Through The Grapevine: A BWWM Romance by Sherie Keys Page A

her in the morning and talk to her. We'll get this worked out. I'm so very sorry, Colby." She looked at him with enormous sympathy and shook her head. "After everything you've done, and as much as you love her, for this to happen to you... it's the worst. I'm so sorry. I will call her in the morning and try to talk to her. I'll try to help you get this all straightened out,” she said with sorrow in her eyes for him.
     
    He shook his head and looked at her. "No, I don't want you to do that. I would rather just let her go. I gave her a choice and she made it. She didn't know I was watching her, but if she would do that behind my back after promising me that she wouldn't, then I know how she really feels.
     
    It gives me the most honest, true, and real answer that I could have. It lets me know what is really going to happen. So, she doesn't know it yet, but we are broken up. I'm going to call the wedding off when we get back to Los Angeles."
     
    He swung his feet off the bed and walked over to the glass double doors that opened out onto the balcony outside of their room. He let them swing wide open and stepped back out into the cool night air, standing in the moonlight and leaning over on the railing.
     
    Shannon followed him out and put her hand on his back to comfort him. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I could talk to her. I could try to change it for you and help you make your dream come true. You love her so much."  Colby stood and turned to face Shannon.
     
    "No, you don't have to do that. This is really freeing for me, actually. It's letting me know what's real, and it's also saving me from a major heartache in the future. Imagine if I went ahead and took her back, if I married her, and she continued to see him. I'd be in a much more painful mess than I am now. This way, it's easy. This way I can just walk away and not have to deal with it again. I feel like I dodged a bullet almost, to be honest."
     
    Shannon nodded silently and her heart broke for the pain she knew he was in and trying valiantly to hide and ignore.
     
    "Okay. I just don't want you to hurt. I want you to be happy and loved, always."
     
    He smiled at her then and tilted his head, gazing at her lovely face. "You really are such an incredible friend, and I'm so lucky to have you here. See that? Something so good that came out of something that wasn't very good. You and I have a close bond that we can carry forward for years to come. That's worth more that almost anything else, really. I'll tell you the truth; I should thank her for bringing you into my life!"
     
    He  laughed a little and reached his hand up to her face to brush a stray strand of her wavy black hair away.
     
    His fingertip traced the soft contour of her cheek and time seemed to still around him as he gazed into her beautiful, warm brown eyes. The memory of their kisses came back to him and he whispered to her, "You have been better to me than any woman ever has. It means a great deal to me."
     
    She reached her hand up and covered his hand as it rested on her cheek and she looked into his clear blue eyes. "You mean a great deal to me,” she  whispered back. Her heart fluttered in their shared moment, and she wished again that it could be her that he loved.
     
    As if hearing her thought, he leaned his face down to hers and gently brushed her lips with his, just a soft and sweet kiss, barely there. Then he looked down at her again and stayed close to her.
     
    "Thank you for everything you do and everything you are." The feel of her lips touching his had sparked the same heat that he had felt with her in their cabin when they were together in front of the fireplace. Like a fire needs oxygen, his lips began to need hers, and he looked at her haunted gaze for only a moment longer before leaning down to her and kissing her again, but this time it was not soft.
     
    This time it was not tentative. This time, he pressed his lips firmly against hers and closed his eyes, finding it so