Page 44

I’m officially insane. Certifiable.

Because nothing else can explain why I’m standing in one of the private courtyards on one of the top floors at The Orchid, drenched in the pouring rain as the storm rages around me. Thoughts of routines and orders have long been cast to the wayside, the urge to see her overpowering everything else.

Violent winds lash against the trees in anger, the water from the skies its weapon. Dark branches swing wildly in the air, a desperate ploy to escape the onslaught. Young spring blooms of muted colors lay scattered on the ground, the swirling waters carrying away the petals.

Another stormy day. Befitting my mood.

I could blame my lapse of sanity on my prolonged lack of sleep or stresses at work, but that would be a lie.

And there’s one thing Steven Kingsley isn’t…a liar.

I’m starving for her in my love-sick soul, desperate for anything she could give me. Grace. My star in the skies. The moon illuminating the night or the sun shining during the day. The calm in my rough waters.

My mind isn’t thinking clearly anymore as desperation swirls around me with each of our interactions, every rejection from her another deep carving into my newly beating heart.

And so, I’m standing, drenched head-to-toe in icy rain, rivulets streaming down my face, soaking every inch of my bespoke Italian suit as I’m standing under a window which opens to a backroom at Trésor, angling to get her attention because she refuses to see me.

And if this is the only way I can get her attention, so be it.

This space, one of the many courtyards interspersed on the fifty floors of the building, is the best location I could find after she banned me from visiting her at Trésor again.

I know she’s scared, and that’s why she keeps sending me away. Something terrible must have forced her into this situation. And perhaps, when I delivered the news about the job offer, I became another man who has disappointed her in the past.

But never again.

I’ll knock down those tattered walls and wrap my arms around her, building us a fortress, so she’ll always feel safe. She’ll know she can tell me anything and that won’t ever change my feelings for her.

We’re a team and we can solve this.

“Grace Peyton, I know you’re in there! I’m going to stand out here until you come and talk to me!” I holler again, my voice raw and hoarse from yelling the past twenty minutes.

Curious heads have gathered at the window of Trésor and other onlookers are loitering at the balconies from other parts of The Orchid, a low murmuring joining the chaos from nature.

I barely notice them. My pulse pounds a loud rhythm in my ears, my heart taking on a frantic, desperate beat.

“Grace! Come out. I’m not going anywhere!” A heavier torrent of rain lashes across my face, and I swipe at the wetness to no avail, my eyes only glued to the lone open window, hoping to see the woman who has occupied my thoughts for all these months.

Footsteps travel to my ears from the courtyard’s entrance. A dark umbrella slides over my head.

“Steven, come inside. We’ll find another way to talk to her. You’re drawing a crowd,” Jack murmurs in my ear as he places his hand on my sodden sleeve.

I shake my head, barely sparing him a glance. “I’m staying put. Go back inside, Jack. ”

He sighs, probably knowing he won’t get through to me since this is his third attempt. “God, you’re such a stubborn ass. But who am I to argue with you? If I had a chance to win Sarah over earlier than waiting for twelve years and all it took was standing in the rain, I’d do the same thing.”

Jack releases my arm and lets out a mirthless chuckle. “At least take the umbrella?”

“I’m soaking wet already. It doesn’t make a difference anymore. Go back inside, Jack.” My eyes remain pinned on the open window at Trésor.

He mutters something under his breath and shakes his head, walking back inside the glass door of the courtyard. I see him shooing away onlookers, no doubt plying them with alcohol or other means of distraction.

“Grace, whatever you’re going through, let me help you!” I holler again, rawness scrapes against my throat.

A loud clap of thunder booms, followed by a flash of lightning, and I fight the urge to flinch as my mind drifts back to another stormy night where a little boy got his hug and innocence stolen from him.

It’s almost déjà vu. The smell of the wet air, the howling of the winds, roaring of thunder, blinding light cleaving the skies in half.

Goosebumps pebble behind my neck, and my breathing becomes labored.

This time, I don’t run away.

I stand and I fight.

My lungs heave out a deep exhale as the moments slow to a crawl. Another window at Trésor slams open, the frame hitting against the wall with a loud clang.

There she is.

Grace, with her beautiful brown hair cascading down her shoulders, her pale face somehow luminescent even in the dim light, her body clad in a white dress which makes her look very much like an angel descending among mankind from the heavens .

“Steven! What on earth are you doing out there? Get back inside.”

I shake my head, my body no longer feeling cold as a fresh burst of heat rises inside me. “You locked me out. I had no other way of getting to you. I want to talk to you,” I holler.

“There’s nothing to say. We’re not friends, we never were. Please go back inside. You’ll get sick.” She leans further out the window, and I can see the desperateness in her frame.

“No. I just need half an hour of your time, please. I’m not going to move until I can talk to you.” My hand swipes at the water pelting my face. “You know I’m an asshole when I want to be. I’m not going anywhere.”

She stares at me as emotions flit across her face, too quickly to name. She gnaws on that plump bottom lip of hers again. The seconds pass as we stare at each other, neither of us backing down. I fist my hands before slicking my wet hair away from my face.

