Chasing Eden Ch. 07-09

"Hopefully, this is the type of news that will help during the Shareholder's Meeting," Camilla said with hopeful eyes. "I'm so excited for Peter to present!"

Hearing the man's name again, Leah was quickly reminded of the conversation she just had with Peter. Despite still being a bit oblivious to what was going on, she decided to immediately fulfill the request that was given to her.

"We earned great deals, but it was only because of you," she explained, changing her expression to a frown. "Peter, on the other hand, was very difficult to work with. He gives me bad vibes for some reason."

"Bad vibes? What do you mean by that?"

"He's just a jerk. He's extremely rude, and quite frankly, he made me really uncomfortable. I can see why so many people dislike him."

The smile on Camilla's face quickly disappeared and was replaced with a frown. "Peter's not much of a people-person, but he's actually not that bad once you get to know him."

"I don't think I want to know him better than I already do," Leah explained, trying her best to sound convincing. "I'd also feel more comfortable if you didn't get any closer to him."

"Okay, what the hell are you talking about?" the blonde asked, furrowing her eyebrows just a bit. "What exactly did he do that made you think you have to warn me to stay away from him?"

"It's just a gut feeling. I'm a good judge of character."

"Well, so am I, and I disagree with you. If you knew what he has been through, maybe you'd be a little more sympathetic to the way he acts."

"Camilla... I just worry about you..."

Rolling her eyes, the blonde interrupted, "Let's just drop it, okay? We can just agree to disagree."

Leah could read how emotional Camilla was getting. Though she didn't understand the connection the woman had with Peter, it was starting to become obvious that this was a battle no longer worth fighting at the moment.

"You're right," the raven-haired woman said, recapturing her own smile. "I'm sorry. We should be celebrating; not arguing over something so silly."

Immediately, Camilla's frown was erased, and after a sigh of relief, she hugged both Leah and Fang. "You're right. All three of us should be celebrating this monumental achievement in all of our careers."

"All of our careers?" Leah asked, taking a step back. "I can see how this is a big opportunity for Fang and me, but I don't see how we did anything for you."

"No, this is big for me too," the blonde explained, feeling proud of herself. "Sunshine has been my life since I was twenty-one. Adding two valuable women is a huge deal for me and my career. I'm honored to have you as part of the family now."

Leah was so touched by those words, she quickly translated them so that Fang could appreciate them too. Then, as the girls hugged each other again, Leah asked, "Well, how are we going to celebrate this big achievement?"

Feeling more giddy than she had since she was a schoolgirl, Camilla had a sudden urge to suggest an idea that took her back to her youth. "Since this is one of our last nights together, we should have a sleepover!"

"A sleepover?" Leah asked, giggling before she explained it to Fang.

"Yes! We can hang out in my room all night! We can have drinks, watch TV, and tell embarrassing stories! I'll even sleep on the floor so you both can have my bed!"

After translating all the suggestions, Fang's face lit up like a Christmas tree. She was suddenly blushing, almost embarrassed at how excited she was to be spending the night with her two new friends.

Grabbing both women by the hands, Camilla dragged them towards the elevator, squealing, "Let's go!"

***

Later that night, the three women found themselves exhausted after an evening of drinking, gossiping, and playing silly games. Camilla and Leah even had fun teaching Fang English phrases that might be helpful to her in the future.

Though Fang was taller, she was happy to borrow more comfortable clothes from Camilla. The three found themselves lying in bed, all wearing t-shirts and shorts. They were relieved to be spending time together, not in business attire for once.

"What should we do tomorrow?" Leah asked as the three of them were lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Neither of you have much time left in LA. Shouldn't we do something before you leave?"

"I've barely had time to do anything," Camilla responded with a chuckle. "I could use at least one relaxing day."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"I'd love to see the ocean," the blonde suggested as she thought back to the times she would stare out into the water in New York. "I think that would be calming."

"Let's go see the ocean then!" Leah said with a big smile. "The three of us deserve a nice outing at the beach."

Once Fang understood what was going on, a big smile came over her face. The idea of spending time with her two lovely new friends was a perfect way to finish her trip in America.

