He shook his arms out and looked down to adjust the cuffs of his sleeves.
For so long, he’d controlled every aspect of my life. My goals, my beliefs, what I wanted, and where I was going. Was I really going to allow him to dictate who I cared about?
“Fuck this,” I muttered under my breath.
His head jerked up. “What did you just say?”
“I said, fuck this. I’m out of here.”
He clenched his jaw. I could almost hear him grinding his teeth. “Don’t you even think about it, Christian.”
I scoffed. “What are you going to do, Dad,” I spat out his name. “Cut me out of your life? Keep me out of the firm?”
I laughed. There was no way. That would be a direct reflection on him, his own failure at conforming me into what he wanted me to be.
Walking backward, I lifted both hands in the air as I retreated. Not in surrender, but in opposition. This was one area of my life I wouldn’t allow him to control.
Then I turned around and leapt into the backseat of a waiting cab. Elizabeth’s address was already passing through my urgent lips as I slammed the door shut. “Hurry, please.”
The driver kind of smiled. He had probably been there to witness what had gone down with Elizabeth a couple minutes earlier. “Sure.”
The ride felt like the longest ten minutes of my life.
When he stopped outside her building, Elizabeth was pulling open the door to her building. I threw some money on the front seat. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
I jumped from the car and back into the winter cold, yelling her name. “Elizabeth!”
Slowly, she spun around, her hand still on the door handle, as if she had every intention of leaving me standing there.
“Christian.” Frustration spun through her tone, though I could hear the tears in her words, could see them marking her face. I’d hurt her again. And I hated it.
“Just leave me alone,” she said.
But this time, I knew walking out wasn’t an option. “I can’t.”
It was snowing again, harder this time, a steady grazing of white that dusted the city. My heavy breaths turned to vapor as I stood in front of her, panting, trying to gather my thoughts, to rein everything in.
I couldn’t.
One side of Elizabeth’s mouth trembled, and she looked at me in both wariness and exhaustion. She dropped her hold on the door to completely face me.
“I don’t understand what you want from me, Christian. You drag me to this dinner with your parents, and then when your father attacks me, you can’t even stand up for me?”
“You didn’t give me a chance to.”
Wisps of blonde kissed along her jaw, pieces sticking to the contours of her perfect face.
God, she was beautiful.
Love and fear vacillated across her features, uncertainty and want.
Something throbbed inside me, so deep it swallowed me whole.
When Elizabeth had changed me, I didn’t know. But she did. She’d unhinged something that had been locked inside, something I’d never believed I wanted or even knew existed. But with her standing there, it was all I could see.
Approaching her slowly, I stopped close and lifted her chin with my finger so she’d look at me.
I searched her face.
Her eyes dropped away, even though I held her firm.
“I’m here now. You think I wouldn’t stand up to my father for you? That I’d just stand there and let him talk about you like that? This week has been the worst of my life, Elizabeth, every single minute that you weren’t a part of it. And then yesterday when you agreed to go with me tonight, I can’t describe the relief I felt.”
Her warm brown gaze finally fluttered up to meet with mine. I slid my fingers from her chin and cupped one side of her face. Touching her was perfection.
Exhaling heavily, I inclined my face closer and caressed my thumb over her cheek. “And tonight . . . I can’t even begin to apologize for what happened tonight. I can only tell you I don’t care what my dad thinks about us.”
I brought my other hand to her face and squeezed in emphasis. “Elizabeth, I can’t lose you.”
She wet her lips and shivered. She hugged herself, her crossed arms a barrier between us. “I don’t even know what that means, Christian. One minute, you’re telling me you want to get past what happened last Friday so we can be friends again, and the next minute, you’re holding my hand and telling me I mean everything to you.”
Frantic brown eyes begged as they flitted across my face, as if she were desperate to find an answer there. “I don’t understand what you want from me.”
Increasing my hold, I edged closer. “I want you. I want you to take a chance on me. I know I haven’t given you a reason to, and everything between us is a mess right now, but it’s only because we aren’t what we’re supposed to be. I’ve been fighting this so hard for so long because I thought I was protecting our friendship when all I was doing was setting us up to fail.”
Hot tears fell into my hands, and Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open. I resisted the desire to crush her to me, to kiss her, to finally take what I’d always known was supposed to be mine, although in a completely different way than the initial urge that had me squirming in my seat four months prior.
Instead, it galloped ahead of me, a future I’d never believed I wanted. One I knew without a single doubt I wanted to share with Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth, I haven’t touched another girl since that first time I walked out of your apartment. I mean, I tried . . . but all I could think about was you. All this time, it was you.”
“What?” Shock dropped Elizabeth’s arms from between us. In the few inches separating us, the air vibrated with need.
I erased it. My entire body sighed in relief.
Her face was a breath from mine.
“This has been a long time coming. I’ve just been too dense to see it for what it is. You are the kind of girl I’m looking for, Elizabeth. The only girl I’m looking for.”
