Chapter 1:
It is a beautiful evening, the kind photographed for postcards and the covers of travel brochures. The Paris lights glimmer in the glow of a full moon. It's nearly impossible not to notice the couples meandering up and down the streets or just standing under overhangs in each other's arms. Each seems enthralled with their other half and caught up in the magic of the night. Or maybe it's just the magic of Paris. Sheridan watches them from her window, unable to turn away, her heart burning with envy. She can't deny that she wants to be one of them, one of the typical Parisian couples that passersby are in awe of. Faced with so many reminders of why love is so wonderful she can't help but feel uncertain about her abrupt departure from Harmony, more specifically from Luis. There is something nagging at her, something telling her she should have told him why she turned on him.
"Well it's too late for hindsight in any case. I am in Paris and he's in America, probably on a date with some beautiful woman. With a body like that he'll never be lonely. He's probably forgotten my name by now. So why am I thinking of him? He's out of my life but I can't seem to get him out of my head or my heart." She says to herself. As an afterthought she adds, "Because I am in love with him... Hold on a second! What am I saying?!?! I can't be in love with Luis. I'm just letting what that woman at the airport said get to me. But if that's the case why does everyone seem to think I am in love with him."
FLASHBACK
He's just brought her home from their date and she is gazing into his eyes. She notices how easy it is getting lost in them, how in that moment the rest of the world vanished, leaving only the two of them. For a second their families didn't matter, tradition didn't matter, public scrutiny didn't matter, most importantly, their less than perfect beginnings didn't mean a thing.
"Oh my GOD! I AM in love with Luis. But he's not in love with me; he'll never be in love with me."
The lovers walk past Luis unnoticed. He has other things on his mind than the romance in the air, well another person actually. A person named Sheridan Crane. A woman who possesses the irksome ability to get under his skin and stay there. He goes back and forth between hating her and wishing she'd leave and realizing he can't live without her, or at least not as well. But in spite of the ambiguity of his feelings for her, he can't deny the feeling that crept into his heart when he learned she is likely in danger. It was a throbbing ache deep down in his soul, a sort of shivering fear that there was no maybe; Sheridan is in trouble. He tries to undermine the implications of his concern, telling himself he just didn't trust the international authorities to handle it. After all, the Cranes would probably find some way of blaming him if anything happened to her. He won't admit that he would never forgive himself if she got hurt.
"You're only doing your job Luis. This has nothing to do with any feelings you may have ever had for Sheridan. And besides, whatever you felt for her it sure wasn't love, no matter what anyone else says." He has an address in his hands for the hotel Sheridan is staying at. Luckily his mother remembered the name. The closer he got the more he became that he wasn't mistaken in his fears.
To Be Continued...