The universe had a sadistic way of showing us what we could have but kept hold of it just out of reach.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Beth

  So flash back three years, I’m in Nash’s bed and after I leave his hotel suite I have no idea on when I will see him again, the only difference is now I’m not sure how that makes me feel.

  I should’ve known better than to stay the night or let myself get close enough to form any sort of attachment to Nash. It was easier when I thought he was just an arsehole playboy.

  I watch him as he stirs and opens his eyes; as soon as our eyes meet he has the brightest smile spread across his face.

  “Hey, sweetheart. Are you watching me sleep?”

  “Yeah, a little.” I wiggle in closer to him.

  “Kind of creepy, but I’m glad you’re here. I thought I’d dreamt up last night. Sleep well?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “How about some breakfast in bed?”

  “You mean food right?”

  He chuckles, “Of course food. What do you want?”

  “Coffee and bacon. Please.”

  “Is that all you want? Just coffee and bacon? No eggs or cereal or toast?”

  “Yes to all of that, and juice.”

  Thankfully, it wasn’t Nash’s red-headed Amazonian goddess ex-fling who delivered breakfast to the room. The food was delicious; as soon as it was wheeled in the aroma had me salivating.

  “Will you have lunch with me today?”

  “Nash, we’ve not even finished breakfast.”

  He reaches up to tuck a strand of hair back behind my ear. “I know, but I want to spend the day with you. Would that be okay?”

  “What did you have in mind? Assuming something other than room service?”

  “Maybe a picnic in the park or something?”

  “Picnic? No. I don’t think so. Too many ants and bugs. Pass.”

  “The beach?”

  “Too much sand.”

  “Where do you want to go, Beth?”

  “Home, Nash. Come home with me. I’ll order Chinese takeout and we can hang out there, no ants, no bugs and no sand in your butt crack.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, well, I need to get a change of clothes anyway.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll call for a taxi.” He stands to search out his phone.

  “Won’t you want to pack first?”

  “You mean you want me to come and stay with you?”

  “Sure. I mean, you’re leaving anyway, so two birds and all.”

  “So, this is where Bethany Spencer lives.” I fumble with the key in the lock, twisting it with success and the door swings wide. “I was expecting something taller and in ivory.”

  “Yep, this is home. Don’t make me regret inviting you here.”

  “There is that sass that has been missing.” He smacks me on the backside as he crosses the threshold, his leather overnight bag in one hand and suitcase and laptop in another.

  “The bedroom
is through there if you want to leave your bag? And the lounge room is through there, I’ll get us some plates and glasses.” Having Nash in my house gives me a wave of anxiety; it was a complete unknown sharing my space with a man longer than a couple of hours, and never a man like Nash Gibson when there were guests.

  I had just started to open the takeaway containers of the Chinese food we’d purchased on the way over when Nash returns to join me for our meal.

  “Wine?”

  “Please.” He pops the cork from the bottle and evenly pours wine into both glasses, sliding a glass along the bench to me, as he casually takes a sip of his own. He is so sure of himself, as his own confidence radiates. I wonder if there is any situation Nash Gibson could find himself in that would cause his feathers to ruffle.

  Lunch with Nash in my house is kind of nice, comfortable in fact, and not at all what I had led myself to believe it would be like.

  “So Beth, when I get back to London would it be okay if I called you?” His attempt at being blasé about asking sets me on edge. He avoids eye contact as the realization suddenly hits me; this fun arrangement with an expiration date, now has the possibility of becoming more.

  “Well, I guess so, if you wanted to. Maybe I’ll answer.”

  “Good to hear, but what I want for the immediate future is to kiss you again.” He leans forward and steals the kiss. “What do you want to do tonight? Do you want to stay in, maybe cook some dinner and watch a movie?”

  “Dancing. I want to go dancing.” Maybe I can test that confidence of his after all.

  “Are you taking the piss?”

  “Not in the slightest. Is there a problem?”

  “Not at all, it’s just been a while since I went dancing.”

  Perfect, he’d already confessed to enjoying a challenge, so a night out dancing will be another one for him. In the silent war that had been waged, maybe this was a battle I could win.

  “Okay, sweetheart, so it’s a date?”

  “No, it is dancing.” I correct him.

  I couldn’t help but smile, I was about to enjoy Nash’s discomfort tonight more than I had enjoyed just about anything else over the last few weeks. I’d already started planning what I was going to wear in my head and it was going to be my greatest weapon.

  We sat chatting whilst we finished our lunch. I learn that Nash has a younger sister who is currently travelling through Europe before she returns to start University. He tells me about his travelling, and a passion he has for photography.

  “I want the evidence of the life I have lived even when I am too old to remember it. I always carry my camera with me when I go somewhere new.” I can see just from the look in his eyes that he is being sincere; his passion is something I would have never been able to guess about him. “What is your passion Beth?”

  I hadn’t given it much thought until now, I couldn’t narrow down one thing in my life as actually being a passion. “I’m not sure I have one.”

  “Sure you do, everyone does.”

  “No, I don’t think I actually do.” I think it over as I refill my glass with the last of the wine.

  “So, you’re telling me that there is nothing that gets your heart racing but brings you peace at the same time?”

  “You mean other than an orgasm?” I crook my eyebrow at him, he doesn’t falter to even challenge me about my comment, and the question was rhetorical, being simply for shock value anyway. “Well, if that is what it means to have a passion, then shoes. I realise they aren’t as exciting as travelling the world and taking photos, but I love shoes.”

