Hate at First Sight (15 page)

I couldn’t believe she left. Until the last minute I was sure she would change her mind. I was in the boardroom when my secretary brought the papers, signed by Megan.

“Thanks,” I said, staring at her signature. Did she hesitate at least for a second before signing the form? Did she really hate me so much?

I knew I was the very idiot who messed up everything, but everyone deserved a second chance, right? Well, apparently Megan had a different opinion….

My days turned into something that I would have never imagined to become a part of my life — a routine. I went to work, then I came back home, ordered some food, went to bed, and even fell asleep if luck smiled at me. But most of my nights I spent staring blankly at the glass ceiling over my bed. I had finally found an apartment not far away from where Megan lived. Even though I wouldn’t like to admit it, I was still obsessed with her. But in this case luck wasn’t on my side. The owner of the house where she rented an apartment said she left, and the woman didn’t know anything about the date of her return. But as far as I knew
, Megan was still paying for it, which meant that sooner or later she was going to come back home.

I tried to ask Owen about his sister, but he refused to tell me where she was.

“Give her some time to calm down,” he said. “Don’t rush things. Megan isn’t an evil-minded person, but you hurt her, and now it’s your turn to suffer. Though I’m sure that makes two of you.”

“Well, thanks, friend. But it would really help if I knew where to find her.”

“No. It wouldn’t help, Aiden. And you know why?”

“Go ahead, hit me with your best sarcasm.”

Owen laughed. “Sarcasm is what you usually use to impress people. I use rational thinking. It’s more effective.”

“And that means?”

“That she’s not ready to see you.”

“Uh, I have already figured that much.”

“Be patient. She will talk to you when the right time comes.”

“Let’s hope I will still be alive when it happens.”

Most of my conversations with Owen ended with nothing. But his rational speeches were one of those things that still made me hope for the best.

Once or twice I went to Bristol, just to cheer myself up and feel alive again. It doesn’t mean that I slept with every woman I saw, no, but I did have a few meaningless
‘meetings’
. Though no other woman but Megan was on my mind, and every time I had sex with someone else, my eyes were still seeing her.

One day Owen and I met in London. He came to the meeting with our partners from France, and we talked for a few minutes between negotiations.

“So how have you been doing?” he asked casually. It was a very strange way for Owen to start a conversation. He always got straight down to business.

“What happened?” I asked cautiously.

“Nothing.”

“Come on, Owen. Stop fooling me.”

“Are you dating someone?”

“No.”

“Are you still waiting for Megan to come back to you?”

“Maybe. Why?”

“Just curious.” He shrugged, sipping his tea.

“Did you talk to her? What did she say? Is she seeing someone?”

“Slow down, man. Yes, I did talk to her a few hours ago.”

“And?”

“And she’s coming back in two weeks.”

“From where?”

“Na
h, not going to buy it, Aiden. I know the moment I tell you where she is, you will forget about everything and run after her.”

I smirked. “Okay, maybe you are right. What else did she tell you?”

Owen looked at me, hesitating.

“Just spit it out!”

“She met someone.”

“Like?”

“Like she has a boyfriend now.”

Okay, that was kind of … unexpected.

No, scratch that. It was like a splash of cold water in the middle of December. Though it was only the middle of August outside, I could still feel the shivers running up and down my spine.

“Good,” finally I said, coming up to the window. “Did she … um, sound happy?”

“Yeah, I think so. But….”

“What? Is there more than that?”

“Mary didn’t want me to tell you, but I think you need to know … well, the guy she’s dating proposed.”

I froze, speechless. She hasn’t been to London for how long? Two months? And she has already found a husband?

I laughed nervously. “Unbelievable!”

“I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“No, it’s okay. I would have found out the truth sooner or later.

The view outside the window suddenly blurred. I think I missed the rest of Owen’s rambling speech, because all I could think about was Megan’s upcoming wedding.

I remembered our talk back on the Peterson’s farm and her words about the beach wedding. My heart sank….

“Do you know where the wedding will take place?”

“At St. Paul’s. Why?”

“You mean here, in London?”

“Yes.”

“Is the future husband a prince or something?”

“All I know about him is that his family is a textile manufacturer.”

“How very promising,” I muttered. My blood was boiling slowly, and I didn’t know if I would be able to make it to the end of today’s negotiations. I felt like I needed to punch something. Or better
, someone. And
Mr. Soon-to-be-a-husband
would be a perfect candidate for that.

“Listen, Aiden. I know you still feel something for her….”

