11. Chapter 11
Connor
Iwatched Grace walk out of the hospital, clutching her jacket and reaching to swipe hair out of her face when a gust of wind brushed past her.
She did it so naturally, not breaking away from the conversation with her matching-scrubs-clad friend.
When her friend brought a cigarette to her lips, Grace put her hands up to create a wind barrier so she could light it.
Then, she wrapped her jacket around her again, like it was all routine.
The girls walked toward the parking lot, too lost in their conversation for her to see me leaning against my car in the closest spot.
My stomach tightened when she threw her head back and laughed, and the smile that tugged at her lips stretched across mine.
She was the type of infectious anyone would notice standing anywhere.
“You’re impossible!” she said, exasperated with whatever her friend had been saying. Her friend and I both noticed the moment when she saw me, and she exhaled another drag of the cigarette.
“Speak of the devil,” her friend said, confidently walking in my direction. Grace’s face turned a darker shade of red with each step. I lifted both brows, smirking.
“You were talking about me?” I straightened, stepping toward her when she was close enough that I could smell her friend’s smoke. I didn’t know it was possible for a woman to blush the way Grace was right now.
“What are you doing here?” Grace asked, shooting a warning glance at her friend that told her to keep quiet about whatever they were talking about. Judging by her friend’s face, there was a fifty-fifty chance she was going to spill the beans. I hoped she did.
I grabbed Grace’s hand, tugging her the last step toward me. “I wanted to see you,” I said, shrugging casually while shock crossed her face. She stared at me for a second, shooting a casual side-eye at her friend before she let the mask she was wearing slip, and she slid into my arms.
“Really? You just wanted to see me?” Her body felt right against mine. Really, I wanted to feel her—wanted to feel her chest rising and falling against mine, feel her soft hair against my neck, her arms stretching around me. I wanted to feel mine around hers.
“Yes, little pearl.” I chuckled. “Is that so hard to believe?”
She scrunched her nose in a way that made my chest squeeze, and she thought about it for a second. “I wanted to see you too,” she said. Behind her, her friend rolled her eyes, and I couldn’t fight the amusement that came with it.
“I’m Connor,” I said, offering my hand. She looked skeptical until Grace looked at her and nudged her head forward.
“Mariah,” she said, switching her cigarette from her right hand to her left and shaking mine. Then, she took an almost threatening step toward me. “Grace’s best friend. So you better be nice to her, because if you hurt her, it won’t end well for you.” She nodded behind her at the hospital.
I laughed, shaking Mariah’s hand and then putting both my hands up in faux-surrender. “Oh, don’t worry,” I said, grabbing ahold of Grace and pulling her against me again. “I have no intentions of hurting her.”
I nuzzled her neck, pride swelling when she almost squealed as my nose hit her skin. “You smell good,” I said quietly, hovering over her ear and inhaling the scent of her shampoo.
“I taste better.” A quiet giggle slipped from her lips, and she blushed, likely remembering we weren’t alone.
“I was going to take you to do something fun, but if you start making comments like that, I’m going to take you straight back to my place instead.
” My voice was husky, and Grace half-shivered against me while her friend was overly dramatic in her display of false-disgust. The smile on her face said she didn’t mind seeing Grace with me.
Maybe she would’ve been okay seeing Grace with anyone.
Grace turned so she could look up at me with big, dark brown eyes. “You say that like it would be a bad thing.” She flattened her hands against my chest, moving up to my shoulders. I grabbed her wrists, holding them still. I wasn’t going to let her tempt me.
“Be patient, would ya?” I asked. “I have something planned for you. Want to go?”
She looked over her shoulder at Mariah—not like she was looking for permission, because as soon as she did, Mariah started to walk away. “Okay, Mr. Big Plans, let’s see what you’ve got.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Grace said when I pulled up and parked at the landing pad. The helicopter I hired to take us on a tour of Boston was waiting for us, and she stared at it with wide eyes. “There’s no way. That’s not for us.”
Was she in disbelief, or was she scared? When she settled further into the leather seat, I figured it had to be mostly the latter. “Have you ever seen the sunset over Boston from the sky?”
