From the first time their eyes met there was a familiar uncertainty.
Almost as if they knew one another from before and yet a total and
complete new feeling. The attraction was unavoidable as she came
into His world,frightened and unsure of what she had entered but as
was His nature He guided her through the first days, teaching,
supporting and nurturing what He had seen in her from the very
first moment.

His talents and skills were unbelievable, His firm hand, deep voice
and open heart of strength brought the confidence from within and
she began to grow... grow in ways that she had not experienced
before and that unsettled her.

At first He was just going to be another conquest, another notch on
her lipstick case but that started to change rapidly and that
unsettled her. She was use to controlling her world,hiding emotions
and feelings behind walls built long ago from her past and He, with
the utmost of ease, made doorways in those walls. He caused her to
look inside and that unsettled her. As hard as she tried to keep
him away He was always there, knowing her in a way no other had...
and knowing her with so little details of her life, and that
unsettled her.

He was unique, different from all the rest and with time He opened
the door to His world, giving her just a glimpse of the person
behind the professional. He allowed her to see His depth, His
spirit, His heart, His mind, His soul as well as His tears, and
all that she saw made her heart pound strong and that unsettled her.

When He looked into her eyes, when He watched her dance, when He
spoke of feelings and desires, that too unsettled her.

He, sure of what He wanted and she professing to not know what she
wanted proved to be an impossible conflict in their relationship.
Though try as He may, He was unable to break through to the
"woman"... no words, no actions, no promises, no deeds... none
were of strong enough nature for her to relinquish the hold on her
path, one that she had traveled for so long. It had become so easy
for her to pl ay the "game", it excited her and thrilled her to
track, pursue, capture, enjoy and then release. Although He was
an expert in the playing of the "game", He had long since retired
and now sought not to give just His body for passion, but to complete
His mind, spirit, heart and soul... to have two become one and
walk side by side. It was her He sought to fulfill him... and that
as well unsettled her.

Something totally different from her world, He offered His world,
one of respect, support, romance, pass ion, honesty,friendship
and commitment. Once again she found her self unsettled. Each
time she gave no answer, using the tactics of delay she had
mastered so well. Slowly He began to realize that is was not to
be. He was not what she wanted or needed in her life. Although
she cherished him as a person and friend, she was unable to love
him as a man and because of that could not give herself to him as
a woman... and that unsettled him.

When the full weight of this hit him He found Himself in recoil
and in an area of life that He did not function well in. He Himself
had become unsettled and as He worked through the unbalance He knew
what it was that He must do and felt an empty space in His heart
because of it. Since she was unable and unwilling to make a
decision, He must take the burden from her and make it himself.

They made a good team. He truly enjoyed the challenge she
presented to him on their professional level by using all His
skills, talents, and the ability to see into her soul. She enjoyed
challenging him, bringing the best of what He had to offer for her
benefit and her benefit alone... and therefor the decision had
been made. The romance had come to an end but the friendship
would go on. It would be as it was in the beginning but now without
involving the heart and so, He set her free. Destiny and fate had
decreed their paths would continue in the same direction but they
would not be joined.

With damp eyes He focused on the portrait she had made for him and
her words "you'll always be in my heart" echoed in His head as He
prepared to lock His heart safely behind His wall. The remembrances
of her eyes, her smile, her laugh, the way she felt in His arms,
their only dance, the softness of her lips combined with the sound
of her breathing when they kissed flooded through him.

A final thought of "what if" crossed His mind as He wrote with His
remaining love... His last goodbye.
.