“I love her! I still fucking love her! And it’s not just something, Owen. You know me well enough to realize how much these words mean to me. And your stubborn sister never gave me a chance to right the wrong! And you know what? I’m not going to watch her suffer for the rest of her life. I need to make her change her mind. And you are going to help me.”

“Oookaaay,” Owen said slowly, watching me cautiously. Did he think I would punch him if he didn’t agree to play for my team? Well, anything was possible. “Why do you think she’s going to suffer?”

“You of all people should know that a St. Paul’s wedding is not what your sister has been dreaming about.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I was shameless enough to dig deeper, and see a part of her soul that no one had ever seen. And what I saw there, makes me think that I’m absolutely right.”

“And how are you going to make her change her mind?”

“First of all, you need to tell me where she is.”

“No, Aiden. I’m your friend, and I understand your reasons, but….”

“The hell you do! Just tell me where she is, Owen. Or I swear I will never talk to you again; not in this life, not in my afterlife.”

Owen smiled, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you. We work in the same company and admit it, it would seem kind of strange if we stop talking to each other.”

“Whatever. I will keep my word.”

“Okay. You sure what you want to do will make her happy? ‘Cause this is the only thing that matters when it comes to my sister.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“No. You should try better than your best, Aiden. Otherwise she will kill you. And if you mess it up again, I will help her.”

“Enough talking. Where’s Megan?” I couldn’t wait to make my plan come true, and I’m sure I had never been so determined to do anything. Well, hell, love can be a curse after all.

“I lied about two weeks. She will be in Axbridge by tomorrow night.”

“You are one hell of a friend to have, you know?” I said, heading for the door.

“The negotiations are not finished yet. Where are you going?”

“Sign everything for me. I need to do a few things. I’ll call you later!”

“Aiden!” Owen called after me.

But I was already running down the stairs. Waiting for the elevator felt too long.

First of all I needed to find a travel agency. I stopped at the one near my house and booked a tour to Maldives. I hoped Megan would like the beauty of its sea and beaches.

The next place I visited was a jewelry store. I knew that Megan didn’t like gold, that's why I bought a platinum ring, with a round, white diamond, and asked the owner of the store to engrave a few words on the inside.

“Perfect,” I said approvingly. I only hoped the ring wouldn’t end up lying at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

Now I was ready to see Megan. But I knew she would never agree to talk to me, even though Owen said she would when she was ready. That’s why I made a plan on how to make her leave Axbridge and go to Maldives. I felt really sorry about the guy that still hoped to become her husband. I felt even a little guilty, but my own desire to be with Megan eclipsed everything else.

And so I called Owen and told him about my plan.

“This is crazy,” he said, laughing.

“But you like the idea, don’t you?”

“Well, I do like how it sounds, and I truly hope that Megan will forgive you for everything you’ve made her go through. When do you want me to give her the note?”

“She’s supposed to come to the airport at ten in the evening, so I think you need to give her the note at about eight. The less time she has to figure out what’s going on, the better.”

“Okay, I will do that,” Owen said.

“Thanks, man. I will owe you one forever.”

“Yes, you will.”

Owen wished me good luck, and I got back to my work — I needed to choose a wedding dress for Megan.

I knew she didn’t want anything fancy. I still had a picture of the dress I saw when Megan and I were looking for a dress for Owen’s wedding. I looked through a few dresses by different designers, when my eyes stopped at one almost identical to the dress from my picture.

“Are you sure you don’t want your bride to try it?” the lady from the shop asked.

“Trust me, I remember every curve of her body,” I said, smiling at her. She giggled, and went to pack the dress.

I also needed to gather up my courage. I was sure Megan would be pissed off about me ruining her wedding. But whoever her fiancé was, I knew he would never be better than me. And no matter how much Megan hated me, I was going to show her that the way from hate to love could take no more than just one kiss….

Two months….

I haven’t been to Britain for two long months, and every moment from before was still flashing in front of my eyes. There was no place in the world where I could hide from my feelings for Aiden, and I knew that no matter what happened next, I would never be able to forget him.

And the next thing to happen was my wedding.

I met Richard, my fiancé, in Spain where I spent the last sixty days. He was there on business, and our romance (though I wasn’t even sure if that word was good enough to describe our relationship) started the moment we saw each other at one of Barcelona’s restaurants. Richard was British, well-mannered and intelligent. Maybe some would call him boring, but for me he was a man of stability. I knew he would never let me down, and I was sure as hell he would never hurt me, or leave me for someone else. I felt secure with him, which was the most important argument while thinking about his proposal.

