If you didn't read The Stranger's Wife yet, but want to, this chapter contains SPOILERS!

Omar helped Xiomara out of the pool, his hand snaking around her waist to steady her. He tucked her in next to his body as he listened to Willem on the other end of the phone. The guy sounded stressed, more agitated than normal.

Next to him, Xiomara stared up at him as he spoke. Her wet lashes made her eyes seem larger than normal so that he was unable to look away. He secretly took pleasure in the fact that she hadn't resisted his desperate attempt to have her near him.

Funny shit was, it had nothing to do with the way the pool's water glistened off her gorgeous body or her worried smile. Having her in the nook of his arm just felt right. Or maybe, just maybe he wanted to make a point. Instead of going all caveman and hiding her body from Francois he had chosen to make a statement by pulling her flush against him, claiming her in a subtle yet obvious way. Hopefully the guy got the message.

Omar hung up the phone and handed it over to Francois. He let out a long breath of air and ran his hand over his cropped hair.

Both Francois and Xiomara waited on him to impart information. He wasn't sure how much he should tell them. Willem was a relatively private person, and Omar was certain he wouldn't appreciate his employees getting an earful of what went on in his personal life.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Xiomara asked when he offered no explanation.

He cleared his throat and said the first thing that came to mind. "Willem's son is in the hospital and his condition just got worse. The doctors are afraid he might not live for much longer."

"Oh my God. Wow. I didn't even know he had a son," Xiomara said.

"I am sorry to hear that," Francois added. "I have met Bradley on numerous occasions. He's a bright kid. I truly hope the doctors are wrong on this one."

Omar blinked and looked over the horizon at the endless expanse of blue. "Yeah, me too," he muttered.

Life was short. No kidding about that. One second Bradley was biking home from school, and the next a drunk driver had rammed his car into the teenager, breaking several bones, resulting in internal bleeding, a fractured skull and severe brain bleed.

As if he gripped by an epiphany, Omar tightened his hold on Xiomara's waist and brought her hand to his lips. "Please tell me you'll be careful." He kissed the palm of her hand and then he spoke in her ear. "I want you and the baby safe at all times. I will not lose my son before he gets here."

Xiomara curled her fingers against his lips and gazed up at him. "Stop it. You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry." He cleared his throat again and spoke so that Francois could hear him. "Willem wants us to pack everything up. We're all leaving Anguilla today. A helicopter will be here shortly to lift him and his wife off to St. Maarten as quickly as possible. The rest of you will take the ferry back. Francois, he wants you to donate whatever food is left."

Francois straightened his goatee as his blue eyes came back to settle on them. "I'm on it." He marched off in the direction of the villa with urgency in his steps.

Xiomara grabbed Omar's hand and was about to step away from him, but he tightened his grip, pulled her in close and buried his face in her neck. "I want you to know that I'm dead serious about you moving in with me."

She inhaled sharply. "And I already told you no."

"Give me a valid reason and I won't ask you again," he said while he traced the delicate skin of her neck with his lips. She smelled like chlorine and pineapples, her very essence causing his cock to jump.

Her body tensed up in his embrace and she went to pull away from him, but he grabbed the back of her head and crushed his mouth to hers. She responded, her husky moan drawing him in.

However, it didn't last long before she reared back and glared at him. "I already told you wh–"

Tightening his grip at the back of her neck, he swallowed her words by clamping his mouth over her soft lips. His arm swooped in around her middle, clutching her wet frame to him. The tension left her body and she became putty in his arms.

He knew she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but he would have none of that right now. Not that he didn't care about what she had to say, but so far everything with her had been a compilation of no's and do not's. Just once he wanted to hear her say yes.

And if her tongue wouldn't say yes to his proposal, at the very least it could say yes to his tongue. That was all he needed right now. To hold her and kiss her like this. To lose himself in the feel of her silky lips and the timid swirls of her sensuous tongue. To absorb her moans like a sponge in water as he got better acquainted with the curves of her body.

"Omar..." she whispered against his mouth, her warm breath fanning out on his skin. "I should probably go and pack my stuff."

He groaned and let her go, albeit reluctantly. "We will continue this conversation later."

"Okay, but my answer will remain the same." She pecked him on the cheek and sashayed away from him, stopping only to collect her cover slip from the chair before disappearing into the villa.