After quickly making plans amongst the excitement, Camilla rested her head back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling again. "It's been a long time since I've had this..."

"Had what?" Leah asked with a smile. "A slumber party?"

"No..." Camilla replied with a grateful smile of her own. "It's been a long time since I've had... friends."

Even bigger smiles came over the faces of both Leah and Fang. Although they weren't the loners that Camilla normally was, they too cherished the new bond they all had with each other.

***

The next day felt like an eternity for Camilla as she went through her meetings for the day. With an evening at the beach planned with her two girlfriends, the clock just wasn't moving fast enough for her.

Eventually, when she was finally done with all her meetings, she and Leah headed back to the hotel to grab their beach gear. However, just as Camilla was ready to leave so they could pick Fang up, the brunette delivered some disappointing news.

"Hey, I'm actually not going to be able to go with you all to the beach," Leah explained, as she greeted Camilla in the hallway. Unlike the blonde, she hadn't even changed out of her business attire into beach clothing. Noticing the disappointment on her friend's face, she said, "I'm sorry, but something came up."

With a sudden frown, Camilla showed how unhappy she was. "But we had this planned since last night. I was really looking forward to this."

"You and Fang can still go. I'll even let you borrow my car. I just had a different business opportunity pop up and there's no way I can reschedule it."

"Thanks for offering your car, but I can't accept that. I'm more worried about you. It just won't be the same. And how will I even communicate with Fang without you?"

"Just use an app on your phone to translate," Leah suggested. "Even if you guys can't communicate very well, you still deserve to enjoy the beach together."

"Are you sure you're okay with us going without you?"

"Of course. I want you to have fun!"

Though Camilla understood the business world brought once in a lifetime opportunities, it still made her sad knowing Leah wouldn't be joining them at the beach. However, she felt it was still her duty to take Fang out and provide her a good time, even with the language barrier.

Camilla gave Leah a hug and wished her good luck with her meeting. Then as she walked down the hallway, she stopped and called out, "Hey Leah..." When the brunette turned around and looked at her, she continued, "I still want to see you when I get back."

A cute smile came over Leah's face as she nodded her head in agreement. "I want to see you too."

***

Hours into her trip at the beach, Camilla felt completely relaxed as she and Fang sat together, staring out into the water. Wearing a bikini top and shorts, the blonde sat on a towel with Sunshine's newest model.

Though the lack of communication was awkward at first, Fang carried a big bright smile the entire time. Sitting there in her two-piece bikini, mostly covered by an unbuttoned long sleeve shirt, she pointed at the water, almost asking Camilla if she wanted to jump in.

Camilla shook her head and waved her hand, indicating she'd rather just stay on the beach. Fang, however, grabbed her by the hand and encouraged her to join as she skipped towards the water.

Since Camilla only planned on putting her feet in the water, she didn't bother taking her shorts off. But as she watched Fang reveal her silky pale skin, she suddenly found herself mesmerized.

Although Fang didn't have the biggest butt, and her fake breasts looked a bit unnatural on her thin frame, Camilla found her entire aura genuinely beautiful. She carried the biggest smile, like there was nothing that could ever take her joy away. And now that she was frolicking around in the water, her infectious smile grew on the blonde.

They played around for a moment, splashing each other with water and running away from the bigger waves. Before the Latina realized it, her entire body was soaking wet and she was regretting not taking her shorts off.

When the girls finally went back to their spot, they sat back down together to catch their breaths. Once again, they were immediately relaxed as they watched the waves crashing onto the beach. The only unfortunate part of their trip was that they both knew things would have been even better if Leah were there.

***

Back at the hotel, the raven-haired woman found herself in the same conference room Camilla had been in several times before. Although she was prepared for the secret meeting, her heart still raced at the sight of the FBI agent entering the room.

"Are you Detective Parks?" she asked, watching as the man took a seat across from her.

"I am," the agent responded with a serious look on his face. "Thank you for joining me, Miss Leah. You can really help me out by answering a few questions."

Putting on a brave face, Leah asked, "Are these official work questions? Because if they're not, I don't have to answer them, right?"

