Done Being Friends (23 page)

Reaching over, Dylan took one of her hands. “I was an ass, a complete jerk. I am really sorry. I will never do anything to hurt you on purpose. You know that right?”

Faith smiled. She wanted to take her hand back but didn’t want to appear to be rude. “I know, Dylan. I forgive you, don’t worry about it.”
 

When Dylan continued to hold on to her hand, Faith knew more was coming. “I know you and Zac are an item now, but I just want to let you know that I’m not giving up. I love you Faith, and unlike him, I’m not a playboy.”

Faith’s eye widened.
Did Dylan come over to bad-mouth Zac?

“Did you come over to tell me this?” Faith snatched her hand back and pushed the cheesecake away.
 

“I don’t mean to upset you Faith, but we have both seen the women he goes through. I just want you to be prepared. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t.” All sense of guilt that she had been carrying dissipated in an instant. She felt awful for hurting Dylan, but he was obviously only concerned about winning, no matter what the price was.

“I know you don’t want to hear me say all these things, but I just had to warn you.”

Faith didn’t reply, and guessing he was no longer welcomed at that moment, Dylan walked out quietly; leaving Faith to her own thoughts.
 

“Bye Faith.”

Dylan walked out of the office, knowing that he was losing Faith.
All’s fair in love and war, right?

Zac will never do anything to hurt me.
Faith repeated that to herself over and over again. There was no need to dwell on what Dylan had said. Zac had proven how important Faith was to him over the years; there was no need to let her faith in him waver just because Dylan had said some nonsense.
Yes, that was all nothing but nonsense.

“A penny for your thoughts?”

Faith jumped in her seat. “Sorry love, didn’t mean to scare you. I saw Dylan’s car pulling out, everything all right?” He walked over, handing her a bouquet of calla lilies and kissed her.

“Yes, he brought cake and apologized for what happened.” Faith smiled.

“You sure everything is all right?” Zac asked again, concerned.

“Yes,” She wrapped her arm around his and leaned onto his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

Zac was always so warm. The heat that was radiating from him melted all the frustration that was within her. She tightened her arm around Zac and beamed at him. “I love you.”

Zac chuckled softly and kissed her lightly on her lips. “I love you too, Faith. Always.”

Faith appeared to be deep in thoughts when Zac walked into the office, but she was all smiles by the time they got home.

Zac bought a picnic mat and planned for them to spend the night star gazing. With the champagne and food, which Zac had bought before meeting her, they dined under the blanket of stars.

“This is really romantic. Better than any expensive restaurant in the world,” Faith said as she lay on
 
Zac’s lap. “Thanks Zac.”

Zac smiled and brushed her hair from her face. His index finger gently stroked across her forehead and down her jaw and cheek. Faith closed her eyes, feeling his warm finger leaving a trail of heat down the side of her face. She let out a soft sigh of contentment, enjoying his gentle touch.

Using his elbow to support her neck, he lifted her slightly off his lap and lay down across the mat beside her. He pulled her close, laying her head on his chest and brushed her hair while he hooked his free hand behind his head. Faith’s hand moved to his chest and ran her fingers across the soft cotton shirt he was wearing.
 

Her simple caress across his chest was sending waves of heat through his body, and Zac shifted his hand from the back of his head to hold down her fingers. His hand easily covered hers and Faith could feel his chest moving up and down while she listened to his heartbeat.
 

The steady thud of his heartbeat was like a comforting lullaby, coupled with the heat that was keeping her cozy, she soon dozed off. Zac wanted to stay there for the whole night and watch her sleep. He could hear her slow breaths and her hand held onto the shirt on his chest like how she had when he was shielding her from the reporters on the day after her father’s health episode.
 

The weather, on the other hand, wasn’t cooperating. The breeze was getting chilly, and Zac didn’t want Faith to get sick.

He tried to minimize his movements, but the moment Zac started to shift his weight, Faith stirred. She was still in her drowsy state and Zac hurried to hush her back to sleep.

“Shh…Go back to sleep, I’ll get you back to your room.” He kissed her lightly on her forehead and saw the corner of her lips turn up. He easily scooped her into his arms and immediately, Faith leaned onto his chest.
 

He carried her back into her house and back onto her bed. Faith was snuggled up in his arms, and as he tried to set her down, she snuggled closer and held on to his shirt. Still, he could lay her down and walk out, but he didn’t want to let go of her either.
 

He stood by the side of the bed with Faith still in his arms. He knew that he should just set her down and walk out of her room, but a war was raging within him. He was fighting the urge to scoot into bed and hold her while she slept, to have his arms around her and have her close to him. Eventually, the flimsy reason that it was better to hold her to sleep than wake her up by setting her down won.

When Faith opened her eyes in the morning, she felt Zac’s chest against her back, and she snuggled deeper into his arms. Zac had reacted by pulling her in and tightening the arm on her waist. He breathed in her hair and smiled. “Morning, love.”

“Morning,” Faith’s words came out slurry. She was still half asleep. She placed her arm over Zac’s and intertwined their hands. Then all of a sudden, she gasped and sat up straight, startling Zac.

“What?” Zac rolled aside and ran his hand through his hair.
 

Faith had turned and was looking at Zac with her mouth wide opened. “What are you doing in my bed? Did we...”

Zac laughed when he realized what Faith was talking about. Pulling her back down onto the bed and into his arms, he assured her that nothing happened.

“I wanted to set you down and go back to my own bed, but you were clinging onto my shirt and I didn’t want to wake you up.” Zac knew it was a lousy excuse. Holding his breath, he waited for Faith’s reply.

“Oh.”

Faith’s voice was soft and uncertain. She was still sifting through her mind, trying to figure out the events that led to them being in bed together.

“Okay. I’ll go wash up.” Faith smiled and got out of bed, smoothing her hair.

