The Right Choice(44)
Author: Carly Phillips

A car horn honked and loud laughter sounded behind them. “Go for it, man.” A group of rowdy teenagers waved and gunned the engine, leaving dust in their wake.

“You sure you want to keep giving kids like that a helping hand?” Mike muttered. He leaned his head against hers, his breathing coming in harsh, labored gasps.

Carly wanted to be mortified, but she couldn’t suppress a laugh instead. “It’s either that or let them out on their own…”

He shook his head. “Carly…” His husky voice held promise.

The dead silence of the night surrounded them. Her pulse beat faster as she answered his unspoken question by placing her hand inside his. “Let’s go home.”

Minutes later they entered the house. By unspoken agreement, she followed him toward his room. The blinking light on the answering machine in the family room stopped her and she paused. Carly hit the play button.

She didn’t recognize the voice. She knew she wouldn’t. Yet as soon as the deep baritone sounded in the empty room, she wished she could hit rewind, or turn back the clock. Somehow, she knew.

And when Mike’s hand went to his bad shoulder, her fears were confirmed. Pain sliced through her as the message wound its way to completion. “Relaxation time’s over. We could use you on assignment. Same place, different setup. Pack your bags and get the first flight out, buddy. It’s time to move on.”

* * *

Carly stood behind him. Bracing himself, Mike turned to face her. Moonlight filtered in through an open window, illuminating an otherwise dark room. Her eyes had taken on the bleak, haunted look he had seen earlier. To her credit, though, her shoulders were squared as she tried to look unaffected. Too bad he wasn’t buying the act.

The time had come sooner than he had planned. Leaving her would be next to impossible, but he had no choice. He wondered if she would beg him to stay. Part of him longed for that security while another dreaded the confrontation.

He almost laughed aloud. For a moment he had forgotten her feelings about their relationship. She might just welcome his departure. His entire body turned cold at the thought.

“Mike?” she asked in an unsteady voice.

“What?”

“I have one favor to ask.”

“Okay, but I can’t promise anything.” No matter how much he wanted to.

“This you can.”

“What is it?”

Tears shimmered in her dark eyes. “Don’t wake me to say good-bye.”

She should have begged him to stay. That and a body blow would have been less painful than the plaintive but resigned note in Carly’s voice. She was going to let him go. Mike thought he had been prepared.

He had been wrong. “Sit down.” Pausing to flick on a lamp, he prodded her toward the living room couch.

He dropped onto the soft cushion and patted the empty space next to him. She sat. But her silence unnerved him more than any hysterical scene.

“Tell me about the sections of your book,” he said.

“What?” Startled, she looked up at him.

He cupped her chin in his hand and stared into her eyes. “We have tonight.”

“And you want to spend it talking about my book?” She blinked and a lone teardrop leaked down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb, pausing to lick the salt off his finger.

“I want to spend it with you. In case you don’t realize it, sex isn’t the only thing between us.” He couldn’t leave letting her believe he cared only for the good time they’d had in bed. Given her inherent fear, the possibility shook him to the core. So he would spend what little time they had left condensing a few more weeks of intimate discussion into one night.

He drew a deep breath. “I care about you. All of you.”

“You do?”

He slanted her a look meant to chastise.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“You should be.” He let his hand come to rest on her shoulder. “Why do you keep doubting me?”

She flicked her bangs out of her eyes. A gesture that had become second nature to her and so familiar to Mike that it caused a warmth in the region of his heart… because she used it whenever he touched hers.

“I can’t remember the last person who cared enough about me to ask something so… trivial.”

“Since when is your career trivial?”

She shook her head. “To me it’s not. But to other people…” Her shoulders lifted and fell.

“Hey.”

Raising her long lashes, she looked at him with wide eyes.

“Don’t I deserve a label a little more personal than other people?”

“Yeah, I guess you do.” She laughed, a light-hearted sound that despite the tense and somber circumstances sounded natural, not forced. A sound Mike knew he would carry with him wherever he went.

“Progress.” Releasing an exaggerated groan, he propped his feet up on the couch, prompting her to shift and join him laying down or be dislodged.

“So. How do you go about solving the problems of the American teenager?”

Carly leaned her head against his chest and snuggled closer so she wouldn’t topple onto the floor. Enjoying his warmth and needing his strength had nothing to do with her actions. “Name your biggest problem as a teen,” she said.

“Family,” he said without hesitation.

Thinking about his parents’ deaths and his disinterested aunt and uncle, she could only imagine the depth of the dysfunction he’d lived. “And after family?” she asked.

“Sex.”

She nudged him in the side with her elbow.

He groaned. “Direct hit,” he muttered. “I meant girls.”

“Relationships,” she clarified. “And from a teenage girls’ perspective, it was probably friends and then relationships,” she said in a purely authoritative tone.

“I like this take-charge side of you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

She laughed. “Normally I handle myself pretty well. You just came into my life at… a crossroads.”

“You’ll get through it. I have faith. So tell me, how far have you gotten on each section?” he asked, then listened intently as she filled him in on her progress—or lack thereof.

His interest warmed her. He obviously cared for her, for more than just the physical relationship they’d shared. And despite his imminent departure, he’d proven the kind of man he really was. The kind who wouldn’t be content to leave friends and responsibilities hanging. The kind who would face his fears and move on, leaving her behind.