CHAPTER 6 #2
The room is bathed in late afternoon sunlight that pours through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Everything is exactly as I planned it. The honey-colored desk.
The dusty rose chair with the rose gold hardware.
The cream-colored walls. The pink peonies in a ceramic vase on the windowsill.
The view of the city spread out beyond the glass.
Iris walks to the center of the room, turns in a slow circle, takes it in.
"This is my office?" she asks.
"This is your office."
She walks to the window, places her hand against the glass. I watch her look out at the city below. The sunlight catches her red hair, makes it glow.
"I can see everything from here," she says.
"I know."
She turns back to me with tears streaming down her face. "Why do you do things like this?"
"Things like what?"
"Things that make me feel like the most loved woman in the world."
I cross the room and take her face in my hands. My thumbs sweep across her cheeks, wiping the tears away. Seeing her cry distresses me. Even when it’s from happiness.
“You are the most loved woman in the world.” I press my forehead to hers. “I will remind you every single day until you believe it.”
She rises onto her toes, pulls me down to her. The kiss is slow. Soft. Her fingers curl into my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll disappear. When she pulls back, that smile is there. “I don’t deserve you,” she whispers.
“You deserve more than I could ever give you.” I brush my nose against hers. “But I’ll die trying.”
She laughs, watery and warm, her hands sliding up to cup my jaw.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
“For you?” I kiss the corner of my mouth. “There’s always more.“
Viktor drives us across the city as the sun begins to sink toward the horizon. The sky turns shades of orange and pink. Iris sits beside me with her hand in mine, her head on my shoulder. She has stopped asking where we're going.
When the car stops in front of the hotel Iris goes very still beside me.
"Ilay," she says quietly. "Is this..."
"The place where you drugged me and had your way with me? Yes."
She lifts her head from my shoulder, turns to look at me with wide eyes. "I can't believe you brought me here."
"I thought it would be fitting." I step out of the car, walk around to open her door. "This is where it started."
"This is where I made a terrible decision that somehow turned into the best thing that ever happened to me."
I take her hand, help her out of the car. "Terrible decision? You wound me."
"I drugged you, Ilay."
"I fell in love with you anyway."
She shakes her head but she's smiling as I lead her through the lobby toward the elevator.
I press the button for the top floor. When the doors close Iris turns to me.
"The penthouse?" she asks.
"Did you think I would book anything less?"
"I don't know why I'm still surprised by anything you do."
The elevator rises smoothly. I can feel her anticipation building beside me, her fingers tightening around mine. When the doors open directly into the suite she gasps at what's waiting for her.
The entire room is filled with candles. Hundreds of them, flickering on every surface, casting a warm golden glow across the space.
Rose petals are scattered across the floor in shades of red and pink and white, creating a path that leads toward the bedroom.
On the table near the window sits a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket with two crystal glasses, a small velvet box.
The curtains are open. The city lights are beginning to twinkle outside as the sun sets.
But that's not what makes her freeze in her tracks.
It's the music.
A soft melody begins to play through hidden speakers. A piano at first, then strings joining in. Then a woman's voice begins to sing words that Iris has never heard before.
"Before you, I was empty, a man without a soul..."
Iris listens, her hand tightening around mine.
"You saw through the darkness and somehow made me whole..."
"Is this..." She turns to me with fresh tears in her eyes. "Did you write this?"
"I had some help with the melody, but the words are mine."
"I loved you from the moment you crashed into my world, my angel, my obsession, my reason to exist..."
She covers her mouth with her hand as the song continues, the woman's voice soaring over the strings. I watch her cry, laugh, shake her head in disbelief as she listens to every word I wrote for her.
"You gave me a daughter, you gave me a home, you gave me a reason to never be alone..."
The song builds to its final chorus, then fades away softly. The last notes linger in the air. When it ends Iris throws her arms around my neck, holds me so tight I can barely breathe.
"I love you," she whispers against my neck. "I love you so much it hurts."
"I love you too." I pull back to look at her face. "Times a million."
She laughs through her tears. "You really went beyond this year."
"I go beyond every year."
"This is different."
"This is Valentine's Day."
She looks around at the candles, the petals, the champagne, the city lights twinkling outside the window. "You really planned this."
"With some help from a three-year-old who has very strong opinions about flowers and vases."
She laughs again, wipes her eyes. "Where is Anya?"
"With your father for the night."
"My father?"
"I thought we could use some time alone."
She looks at me with heat creeping into her gaze. "Did you now?"
"I did."
She steps closer, runs her hands up my chest, her fingers curling into the fabric of my suit jacket. "What exactly did you have planned for this time alone?"
I lean down until my lips are brushing against her ear. "I thought I would let you drug me again and have your way with me."
She laughs, pushes at my chest. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
"Never."
She grabs my tie, pulls me toward the bedroom, walking backward through the scattered rose petals with that smile on her face that makes me want to give her the entire world.
"Then I better make tonight worth remembering."