Page 36 of Personal Foul (The San Diego Storm #3)

Colin

I was exhausted by the time the sun came up. We’d slept fitfully, tossing and turning until we finally gave up and simply held one another. Our bodies were exhausted, but our minds and hearts ached too much to rest.

We clung to each other all night as we listened to the waves outside.

There were long silences when I thought he might have been asleep, but as it turned out, he wasn’t.

Carson would run his hand through my hair or kiss the top of my head.

I tried not to move, wanting to memorize the feeling of his arms around me.

When the sky lightened, I knew my time was up. I’d never dreaded the sunrise like I did now. It meant the sand had all fallen to the bottom of our hourglass.

“I need to check my email,” I whispered to him.

Carson loosened his hold long enough for me to pick up my phone. He sat up while I opened the app, refreshing it a hundred times. My only new correspondence was my airline reminding me to check in.

“Nothing?” he asked.

I shook my head, staring at the screen. “Nothing, love.”

I fought the urge to throw it against the wall. But the only thing that would do was cut off all communication I had with him after I left. And I couldn’t stand that.

As I sat slumped over on the edge of the bed, Carson’s hand ran up and down my back as I tried to figure out what in the bloody hell had happened. This process was supposed to be easy, not break my fucking heart.

“Are you okay?” he asked, scooting closer.

Carson wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back onto him. I cuddled into his touch as the sky continued to lighten.

We laid wrapped around one another until I had to get up.

“I should shower. With Monday traffic, we’ll need to leave earlier, I suppose.”

His body moved under me. “Probably.”

When I finally got out of bed, I padded to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, I waited for the water to warm. I wanted to be numb to everything. The happiness, the hurt.

Stepping in, I hung my head under the spray and allowed myself to feel it all.

When I got out of the shower, Carson was sitting on the edge of the bed. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were bloodshot from no sleep. He looked up and held his hand out. I went to him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, laying the side of his face on my abdomen.

“This is temporary,” he said. “We’ll get this straightened out, and you’ll be back here before you know it.”

“Uh-huh,” I agreed, terrified that he was wrong.

Running my fingers through his hair, I pulled his head back and looked at him. His hazel eyes were glassy, and saying goodbye to him was going to kill me.

“We need to leave soon. I’ve already checked in.”

He nodded, not looking away. A tear slipped down his face, making me start all over again. I thought I’d gotten all my tears out in the shower, but maybe not.

Leaning down, I kissed him, then moved back to dress. No suit this time, just jeans and a sweater.

Carson stood and headed for the closet. He returned dressed similarly to me.

I still had reservations about leaving Allister, because I just couldn’t shake the feeling I wasn’t coming back.

Maybe it was my past coming back to haunt me, but nothing good ever stayed in my life for long.

I hadn’t banked on falling in love, and Carson was the best thing to ever happen to me.

As if he knew I needed him, Allister jumped up on the bed for his morning rub. I sat down on the edge of the bed and held him in my arms. “You be a good boy while daddy’s away,” I said to him. “Keep Carson and Bella safe while I’m gone.”

I held my cat close while he rubbed his scent all over me. When he was done, I let him go.

“You should go to the Super Bowl with Lennox and Dane,” I suggested.

Carson shrugged. “We’ll see.”

I zipped up my duffle bag with the things I was taking back. It was summer in Sydney, so I’d be fine.

Carson picked up my bag and hung it over his shoulder. Reaching for my hand, I followed him down the stairs to the kitchen to say goodbye to Bella. With that done, we headed to the garage.

“Two weeks,” he said. “That’s all I’m giving you to get back here.”

I smiled and bit my lip. “Or what?”

He pulled me to his chest. “Or I’m coming after you.”

And he pressed his mouth to mine.

When we arrived at the airport, Carson turned into the hourly parking lot.

“You don’t have to come in. You can just drop me off.”

He looked over at me as he pulled into a space furthest away from the door. “I swear, sometimes you act like you don’t know me at all.”

I laughed, needing the reprieve from the gut-wrenching pain of leaving him behind. “I know for a fact that I know you better than anyone. And I also know we’re both gonna make a fucking scene in there.”

He grinned. “Who? Us? Just like the one when you arrived?”

I laughed at the memory. “No, this one will be much juicier for the lookie loo’s.”

The laughter lightened our moods momentarily until we were out of the car. Carson took my hand and laced our fingers together. He walked with me all the way to the TSA checkpoint.

“Check your phone one more time,” he said. “Maybe something is there this time.”

Humoring him, I pulled it out and checked again. “Nothing.”

He released a heavy sigh and wiped his hand over his mouth. Carson was as frustrated as I was. “I expect texts and phone calls. Lots of updates.”

I smiled. “And you’ll get them. Loads of them.”

He pulled me into his arms. “And I need to know when you board both flights. I’ll be watching on the app that tracks flights.”

I nodded, swallowing hard.

“And I want to know when you land and get to your apartment.”

The lump in my throat was growing. I wanted to be snarky and call him a nosey stalker, but my heart hurt too much to work up the energy. “I will. All of it. And I’ll call when I get home.”

He shook his head. “Nope. We’re not calling it home. Home is here. With me. Your apartment is on the other side of our ocean. Got it?”

Our ocean.

“Home is here. With you.”

His head bounced. “Good. Now say that to yourself for the next seventeen hours. And hurry the fuck back to me because I can’t take doing this again.”

I grabbed him in a hug and swallowed back the tears. “I love you,” I whispered into his ear as I kissed his cheek.

“I love you, to Australia and back.”

I don’t know how long we stood there like that, but it wasn’t long enough.

When Carson pulled back and took my face in both his hands, I knew the kiss was going to wreck me.

And I was right. We might have been in the middle of an international airport, but the world around us still disappeared when his mouth was on mine.

And when I stepped away, I told him again. “Love you.”

“Love you,” he croaked, then released me.

I wiped my leaking eyes and took a deep breath. “Two weeks.”

He nodded. “Two weeks.”

Making my way through the checkpoint, I turned around and looked for him. Carson stayed where I could see him until the end.

I headed off to my gate, eager to get back to Australia so I could come home to Carson. But the road to come back turned out to be more difficult than expected. And I had fucking Leland to thank for that.