Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

His brows descended, and he looked thunderous as he considered her words. Looked like Mr. Unaffected-and-Uninvolved didn’t like the idea of her meeting this fictional man someday. She hid her smile and sat up to give him a soft peck on his stubbled jaw. Well, he had to realize that her life would move on after him.

Vicki was not going to pine for him—much. She was going to find someone who would appreciate her and want to be with her—eventually.

Just as soon as she got over the inconvenience of being in love with him.

The next three weeks flew by. Ty and Vicki did not see each other often during the day but they made love every night. Long, slow love that left them wrung out afterward.

Neither of them ever verbalized the fact that there now appeared to be a deep emotional component to their lovemaking that had been absent from their initial encounters. Or maybe Vicki was fooling herself into believing Ty felt that same connection. It could just be her, making things so much worse for herself by following this winding, self-destructive path to its inevitable conclusion off a steep cliff.

She had asked him to take her sightseeing a couple of times. Once to a pristine stretch of beach at a nature reserve. It had been mostly empty because they’d gone in the middle of the week. Thankfully, he’d left the suit at home and had dressed appropriately for once. Wearing flip-flops, a pair of board shorts that showed off his muscular legs, and a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt that he had told her was a present from Chance.

He had been all business until lunchtime, at which point he had gravely informed her that he was taking his break. That was when he had grabbed her around the waist, and they’d fooled around on the beach like teenagers. Interesting that his break had coincided with the exact moment she’d removed her cover up to show off the skimpy turquoise bikini beneath.

It was an odd time for Vicki. She found it difficult to be her normal self around her family while she was keeping this massive, intense secret from them.

She was in love.

It was an overwhelming emotion that she was certain could be seen in every smile and heard in every laugh. Surely it was present in her voice when she spoke? And in her body when she moved?

Her love for Ty was everywhere. It was everything…Yet nobody seemed to notice.

Least of all the man she loved.

The resultant cognitive dissonance from leading what felt like a double life with two completely parallel realities was unsettling. She was genuinely happy to be with her family, found real joy in their company, and was excited about her mother’s upcoming wedding. Yet she was equally happy to spend time with Ty, found joy in his arms, and was excited whenever she found herself alone with him.

But despite all of that happiness, joy, and excitement, Vicki was also truly, deeply unhappy. While she laughed often, she also felt like she could cry at the drop of a hat.

Today was Thursday. It was just two days before the wedding, three days before she would return home, and four days until she lost Ty forever.

They were having a braai—or barbecue—at Miles’s house. It felt like he had invited half of the town. They even had a separate—supervised—doggy party for Stormy, Sam Brand’s boxer, Trevor, and a yorkie named Yappy, who belonged to the vet’s wife—their mum’s new bestie—Millicent McGregor. The dogs were all well-socialized and obviously familiar with each other.

It was wonderful to see how integrated both Miles and their mother were in the community. Miles had friends, real friends. He exchanged easy banter with the men, teased their wives or girlfriends, yet Vicki couldn’t help feeling a pang of something close to envy at the sight of this unfamiliar Miles. She was happy for him but also gutted that she never got to spend time with this version of her brother who was so at ease in his surroundings.

How was this the same austere man who—in the past—had made the flimsiest of excuses to avoid hanging out with Vicki and Hugh? But he no longer did that. He wanted to spend time with them, talk to them, laugh with them. She enjoyed that; she just wished that they didn’t live so very far apart.

Just when she was finally growing closer to the big brother she adored, she lived thousands of kilometers away, and she was keeping the biggest secret of her life from him.

The party was a happy disorganized mess, which made it easy for Vicki to take her paper plate—piled high with food—and sneak out of the yard.

She was sitting with her feet dangling off the edge of the pier, picking at the delicious meal of grilled meat and salads, when Ty found her a scant few minutes later.