I looked around the inside of the helicopter. It wasn’t like anything that I would have imagined. Rather than just being a cockpit, there was a small cabin separated from the pilot with a wall featuring a movable glass panel. The cabin was decorated in a way that mirrored the feeling of The Diamond Mine and I looked at him with widened eyes.
“Is this yours?” I asked.
“It is,” Damien said with a smile. “My own little mining cart.”
I laughed and settled onto one of the plush seats, fastening my seatbelt over my lap in anticipation of takeoff. Nearly the entire cabin was made up of windows that allowed me to look out over the city as the helicopter rose into the air. The view was breathtaking and I felt transfixed by it the higher we rose and the further we traveled. Soon we were so high above the city that it had been reduced to only glittering lights beneath. I glanced over my shoulder at Damien.
“Like diamonds,” I said.
He nodded, making a sound of agreement. I could feel myself getting swept away by all of this. It was like I was suddenly existing in a different world, a world where I could do and be anything. The thought was oddly sobering. Rather than giving me a sense of thrilling liberation, it firmly grounded me, reminding me sternly of the life that I did have outside of this experience. As much as I felt that I was walking around in another life right now, I had to remember that this wasn’t reality. This wasn’t going to continue even after tonight and I was still going to have to exist in my own reality when I returned from the retreat and started rebuilding my life.
I realized that the helicopter was lowering and soon it landed. I looked to Damien.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Another little surprise,” he said.
We got out of the helicopter and entered a luxurious hotel lobby. Immediately a sharply dressed man rushed up to us.
“Good evening, sir,” he said. “We’ve been preparing for your arrival.”
“Thank you, Timothy. Is everything ready.”
“It is.”
“Good.”
Damien subtly slipped a tip into the man’s hand and we continued across the lobby and down a short hallway to an elevator. Rather than the usual up and down buttons that I would have expected to see beside the door, there was another keypad. Damien tapped a code into it and the elevator opened. We stepped inside and the elevator closed. We rose up several floors before stopping and the elevator doors opened again. We walked out into a foyer and approached a tall, arched door. Damien withdrew a black card from the pocket of his suit jacket and used it to open the door. I stepped through into a lavish hotel suite. To one side I could see a winding staircase that led up to another floor and to the other a sunken room with a sparkling pool surrounded by glass walls on three sides.
A rush of excitement coursed through me and I felt Damien step up behind me. His hands came around to rest on my stomach, subtly pulling me back against him, and I felt his face nuzzle into my hair.
“Would you like to take a swim?” he murmured.
“I didn’t bring a bathing suit with me,” I responded.
He turned me in his hands and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“You don’t need one,” he whispered.
His mouth dropped to mine and he pulled me into a deep kiss. I felt myself melting into it, my mind fogging with the strength and taste of his mouth. My hands touched his arms beside me, feeling the muscles beneath the fabric of his pristinely tailored suit. I wanted him. I could feel my body responding and my mind trying to push away the thoughts that had pricked through the fantasy created for me when we were in the helicopter. As Damien’s hand came to the zipper on the back of my dress, though, those thoughts came surging back. I reluctantly pulled my mouth away from his and stepped back from him, my head shaking.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t do this. I need to go back to the retreat.”
“Is something wrong?” Damien asked. “Have I done something?”
He looked genuinely concerned and I reached up to run my hand along the side of his face. I shook my head again, this time trying to reassure him.
“No. Tonight was unbelievable. I had a wonderful time and I really would like to stay.”
“Then stay,” he said, trying to pull me back into his arms, but I pressed against his chest to step away again.
“I can’t,” I said. “I’m sorry. I wish that I could explain it to you better, but right now, I just need to go back to the cottage before I do something that I know that I will regret later.”
Damien still looked upset, but it was disappointment rather than the anger that I would have anticipated. He nodded.
“I’ll call for your driver,” he said. “If you change your mind before he gets here, you are welcome to stay.”
I knew that I couldn’t change my mind, but I still went outside to wait rather than remaining in the room with Damien. Leaving was the only decision that I could make. I told myself that it was completely professionalism. Damien didn’t know who I was and as much as I felt like I could use a fantasy to whisk me out of the thoughts that had been holding me down for the last couple of weeks, I knew that I couldn’t break my professional ethics by having sex with him. Soon I would have to return to my real life and he would eventually figure out who I was. It was potentially awkward enough for both of us when we did inevitably come face-to-face as I continued to work on his marketing campaign, and sleeping with him would only complicate it further. In my heart, though, I felt like it wasn’t the only reason I had to say goodbye.
I peeled myself out of the gown as soon as I stepped into my room. I doubted that I would ever have the opportunity to wear it again, but once I put this experience behind me, I knew that I would enjoy seeing it hanging in my closet. Bathed and changed into a pair of lounge pants and shirt, I sat down on the window seat looking out over the back lawn and held the book I had been reading in my lap. I couldn’t focus on the words, though, and my eyes wandered to the windowsill. I don’t know how long I stared at it, lost in my thoughts, before trying to pull myself back to the book.
I turned away from looking at the windowsill and found Noah standing in the center of the lawn staring up at me. In the next instant, I was running through the cottage and out of the door that led out into the yard, running toward him. Noah took several long strides toward me to close the space between us. When I got close enough, he reached forward and I felt him sweep me into his arms. We were fully visible to whoever might be watching as our bodies crashed together, but I couldn’t think about that in that moment. All that mattered was the feeling of his arms around me and his mouth coming down onto mine in a kiss that seemed to pull every emotion, every thought, every compulsion out of me.
My mind was reeling as he held me closely against him and carried me toward the cottage where we’d had our first, if brief, encounter when I was just at the beginning of my journey. Noah brought me to one of the large cushions on the floor and lowered me to it so that he sat facing me and pulled me forward, draping my legs over his thighs so that I could settle close to him. I reached up and touched his face, his hand immediately raising to mirror my movements as I gently traced the curve of his jawline.
"Noah," I whispered.