This is where it starts to get a bit messy so be warned. lol

Chapter Seven

Robert is picking at his food as Holly sits across from him, eating her salad. He knows that she is saying something because every so often he looks up and sees her lips moving. He can feel the moisture under his shirt collar when he looks up just in time to see Anna enter with a man he knows by reputation alone. She is wearing a low cut red dress that leaves very little to the imagination and her dark hair falls loosely at her shoulders. Just the way he likes it, he thinks.

"Robert, are you even listening to me," Holly asks.

He turns his attention back to the woman at his table, even as his fists clench in anger at his side. He was the one who decided that he wanted to try to make his marriage work. Anna had accepted his decision. Called him honorable even. He did not feel honorable now.

"Don't be ridiculous Holly. Of Course, I am listening. "

"Then what was I saying?"

"I…Uh…"

"Just what I thought…You aren't even paying attention to me…you are too busy staring wistfully at…who is she to you Robert? Oh right…your legal wife."

"Holly, I'm sorry."

"But are you? You are the one who told me that you wanted to try to make our marriage work. Is that really what you want?"

"Of course it is."

"I don't know Robert…I'm not feeling the love tonight…the way you are looking at Anna right now…you never look at me that way…"

"Holly…"

"Save it Robert. I do not want to see you right now. Not when you are so damn jealous that you can't even focus on the woman you already have."

She stormed angrily out of the room and Robert turned to see Anna and her date looking at him suspiciously. He wipes the sweat from the back of his neck as he stands up, his heart now slamming wildly against his rib-cage.

"Excuse us," Robert growls as he takes Anna by the hand. "We need to talk."

"Robert Stop," she protests, but she knows her words mean nothing when her body is reacting.

She can feel the fire pumping in her veins as he leads her towards the docks. Why did the thought of him reacting this way to her date excite her?

"What are you doing with that…that no good piece of slime…are you trying to get yourself killed Anna?"

"Maybe I just wanted you to pay attention," she snapped. Her hand immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment. She did not mean to say that aloud…especially not to him.

Robert takes a step forward, willing her to look at him. "Say that again Anna," he whispers.

"Why? Does it make you happy to know that you still make me weak in the knees? "

"Were you trying to make me Jealous Devane?"

"Oh My God Scorpio…Could your ego be any bigger?"

"Were you," he asks again?

His sweaty palms grip her waist as he pulls her tightly against him. She looks up at him with so much vulnerability that he almost feels guilty for asking. Almost.

"Maybe I was," she admits hoarsely. "Maybe I just wanted you to look at me like you used to just for a moment. I know that it is wrong…God knows I do…I just…"

He took her face into his hands then…brushing his thumb across her jawline.

"Why are you crying," she asked him. Robert was many things to her over the years but she rarely saw him cry. He was too proud for that.

"I'm so sorry Anna…I wish that time was on our side. I wish that I had waited. I wish so many things."

"Tell me," she urges. "Tell me what you wish most of all?"

He pauses as he looks into her dark brown eyes. It was wrong for him to be thinking about kissing her when he just promised Holly that he wanted to work on their marriage. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he stay away from her?

"I feel like a horrible person Annie…Maybe I am…"

"Impossible," she promises him. "You are just a good man in an unthinkable situation. I do not blame you Robert. How could I when you were just a man trying to survive."

"I didn't survive though. I was miserable without you dance with me one more time? Please Annie. Just one more time. I need to find a way to let you go. "

She did not dare tell him that she wished that he would choose her…It was not her choice to make.

"Of Course I will dance with you," she says. There was no music playing in their special place on the docks but they did not need any. He held her close as they swayed along the pavement. She stroked his cheek with her thumb when it started to rain.

"If there ever comes a time when we can be together, I hope you know that you will still be welcomed."

"I can't ask you to wait Anna…"

"You didn't…I'm just telling you what is. I love you Robert Scorpio. I always have and I always will. I waited seven years to find you again and I can wait as long as it takes for you to realize that we belong together. My heart will always be your home."

"Oh Annie," he sighs. He didn't tell her that he still loves her too. It would not be right since he was trying to let her go. What kind of love did they have if this amazing woman was willing to wait for him? How could he let her?

He runs his fingers through her wet hair and for a few minutes, they just look at each other. Neither of them could explain the gravity of what happened next…How one minute they were saying goodbye and the next he was backing her up against a wall as her legs wrapped around his torso. He kissed her once with trepidation but in the next second, his tongue was in her mouth and the kisses grew in intensity. If she were a better woman, she would pull away now. She would tell him to go home to the wife he had chosen. Except tonight, the last thing she was was a better woman. Tonight she was simply Robert's Anna. No More and no less.