My God. She was so fucking beautiful, from her hair, to her oval face, down to her petite figure. Forget just wanting to kiss her and hold her. He needed to take her home to his condo and bend her over on his bed and have his way with her. He wanted to eat her out from behind until she screamed and came all over his tongue. And then again all over his dick.

Was it wrong of him to think of her like this knowing fully well that she was carrying his child? Knowing that she deserved so much more than a quick romp in his boss's guest room. Maybe, but at the same time her pregnancy in no way made him less attracted to her. In fact, the opposite was true.

He craved her like a pregnant woman hungered for unhealthy servings of donuts. That day in the guest bedroom when he had ejaculated inside her, it was like a part of his soul had left his body. He had put the unusual sensation down to having sex with an incredibly hot woman a year after he'd dumped his previous girlfriend for the final time.

Strangely now, he only felt whole when she was around, and wasn't that a load of crap? He didn't need her to make him feel whole. And yet, a small part of him wanted to share his life with her, because before she came around he seemed to have forgotten how to laugh... and she did that, made him laugh. She was that happy medium that had been missing from his life all along.

A breeze came in from the seaside and wrapped him up in its salty air. He took that as his cue to get on to packing too.

Back inside the villa, he checked his tablet. He had received a notification about a storm coming. On the islands they called them tropical waves, consisting mostly of rain. Nothing to worry about as long as it didn't rain for hours. St. Maarten was well known for flooding after a few hard drops of rain.

Ten minutes later, both Willem and Amelia rushed inside of the villa as if Godzilla was running after them. Willem looked like he'd been accosted by mobsters and then interrogated by mafias. Amelia on the other hand appeared flustered as she scurried pass him and went up the stairs.

Omar glanced at Willem. "She's not taking the news well, is she?"

"I should have told her about Bradley sooner. This is not how I wanted her to find out. I messed up, man." Willem shook his head and ran his palm over his face. "She won't even let me explain. I don't know what to do."

"Listen, bro, Bradley's your son, no matter what. You raised that boy. You and Amelia have technically only been together going on three weeks. Right now, your son comes first. If she doesn't understand that ..." He looked his friend dead in the eyes. "All I'm saying is, take care of your son first. She'll come around. The shock will wear off, just like it did with me."

Willem nodded. "Yeah, thanks, man. I'll do that."

Omar clapped his friend on the back as they ascended the stairs. At the top of the landing, they split up and entered their respective rooms.

Omar took a quick shower and changed his clothes. As soon as he was done packing, the loud roar of a helicopter flying over the villa got him back on his feet and he hurried downstairs to authorize the landing of the chopper on the huge meadow outback.

It wasn't long before Willem and Amelia emerged out of the villa, their suitcases in tow. Behind them was Xiomara. Omar watched the group as they approached. The wind gusting from the chopper sent the women's hair spiraling out of control and they used their hands to keep tendrils of hair out of their faces.

There was no way in hell he was letting Xiomara get any closer to this hazardous mechanical bird. He ran up to her and wrapped his hand around her waist, stopping any further progress.

"Say your goodbyes," he shouted over the loud drone of the propellers. He was afraid one of those things would come unhinged and maybe chop her head off. And there was no fucking way he was going to sit by and watch that happen.

Amelia hugged Xiomara with tears in her eyes. And then she pulled away and took one last look around her. Omar wanted to tell her that she could reminisce on her way up. That view was guaranteed to be spectacular from up there.

"I will see you again," Xiomara said with a smile on her beautiful face. "I want you to be godmother to the baby."

Well, that was news to him. He honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. It hadn't occurred to him that the baby might need godparents, or anything else besides milk, clothes and a place to sleep.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Amelia said, her voice straining with unshod tears.

"It's not about what you think." Xiomara smiled again and brushed her thick dark hair away from her face. "Willem's a good man. I'm sure you'll figure that out in time."

The women hugged one last time. Willem waved at them from afar, urging for them to get on board.

Omar sighed and tucked Xiomara under his arm to protect her as much as possible. "I didn't tell you, but Willem asked me to travel with them. I really hate to leave you like this..." He kissed her forehead and pulled her body closer still until she was flushed against him. He snuck his hand up under her shirt so that he could feel her warm skin. Behind his fly, his cock thickened and lengthened.