“Absolutely not.” She shook her head and laughed. “First of all, I hate heights. But I’ve been in Boston my whole life. I’ve seen it all.” Grace cocked her head to the side, and I felt the challenge in the come-get-me expression painting her face.
“I doubt you’ve seen it anything like this.
It’s perfectly safe. Will you trust me?” I put my hand out, and she stared at it.
When she took it and nodded, it felt like victory, and I got the same kind of excitement I got as a child when I was going to get my way.
It was a feeling I hadn’t felt in years—never as an adult.
Not like this. Her face lit up with fear and excitement.
“Let’s go,” I said, dropping her hand to get out of the car.
When I opened her door, helping her out of the front seat, she shook her head.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” The rotating helicopter blade made a wind that whipped the dark, wispy hairs around her face.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this!” She grabbed my hand tightly, and I gripped hers in return, knowing full well that if I let go, I might find her climbing right back into the car.
Grace stared up at the helicopter when we got to it, taking the helping hand from the captain to climb in.
For a moment, I was angry he was touching her while I wasn’t.
I stepped forward, following her onto the step and into the cabin.
As she slid into the seat, her anxiety grew.
I swore, her hands shook when she put her headphones on before she folded them together in her lap.
They stopped shaking when I reached over, closing my hand around both of hers.
“Okay, folks,” the captain said, climbing into his seat. “Are you ready to do this? Just remember, keep all those hands, arms, and legs inside the chopper, mmkay?”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” Grace shuddered at the thought of sticking anything out of the helicopter. If she could slide any further back in the seat, she’d be embedded in the leather. I squeezed her hand, drawing her attention to me. When her shoulders half-relaxed, I felt it.
The captain laughed, and the blades started to turn faster, getting louder.
Grace watched out her window while we slowly ascended.
She tapped her toe until I touched the side of her foot with mine.
Then, she paused, giggled, and rested her leg.
One muscle at a time, she settled until her body finally relaxed completely.
“You doing okay?” I asked her. Her eyes grew with child-like enjoyment when it came through the headphones she wore, and when she nodded, I believed she meant it.
“I’m good,” she said. “Nobody has ever done something like this for me before.” She rolled her lips together like she couldn’t believe she had admitted that.
“Good,” I said, earning an offended gasp. “I don’t want to do anything everyone else has done for you. I want to do all the things nobody was ever willing to do. I want to show you the way you deserve to live, and then I want to show you all the things you never imagined. You just have to let me.”
Grace stared at me, and each time she blinked, her eyes shimmered more.
The more they shimmered, the more it felt like she was feeling the same swirling, doom-filled sinking in her chest I’d felt since the first time I kissed her in the alleyway.
Then, she smirked, and the stubbornness that was never far returned.
She giggled. “I am in a helicopter flying over the bay right now. I’d say I’m letting you.”
When the captain took a sharper left turn, she inhaled sharply.
Her hands flailed briefly while her body fell into mine.
She felt soft when I wrapped my arms around her, holding her still while her hands found their way to my thigh.
Then, she looked out the window, as if to check that we were still suspended and not crashing into the bay she had just been admiring.
When she realized we were okay, she let out a slow exhale, but she didn’t pull away.
Instead, she relaxed into my body and rested her head on my shoulder.
“You were right,” she said, humming. Outside the window, the sky around us was shades of pink and orange that reflected on her face. She looked content, like she had never been scared to get on the helicopter in the first place. “It really is beautiful.”
“So are you.” I brushed her hair behind her ear, knowing the wind would blow it back into her face within seconds. I would just do it again. Any excuse to touch her.
She looked at me for a second before she laughed. “That was really fucking cheesy,” she said, laughing harder and elbowing me in the side. I just wrapped my arm around her tighter. “You’re supposed to be looking at the sunset over Boston, remember?”
“No,” I said, cupping the bottom of her chin and turning her head back to the window.
I leaned forward, pressing my lips into the crook where her shoulder met her neck and lingering long enough for her scent to fill my nostrils.
Then, holding her gaze there, I said, “You were supposed to look at the sunset over Boston. My plan was always just to stare at you.”