Page 94 of Open for Negotiation
Chapter 21
Scarlett
I’ve nearly dozed off when the airline attendant at the desk calls over the speaker that we will now begin the boarding process for our flight.
I wipe my eyes, still sore from lack of sleep and crying and begin to gather my things.
“Hello, hi, is this thing working?” A familiar voice sounds over the loud intercom that airport announcements usually play through. “I hope so,” the voice continues and I am frozen in my spot.
Max.
“Scarlett Hale, if you can hear this, please don’t get on that plane. I’m here, I came here to stop you, to tell you I love you and we can work through anything as long as we are together.”
My heart is in my throat and my hands are shaking like they never have before.
“Please, baby, please don’t get on that plane. I’m in love with you. I have been for so long, much longer than I realized, I think. It took the idea of you leaving for good to make me pull my head out of my ass and decide that I need to fight for you.”
My feet begin to move at their own accord, dragging my carry-on behind me and into the sea of travelers. I have to get to him. I have to find him now.
“I want to make this work. All the other stuff on the outside doesn’t mean anything when you’re with me,” he continues over the intercom and I move even more frantically through the concourse, looking for him, for any sign of him.
People are beginning to stop, to go silent, so they can hear what he’s saying, but I pay them no mind.
“I want to protect you from what scares you and what hurts you.”
I feel like my lungs are on fire and my arms ache from pulling my bag behind, but all of that slips away when I see him standing against a large, white pillar with that bright red phone in his hand.
“Max.” His name leaves my voice in a sob, causing it to break the word into two syllables.
His gaze sweeps over to mine, but he doesn’t move, he just stares at me with trembling lips and continues talking into the phone.
“I want forever with you. I never thought I’d want that again with anyone, but you’ve shown me that our past doesn’t and can’t define us. So let’s define our future together. Please?”
Security guards are approaching from behind when he finally hangs up the phone and we rush toward each other. I abandon my bags and he doesn’t stop when security tells him to. Our bodies are magnets for one another, pulled closer and closer.
“I love you,” I barely get out before we crush together and he wraps his big arms around me, pulling me into him and into a kiss that could knock me off my feet.
The airport crowd bursts into a rowdy mix of hoots, hollers, and applause.
He feels so good in my arms. I didn’t realize how starved for him, not sexually, but spiritually and emotionally hungry for his energy and love that I was until this very moment.
He traces a finger down my cheek when we finally part and says simply, “I’m not letting you go ever again.”
“Good,” I say, “because this is right where I want to be.”
Max
After a quick meeting/scolding from security, I’m finally able to get my girl out of that airport and back out to my car that, thankfully, had not been towed, but slapped with a nasty ticket and a hefty fine.
In the grand scheme, that’s a small price to pay to have this woman in the passenger seat with her hand in mine.
I use the time to fill her in on everything that I’ve learned over the past few days, and she’s shocked, to say the least, and heartbroken at Garrett’s involvement.
But I assure her that we will move forward legally however she feels comfortable. This seems to pacify her for the moment because she looks at me again, telling me how much she loves me.
God, I’ll never tire of that.
The drive from the airport to my house is long, but when we pull into my garage, I feel lighter and happier than I’ve felt in days, but in the chaos of the last hour, I forgot to give her a warning about something I’d done… and that kind of needs to happen now.
