Even After All

Part Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Four

Mattie watched the hoards of spectators move across the car park and smiled, the weekend had been a HUGE success, physically and mentally the hardest, most draining thing she’d ever done, but a success, and a lot of fun.  For two and a half days hundreds of people had moved through the hotel with various agendas, and Mattie herself had been trying to keep everything afloat. Sarah and Fabio were working the golf club and gym, making sure that the greens were in perfect condition, the buggies were working and that the bars and restaurant were well stocked, as well as that all the hospitality ran smoothly. She on the other hand had stayed at the hotel and relied on Dan and Martin to help her keep things going there. And for the full two and a half days her time had been filled with complaints about room service or business men needing fax machines, room overbooks, sickness and then there was the lack of a fresh dairy delivery on the last morning. Hectic was an understatement, but it all passed so quickly. Which was a good thing to Mattie. Being busy didn’t leave her much time to think about Thursday night, and the kiss.

It was now Sunday and she’d managed to not see Dylan other than across the room as he was entertaining the hospitality parties, a chunk of whom were his colleagues from the States, and whilst every other worker seemed to be run into the ground, he seemed relaxed and seemed to be playing a fair it of golf himself. Each time he’d caught her eye, given her a wink across the foyer or restaurant, he’d had his clubs over his shoulder and was heading out or coming in from the course, she had to remind herself that she’d wanted him to step back from running the place, she could hardly complain now that he was doing just that. Then there were the half a dozen investors from the US that he had to entertain every night. No Dylan was preoccupied, and it meant he wasn’t hassling her, because since the moment the kiss had ended, he’d wanted answers from her. Answers she didn’t seem to know herself.

 

The kiss.

She closed her eyes and remembered that moment for the umpteenth time, the moment when nothing mattered but the man in front of her. As his lips had claimed hers, for a moment she’d been transported back to being nineteen, the illicit sensation of kissing someone as exotic and worldly as Dylan Wallace was exactly the same as it always had been. He was a great kisser, that was a no brainer, but it was his nervousness, his heart racing as she placed a hand on his chest, his gasp of breath when he lifted his lips from hers, and the fear in his eyes that the glitter of passion failed to hide that made her truly appreciate how special the moment was for him too.

She had tried to fight the instinct to throw herself at him, because that wasn’t right. They were in the board room, anyone could walk in...but it was hard, far too hard. And it was as she was trying...and failing to have rational thoughts about what to do, that there was a crash from the corridor outside.

They both pulled apart, dragging lips from each other with such reluctance, such disappointment but aware that the blinds weren’t closed, that they were visible to anyone who walked past, and that their indiscretions could easily become common knowledge again. And that would be a disaster.

Then there was another crash, it sounded like a cleaning trolley hitting skirting boards, and whilst she silently thanked the clumsy cleaner for delivering a moment of clarity, she knew that the spell between them had dissolved in a second.  Dylan sighed, and as he glanced towards the window, and she knew it was with resignation.

The spilt second of hesitation, his look away from her, had given Mattie the chance to jump to her feet. This was too much, too soon, and now that they weren’t touching, that she wasn’t entranced in his smell, his warmth...she was immediately terrified again.