After a brief pause, the FBI agent chuckled to himself. "I see he got to you first. He probably gave you a good reason not to talk to me, didn't he?"

"Uh, yes," the woman answered nervously.

Once Detective Parks was done chuckling, he leaned towards Leah and stared her in the eyes. "If you will, Miss Leah, allow me the opportunity to change your mind. Once you hear my side of the story, you might find yourself compelled to talk to me after all."

As the FBI agent began, Leah's eyes started to grow big from the shock of what she was hearing. The more he revealed, the bigger her eyes got, until eventually, a look of utter horror came over her face.

Once the meeting was over, Leah stood outside the conference room for several minutes, wondering what she should do next. But as the words she had just heard echoed through her mind, she could hear her heart starting to beat louder and louder.

Thump thump... Thump thump...

***

As Camilla and Fang watched the sunset together, they started to grow more comfortable with the idea of communicating through the translation app. Despite it being a hassle to type in everything she wanted to say, there was a question that had been on the Latina's mind for so long, she couldn't stop herself from asking it.

"May I ask you something personal?" she typed in. After Fang read the question and nodded her head, Camilla asked, "Why do you smile so much when you've had such a rough life back in China?"

Camilla didn't want to be insensitive, but after hearing Fang's tragic story of having no support from her family, and even being forced to get breast implants at a young age because her only chance at success was to marry rich, she needed to know how this young woman was able to wear a smile on her face and radiate such happiness.

After a minute of Fang typing on the app, Camilla came across a response that almost brought her to tears. "Because smiling is all I can do when life gets cruel," the message read. "I'll never get over the hardships, but I won't let that stop me from smiling. When I smile, it makes other people happy for some reason. My smile makes them smile, and that's the one true joy I have in this world. I won't let my problems bring others down."

As Camilla fought off tears, she simply responded, "You are so amazing!"

Grabbing the phone one more time, Fang typed out another heartfelt message for her new friend. "I'm so thankful I came to America and met such strong and smart women. You and Leah are true inspirations for young women across the world."

After reading the message, Camilla could no longer keep the tears from flowing down her cheeks. Smiling in the midst of her ugly crying, she wrapped her arms around the tall model and held onto her as they watched the sun disappear into the horizon.

"Thank you... I needed that..."

***

After dropping Fang off, Camilla returned to her hotel, where she found Leah sitting in the lobby. Immediately, she noticed something was off by the odd look on the brunette's face. Hoping she could cheer the woman up, she called out, "Leah! I missed you!"

Trying to force a smile, Leah looked up at Camilla and gave her a welcoming hug. "I missed you too! Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah, but we were both sad you weren't there," the blonde explained with a smile. "So, how was your meeting?"

"It was a good meeting but... I'm still not sure what to think of it..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing," Leah answered, shaking her head as she brushed the question aside. Then, thinking back to the conversation she had with the FBI agent, she said, "Oh, by the way, I wanted to talk to you about something..."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"It's about the conversation we had yesterday. I feel guilty about the way I talked about Peter."

"Uh, okay?" Camilla responded, looking at the woman with a confused expression. "That kind of came out of nowhere."

"While I was waiting for the meeting, I thought about the conversation we had yesterday. I shouldn't have questioned your judgment. It's not up to me to tell you who you can and can't be associated with."

"Wow... what a one-eighty," Camilla expressed with a chuckle. "Did you have a talk with him or something? You sound like you actually like him now."

"Honestly, I don't know what to think of him," Leah admitted. Though she was still confused by the two conversations she had with Peter and Agent Parks, she knew that she could at least trust Camilla's judgment. "I just think you should do whatever you feel is best. You're much smarter than I am."

"Don't say that," that blonde replied with a gentle voice. As she put her hand on Leah's shoulder, she looked into her eyes and expressed, "Thank you for trusting me, but I'd rather focus on you right now."

"Really?" the raven-haired woman asked as her eyes lit up.

"Of course! It sucked not having you with me today! I want to spend time with you before I leave."

"Well, that works for me. Did you have anything in mind for tonight?"

