Page 54 of You Rock My World
JOSIE
I shove the front door open so hard, it bounces off the wall, but I don’t stop. I don’t have my shoes on and my socks skid against the terracotta tiles of the gallery patio. I catch myself just short of slamming into the balcony railing.
I grip the metal barrier, eyes sweeping the courtyard below.
Dorian is standing by the pool as if he walked straight out of an album cover—black leather jacket unzipped over a fitted tee, dark jeans clinging in all the right places.
He has an electric guitar strapped across his chest. An adjustable mic pole in front of him.
And a portable amplifier at his feet with wires snaking over the Mediterranean stamped concrete like veins feeding into the night.
Dorian looks unreal, a vision conjured from pure longing.
But he’s not a fantasy. He’s here, his gaze locked on mine as if nothing else exists.
Not the Christmas lights that wrap around the railings and wind through the low bushes in the flowerbeds, blinking lazily in reds, greens, and golds.
Or the neon reindeer that flickers in someone’s window, casting a pale-blue reflection on the pool’s still surface.
Not even Lily and Penny appearing beside me.
He isn’t playing a song, but strumming absent chords, his fingers moving hypnotically over the strings.
When he sees me, he clamps the strings, killing the sound. Dorian smiles. “Hi, Josie.”
Two simple words that ripple through the courtyard, amplified by the mic and inescapable as they land right in my chest.
Around us, doors creak open. Neighbors step onto balconies, lean against railings, peek out from ground-floor apartments, phones at the ready. A small crowd is gathering in from everywhere, murmuring in hushed excitement.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I yell, half-laughing, half-stunned.
Dorian’s mouth tilts at the corner. “In case it wasn’t clear, I’m about to serenade you.”
A jolt of heat sparks through my veins, exhilarating. I clamp my hands over my mouth, biting back the grin that wants to split my face.
A few scattered cheers ripple through the complex as he adjusts the guitar strap, shifting his stance. “But before I do, I need to apologize.”
I drop my hands from my mouth and clutch them to my chest.
“For shutting you out.” His apology voice is too close to his seduction voice, and it’s doing unspeakable things to me. “For letting my anger get the better of me. And for making that stupid cover song without thinking. I was selfish and impulsive, and I hate it could’ve ruined everything.”
A lump rises in my throat.
His fingers grip the guitar’s neck harder. “Once, you asked me if I was going to write a song for you.” His gaze is unguarded, searching. “The truth is, all the songs I’ve written lately are for you.”
The crowd collectively sighs. Someone claps. My knees buckle under me, and Lily wraps an arm behind my back as if to make sure I keep upright.
Dorian tilts his head. “But I have a new one. If you want to hear it?”
Lily elbows me. “Say yes, idiot.”
The entire courtyard shouts it for me, but I can only nod, too choked up to speak.
Dorian smirks, tapping the pedal at his feet to start a bass loop. He grips the guitar, fingers poised, eyes locked on mine. And then he sings.
“Guess I got lucky when all went dark,
A city gone quiet, two strangers, two hearts.
We played our cards, and you stripped me bare,
Left me gasping for air.
“I don’t do fate, but maybe I lied,
Cause I can’t forget you, no matter how I’ve tried,
So please,
“Love me now, love me loud,
Take my hand, let the stars fall down,
Rock my world, turn my silence into sound,
Rock my Christmas, when there’s no one else around.
“You told me I was too out of reach,
Lost in the clouds, a man no one keeps.
But you’re a rainbow cutting through the rain,
Now I chase your colors I hope not in vain.
“I never believed in mistletoe wishes,
But now I’m dreaming of forever in your kisses,
So please,
“Love me now, love me loud,
Take my hand, let the stars fall down,
Rock my world, turn my silence into sound,
Rock my Christmas, when there’s no one else around.
“If I could go back to that night in the dark,
I’d tell you then what I know now in my heart.
So tell me, love, will you stay?
Keep me from washing to gray?
“Ooooh…
“Now I know I won’t walk away.
So tell me, love, will you stay?
And…
“Love me now, love me loud,
Take my hand, let the stars fall down,
Rock my world, turn my silence into sound,
Rock my Christmas, when there’s no one else around…
“Love me now, love me loud,
Turn my silence into sound.”
His voice is honeyed gravel, rough and rich. He poured so much of us into this song. The night we met, in the dark in a quiet city. Our game of strip souls. Me calling him too hot, too out of reach. Even my “all celebrity relationships are doomed” statistics. Him describing me as a rainbow…
I don’t realize I’m crying until Lily hands me a tissue.
By the time Dorian strums the last chord, the crowd is a mess of applause, cheers, and whistles. But I don’t hear any of it.
I gracelessly blow my nose and run.
My socked feet slap against the cool tiles as I fly down the steps. Dorian watches me come, slinging the guitar to his back and opening his arms, ready to catch me.
I crash into him, my arms winding around his neck. “Yes.” I look into his beautiful blue eyes. “I will love you now. I will love you so loud.”
His hands cradle my face, his thumbs brushing away the tears. “I love you.”
I nod. “I love you, too.”
Our faces draw closer, noses touching, breaths mingling. I’m not sure who makes the first move, but soon, our mouths are locked together in an urgent and hungry kiss.
His lips are soft yet insistent. On them, I can taste the sweetness of his apology, the depth of his love, the worry of the past few days when it all seemed lost. My fingers thread through his hair, pulling him closer, never wanting to let go.
Dorian moves with a desperate tenderness that makes my heart stutter. I taste the salt of my tears, feel the heat of his skin through the cool leather of his jacket. Time stretches, bends, then snaps back as we pour every unspoken word and promise in this kiss.
His love is a wave crashing over me, but I’m not drowning—I’m floating, buoyed by the strength of our connection.
As we pull back to catch our breaths, our foreheads resting against each other’s, the sounds of the courtyard seep into my consciousness. Around us, the neighbors erupt in applause, a chorus of cheers and whistles filling the air. Someone shouts, “Play another one!”
I glance up at Dorian, who is grinning like an idiot.
He waves at the crowd, his grip firm on me, as he talks into the mic, “You’ll have to forgive me but I gotta take my girl home.”
A cheer rolls through the courtyard as Dorian swoops me into his arms, brushing a kiss against my temple. “It’s a little early, but Merry Christmas, everyone. I just got the best gift. Hope yours will rock, too.”
Lily’s neighbors erupt in a final burst of applause, voices overlapping in playful shouts and whistling approval.
I bury my face against Dorian’s shoulder, laughter bubbling up as the noise swells around us.
It feels surreal—this moment, this night, this man who loves me so boldly, so unapologetically.
A part of me wants to press pause, to hold on to the magic before reality remembers it still has a say.
But maybe that’s the thing about love. The real kind.
It doesn’t need perfect timing or quiet spaces.
It crashes in, loud and reckless, and dares you to grab on. And I’m not letting go.