"It's okay. I understand," she said, but she didn't look up at him.

"It's just for a little while. I will pick you up at the ferry terminal when you get to St. Maarten. Promise me you'll wait on me. Promise me." He squeezed her waist as if to show her how serious he was.

"I promise," she whispered so that he had to strain to hear her over the propellers.

"Omar!" Willem shouted, the wind carrying his name off to sea.

Omar ignored the call and focused on the woman in front of him. Plowing his fingers through her hair, he took her mouth gently. He bent his neck to better accommodate their differences in height. He groaned into her hot mouth when she grabbed on to his collar and whimpered. With her lips parted to him, he plunged his tongue inside to taste her. She responded with a swipe of her tongue in return.

Fuck.

Feeling another call from Willem coming, he let her go. "Step far away from this thing, Xiomara. Remember, I need you safe."

She nodded and he dropped a chaste kiss on her mouth before running toward the helicopter. Once he was seated Willem glared at him, but said nothing.

The roar of the helicopter got louder, the pitch higher, as it lifted off the grass with a blast of air. Omar waved at Xiomara and didn't take his eyes off her until she was nothing but a dot. Why did it hurt so much to leave her?

Minutes later, they landed at the Princess Julianna Airport, where he rented a car. He then dropped Amelia back at the villa, and after Willem changed his clothes, he dropped him off at the hospital to see his son. Omar only got out of the car to make sure that the guy he'd posted at Bradley's hospital room was still doing a good job guarding him. Satisfied with what he saw, he got back in the rental and drove like a mad man back to the French side to pick up Xiomara.

When he got there, she was nowhere to be found. He worried that he had somehow missed her. The Gare Maritime was as quiet as an exam room. The occasional whisper of coconut trees swaying in the wind and water lapping at the rocks on the water's edge were the only sounds that accompanied him as he strolled along to the entrance of the ferry terminal.

He cursed under his breath and ventured out in search of her. Maybe she was tired and had decided to take a seat on one of the many benches along the marina. He followed the illuminated path on the boardwalk, peering every now and then over the lagoon and farther out to sea in hopes he would see the lights of a ferry boat coming in. The last boat had been scheduled to come in at seven, and it was way pass that time already.

Up ahead he spotted a couple sitting on the pier, their feet dangling over the water's calm surface, their heads close to each other as they whispered and kissed, oblivious to the world around them. He hurried pass them and turned a corner to go back to the ferry terminal.

Once there, he dropped himself on a bench at the entrance of the building and buried his head in his hands. He hated this shit. Hated that he was starting to care about Xiomara – and the baby. God knew he had always wanted children, but this feeling of neediness ... this want to always be near her, this urge to make her happy, to protect her, was so foreign to him that it almost felt like he had vacated his body and was looking down on someone else.

And why in the world hadn't he asked for her phone number?

He tried Francois's cell and got his voicemail. Dammit. Now he understood how his dad felt that one time when his mother didn't show up on time for dinner. He had a million and three scenarios running through his mind and none of them good. What if–

He flipped his wrist and looked at the time. Seven thirty. He was not about to play the what-if game. It was obvious that Xiomara had chosen to walk away. Even after she'd promised to wait for him.

Maybe he was pushing for too much too soon and had scared her off. He was bossy and he tended to suffocate her. Any woman in her right mind would steer clear of him. He just wished she had told him about how she felt sooner. That way he could have saved himself the pathetic look he had going on right now.

With one last look around him, he got up and dusted his pants off. This wasn't him. He was acting totally out of character. He didn't chase women, women chased him.

He took off in the direction of the parking lot, walking slowly. And then he stopped and scanned around him for a glimpse of her dark hair, her curvy body, her pointed chin. He longed to hear her call his name in that sultry accent of hers. The one where she rolled the 'r' like dough under a rolling pin.

So he waited, giving her that extra second to redeem herself.

Nothing.

He took off again. Passing by a garbage bin, he kicked the thing and kept on walking.

*****

Hey, guys! Just wanted to let y'all know that it's getting harder and harder to write this story. Been having a bad case of writer's block. So I'll be reading more instead of writing. In other words, updates will be less. I'm so sorry. Love you guys.

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Halsey - I Walk The Line

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