With a little smirk, Camilla began leading Leah to her room. "Actually... after being at the beach all day, I really need to take a shower. Would you care to join me?"

"I'd love to join you," Leah responded, going red in the face.

"Maybe after that, you can spend the night again?"

"I'd love that as well."

Holding hands, Camilla led Leah to her room, where they quickly took off their clothes and jumped into the shower. As the warm water poured down their naked bodies, their voices could be heard echoing off the walls.

"Oh, Leah!!! What are you doing to me?!"

"Don't pretend you don't like this."

"Mami!"

***

Chapter 9

Camilla woke up early in the morning, snuggled up next to Leah. Still groggy from their late night, she buried her head into the woman's back and continued to spoon her from behind.

Noticing Camilla was awake, Leah turned her head and asked, "Isn't it time to get up?"

"It is..." the blonde answered with a raspy voice. "But you're so comfortable to cuddle with."

"It's also our last day together..."

Letting out a sad moan, Camilla squeezed the brunette even tighter. "Don't remind me..."

As the two women eventually started to get up, Leah sat on the edge of the bed and looked over at Camilla, who was propping herself up. "So, what's going to happen with us?"

Resting her back against the headboard, the blonde looked down sadly for a moment before answering, "I want to keep seeing you but... I don't know..."

"You're not ready for a relationship," Leah said, stopping the woman from finishing her sentence.

Looking up into the brunette's brown eyes, Camilla explained, "Maybe not. I really don't know how to describe the way I feel."

"I wasn't asking; I was telling you..." Leah reaffirmed. Looking unworried, the raven-haired woman nodded her head as she continued, "You're not emotionally ready to handle a relationship."

"Yeah..." Camilla said as her eyes got big. "I guess that's exactly how I feel... It wouldn't be fair to you."

"No, it wouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to anyone, really. Especially not you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think you get attached to people a little too easily. And to be honest, I don't think you're ready for love. You just want to replace Jane... and you deserve better than that."

Camilla sat there for a moment, looking down as the words resonated in her heart. After a moment, she began shaking her head before looking up at the woman in front of her. "You're right; I wish I was completely over her but I'm not. At least you're emotionally mature enough to recognize I'm not ready for a relationship."

"I don't want to be settled for," Leah explained with a smile on her face. "And I think you're too good to settle for anyone. Maybe someday we'll be a fit, but I don't think that day has come. That's why I asked what's going to happen to us. I want to know if you'll keep me in your life, so in case that day comes, we can give it a try."

"Of course we can give it a try!" Camilla exclaimed, looking concerned. "You've been so understanding... I want to be at my best for you, but I'm just not there yet. I'm sorry. "

With a comforting smile, Leah looked over at the blonde and expressed, "That's okay. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't just some wham, bam, thank you, ma'am."

Giggling, Camilla assured, "No, you're more than that! Although... you were really good... Like really really good..."

"So were you," Leah responded, giggling as well. "And thank you for teaching me how to do all that butt stuff to you."

"Okay... we don't have to talk about that... And can you stop saying it so nonchalantly like that?"

***

Downstairs at the bar, Peter sat quietly at a table with several documents spread out in front of him. His eyes moved back and forth, looking over all the numbers with an intense focus.

There was a drink next to him, completely full. A pencil was in his hand, but it was his eyes that were doing all the work on the paper.

Suddenly, his dark eyes stopped shifting for a moment. As he locked onto the numbers his eyebrows furrowed.

Back and forth, Peter checked between the numbers on the paper and a document on the phone that was in his other hand. His eyes widened as he rubbed his neck with his hand.

"I got it..." he whispered to himself, as he took a sip from his drink. "I finally did it..."

***

Since it was the final day, Eddie joined Camilla at the conference center for her final meetings. There were some documents he had to sign off on, and since the blonde was meeting with the same agents anyway, it was best he assisted her.

Eddie also knew this would be a good opportunity for Peter to work on his speech for the Shareholders' Meeting. Even though he assumed he'd be assisting his long-time partner, everyone understood Peter would be the ultimate key to the meeting.