Tentative fingers fluttered up to brush over my bottom lip. “I’m scared of this.”
I smiled beneath them before I brought my hand up to hold hers, pressed her fingers to my mouth in a gentle kiss. “All I’m scared of is losing you.”
Elizabeth softened, body and soul.
I could feel it, the way the tension scattered like a gust of wind through a mound of fallen leaves. I took a chance and carefully wound her in my arms.
There was no hesitation from her, just the softness of her hands as they ran up and over my shoulders and anchored at the back of my neck.
I leaned in and swept my nose along the sweetness of her jaw, and I whispered at her ear, “Be with me.”
Elizabeth swayed and rocked, and then precious girl let herself go in the security of my arms.
Her face was hidden in the crook of my neck, buried in my need and the absolute devotion I felt for her.
Her mouth pressed to my skin.
It had to be the best thing I’d ever felt.
I danced with her, lifting her from her feet and slowly spinning her around.
We stayed that way for what seemed like forever, the snow flitting down around us while Elizabeth and I said nothing, just allowed our hearts to dance together in an eternal promise.
Because I was never going to let her go.
She pulled her head away to find my face, and I placed her back on her feet. One hand remained firm around her waist, and I brushed aside the hair stuck to the side of her face with the other.
Contentment thrummed in my chest, while my need for Elizabeth only grew.
Her eyes were all alight, tender, that honeyed-amber swimming with what I felt beating steadily within my heart.
From the moment I saw her, I knew something about her was different. I’d just never imagined it would change my life.
It was Elizabeth who pushed the moment. She lifted to her toes and pressed her lips to mine. Her mouth came s
o cautious and slow, testing, though I felt nothing there that told me she was still unsure.
The questions between us no longer remained.
Both my hands slid to her hips, and I pulled her as close as I possibly could then wound one hand back up her spine to the base of her neck.
I kissed her slowly.
Savored her unhurriedly.
There was nothing carnal to this kiss. But still, it was enough to reignite the ache she’d left me with for so many months.
Hell, this girl had managed it with one look.
I smiled against her lips, still unable to grasp that she’d brought me this far.
I could feel her grinning, too, before she pulled back. She pressed her lips together as if savoring the remnant of our kiss. “What?”
I shook my head, gripping her tight. “Nothing. I just didn’t realize anything could make me this happy.”
She hid her face in my chest and mumbled, “Neither did I.”
I dropped a kiss to her head and hugged her a little more. She shivered again. Who knew how much time had passed since we’d been standing out in the snow without our jackets.
I stepped back and grabbed two of her fingers because I found I really didn’t want to let her go. “You should get inside. It’s freezing out here.”
She cast a quick glance behind her at her building. The single window to her apartment remained a darkened square against the gray wall.
She turned back to me. “You want to come inside?”
Did I? My body answered with a resounding Hell, yeah.
No doubt, the second we crossed her threshold it would be all over. There’d be hands and flesh and need that would no longer be denied.
No longer could anything or anyone stop this attraction that had grown, transformed, and solidified as this bond that could not be broken.
My eyes skimmed over her face. Even though she looked up at me with the same desires that spun a path through my veins and coiled in my muscles, I didn’t miss the weariness that lay as purple smudges beneath her eyes.
I shook my head. “No, not tonight.”
Disappointment creased her forehead, and I drew her to me and kissed her again. I pushed my mouth near her ear and murmured, “Of course, I want to, Elizabeth.”
I flattened myself to her so she’d know how much I really did.
“But I’m not going to. Let’s do dinner tomorrow, instead. I want that time with you, just knowing it’s you and me. Can we do that?”
She sighed and nodded against my chest before she smiled lightly up at me. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
I dropped a small kiss to her mouth plus one against her nose. “Do me a favor and go climb underneath a blanket. You’re frozen.”
She laughed. “Okay.”
She stepped back and hooked her index finger with mine. She swayed our hands between us. “I’ll miss you.”
I’d been missing her for months, and I didn’t even know it. “Me, too. I’ll see you tomorrow, though, okay?”
Finally, she dropped her hand, turned, and walked away. At the door, she paused to look at me. “It’s a date,” she told me with a soft smile.
All I could think about was the first day in that café. The smile that lit on my face was to match.
Finally, she pulled the door open and slipped inside.
I wrapped my arms over my chest in an attempt to shield myself from the cold, my attention trained upstairs. Her light flicked on. Five seconds later, Elizabeth pressed her face to the window. She smiled this wistful smile and placed both hands against the glass.
I stood there with my hands shoved in my pockets, rocking back on my heels as I stared up at her. That spot inside expanded and I loved her a little more.
No one could ever come close to this girl, the way she made me feel, what she made me see. We belonged together.
I lifted a hand in a small wave. Her fingers curled on the window, and her expression filled with that same tenderness she had looked at me with for so long. I hoped she could see the same in mine.
