Forbidden Doctor - R. S. Elliot Page 0,71

than anything else had. Ava loved Gavin like he was her uncle, and I could see that she had missed having feminine energy in the house after her mother died, since she didn’t have any other female relatives that were around. It was all taken away from her in an instant.

Generally, Ava didn’t trust or want anyone else around. Most of the time, she got upset when I mentioned babysitters or nannies. But this time, there was just a slight difference because of the mention of Gavin’s name. That miniscule change was enough to give me the slightest sliver of relief. Maybe I wasn’t making a mistake. Maybe this really was a good idea worth investing in.

I dropped Ava off at school that morning and then went to work until it was time to get Stella from the airport. She left LAX at 7:00am, and it would take a little less than three hours for her to get to the airport here, plus another half an hour to get her bags from the luggage claim and be ready for me.

So, in the meantime, I had about two hours to get some work done. I walked up to the Artual building. Everyday, it still amazed me that this started with an idea in my head. It was so surreal that it had exploded into this, surpassing anything I had ever dared to imagine. It was dreamlike to see something blossom from inside my head into a headquarters that employed hundreds. It went from a thought, from my sister’s hand, into something physical and real. Something that sustained me and my daughter. Something to be proud of. Something to keep my sister’s memory alive when no one else in my family would.

I sat in my office and leafed through stacks of paperwork. I had more meetings to set up, more people to get in contact with, more things to delegate to employees, but I just didn’t have the time. I did what I could, however. We were up to date on everything—the latest update for the app had just rolled out and was receiving high ratings with minimal issues—but I still felt so behind.

It felt like no time at all had passed when my alarm went off, telling me it was time to leave to get Stella from the airport. I let the assistants sitting outside my office know that I was leaving for the day and went back down. It was drizzling already, a light sprinkle from dark clouds working to soon produce a heavier rain.

I got in my car and went straight to the airport. I was barely able to find parking—as an international airport, it was always insufferably busy—but I wanted to greet Stella at baggage claim. It had been so many years since I had last seen her, and even after all of our correspondence through Gavin, I still thought of her as the 12-year-old I had last seen her as. My best friend’s little sister, nine years younger than us.

Stella sent me a text as I got out of the car—it was our first direct correspondence, instead of communicating through Gavin.

Hey, Gavin told me you would be picking me up from the airport. We landed a few minutes ago, I’m just at baggage claim, waiting for my luggage. Where would you like me to meet you?

I typed back: Don’t worry about it. I’ll come meet you at baggage claim right now.

I was unreasonably nervous—far more than I’d ever externally let on. This felt like the start of a new chapter in my life, and in some ways, it was; after all, I was moving someone into my home with my daughter. But more than anything, I knew I had to do something. I just hoped this was the right thing.

I entered the airport and found my way to baggage claim. There was a flurry of people around, and all I had in my mind was the memory of the young girl I once knew, the girl I had last seen over 10 years ago. So, I stood there and looked at all of the passersby, waiting to see someone who vaguely matched what was in my mind.

When I finally saw her, my heart felt like it had been touched by a spark of electricity. It was the oddest, most intense sensation. I couldn’t believe it was really her; I thought maybe I was looking at the wrong person.

But there Stella was, standing patiently as she waited for her luggage. She was a woman in a way I would have never imagined her, and it was such a shock that all I could do for a moment was look at her.

She was a decade older than I last saw her—that I could see now in ways I never had so much as contemplated before. Her light brown hair was twisted up in a ponytail, and she was dressed casually in black leggings, a white shirt, and a jean jacket. She was lithe and—God, I hated myself for thinking this word about my best friend’s little sister—sexy. I couldn’t believe how my body was reacting to Stella. I didn’t know why I was still expecting the same little girl when I knew she was so much older now, but maybe it was to shield me from the possibility of this: a woman so beautiful that I could hardly look at her.

I saw many other men that passed by her take a second glance, but it seemed as though Stella didn’t notice at all. It made me tense for no good reason; I wanted to go to her and keep her from their gazes.

I steeled myself. I wasn’t sure how to approach her, but I knew I had to, and I knew there was no choice but to keep my absolute composure. Stella grabbed her bags as I made myself walk over to her, and by the time she looked up, I was only a foot away.

“Adam,” she said breathlessly.

Some part of me had been hoping that it wasn’t her—that the beautiful, sophisticated woman who stood before me was a stranger, instead of my best friend’s sister—but when she said my name, that shattered completely.

“Stella,” I said. I cleared my throat. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but it was an entirely different sensation than the crushing, suffocating feeling that I was used to. This was something I hadn’t felt in a long time. “I—how was your flight?”

She was looking at me with beautiful, bright, blue-green eyes that I felt could read every inch of my body. I couldn’t believe the way my heart was racing or the spark that ignited inside of my veins. It was a brand new sensation. It was life in every inch of me that I thought had long since died.

“It was good,” she replied, looking away from me. “Thank you for coming to get me—and, well, for everything.”

“Of course,” I said. I hoped what I was experiencing wasn’t obvious and that I was able to keep my composure adequately. “Can I help you with your bags?”

“Yes, thank you.”

I picked up one of her bags, while she carried another, and we went out towards my car. I couldn’t believe what I was thinking about her after the initial shock passed. How dare I have these thoughts about my best friend’s little sister? Gavin would absolutely kill me if he knew what went through my head as I laid eyes on her as an adult for the first time.

I felt sick with guilt for the thoughts I had about Stella. How was I going to survive a month of this? I had to stop. I had to halt these thoughts here and now.

It was only the initial shock of seeing her as an adult, I tried to convince myself.

I helped Stella put her bags in the trunk of the car, and then she got into the passenger’s seat. As I started the car, I didn’t know what to say. There was so much I could have asked her or talked to her about, but I didn’t want anything at all to expose the way my heart was pounding in my chest or the guilt-inducing thoughts that I was trying my best to stop. Of course, Gavin wouldn’t mention this to me—he probably had no fucking idea that his sister was overwhelmingly beautiful, that she would be absolutely irresistible to most men.

Why did Stella, of all people, have to be the first woman I met after Michelle to make me think that? It felt so goddamn unfair, and I felt sick to my stomach for even letting it pass through my mind.

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