She looked delicious. Her hair was ruffled, but somehow, it made her looked incredibly sexy. It was great waking up beside her, feeling her warmth, her soft skin and smelling her lavender-scented hair. He took in a deep breath. Even her bed smelled of her. He had to stop thinking about her, and his thoughts were straying to where they shouldn’t be.
 

Getting out of bed, he ran his hand through his hair again and walked back to his room. He didn’t want to get in her way of preparing for work and he needed a shower.
 

He let out a sigh, hoping that he didn’t scare Faith.
 

When they were in the car, Zac wanted to make sure that everything was good between them. “Faith, I promise you that nothing happened last night. I just held you while you slept; that’s all. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Zac said, casting a quick glance at Faith while trying to keep his eyes on the road.
 

“It’s all right, Zac. I just thought I was dreaming. I got a shock when I realized I wasn’t. I trust you.” Faith reached over and gave his hand a tight squeeze.
 

Zac knew the worst was over. Faith truly wasn’t angry with him, and he started to feel playful again.

“You dreamed of me in bed with you? Does that happen often?” Zac squinted his eyes, pretending to scrutinize Faith’s face.

Faith blushed and looked away. She bit her lips to stop herself from smiling, but the corners of her lips stubbornly defied her. She knew Zac was joking with her, but it was still embarrassing her. “Idiot.”

Zac had to laugh at her reaction.
 

He had wanted to tease her further but decided against it in the end.

Chapter Thirteen

At the end of the week, Zac did stop staying at Faith’s house. He didn’t want Faith to feel suffocated by him. He had spent as much time as he could with her and his reasons for staying were getting rather pathetic. Faith’s father was getting better, and she was doing fine at work. The resort was coming into place without too much of a problem, and everything was on schedule. It would definitely be ready on the scheduled opening day.
 

Zac had always known Faith was capable. This time round, a tiny part of him had wished that she wasn’t that capable, then he would have some excuse to stick around her.

Zac laughed at his own childish thoughts.
 

He had never been an overprotective boyfriend. In fact, he had never been much of a boyfriend.
 

He wasn’t one of those who would spend more than two nights in a row with a girl. He liked his space and the freedom of being able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Yet with Faith, things were so different.
 

Though, he was no longer staying over, he would be at her house bright and early each day; have breakfast with her and drive her to work. He was there for dinner almost every night, except for those few nights where he had business to attend to. Even on those nights, he would drop by her house with a small snack to spend some time with her before going home.

Lying on his bed, Zac reached over and pulled out a black velvet box from his drawer. He opened the box and took out the solitaire, twirling it around, watching the diamond sparkle as it catches the different rays of light in his room. He had the ring designed and made the next day after the six-month deal he had with Faith. He had no intention of waiting that long, he was definitely going to cheat and try to get her to agree to his proposal much sooner than that.

He would have gotten a bigger and more expensive diamond, but he knew Faith liked plain and simple things. He examined the white gold band that is made up of two intertwined lines. He had thought about something meaningful to inscribe and ended up with the word ‘
Forever’
.

It really was just what he wanted, a life with her, forever.
 

He had also considered giving Faith his mother’s ring. It was a family heirloom, passed down to the women in the Hayden family. It had been in his family for generations and Faith absolutely loved things that had a story behind it. Then again, the love stories involving the ring hadn’t been that great and somehow, he just couldn’t bring himself to give a ring with that kind of loveless background to her.

They could start their own love story, a ring that would have a great story, which they could pass down to their children. Their story, their love. The thought of it warmed his heart and a small smile crept up his face.

Zac had been trying to come up with a plan for two whole weeks. A plan that would sweep her off her feet and be so touching that she would say yes to him without a second thought. He had even been silly enough to Google ‘good proposal ideas’ on the Internet but still, he couldn’t come up with anything.
 

An expensive and romantic dinner at the best restaurant in the world; with the most scenic view wouldn’t work for her. She would definitely prefer something sweet and romantic, something that just involved the two of them. Faith never liked an audience.
 

He placed the ring back into the black velvet box and placed it back into the drawer before leaning back onto his pillow. Zac was confident that if he played his cards right, Faith wouldn’t be able to say no.
 

When he got to Faith’s house the next day, George, as usual, had already opened the door before he was out of his car.
 

“Miss Preston is on the phone. I believe she’s still in her room.”

Zac nodded and proceeded up the stairs.

“I can’t expect him to drop his work and accompany me there at a moment’s notice, dad. I will be fine on my own, it’s just a few days.”

He peered into the room and she was stuffing clothes into a black travel bag while talking on the phone. He walked quietly behind her and pulled her into his arms.
 

“All right, Zac’s here. I’ll call you when I get back.”

Hanging up the phone, she casually tossed it onto her bed.
 

“You know, as a
fiancée
, it is your right to ask me drop my work at a moment’s notice to accompany you,” Zac teased as he nuzzled her neck.

Faith closed her eyes as his soft lips moved down her neck and onto her shoulders. She took in a deep breath and relaxed against his back.

“Where are you going?” he whispered into her ears as he continued his assault of kisses up and down her neck.
 

Faith struggled to put words together in her befuddled brain, but the kisses were making it impossible. Nudging him in his chest, she pushed him away to create some space between them. “I can’t think properly when you do this.”

Zac laughed and took a step back.

“Some private resort on some island is up for sale. The owner is my dad’s friend, and wanted to know if he would be interested. So, I have been ordered to take the company plane down to check it out. It’s supposed to be beautiful and private. Apparently, it is only accessible by boat and only the resort provides the transport, so unless you are a paying customer, there is no other way for you to get onto the island.”

“You’re going alone?” His tone turned dangerous, and Faith knew that his dragon slaying mode was once again activated.