The Photographer

(22) Back to reality

Iris had never felt an ache in her chest like the one she felt right now. It was a deep, emotional ache; a sense of foreboding, separation and of missing someone so badly.

Looking at the beautiful man sleeping soundly next to her, the thought of having to leave him was tearing her in two but she had to go home - back to real life, back to her husband.

And while her home might be with Ben, her heart was most definitely with Seb.

She loved him so much that everything else just paled into insignificance and it had left her feeling very much like she'd married the wrong man. She was beginning to feel like she'd wasted years of her life and wished she could have met Seb a lot earlier - way before she'd walked down the aisle and married Ben.

There was a lot of thinking to be done over the next weeks but also in a way there wasn't. It was as clear as day to her - she couldn't stay with Ben, she couldn't continue to live a lie. She didn't love Ben in the way that he deserved, in the way that a wife should love her husband. Now that she'd met Seb and especially over the past few days, she knew what real, true love was.

Somehow and at some point soon she was going to have to pluck up the courage to break Ben's heart, it wasn't fair and it certainly wasn't right to be seeing Seb behind his back.

She turned her head to go back to staring at the ceiling, the ache in her chest becoming heavy and a couple of tears silently rolling from her eyes, vanishing into her hair. She'd been so happy during her time here, she'd felt so carefree and complete and ridiculously in love that she just didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave this bed, this house, this beautiful country and especially this stunning, kind, handsome man.

"You're crying," came the raspy, sleepy sounding voice of the gorgeous man laying next to her.

She hastily wiped her eyes, she did not want Seb to see her being an emotional wreck during her last few hours with him, she still felt bad enough that he'd had to witness it on Wednesday, when she'd first arrived.

He shuffled closer to her and draped an arm across her body, "what's wrong?" he asked, nuzzling softly against her cheek.

He was being so adorable that it was making her want to cry even more but she swallowed past the growing lump in her throat, "I'm fine, I just yawned, that's all."

"And the real reason?"

"I'm not ready to leave, I'm going to miss you," she knew it was pointless trying to lie, Seb already knew her better than she knew herself and he knew she was upset about something.

"I'm going to miss you too, I've quickly got so used to having you here, I feel like you belong here," he confessed, dipping his head to kiss her shoulder.

"I feel like I belong here too," she admitted, "I can't remember the last time I felt this happy and relaxed, it's been like a dream."

Seb moved and gently lowered his body down on top of hers, he slotted perfectly between her legs as they parted to make room for him and her skin felt warm and soft against his own. He gazed down at her, settling with his forearms either side of her head; it was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that she could easily make this place her home if she wanted to but he wasn't sure if it was too early to be talking about that kind of thing. They'd only just got together and there was still the fact that she was a married woman, she'd have to deal with Ben first, the guy would have to know his marriage was over before anything else could happen.

Iris lifted her head, seeking his kiss and let out a happy little sigh as he obliged. It was deep, slow, languid but also insanely arousing as his tongue danced with hers, as if they had all the time in the world.