  “I probably should’ve been able to guess that given the scolding you gave me the day we had that incident with the coffee.”

  “I did not give you a scolding!”

  “You did so, I felt terrible all day about it, could barely eat my lunch.”

  “They were my favourite green pair of Jimmy Choo’s. They’re more than foot accessories, they’re pieces of art. Shoes like that deserve respect, not lubricating in any form.”

  “I know that should mean something to me, but I’m going to need some time to work out exactly what it is.”

  “Maybe this is why I can’t trust people like you.” I quip. An element of truth to my blasé statement, a person like Nash Gibson broke hearts, turned world’s topsy-turvy worse than any earthquake could.

  “So you admit it now, you don’t trust me.”

  “I didn’t mean you specifically, I just meant people who were ignorant to a pair of shoes.” I attempted to ease the sting of the truth by deflecting it into a joke.

  “Categorized, just like that hey?” I could tell he was baiting me. “So the ones I picked out for you were no good?”

  “See, and that there, is a complete contradiction of what you just said, Nash. Those shoes you picked out for me are a limited release and not yet available here, so I have no idea how you managed to even get hold of a pair, let alone claim to not know anything about shoes.”

  “So I did good?”

  “Yes, in more ways than one. How am I ever supposed to work you out when what you say and what you do are polar opposites.”

  “Do you want to work me out, Beth?” His voice lowers, any trace of humour was now gone.

  “I suppose a part of me did, but the point is moot now.” The reality was he is leaving again and dancing around that fact was also a moot point.

  “I would say you know me pretty well already, sweetheart.” He gives me a wink before getting up to carry our dishes to the kitchen. “What do you want to do for the rest of the afternoon?”

  “Movie?”

  “Yeah, maybe we could watch the end of the one we watched the other day.” He chuckles, and it makes my heart ache a little to hear that sound.

  “Maybe a movie is not the best idea then. Would you like to go over and see Gretna and Ella?”

  “What I would like to do is keep you all to myself for a while longer.” He returns to the seat beside me, pulling me into his lap and lifts his hand to cup my cheek. “Beth, don’t make me share you just yet.”

  “Okay. I won’t.” My voice comes out in only a whisper.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Nash

  Not for the first time do I curse Walter for insisting I need to return to London. It has taken me three god damn years to get back to this woman, and within the space of not even a month, I have to walk away again. Dwelling on it won’t change anything, but I will hold on to some hope of a quick fix with Margison’s and then I might just get back to Australia before the end of the project with Beth’s firm.

  I book one of my favourite restaurants, I had been craving it since I left. The last time I had been there was with David, and now it felt like the perfect opportunity to go back and share some of those memories with Beth.

  I’m sitting in the living room waiting on Beth to join me, I had been fighting back the feelings of having a schoolboy crush ever since we’d walked through her front door a few hours ago. No matter how I try to interpret how I’m feeling analyzing always comes back to being with Beth, and no matter how much she argues the point, it’s our first official date.

  I check my emails while I wait; Gemma has sent through my itinerary, my flight was at 7.30 tomorrow morning. I would need to leave Beth’s bed before 5 am to make check-in. I push down the feeling of dread as I exhale, stretching out the tension in my neck, I notice Beth standing in the doorway.

  I can feel my mouth hanging open, and there are no words coming out. A blush warms her cheeks as I continue to stare.

  “Is something wrong?”

  I still struggle to find my voice. “No way, you look fucking amazing and I’m rethinking taking you anywhere other than the bedroom, sweetheart.” Beth was dressed in a silky slinky dress with thin straps, the heels I had picked out for her, and her lips were a bright red, giving me visions of later watching her wrapping her lips around my dick.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment then.”

  “You should. If you
’re ready, we should go now before we go nowhere at all.” She laughs off my threat, but in no way was it idle.

  We pull up outside the restaurant and only then does it occur to me that Beth may prefer to have gone somewhere else.

  “Beth, I should have asked, do you even eat Japanese?”

  “Oh my god, yes!”

  The smile was in her eyes, and she had never been more beautiful. Holy shit, I was in deep with this girl.

  I take her hand and we walk inside, being greeted as we entered.

  “Good evening, Sir, Madam. Your table is ready, please follow me.”

  The waiter leads us to a private room in the back, there are candles glowing on the table and soft serene music playing quietly from the overhead speakers. The waiter pulls out the chair for Beth and then lays a napkin across both of our laps. Leaving us with a menu for meals as well as a wine list.

  “This place is beautiful, how did you know about it?”

  “David brought me here actually.” I watch her for her expression as she gazes around our small room, taking it all in.

  “David brought you here on a date? Just when you think you know someone.” She smiles again and winks at me. “So what is good here?”

  “Everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yep, the food is amazing.”

  “Well, that doesn’t really help narrow down what to choose at all.” Her attention is drawn back to the menus, I watch her as she scans over the pages while I watch her, I love this classic Hollywood style look she has gone for tonight. She was stunning.

  “In that case, let’s get a couple of different dishes and share. What do you think?” I suggest.

  “Sounds logical, but if I choose something better than you do I’m not sharing.”

  “Ditto, baby.” I mimic the action she makes, including the single eyebrow raise.

  The waiter returns to take our orders and returns only a moment later with the bottle of wine we had selected.

  “So, you came here with David, tell me about it?” She laces her fingers together and rests her chin across the knuckles.