Escaping to Ireland

Vinessa

I had hoped and dreamed for the magical nights that only happen in fairy tales. The night started off pretty close to anything I could have ever wanted. Liam was gorgeous. He was prettier than any male model I had ever seen, and yet he was attracted to me. The messed-up Irish girl.

So the night started off amazing and ended with him agreeing to be strictly professional. I knew it would be hard, particularly since any time our skin came into contact, I could feel that spark sitting there waiting to ignite at any time. He agreed very quickly, and he was sticking to it. I missed the car rides to work together the most. I was kicking myself for purchasing my own vehicle; why did I have to be such a grown-up? The gas in itself was killing me, but I was not about to go back to Liam and ask for car rides again.

But some stupid part of me kept wanting Liam to just break our pact; I wanted him to call me into his office and throw me on his desk. I wanted him to take my hand while we rode up in the elevator together. I wanted to be able to take my hand and run it through his hair. Sadly, he stuck to the pact, and the unselfish part of me was happy he was sticking to it. He didn't lead on to it all if it was bothering him at all, even though it was killing me.

A few weeks after the party, Ian showed up at the office. I had gathered that Ian was more of a boomerang coming back to you after a very far journey. "Where did you go to this time?" I asked him after he had stepped out of Liam's office. I never knew what they talked about when he stopped by. Ian had gone to Madrid last time, and I was jealous. The stories of his travels were fun to listen to.

"Just Paris," he said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Just Paris," I said like he did mockingly. "It must be a drag being you."

"It must be a drag being Liam," He said, looking at Liam's door and back at me.

"Has something happened I'm not aware of?" Since we were strictly talking about business only, it would have been easy to miss something.

"I don't know what he did in his life to deserve this."

"Deserve what?" I asked, more puzzled than I ever had been by Ian.

"Deserve this hell you have made for him." My eyebrows raised. "He is going insane working with you like this."

"I don't know...."

He held his hand up. "I like you, Vinessa. And if Liam thinks it is worth it to work with the woman he loves and act like it's not eating him up, then I'll go along with it. But just as long as all the players know what is actually going on." He rapped his knuckles on the desk before walking off. Before the elevators closed, he said, "It's been a pleasure as usual."

"Likewise," I said to no one after the doors had closed.

I stormed into Liam's office; I knew he wasn't on the phone. He was sitting in his office chair, looking out the window.

His eyes whipped to me. "Vinessa is everything..."

I was sitting on his lap before he could get up; my hands were combing through his hair before my lips had met his. Our tongues played tango, and the electricity was there. It was the most alive I had felt the whole year. Eventually, I pulled away from him, my forehead resting on his.

"I'm a mess. I don't know how long... And I'm not asking you to wait. I can't do that to you..." he put his finger over my lips, shushing me. His lips collided with me; this time, it was less urgent; it was calm as if he knew there would be another time for us to do this.

And deep down, I knew there would be another time.