As the sun set that day, Ella somehow managed to see a plane at cruising altitude.
“Look!” she exclaimed, pointing to the sky and jumping in excitement.
When they’d grabbed their supplies at the beach, they’d spelled out H-E-L-P above the erosion on the sand. They’d used a combination of driftwood, black shells and anything else that might show up to someone that far up.
“Maybe this is it,” Linc said as softly as he could. “Maybe we’ll be able to get off this island.”
Ella’s face fell. Why was she disappointed? It wasn’t like she wanted to stay forever on this island. Their supplies would run out eventually and living off the land didn’t seem like something she could handle for very long.
But she did know she didn’t want to end her time with Linc because she was a glutton for punishment. It was no longer about the commission check, but about being with the man she loved. Before he committed himself to another woman. Named Sheena no less.
“What’s wrong?” Linc asked quietly, coming to sit next to her.
Ella shrugged. “I don’t really know.”
Gently, Linc’s fingers urged her to face him.
“I know how you feel, you know. I still know you. You want to go home, but you’re afraid for us to leave, that this will be the end.”
“We’ve been over for a long time, Linc. This has nothing to do with an us.”
“Oh, but it does. You know it, and I know it.”
His face moved toward hers. Her brain screamed this was a bad idea. So bad.
Yet so good and so right.
“I said I wasn’t going to kiss you again… but…”
His mouth hovered over hers, as if he were waiting for her permission. This might be all she had to take with her from this whole experience. One last kiss goodbye.
Ella touched her lips to his tentatively. It felt new again and raw, but yet it was so familiar her heart ached. She knew how he moved his lips when he kissed. She knew how his tongue would taste against hers before it ever transpired.
Then, it happened. With a groan, Linc parted her lips and claimed her mouth. His hands tangled in her hair and pulled her close, his tongue dueling and mating with hers. It was a dance they’d perfected together within weeks of their first meeting.
“Ella,” he whispered hotly against her mouth. “I love you. I’ve never stopped.”
To Ella, the words were like a slamming into a Sequoyah tree after going ninety miles an hour. They hurt. They were unexpected. They killed her.
Wrenching away from him, she backed up and held her hand to her mouth, shaking her head. “That doesn’t change anything, Linc. You’re still engaged.”
“Of course it changes things. I know you still feel the same way. I know you protected me when we were dating and didn’t want to bother me, but you were it for me. I wanted you as my partner, my wife, the mother of my children, but I didn’t understand that you were sacrificing yourself and your needs to keep me happy. But I get all that now. It can be different this time.”
“No!” Ella jumped to her feet and walked away from him, but he only followed.
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t let you hurt me the same way again. Your hours were too much, the time we spent together too little. That doesn’t make a healthy relationship!”
“Maybe not then, but I can cut hours, Ella. I own the company. All I’ve ever wanted was to spend more time with you. We can do this. I’ll tell Sheena as soon as I see her.”
“Then you’ll be ending us both,” Ella whispered. “I refuse to go into a relationship with you again. Don’t you see that I can’t? You destroyed me last time.”
“I see that now, but it doesn’t have to be that way again. I’ll marry you right here and now. I’ll take you to Vegas. We can plan the biggest wedding the town has ever seen. We can get married, just like we both want.”
Ella shook her head. The look in his eyes slowly turned from excitement to weariness. “It’s not what I want, Linc. Not even close.”
“Then tell me, Ella. Tell me what you want so I can do it. This is about us, the once in a lifetime love I never thought I’d get a second chance at. Please, Ella!”
To see him begging was a bittersweet moment. Hadn’t she always dreamed of this? Envisioned him crawling back every time she saw her own tears in the mirror?
But not like this. Not when her own heart was on the line, again. It was unfair for her to ask anything of him when there was still another woman in the picture. And she refused to talk to him any longer about the matter until they were rescued, and she had some space to think.
In the distance, she heard a buzzing sound.
“Linc! I hear a boat!”
They both ran out of the brush to the beach. Sure enough a small fishing boat was heading toward the island. Both Linc and Ella waved their hands like mad men. When they were sure the boat was coming and the driver had in fact acknowledged their waves with one of his own, Linc turned to Ella.
“I’m not giving up, Ella,” Linc said, taking one of her hands into his. “There’s a lot we still need to discuss.”
Ella said nothing as she watched the boat coming to their rescue.
It was all over. Again.
****
Once he was back on the mainland, Linc worked on getting his affairs in order so he could pay Ella a visit at her office. After a little digging, he discovered the listing had reversed the coordinates of the island, and he hadn’t been so distracted after all. Instead, an intern who no longer worked for the real estate company had entered the information incorrectly.
Try as he might, Linc couldn’t regret his time on the island. He’d been brought back into Ella’s life and he wasn’t going to take it for granted. Whether by divine intervention or just plain luck, Ella was a part of his life again. The way it should be.
Two weeks had passed since they’d been rescued and he’d last seen Ella, but he had been keeping tabs on her. She was still in town. Didn’t appear to have a boyfriend or anyone she was really close to other than a few friends he already knew about. Worked long hours. Another sign she was just as miserable as he was.
Sheena took the breakup surprisingly well, especially when he explained what all had happened in his past with Ella, then how he’d felt on the island. She agreed with him that the engagement shouldn’t move forward with his emotions tied in knots. He felt good about everything. And his decision to marry Ella. She might not realize how much she wanted the same thing, but he was determined to help her understand it. Starting tonight.
Linc picked up the phone and dialed her office number.
“Ella speaking, how can I help you?”
“First, you can go on a date with me tonight.”
Silence.
“Then we can kiss each other goodnight like we mean it afterward.”