She throws her hands in the air. “You stubborn man!” Grace whirls around and disappears from view.

Moments later, the courtyard door swings open, and she slowly walks toward me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Rain continues to pour from the skies, quickly soaking her hair, running down her face, pelting against her dress.

She looks so beautiful.

So much my heart clenches and my lungs seize.

The heat from earlier resurges and spreads to my extremities as I watch her stride toward me, a long expanse of smooth thigh showing with each step.

Grace comes to a stop a foot in front of me and stares at me with those penetrating, soulful eyes. Her plush lips part and I can hear the faint sounds of her panting over the storm. She swallows, her elegant throat rippling. “I’m here now. What do you want to talk about?”

For a few seconds, I’m robbed of speech, the beating in my chest a frenzied rhythm, my nerves coming alive in anticipation of her being so close to me again.

My fingers twitch with an urge to grip her arms and pull her to my chest so I can bury my head against her neck where the scent of jasmine is the strongest.

But we just stare at each other in silence, the pitter pattering of the rain as the backdrop. She’s fully soaked through now, just like I am, and my nostrils flare at the sight of her dripping wet in front of me, like a goddess walking out of the water.

My gaze holds hers, my mouth unable to form words because there’s too much I want to say and yet I suddenly can’t find the language for them.

The air thickens with each passing second as another clap of thunder lashes from the skies. Everything feels momentous. Like I’m perched at the opening of an aircraft, about to freefall from the skies and hoping my parachute opens.

I feel achingly alive.

My heart skips another beat as a desperate need tears through me.

Only she can make my soul fly.

Vulnerability. Ryland’s advice whispers in my mind and I swallow the thick lump in my throat and slowly step toward her, every step feeling fated.

After all, we’re magnets that should’ve been pointing toward each other the entire time. It’s useless trying to pull us apart.

“Grace,” I rasp, coming to a stop a few inches from her. “Will you forgive me for whatever I did? Will you let me in? Please?”

My hand shakes as I slowly touch her face, my fingers trailing over her wet cheeks and jaw, wiping away at the water droplets as best as I can.

“I-I miss you, Grace. I was broken before, but with you, I feel whole… I feel alive. I know this can’t be wrong.

I don’t care if I’m a bird or you’re a fish.

I’ll become a swan so I can swim in the lakes.

I’ll be a falcon gliding above the waters, protecting you as you swim below me.

I’ll be a penguin who loves diving into the deep seas. Please don’t lock me out.”

Grace leans into my touch, her lips trembling. “I don’t want to be my mom.” Her response is a breathy whisper .

She chokes out a sob. “She spent her life pining over a man well above her station, who left her so heartbroken she spent the rest of her life trying to recreate him in others. Her heart had a hole that never recovered. She was addicted to him, and my sister and I resulted from the bittersweet union, and he never came back for her or for us. And she died heartbroken.”

She squeezes her eyes shut. “I-I don’t want to be like her.”

My thumb swipes at her tears, even though it’s useless with the rain. “I won’t be like him. Your father. I won’t ever abandon you.”

“That’s what they all say…but they leave at the end. They always do. And then I’m left with the pieces.”

I shake my head, my other hand clasping the other side of her face. “ Never. I promise you. Never. Grace, I didn’t feel anything before you. My life was only work and even then, my chest was a bottomless pit, a dark abyss no light could penetrate.”

My eyes mist as I lean down and tilt her face up, my voice hoarse and thick. “Then you showed up, with your sharp intelligence and brightness, and your ridiculous notion I need friends. You wormed your way inside me, toppling my walls, breathing light and life back into my heart.”

I grab one of her hands and press it against my chest. “This has never beaten for anyone else before and it never will. Please don’t push me away. Whatever you are going through, let me help you. Let us face it together. Please.”

I swallow and heave out a heavy exhale. “Please, I beg you.”

Her hand presses deeper into my chest, clutching the wet fabric of my dress shirt, as if to feel the drumming heartbeats.

I can feel the warmth of her touch through the wet layers of clothes, like a defibrillator shocking my senses alive.

I cover her hand with mine as my other hand cradles her face.

Her eyes flare, the brilliant purple darkening to almost sapphire at what she sees in my gaze.

Her lips part again, the plump, plush lips beckoning me to kiss, to bite, to taste .

“S-Steven,” she whispers, her body trembling. “What if I tell you no?”

“Then I’ll show up every day and convince you until you say yes.” My voice is a low growl as I step in closer to her, so much our bodies are almost grazing each other.

She lets out a soft gasp, the sound inflaming my senses and sends heated blood straight to my groin.

“What if I’m scared?” A pulse flutters in her neck.

“Then I’ll wrap you in my arms and shield you from the elements and anyone who dares stand in our way can go fuck off.” I take another step closer and our bodies press together like they have always belonged to each other.

“What if I tell you I don’t feel the same way?” Another breathy whisper.

A muscle twitches in my jaw as I clasp her face with both hands, tilting it up. “Then I’d call you a liar. Because no one, absolutely no one, can make you feel like this.”

My head swoops in and I capture her parted lips in mine.