He said he loved me, but somehow this time the words of love didn’t make my heart flutter. Was it a bad sign? I don’t know. I thought my love for him would come later, as I secretly hoped I would
still be able to love someone other than Aiden. Right then and there marrying Richard felt right.

I knew Aiden would find out about the wedding, and I didn’t even ask Owen not to tell him about my plans. I didn’t know anything about his life, and frankly I was afraid to find out if he was seeing someone else. Not the best thing to think about a few days before the wedding, I know. But unfortunately we can’t make our heart stop loving someone, even if we know that this is what we need to do….

“Megan, Dear, are you there?” my mother called me from the hall. “We are waiting for you to come downstairs!”

“I’ll be ready in a minute,” I said, looking at my reflection in the mirror.

Tonight my family was supposed to meet Richard’s parents. He himself couldn’t be at the meeting, as he had some emergency at work. My brother and his wife were also here. They arrived a few minutes ago, and I couldn’t wait to hear what they thought about my spontaneous wedding. For my family and myself I needed to look happy, even if my heart was still bleeding. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life crying, and I hoped Richard would do his best to make me smile.

“Hey, Sis,” Owen said, entering my room.

“Hey.” I hugged him tightly. “Missed you.”

“Same here, Sunshine. So … are you ready for a new stage in your life?”

I took a deep breath, trying to force a smile. “I guess I am.”

“Good, because I have a surprise for you,” he said, giving me an envelope.

“What’s this?” I asked curiously.

“Open it, and follow the instructions, written inside.”

“Is this from Richard?”

“Just read the letter,” Owen said, before he left.

My fiancé liked surprising me, so when I started reading the letter, I realized that the new surprise was going to be interesting.

“Dear Megan,

Every second I spend without you feels like the worst torture ever. I want to f
all asleep and wake up with you. Every single day, for the rest of my life….

Take the flight № 516. I’ll see you soon.

Love you”

I smiled, looking at the note. Maybe the man I was going to marry was able to eclipse what I felt for Aiden after all?

I read
the note one more time, and called the airport to know more about the mentioned flight. As it turned out I needed to be there in less than thirty minutes, so I packed my bag in a hurry, and went downstairs where a taxi was waiting for me. I also wanted to say good-bye to Richard’s parents, but Owen said he would do that for me.

“Take care, Sis,” he said, hugging me. “Call me when you land, and say hi to your kidnap
per.”

“I will,” I said, smiling, and then I got into the taxi and went to the airport.

“Miss Brawley?” someone called.

I turned around and saw a woman running up to me.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I’ve got a letter for you.”

Another letter? Looks like Richard has thought about every small detail of my mysterious adventure.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the envelope.

“Follow me, please,” the woman said. I nodded, took my bag and put the letter into my pocket to read it later.

I got aboard, and there were only a few more passengers traveling with me: two of them were speaking Spanish, and I thought it was weird, as Richard and I had just returned from Spain. I didn’t know where I was going to, as the lady from the airport said it was a surprise.

I remembered the letter in my pocket and thought it was just about time to read it. But this time there wasn’t anything but the name of the hotel I needed to go to and the number of the room reserved for me.

I didn’t have much time to rest after the flight from Spain, so when I heard about eleven more hours of traveling, I fell asleep, barely closing my eyes, and woke up only when the stewardess announced the landing.

“Welcome to Gan International Airport,” the voice from the speaker said. “We hope you will enjoy your time on Maldives.”

Maldives? No way … I was on the other side of the world!

Thank God, the airport employees could speak English, so I didn’t have any problems with finding the needed hotel. It turned out to be really beautiful; decorated in white, golden and blue colors.

After I checke
d in, I went to my room the windows of which opened right to the ocean and a snow-white beach.

I looked around
the room and saw a package on the bed with another letter. This time it said the following:

“This dress is for you. Put it on and meet me at the beach in an hour.

P.S. Leave your hair down.”

I smiled at the words and opened the package.

First I froze, staring at the dress I saw there. It was the wedding dress of my dream: simple, floor-length, ivory and strapless. How did Richard know that I wanted a dress like that?

I put it on and went to the mirror.

“It’s perfect,” I said quietly, touching the soft fabric.

Sudden tears burned
my eyes, and even the beauty of the dress couldn’t diminish the pain my heart felt. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes for a second. It wasn’t the best moment for crying, and I couldn’t let my feelings ruin my life again.

“Not this time,” I said firmly to my reflection.

I took a shower, dried my hair, got dressed and went to
the beach. I didn’t know exactly where I needed to go, as the note didn’t say anything about it. So I stopped not too far away from the water, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sand, tickling my bare feet.