The line went dead. Linc looked at the phone.
He dialed her again.
“Ella speaking, how can I help you?”
“After the kiss, you can agree to give this thing between us another shot.”
“Linc, it’s not going to happen.”
“Yes it is.”
“No, it’s not, because I don’t love you.”
“It’s been awhile. It’ll all come back.” He was so confident in the fact that she was suppressing her feelings for him, it didn’t even occur to him that maybe they really were done.
“Linc, you’re wasting your time.”
“I don’t think I am, Ella. I was there when you kissed me back.”
“Physical attraction is lust. Love is so much more.”
“At least agree to meet me tonight for dinner. Please?”
He heard her sigh. Her capitulation was just around the corner.
“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he added softly.
“I’ll meet you at Sam’s Pizzeria at seven,” Ella finally said.
“Deal.”
But the line had already gone dead.
****
Ella was such a statistic. Just a few words and she was putty in his gentle hands. Even now she couldn’t find the power to call him back and tell him no. And she knew he was on some selfish mission to get them back together, but it wasn’t going to happen. There were only so many times a woman could shatter and once was plenty for her thank you very much. Linc could have a one-track mind. It had served him well in the business industry, but with her, it had only annoyed her. There was no middle ground, no gray.
On the island, he’d still shown her what a stubborn mule he could be, but he’d also shown his softer side when they kissed, when he held her during the thunderstorms, cared for her bleeding feet, provided her with water when she was sun poisoned…
Speaking of which, she was still a nice shade of crimson and her skin was peeling in places she didn’t know she had. Maybe Linc would think she was hideous and forget this ridiculous notion that he still loved her.
Ella yanked open the door to the pizzeria only to find he was already there, waiting in their usual booth. She sighed. She could do this and come out with her pride still in tact.
“Evening, beautiful,” he practically purred and stood to kiss her cheek.
She ignored him and slid into the booth instead. “What do you want from me?” she asked without preamble.
“I want us to try again, Ella. Sheena and I agree that the engagement is off. We’re free to try again.”
“You’re forgetting something, Linc.”
He raised his eyebrows and waited.
“I don’t want to try again. We were a disaster. We’re both workaholics, have our careers, there’s no time for all this romance you seem to think we still have.”
He studied her but finally sighed. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Ella didn’t believe for a minute that it was that easy.
“Do you still love me?” The confidence in his voice wavered and his eyes searched hers.
She could lie and say she didn’t, or she could tell him the truth and give him that crumb of hope that wouldn’t allow either of them to move on.
“You know the answer to that, Linc,” she whispered and looked away.
“No, I don’t. I want you to tell me.” He took her hand in his and squeezed.
She couldn’t lie. She was bad at it anyway. “Yes. I still love you.”
“Then there’s nothing we can’t get through. We can be on a jet to Vegas tonight. Go to a judge tomorrow and elope. I want you as my wife, Ella. We love each other and there’s no reason in the world that we should be apart.”
“Marriage won’t solve all the problems we had before. When would we have time for each other? We’re both too stubborn to make this work.”
“Listen. I’ve been working on getting everything in order at work. I’ve hired an assistant and cleared lesser hours with the board. I know and recognize all the problems we had before and why it drove us apart. My career is not worth losing you again. I’ll resign if I have to.”
For the first time in years, Ella felt hope surge within her. Did he mean it? Could they really find solutions to all their problems?
“Your career is your life, Linc. How can that ever change? How can we ever change?”
He squeezed her hand again. “Because two weeks ago, someone reversed the coordinates on an island listing and we got stuck together for a few days. While we were there, I realized I couldn’t live my life anymore without you in it.”
“So what do we do?” Ella’s breathing came in little short gasps. Dare she hope?
Linc smiled tentatively. “We get married like we should have done two years ago. We love each other. We hold each other. Have babies. Grow old with each other.”
“Linc…”she whispered.
“Say yes, Ella. Be my wife.”
“What about Sheena? This is all too soon.”
“Sheena was a distraction. I never loved her. I cared about her, but I never loved her. I never wanted to be everything to her. With you, I need to be everything. I need you with me.”
“What if we’re wrong and we fall into our old ways again?”
He smiled patiently at her. “Then we fix it. Because nothing is more important to me than us.”
Linc seemed to have the answers to everything. Ella was on the verge of giving in when he suddenly sank to one knee, producing a small box with a not-so-small diamond inside.
“Ella, I’ve never wanted anyone more than you. I’ve never wanted to be on a deserted island with anyone but you. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. Will you marry me?”
Tears filled Ella’s eyes. She could have it all if she just said yes. Yes to everything she’d wanted for years.
“You just proposed to me in a pizza joint.” She laughed through her tears.
Linc shrugged and grinned. “Italian is your favorite, right?”
Ella nodded. Not about the pizza, but for everything. “Yes, Linc.”
“Yes to which question?”
Ella bit her lip and tasted her salty tears. She studied his beautiful green eyes, boring holes through her at that moment, waiting for the answer.
“Yes to all of it,” she whispered.
Linc didn’t bother to put the ring on her finger, but instead came to sit by her on the bench and kiss her senseless.
“Tomorrow,” he finally mumbled.
“What?”
“Tomorrow. We get married tomorrow. I can’t wait another day.”
Ella nodded. She didn’t care if they went to Vegas or the courthouse or what, tomorrow she would become Mrs. Ella Ellis.
Finally, Linc pulled away from her and slipped the large diamond on her left ring finger. It fit like a glove and sparkled in the dim lighting of the restaurant.
“Tomorrow,” Linc said again, as if needing her confirmation.
“Tomorrow,” she said with a nod and kissed him again.