The Soul Mate Spell, part 4

Brianna was on her way back to reality.  Her cruise was over, and she was so strung out she was just happy she would be in her own bed by night fall.  Her date with Nikolai was a disaster.  Although she was a grown woman who could make her own choices about relationships with handsome men with grabby hands, she just couldn't make herself go through with a one night stand.  She knew that was all he had wanted.  For a moment, she had been tempted to go through with it, but then he became so very demanding.  Somewhere between the beach and her cabin he had seemed to change into someone who wasn't very pleasant.  Maybe it had been the wine they had shared or maybe it was just him, but she had to forcefully kick him out of her room.  He was livid when she had said no to his advances, or whatever you call his heavy handedness, but his behavior really turned her off.  Of course, it could have been the guilt that had settled in her belly after seeing Colin.  Part of her was so angry that he was with Amber and they were expecting a baby, and the other part was just crushed.  She had thought she could forget him by being with another man, but around the time Nikolai began to make his intentions known, she realized he wasn't who she wanted.  And a one night stand on a cruise ship could not fill the hole that had expanded in her heart after seeing Colin again. Man was she screwed.

Thank goodness she still had a romance novel to read and help her forget about her own botched love life.  Romance novels were so much easier.  Girl sees guy, guy sees girl, guy gets pissed at girl and leaves, guy realizes guy cannot live without girl, guy returns to girl, girl forgives guy and they live happily ever after.  Same story, just different characters and different scenes.

Brianna didn't believe her life would ever be a romance novel.  Mainly in her experience, the guy never cared enough to return after he left.  He was usually just gone.  It appeared Colin was no different, he just played the part very well.  But, if she was really being honest with herself, he never did promise her anything except a bowl of soup at the book store.  Brianna had to admit it wasn't her place to be upset with him that he had returned to his fiance or that he was having a baby with her.  After all, he was planning to marry Amber long before Brianna had bumped into him that day in the book store.

After a grueling day of flying, Brianna finally made it back to her apartment.  Her mother had called her several times to see if she had made it home.  Brianna's phone had been off during the flight, and she remembered to turn it on as she walked into the apartment.  She called her mother, answered a ton of questions about her trip and then told her mom she needed to get in bed.  After saying good night, she got into the shower to help herself relax from the long day.  Thankfully she was home on a Saturday night so she had Sunday to get over the jet lag.  Brianna decided to get int bed and go to sleep and in the morning she would stay in bed as late as she possibly could so that she would be ready for Monday and the real world.

That night Brianna dreamed of Colin.  He was talking to his beautiful fiance' and laughing at Brianna.  Amber was sneering her beautiful sneer and saying, "It's very nice to meet you, I'm sure," in her haughty, "I'm beautiful and you're not" way.  Brianna woke the next morning to sun shining in her eyes and tears streaming down her face.  She wasn't pretty enough for Colin, and she realized that she needed to just forget about him.

Colin had had a terrible week.  First he had to go "save" Amber from herself down in Aruba, then he had seen Brianna with another man.  Colin had decided that he couldn't fight whatever was happening in his life at the moment, so he would just have too let it be and see what would happen.

The more he thought about "the baby" he thought the child couldn't be his.  Part of him wasn't even sure that there was a child.  She had seemed very slim for a woman expecting a baby.  He had also realized that the "big announcement" had been made in private.  Well, he supposed that would be the best way to tell an unsuspecting dad," but for some reason it just seemed like another one of Amber's ploys for attention.  He would just have to wait it out and see.  Determined that this was the right course of action, Colin got out of bed and got ready for work.  Drowning his troubles in work seemed like the best solution to his problems.

The week passed quickly.  Brianna was so busy after her week of vacation that she had little time to think about Colin or anyone else.  Friday came and she decided to spend the weekend in.  Her date of choice for the evening would be a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and the remote control.  "Nothing like drowning your sorrows in ice cream," she thought.  Especially mint chocolate chip.  Thank goodness for that!

Colin was tired.  He had spent the week fixing every problem he could find at work.  He was so focused, he didn't have time to think about anyone or anything.  At 6 o'clock pm, he decided he could go home and veg out on the couch with a cold brew and a baseball game.  He got home just as the phone rang.

"Colin!  I need you!  I'm in the hospital.  They say I've lost the baby.  Oh, please come back.  I need you so badly," Amber cried on the phone.

"Okay, Amber, I'll get the first flight back to Aruba. I'll call you as soon as I arrive."

"Oh, thank you, Colin.  Please hurry," Amber begged as she hung up the phone.  She then smiled to herself as she rose from the sofa in her hotel room.  "I think I should take acting lessons," she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror hanging above the sofa.  She made a couple of sad faces and then picked up the phone.

"Yes, darling, he fell for it.  He's getting on a plane probably as we speak.  He will probably be here in the morning.  Why don't you come on over tonight, love.  I'll wear my little black teddy.  I know how it turns you on, baby."  Amber smiled again and hung up the phone.  Playing Colin for a fool was her favorite part of this scheme.  How dare he embarrass her in front of the world.  She would be his wife, but she would have whomever she wanted outside of her marriage.  Have her cake and eat it too.  Well, since she never really had cake because she needed to keep her figure, at least she could have whatever else she wanted, and she wanted Colin on his knees begging her back.  A few minutes later she was dressed in her hottest nightie as she waited for Ramone to come over. "Men, what big fools they are," she thought as she went to open the door for her lover.