People were passing by, watching
me curiously. Not every day can you see a bride standing alone on the beach.

Someone’s arms wrapped around my waist, and the voice behind me said, “You look exactly the way I imagined you would, wearing this dress.”

I forgot how to speak for a moment. No words were good enough to describe what I felt the moment I recognized the voice. Then I turned around slowly and gasped.

“Aiden?”

We had been looking at each other for no less than five minutes, and then I blinked and shook my head, as if trying to get rid of the vision in front of my eyes.

“This is not real, is it?”

Aiden’s lips smiled. “This is not the first time you have thought that I’m a trick of your imagination.”

“Oh, God…” I think my knees trembled, because Aiden’s arms were back around me, and he was holding me firmly, as if he thought I would faint.

“It was the only way to make you listen to me,” he said softly.

Uh, his voice still sounded like the most beautiful music I ever heard. My heart fluttered. The stupid thing still refused to forget him, and he … well, he was still gorgeous; wearing a white tux, with no tie, but with a few flowers pinned to the lapel. Today his eyes looked more blue than gray, reflecting the shades of the ocean behind me. The scent of his cologne couldn’t belong to anyone else, and only he could hold me with so much tenderness.

“Can we talk?” he asked, making sure I was standing firmly on my feet.

“Does it look like I’m going to run away again?” I didn’t know what else to say. I was still too shocked to think straight.

“No, but I know you well enough to think that you will find a way to disappear.”

I shook my head tiredly. “I’m not going anywhere. At least not until I get some rest after the two flights I had in the last twenty four hours.” I didn’t even want to think about Richard and his parents, or the wedding that we were planning.

“Shall we go somewhere we could take a seat?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

Aiden led me to a huge tree, growing right on the beach, and we sat on a small bench under it.

“The day you left I thought I would lose my mind. Literally,” Aiden said. His features were so painfully familiar; I couldn’t take my eyes off him. My thoughts were still a little blurred, but my senses were pulling me to the man by my side, and I couldn’t help it.

“You turned my world upside down, Megan. You turned me into your slave. Now I can’t imagine my life without you, and there isn’t a day when I wake up not thinking about you. Every time I take a breath I feel the lack of air. As if you were my air, and I couldn’t breathe when you were not around. My heart sinks every time I look at your picture, because I can’t imagine you smiling so happily at anyone but me. I can’t work, I can’t sleep, I can’t do anything, because you are not there with me. And … I don’t know what else to say to make you believe me.”

He looked into my eyes, and I realized that he didn’t need to say anything else, because in the depth of his gray-blue oceans I could see all I needed to believe him. Love….

I
touched his cheek softly. He closed his eyes, smiling slightly, and put his palm over mine.

“The best touch ever,” he said, kissing my fingertips.

I don’t know what happened to my rational thinking, or my plans about my peaceful future, but at that moment all I wanted was Aiden. And I didn’t care about the rest of the world; it could wait.

“Make love to me,” I breathed into his lips.

No more words were needed to make him comply with my wish. He took my hand into his and led me to his room.

Neither of us wanted to rush things. We went to the last floor and entered Aiden’s suite, still holding hands.

“No way out,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“And no more talking,” I added, smiling at him.

He came closer and kissed me, making my body ache pleasantly. Then he led me to the bed, and put me down on the satin surface.

His eyes were as mesmerizing as always, pulling me slowly into the sea of excitement and love. I reached forward to savor the flavor of his lips again. They were as smooth and demanding as I remembered. And even though it seemed as if the kiss was light, it was full of fire and passion that we could barely control.

Aiden began to take his clothes off, smiling mischievously down at me. He wasn’t ashamed to stand before me in his nakedness, and I couldn’t but admit that the view of his body was simply breathtaking. He was like a god to me; my own gorgeous god.

“Come here,” he said, outstretching his hand.

I took it willingly, and he pulled me into his tight embrace — the only place I always wanted to be.

I felt his fingers unzipping my dress, and a few seconds later it fell down to my feet, followed by Aiden’s fascinated gaze.

“You are so beautiful,” he whisper
ed. His lips felt hot against my skin, and so intoxicating, as if they had some elixir that he was covering my body with, kissing and biting softly the most sensitive parts of it.

Have you ever seen a man on his knees in front of a woman, yet still looking so masculine and strong? Well, I have. And it was the most exciting view ever. Especially considering the things that the man was doing, looking up at me with the eyes that were able to drive any woman crazy in seconds….