Elizabeth
The knock at my door jerked me to my feet. My thoughts raced everywhere, and my nerves only skyrocketed knowing who awaited me on the other side of the door.
I hurried across the room, sidestepping my purse. I’d dropped it in the middle of the floor when I came in last night and rushed to the window to catch another glimpse of Christian before he walked away.
I guessed I’d needed an affirmation. Something to prove what had just transpired between us had been real. And it was, there in his expression, the same thing I felt reflected back at me.
Of course, I’d known I was in love with him before, though the realization had gutted me. Rather than joy, I’d felt only pain, my feelings for him nothing more than a millstone around my neck.
But last night had changed everything and peering down at him had revealed something greater to me. Joy had firmly taken root in my heart as a future unfolded before my eyes, snapped into place like the jagged pieces of a puzzle, ones that didn’t seem to fit but always belonged together.
We’d been raised so differently. Maybe it was those differences that made us so perfect for each other.
I opened the door to Christian standing there with his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets.
That mass of hair on his head was mussed, framing his pretty face. A clean shave had erased any trace of the shadow that usually had set by this time of day.
It accentuated every sharp line and contour of his jaw. The curve of a gentle smile lifted one side of his mouth.
“Hey,” he said, his head tilting to the side. He drew his shoulders up as his face bled into a timid grin.
“Hey.” I could feel the flush make its way up my neck to tint my cheeks.
Being around Christian had never been easy. It’d always been a feat of wills, brute strength and iron-clad resolve. I’d become almost accustomed to it until I stood before him now.
With all of our reservations out of way, I felt like a different girl.
Blue eyes gleamed as they traveled along my face and kissed along the length of my body.
Thick laughter jutted from his throat as he took me in.
I bit back a smile as another rush of heat flared on my face.
This morning when I’d talked to him on the phone, he asked me to wear the same thing I’d worn to the party last Friday. I knew under his coat he’d be wearing the same tight black T-shirt, and that his dark jeans would be a taunting me from where they hung low on his hips
He wanted a redo.
I wanted one, too.
“Come here,” he said under his breath, one hand reaching out to beckon me forward.
I didn’t hesitate to nestle into his chest.
He wrapped both arms around me, rocked me as he hugged me close. Gentle lips pressed to the top of my head.
“You look amazing.” I felt his laughter rather than heard it. “Why didn’t I just tell you before?” His voice dropped as he burrowed his mouth farther into my hair. “Why couldn’t I just tell you I wanted to make love to you? Touch you and hold you because you were the one who was meant for me?”
Tingles shot down my spine with his words, and I nuzzled my nose deeper into his chest.
“Why didn’t I tell you I was confused and scared by everything you made me feel instead of running away from you?” he added.
Shaking my head, I looked at him. “I don’t regret it at all, Christian. I’m mean, don’t get me wrong . . . last week hurt . . . and I hate having spent those days without you, but I have to believe it finally forced us to admit things we were too scared to see. If it hadn’t have happened, I’d probably be sitting on your couch instead of standing here like this with you.”
I clung to him and whispered, “And this is really where I want to be.”
Christian’s hands came up to cup my jaw, gently prodding. I lifted my eyes to his. Emotion softened every hard angle of his face, and that place reserved for him fluttered in
side. He dipped his head and pressed a sweet kiss to the edge of my mouth.
“This is the only place I want to be, Elizabeth . . . with you.”
My forehead fell back to his chest to hide the heat that rushed to my cheeks. I breathed him in, loved the way he smelled, loved everything about him.
There was no more holding back, no more questioning what we were or where we were going.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I stepped back.
“Be sure to grab a warm coat and a scarf. It’s freezing out there.”
I nodded and turned back into my studio to gather my things.
Christian followed right behind and stood in the middle of my apartment.
Just watching me.
I kept glancing up at him, and each time it was the same. I’d catch him with the same expression on his face, the one that fluttered my pulse and sent a tumult of butterflies tipping through my stomach.
Hands shaking, I struggled to pull my heavy coat over my sweatshirt.
He stepped to me, his voice all breathy and matching everything I felt inside. “Here . . . let me help you with that.”
He slipped the coat over my shoulders and tugged at the collar to straighten it. He grinned when it caused me to stumble forward into him. Leaning in close, he reached behind me to free the hair trapped in the confines of my coat and ran his long fingers through the length with a satisfied smile coming over his face.
“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve imagined my hands in your hair.” He lifted a handful and slowly let each piece fall away, the strands tickling at my neck as his sweet breath trickled over my face.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I buttoned my coat, my brow cinching with a playful scowl. “Oh, I distinctly remember them being there before. Have you forgotten so easily?” I was surprised by the tease that found its way from my mouth.
But I didn’t want that night to be remembered as an obstacle, when in reality, it’d been our launching pad.
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