CAN'T IMAGINE

CHAPTER 10 - "LOVE DOES THAT TO YOU SOMETIMES"

Shawn knew it was a dirty, underhanded way of keeping her from getting too stressed about everything, but it was also very enjoyable. He kept reminding her of their afternoon session and found himself fighting his own arousal the whole night. If he could have dragged her into the bathroom at the party, he would have, but it was never worth the risk of discovery, no matter how titillating the sense of danger was. Nevertheless, once in the limousine and on their way home, he took her in his arms and kissed her hard, nipping at her neck, sliding his lips down to her daring decollatage and caressing her nipples through the thin fabric of her sexy gown. Covered as he was by her body, she was emboldened to caress him through his trousers and he moaned against her mouth. They didn't even make it upstairs when they got home and afterwards they lay panting on the floor of their living room, naked and sated. He knew they couldn't keep doing this though. They were living in a state of constant stress and although they could diffuse it with sex, and kid themselves it was intimacy, they were avoiding talking about a lot of things, and not coping with the overwhelming attention.

They had arrived back into Miami a few days after the plane had come to collect them, along with the body of the hijacker, and that's when life went completely crazy. It had been quiet in Road Town when they had arrived from the island to complete the formalities regarding the crash, their survival and the death of the hijacker. There had been a local journalist at the airport on Tortola when they landed and they had given a brief statement and a photo, then had FaceTimed their families who had cried. Shawn's family had flown to Miami and were waiting at the Cabello house when they got there. It had been wonderful to see them all, to get all the hugs and feel all the love, but they had become used to being alone and after a while they just wanted to go home. They used tiredness as an excuse, but as they walked out the door, they found on the street a gang of paparazzi waiting for them and angry neighbours furious the photographers had barged into the private estate. The flight into Miami had been private and they had managed to arrive without fanfare but word had got around. They had to go back inside and it was an hour or so before the police came and cleared the crowd and with the help of friends acting as decoys they managed to get home without detection. Then they really were exhausted.

Andrew and Roger had arrived the next morning and were excited to see them, and they all sat down, with their PR team on Skype, to discuss the best way to handle the press. They wrote a press release that covered all the salient points but they weren't ready for an interview, especially not on TV, despite all the offers. They figured the interest would die down but it hadn't.

The morning after the award ceremony they slept late, waking to Camila's phone ringing. It was good news, she had been offered the part in a movie she had been dying to get since well before the crash, and she was bouncing off the walls all afternoon, making phone calls, having FaceTimes and making plans. Shawn felt himself fade into the background. Usually, none of this worried him, he was always proud of her and joined in her excitement, but he felt an invisible wall go up between them.  He left her to it and went for a long run. It gave him time to think, to try to order his jumbled thoughts and calm his emotions.  He wasn't sure what was wrong, or how to go about fixing it. It was expected that after such a traumatic and life-changing experience it would be difficult to fit back into this world. He sometimes thought Camila did that better than he did, but she was also become good at keeping her feelings inside and he was frustrate, unsure what she was really feeling, or what she really wanted.  He just needed to be patient, to be there, to keep the communication open and showing her how much he loved her. He knew she loved him too, and when she found her new place she would turn around and know he was there, and had been all along. Patience, that was what he needed.

When he got back he found her dressed and packing.

"What's this?" he asked, taking out his airpods and looking at her bags. This was not an overnight trip.